(h/t SiubhanDunne)
.
What’s on the agenda, as everyone gears up for what’s looking to be a busy week?
.
This post is in: Don't Mourn, Organize, Open Threads
(h/t SiubhanDunne)
.
What’s on the agenda, as everyone gears up for what’s looking to be a busy week?
.
Comments are closed.
PsiFighter37
Back from a heck of a weekend in SF. Beautiful weather, wine country was great (and delicious).
Don’t understand why the administration is pushing this Syria vote so hard. At least Boehner is probably too incompetent to get this through the House, which will make Obama look weak, but will get us the right policy. He really should’ve taken back that ‘red line’ comment…going to haunt us for a long time.
Paddy
All I can say is DAMN WOMAN.
Video- Watch as Diana Nyad reaches Florida’s shore
Today when all the hoopla started, I was confused. I remembered when she first tried back when I lived in Miami… and time was confusing. Then they said she FIRST tried 35 years ago! Got to give it to the sister, that is some determination.
AliceBlue
@PsiFighter37:
Not to mention Kerry’s “Munich moment” fart. Jesus, that was painfully stupid.
Mnemosyne
@Paddy:
I was trying to figure out if that was her real last name, because it seemed a little too apropos. But, nope, it really is (via adoption by her Greek stepfather).
On the home front, I’m having chicken cacciatore and Israeli couscous pilaf for dinner before continuing on with my weekend project of getting my knitting magazines sorted and onto the new Ikea bookshelves I built for them.
Bill E Pilgrim
@PsiFighter37
Western Union, now with warheads.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Looking forward to seeing the NeoConfederates having to do their jobs for once, and the tears of incoherent rage from them, the FerengiMedia, and the the ODS afflicted. CANNOT. WAIT.
Yatsuno
Only working three days this week, and half of that will be meetings and prep work for my next instructing assignment. I’ll have (hopefully) some big news come Wednesday though. And no I’m not getting hitched.
YellowJournalism
I am definitely not ready for tomorrow. I have to finish a work project I’m already late on, get my son’s stuff ready for school (still needs five things on his list that are sold out), and we weren’t home most of the weekend like I had planned (last minute relatives visiting that we hadn’t seen in years).
Argh!!!!
piratedan
@PsiFighter37: it’s to get those asshats on the record…. if Obama just goes ahead and acts like his Republican predecessors and decides unilaterally, they get the freedom to bitch about not soon enough, not hard enough, no clear direction yada yada yada. On a vote, the lines are drawn, do we honor our treaty obligations, do we ignore them and it puts their votes on the record as his speech outlined what he thinks should be done, if not, have them own it and why….
It gives them a chance to be adults and actually discuss this, not that I expect the R’s to take the opportunity to do so, still I think O is buying time to build consensus and allow Assad to further hang himself in world opinion.
burnspbesq
Interesting new record: “Can’t Get Enough,” by the Rides.
The Rides are Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Barry Goldberg, and Stephen Stills. The project started out as a tribute to “Super Session,” but turned into something a lot more interesting and less tired than that. The Iggy & the Stooges cover is … well, it’s something.
Central Planning
So much for kids getting to sleep early. School starts Wednesday so they are getting up early tomorrow… we were hoping a little earlier to bed might make tomorrow morning a little easier.
Perfect plans foiled by kids :D
burnspbesq
@piratedan:
My guess is that when push comes to shove, Obama won’t get the authority he has asked for. There are three potential sources of “no” votes: (1) people who think we shouldn’t do anything; (2) people who think what Obama is proposing isn’t enough; and (3) people who are agin’ it because the Kenyan Mooslim Yoosurper is for it.
Suffern ACE
@piratedan: was watching bbc news last night, and whomever the military strategy expert was said that its too late for deterrence to work, as the response needs to be immedidate. He kept referring to this as a “textbook example of deterrence.” I would be interested in reading the book, but do I need to take a prerequisite?
How many other examples are there of immediate responses?
Bmaccnm
I had a telephone interview for a position as an instructor at a university nursing program today. I could have this job if I want it. Problem is, it pays about $15,000/year less than the high-stress, high-risk labor and delivery nursing position I have now. I’ve always considered teaching to be a task for the elders. Now, I’m asking myself what I want more- money and adrenaline rushes or being recognized as a wise elder in a field that requires a lot of stamina. I’m going to be asking that tonight and tomorrow on my 12 hour night shifts. Has anybody switched gears for less money?
Gin & Tonic
@burnspbesq: One out of three to be a tribute? Was Al busy?
piratedan
@Suffern ACE: I think there are a couple of them….although again, it could be a memory fault of mine without checking the timelines….
When there were the first rumours of ethnic cleaning in Iraq against the Kurds, that got the No Fly Zone implemented
When Qaddafi used his air force against the rebels, we pretty much shut that down within 48 hours
I’m not sure about the reaction times in Mogadishu and Kosovo but I am assuming that you’re only talking about US Responses in the last 30 years or so, right?
PsiFighter37
@piratedan: That’s fine, but they’re still pushing the wrong policy. Lining up those assholes McCain and Graham to support action will only be worth it if a) the vote fails, and b) it makes Lindsey even more hated among the base in SC.
The vote will be interesting, because it’s not a very clean issue. I was just a baby, but I don’t remember reading about us raising a stink when Saddam gassed the Kurds at the tail end of the Iraq-Iran war in the 1980s.
Gin & Tonic
@PsiFighter37: We didn’t raise a stink because he was our guy then.
piratedan
@burnspbesq: that’s my guess too Burnsie, but I respect the fact that he asked, that’s what a guy who’s supposed to be Presidentin for all of us should do…. I think he’s taking this very seriously, weighing America’s action not just through here at home but also within the global community.
mainmati
I have a big report to revise on renewable energy futures for SE Asia for USAID this week. Goal posts always change for them. Meanwhile, this melodrama via the Hill will only go bad IMO. What a mess. I hope we don’t launch a massive missile strike; it will accomplish nothing except to kill a lot of citizens and probably
won’t degrade the chemical weapons. If we were to target air bases that might be worth something but anything more than that isn’t worth it.
piratedan
@PsiFighter37: look at who was in charge…. when we intervene for humanitarian reasons – Clinton – Kosovo, for business or political – Reagan – Grenada, Panama Bush, – Gulf War I, Iraq
Gin & Tonic
@piratedan: In Kosovo it took six months between clear atrocities and the commencement of UN/OSCE/NATO bombings. It took about a month simply between the UN Sec Council resolution and actual military activity.
Gin & Tonic
@piratedan: In Kosovo it took six months between clear atrocities and the commencement of UN/OSCE/NATO bombings. It took about a month simply between the UN Sec Council resolution and actual military activity.
piratedan
@Gin & Tonic: not arguing that point, just stating that the reasons usually differ between administrations when the US gets involved. I see a fair number of parallels between Kosovo and Syria… none of the factions like us, we really don’t want to get involved, but did so because we signed treaties that stated that we would be involved when proof was offered and the world felt compelled to act.
Ruckus
@Bmaccnm:
I’ve shifted gears 3 times. Twice I had no real choice due to circumstances beyond my control(major earthquake and largest recession ever). The earthquake took me out of a potentially much higher paying but risky situation that I had worked over 30 yrs to get to, to one of study decent money. The world’s greatest recession left me without much at all, no job, no prospects, nothing left. But a year later I have a job that pays OK with less stress so that’s not bad.
ETA Actually forgot the one that I left to get out of a fast deteriorating job, which was the one before the recession.
So that’s actually 4 complete gear changes.
The question is what do you want out of life?
Do you live to work or work to live?
Figure that out and I’ll bet you have your answer.
different-church-lady
So nobody besides me cares how brilliant that Union video was?
Redshirt
Technically, we’re all cogs as we are all dependent on something else, and something else is dependent on us, and thus, together, we all turn.
The Moar You Know
I figure I’ll just chuck this here.
Dog quit eating this weekend. Beginning of the end for sure; how much so I’ll know after I see the vet tomorrow. 16 years is a long life for a lab, but suddenly I’ve discovered it may not be nearly long enough. My poor wife is beside herself; she’s had the dog for longer than a third of her life.
Mortality sucks.
See you guys later: turns out life outside this screen here is much more important.
Steeplejack
@burnspbesq:
Thanks, I’ll have to check that out. I was always a big Stills fan, although it has been a long time since I finally conceded that Neil Young was the bigger talent (to the friend with whom I continually argued their relative merits).
MaryJane
@different-church-lady:
I love it too. The current lack of response is probably because SiubhanDunne linked to it in an earlier thread.
@The Moar You Know:
So sorry about your pup. Sympathetic thoughts to you and Mrs. Moar.
Gin & Tonic
@piratedan: On the contrary, nearly everyone supported the Kosovo intervention – every NATO and EU member and nearly all the neighboring countries, plus it was supported, in essence, by UN Security Council Resolution 1199. This did not call for military intervention, but it did call for an end to hostilities and an immediate cease-fire. It was Milosevic’s intransigence and flouting of this resolution that led to the outcome it did. You might recall that he was captured and tried for war crimes.
jenn
@The Moar You Know: Damn. Sorry to hear that! Best of wishes heading to Puppy Moar, Mrs Moar and you.
MikeJ
Until this very moment I had absolutely no opinion about Miley Cyrus. I just discovered that her album, is named Wrecking Ball, the same name as one of my favorite albums, a collab between Emmylou Harris and Daniel Lanois ( and oh yeah, Steve Earle, Neil Young, Lucinda Williams, many more sitting in.)
Is Victoria Justice going to release an album called Bitch’s Brew? Demi Levato’s Let It Bleed? Vanessa Hudgens’ Reckoning?
catclub
has anyone thought about different votes in the House versus the Senate? I guess that would mean at least one is approving Obama’s actions, so it would be off to the races.
So I guess I hope for both to oppose or make the approval very limited. I would guess that Senate is more likely to approve attacks than the House.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@MikeJ: I hear Justin Bieber is going to release an album called Revolver
MikeJ
@MikeJ: I was obviously so upset it made me throw in extraneous commas.
askew
@catclub:
I think the Senate votes yes to Obama’s draft legislation and the House doesn’t pass it the first time around because GOP members are requiring riders for defunding Obamacare or other rightwing ponies. I can’t imagine any scenario that Boehner manages to pass a clean bill the first time around. He’s incompetent and his caucus is too full of crazies to be controlled.
Steeplejack
@MikeJ:
I was shocked, but I could sense the depth of your emotion.
Redshirt
@askew: That’s gonna be great when they try to repeal Obamacare on a vote whether to bomb Syria. Pretty much sums up where we’re at, as a country.
jc
The new breed of Conservatives are proud of being assholes, while fancying themselves as warriors. They’re proud of shredding the social safety net. They’re proud of undermining the meaning of Labor Day. They’re proud of putting bought and sold corporate hacks on the Congressional Science Committee.
Whenever D-bags like Eric Cantor or Ted Cruise aren’t called out or mocked, they assume they should go farther next time.
burnspbesq
@MikeJ:
This is for you.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/star-trek-miley-to-boldl-go-where-no-hooch-has-gone-before/
FlyingToaster
@Central Planning: WarriorGirl was only a few minutes late; she’d begged for another milk before bedtime and we gave in.
She only has orientation tomorrow, but starts Kindergarten on Wednesday; I share your pain.
We’re doing a dry run tomorrow to see if an hour is long enough to get ready to leave. Her preschool didn’t start until 9, and was only 3 minutes away, so she used to get up by 7:30. Grade school starts at 8:30 and is 15-20 minutes away, so we getting up at 7 and leaving at 8. We hope.
MomSense
@Gin & Tonic:
Reagan came on the teevee and told us that the Iranians had gassed the Kurds.
Amir Khalid
@MikeJ:
Bruce Springsteen released an album titled Wrecking Ball just last year. The E Street Band is still touring behind it.
MikeJ
@burnspbesq: I knew JJ Abrams was going to fuck it up.
Comrade Luke
Microsoft Buys Nokia For $7.1b.
Saw this one coming years ago. Elop will be the new CEO – book it.
Bobby Thomson
@piratedan:
The chemical weapons treaty does not obligate us to attack those who violate it (even assuming that it binds those who do not sign it). It does not even authorize us to do so.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid: I always felt like I should be one of His worshipers, but He just never got me the way He did other people. I always felt like this was my fault more than His. I know I ought to adore Him. Undeniably brilliant songwriting, rough gutsy vocals over virtuoso performance of the basic three chords and a six pack style of rock I love. Just never ignited my passion, and I feel bad about it.
Because of this, I’ll give Him a pass.
? Martin
@Comrade Luke: Pedantic, but they aren’t buying all of Nokia – just all the parts of Nokia that most people here would recognize. Nokia is keeping some of their networking and mapping business (which Europeans probably recognize). But yeah, Nokia is mostly hollowed out.
Elop as CEO would be a mistake, which probably means you’re right.
mdblanche
The targeted Google ads I get these days are almost more amusing than irritating. First I watch a couple of interesting Chinese music videos one day while browsing through YouTube and now half the ads I get are in Chinese. Then I look up some info on Mitch McConnell and the other half of the ads I get are turtle related.
Suzanne
New dishwasher cames today and it is awesome. However, the installers broke one of my floor tiles, leaving a nice sharp raised edge, right in front of the sink. Where I, uh, stand a lot. Did six loads of laundry. Scheduled my next exam. My house looks better. Didn’t finish with the kitchen cleaning, so I didn’t get to cooking yet. All in good time.
Comrade Luke
@? Martin: Yea, I know. But they’re licensing the parts they aren’t buying, so who knows what will happen in three more years.
Elop will be the next CEO; I’m hearing it was part of the deal.
BTW, this wasn’t part of “the plan”. Sure, there was an unspoken agreement that Nokia would adopt Windows Phone when Elop went there, but the merger/CEO thing wasn’t really part of it. After all, if it was a successful move, Nokia would have rebounded and Microsoft couldn’t afford to buy it to begin with.
The crazy thing is that Microsoft paid more for Skype – and aQuantive – than they will for Nokia.
Steeplejack
@MikeJ:
What you said. I recognize his greatness, but he never got to me personally. I still find “Born to Run” a little cringe-worthy: the over-the-top production plus (at the time) the unending hype of “He’s the second coming of rock ’n’ roll Jesus!”
I am a traitor to my generation.
seaboogie
@The Moar You Know: Great dogs should live forever, except that they seem to understand that all the keeping on keeping on gets old, eventually – and they have such grace and are all heart. My heart goes out to you and Mrs. Moar and your beloved companion.
MikeJ
@Comrade Luke: I’m a lot more concerned about what ValueAct is going to do to them.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Was it just a year ago Eric Cantor, IIRC, sent out a tweet urging us to remember teh job creators on Labor Day?
Steeplejack
Obsessively checking my Nook to see if the new Reacher novel is available yet. I preordered it, the pub date is September 3, and it is now September 3, both for me and the publishing-industry stooges in New York. Want!
Comrade Luke
@MikeJ: Probably not a whole lot; that board is iron-tight. BillG is still the big dog.
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Ditto Billy Joel.
? Martin
@Comrade Luke: Regardless of ‘the plan’ this was inevitable. Apple killed the OEM. Google bought Motorola and has been increasing their hardware rollout. Microsoft has now bought Nokia and has also increased hardware rollout against the PC vendors. Neither one is doing particularly well, but then the only OEM that is doing well is Samsung, and everyone expects them to either co-opt Android or build their own OS. HTC is building an OS just for the Chinese market (how many mobile operating systems have been promised and never went anywhere? Zillions.)
I imagine this will not turn out well. Google and Microsoft were never vertical companies, and it’s not an easy change to make. A full restructuring on top of that and a new CEO on top of that could either turn out awesome or disastrous.
ruemara
@The Moar You Know: Condolences to the whole Moar family and sweet passage to Moar Puppy. Watching Sister Wendy-Art of the Gospel, because I so adore her. I was looking through the listings but I realizes I have no idea anymore what the point is in that. I’m too experienced for entry level and moderate experienced work requires a better portfolio, youth, more knowledge with proof of work.I’ve got approximately 10 more months if all goes well, and I see no path to employment and a future. As such, I know my duty. This is like a long death sentence.
? Martin
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Yep. Workers, thank your betters for the scraps they toss you! Quite the labor day message.
eemom
@Steeplejack:
Seconded re Born to Run, and I was never any kind of worshipper either.
However, there IS a certain authenticity to his “gritty working man” persona (e.g., The River)…..and God knows his dissing of Chris Christie’s unrequited groupie-dom is itself worthy of sainthood.
Also too, must confess I did carefully photograph The Stone Pony from the boardwalk when visiting the Joisey shore earlier this summer.
Steeplejack
@eemom:
I like a lot of his music—“I’m on Fire” is a favorite that comes to mind right now—and every bar-band oldies cover that he does is exactly the stuff that my own imaginary bar band would do. But when he first came out the hype was relentless, and “Born to Run” was so overplayed that even if I had really liked it I would have hated it.
As I said, ditto Billy Joel and “Piano Man.” I still hate that song, and there is a lot less of Joel’s music that I like than Springsteen’s.
The prophet Nostradumbass
Fuckin’ AFSCME, the union that works for you.
trollhattan
@Steeplejack:
Naw, that just means you have taste.
Am personally stoked Sam Phillips’ new album is out, and Neco Case’s is on the way this week. Can’t wait.
BillinGlendaleCA
@The prophet Nostradumbass: So your kids don’t drink piss from the fuckin’ water fountain. Fuckin’ AFSCME
Comrade Luke
@? Martin:
Microsoft is in a terrible position*, in that they made their money on the back of OEMs, with no power over the hardware side. They were well aware of the race to the bottom, and weren’t on board with the philosophy, but the money was just too great. Now they have to try and go their own way, while at the same time trying to placate their hardware partners. This is how you get the abomination that is Surface. No rational player would have released two versions, and only sold them in their own stores, but they were terrified of vendor backlash.
I think Ballmer was a failure as a CEO, but he wasn’t an idiot. He knew what was happening; his mistake was to double down on the current model, and not adapt. At the end of the day, shareholders were Ballmer’s customer. He rode it as long as he could.
* this doesn’t include the enterprise, which is still printing money. If they could have used this revenue to fund a sea change within the company, but that’s not Ballmer’s way.
Jebediah
@The Moar You Know:
Condolences. I just went through this two weeks ago with Otto. Seeing it coming doesn’t make it any easier, I found. (Had Otto a quarter of my life.) Very sorry for what you are going through.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@BillinGlendaleCA: One of the cool things about that “ad” is that it’s a parody, but it’s not anti-union at all.
hamletta
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Well, I’m pretty sure it was made for an AFSCME meeting as an in-joke.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@hamletta: I had read about it somewhere else that it was a “joke reel” made at a TV station that also produced a real AFSCME ad.
BillinGlendaleCA
@hamletta: I think so, I’ve Fuckin’ seen it before.
hamletta
@The prophet Nostradumbass: I don’t fuckin’ think so. It’s too knowing of the important fuckin’ work that AFSCME workers do.
@BillinGlendaleCA: Fuckin’ A!
mai naem
@mdblanche: I got one today for legal advice for people trying to immigrate to Canada who have DUIs? Now, I’ve looked up immigrating to Canada for a friend but the DUI, I have no idea. I think I may have looked up a DUI when that Mormon senator got a DUI and I remember listening to the This American Life piece they did on some judge in Georgia who was putting people into real tough drug court programs.
Comrade Luke
@The Moar You Know: Good luck with this. I wish pets could live forever…
mai naem
@Comrade Luke: As much as I don’t like Microsoft and some of the stuff they’ve pulled over the years, I did see a comment from Dan Savage that Seattle is fucked big time economically if Microsoft fails.
Comrade Luke
@mai naem: Even if they “fail”, they will end up similar to IBM. I don’t see a huge downsizing. I’m torn on that. I’m a Seattleite, I worry about the impact on the economy. As an ex-Microsoftie, it’s sorely needed; they could easily cut 20% of the staff and not have it affect things. That’s how bad it is.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Comrade Luke: IBM have, over the last four years or so, laid off, in the US, the equivalent of about half of Microsoft’s US workforce.
There are probably too many commas in that sentence.
Comrade Luke
@The prophet Nostradumbass: Like I said, I think there is a lot of fat at MS. And if they got rid of all of it, it would be rough on Seattle. I doubt that would happen any time soon, though. And it wouldn’t all come in Seattle anyway.
eemom
@Steeplejack:
Seconded again…..Piano Man is way worse than Born to Run; a musical masterpiece of “I’m so great, let’s ALL suck my dick”-dom. (“And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar and say man, what are YOU doing here.”)
We should be careful though……the BlogLord loves him some “Bill Joel.”
: )
Suffern ACE
@eemom: so it would be ok for Miley to release an album called “Glass Houses” but you’re iffy on “Nebraska.”
? Martin
Meh. There’s too much talent inside of MS for it to have too much impact on the economy. They’ll form startups, businesses will open up offices there solely to soak up the good folks. There’s a decent sized tech industry already surrounding Redmond specifically for this reason.
Arclite
The blog was pretty much the Anne Laurie show today. Thanks Anne Laurie!
BillinGlendaleCA
@eemom: Then again, the BlogLord likes T&H.
Yatsuno
@BillinGlendaleCA: Only Allah knows why.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Yatsuno: And she ain’t talkin’.
currants
@different-church-lady: Loved it.
raven
Cokie is making bug eyes about how weak the president is and Joe is all over it. “The president is hiding behind congress”.
BillinGlendaleCA
@raven: Seems they’re all saying “He’s over his head, he has no consistent policy…”.
raven
@BillinGlendaleCA: Not all.
MomSense
@The Moar You Know:
I’m so sorry about your lab. We are going through the same thing here with ours. It has been a couple of months of barely eating and sleeping all the time and some unpleasant things.
Sending a hug to you and your wife.
JPL
McCain is going to be on CBS this Morning to bloviate. Morning Joe must be jealous, since he didn’t get the elder statesman.
Kay
@raven:
I heard a little of it on the way in. They’re more horrible than usual this morning.
Probably a smart career move, though. Presidents come and go, but the select members of Congress and pundits and DC people they talk to are there for decades.
I turned it off when she questioned whether it’s “fair” to ask Congress to deliberate and then vote. She sounds like Justice Scalia with the voting rights act. I’d love to know what they see as the role of Congress. I can’t imagine. Fundraising? Television appearances?
WereBear
@Bmaccnm: My first husband and I switched from commuting to NYC to working locally on Long Island. Traded high stress/high pay/long commute to shorter travel time and being around more for the daughter entering her teen years.
Some of the expense was commuting and fancier clothes and that went away, but we invested time instead of money in our hobbies to make up for the money hit. We realized we’d had a tendency to “work hard, play hard” to cope with the stress, and that was another saving.
Walker
@? Martin:
Knowing quite a bit about Samsungs design processes, it would be a disaster if they made their own OS.
Linda Featheringill
Apropos to absolutely nothing:
If you would like a morning chuckle:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/expresident/animals-who-are-extremely-disappointed-in-you
raven
@Kay: Where do you get to listen to it?
Kay
@raven:
In the car. I have satellite radio. I drive a lot. I work in three county courts and they’re spread out so although this office is 3 miles from house, I still drive a lot.
I’m glad they’re voting. I can listen to what Sherrod Brown and Marcy Kaptur have to say. I don’t know anything about foreign policy. I vaguely remember the legal framework; War Powers Act, treaties, UN, “norms” etc. but it isn’t what I read, generally.
raven
@Kay: Ah, I see. I am glad too.
SiubhanDuinne
@Linda Featheringill: Great photos, even greater captions! Thanks for the morning laughs.
raven
Luxembourg’s hopping heritage
Each year, on the Tuesday of Pentecost (a Christian religious festival), the hopping procession of Echternach (Iechternacher Sprangprëssioun) takes place in the medieval town centre of Echternach, the oldest city in Luxembourg.
jeffreyw
@Linda Featheringill: This kitteh is tired of your short jokes.
raven
And this:
“Syrian online activist The 47th says the Sky News report is correct and a press conference on the defection is planned for 5pm local time (3pm BST) in Istanbul. He says Abdel Tawwab Shahrou is “head of medical services in Assad’s chemical warfare branch” and also “head of Aleppo forensics”.
jeffreyw
@SiubhanDuinne: This puppeh saw what you did, there.
jeffreyw
Puppeh wants you to just let it go, Man. Just let it go.
Belafon
@? Martin: Why would you build your own OS when Android is only slightly more restrictive than BSD.
Suffern ACE
@raven: turn them off. They don’t represent us. The president should be hiding behind Congress. The people are opposed to this war and we are a democratic rebublic kind of and not some kind of punditocracy. The fact that this is unpopular should matter!
MomSense
@Kay:
Cocktail parties.
rikyrah
The Most Worker Friendly President Since FDR
Monday, September 02, 2013 | Posted by Spandan C at 12:38 PM
In his Labor Day message, the president once again renewed his call to raise the minimum wage, saying that no one who works full time in America should have to live in poverty.
Labor day isn’t just for bar-b-ques and a long weekend. Labor Day is the day we dedicate to people who are working hard for themselves, for their families, and for their communities. Things like the minimum wage, the 40-hour workweek, the right to a safe work environment, and even the weekend were all hard won victories by organized labor, while laws to protect workers from discrimination came when organized labor fought side by side with civil rights groups.
The labor movements proudest achievement in American history, without a doubt, is FDR’s New Deal, which continued progress with LBJ’s Great Society. But in the intervening years since then, corporate interests colluded with the country’s political leadership (when they didn’t collude, the corporate interests outright bought the political leadership) to try to walk that progress back.
Whether through “free trade” deals that globalized the rights of corporations but not the rights of workers, or through union busting, or through nefarious political strategies to make one group of American afraid that another group would take their crumbs – I mean, jobs – or through the Supreme Court’s absurd pronouncements that women couldn’t sue for pay discrimination, the basic fairness for American workers – and with it the great American middle class – seemed in danger.
The working folk of America needed a champion – we needed a fierce advocate, if you will. And we elected one in 2008. If by some miracle of happenstance, President Obama didn’t have to work twice as hard to get half the recognition, even from “liberals” in the media, it would be patently obvious to everyone that the man presently occupying the Oval Office is the most worker-friendly president since Franklin Roosevelt. Barack Obama is a president who has more than kept his word to always make the best decision for people who work for a living.
The first bill this president signed into law was the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, a law that reversed an injustice perpetrated by the Supreme Court that said that women couldn’t sue their employers for pay discrimination if they found out about the discrimination too late. It’s a bill the previous president had threatened to veto.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/2013/09/the-most-worker-friendly-president.html
Howard Beale IV
@The prophet Nostradumbass: It’s actually worse than that-especially over the years starting with Gerstner and continuiong on with Palmisamo.
Jebediah
@Linda Featheringill:
The last one is the perfect ending.
JW
Hallo!
I was a life-time union member.
I was wondering, how come the cubicle folk aren’t unionized? What?! You can’t tell me that none of ’em don’t have balls?
KS in MA
@different-church-lady: It described my situation precisely, and (hence) the music made me almost tear up. (I would have if I hadn’t become so hard-boiled in my job.) Where do I sign up? What union can I join?