Duty to Warn
It is the 100th Birthday of Woody Guthrie, the true folk hero, the epitome of the Beatles’ “working Class Hero,” a really true American hero (a description that Woody would no doubt despise). Born in Okemah, Oklahoma on July 12, 1912, named after his father’s favorite politician, Woodrow Wilson, Woody was born into and was a product of that rough and tumble time and place.
Well known as the author of “This Land is Your Land,” “Dust Bowl Blues,” “Hard Traveling,” “Talking Columbia” and so many more songs of and for poor folks, beaten down and fighting back in the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Woody was that, and so much more! We today know Woody as the fighting troubadour that traveled with the Dust Bowl “Okies,” forced off their farms by greedy banksters, fighting and singing with striking workers, memorializing the Grand Coolie Dam , and traveling, singing for the Merchant Marines in the Atlantic. In all of that, we know and are inspired by Woody’s life, but only 200 of the over 3,000 songs that Woody wrote were ever published.
Well known as the author of “This Land is Your Land,” “Dust Bowl Blues,” “Hard Traveling,” “Talking Columbia” and so many more songs of and for poor folks, beaten down and fighting back in the Great Depression of the 1930’s, Woody was that, and so much more! We today know Woody as the fighting troubadour that traveled with the Dust Bowl “Okies,” forced off their farms by greedy banksters, fighting and singing with striking workers, memorializing the Grand Coolie Dam , and traveling, singing for the Merchant Marines in the Atlantic. In all of that, we know and are inspired by Woody’s life, but only 200 of the over 3,000 songs that Woody wrote were ever published.
“Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We’ve been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned on by public opinion and deceived by politicians. But, not withstanding all of these, organized labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of its realization as the setting of the sun!”
Eugene Debs, 1910
I know, but it’s really tough now!
Eugene Debs, 1910
I know, but it’s really tough now!
When Gov. Rick Scott's (R-FL) administration distributed
its controversial lists of possible non-citizen voters
last month, state statute required the state's 67 county
supervisors of elections to send out letters requiring
those voters to prove their eligibility to vote within
30 days - a window that will end in the next couple of
weeks in many counties. But a ThinkProgress survey of
several county supervisors in Florida reveals that the
lists of presumed non-eligible voters is riddled with
errors. In large and small jurisdictions across the
state, supervisors have found that a large number of the
voters on the list are indeed eligible voters.
Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall told ThinkProgress that she and the state's 66 other county elections supervisors sent a "clear message" to the Scott administration at a Tampa conference two weeks ago. "One after another, [they] got up and talked about inaccuracies [in the state's voter purge list of alleged non-citizen voters]."
Volusia County Supervisor of Elections Ann McFall told ThinkProgress that she and the state's 66 other county elections supervisors sent a "clear message" to the Scott administration at a Tampa conference two weeks ago. "One after another, [they] got up and talked about inaccuracies [in the state's voter purge list of alleged non-citizen voters]."
Benjamin Franklin, who used his many talents to become a wealthy man, famously said that the only things certain in life are death and taxes. But if you’re a corporate CEO in America today, even they can be put on the back burner – death held at bay by the best medical care money can buy and the latest in surgical and life extension techniques, taxes conveniently shunted aside courtesy of loopholes, overseas investment and governments that conveniently look the other way.
In a story headlined, “For Big Companies, Life Is Good,” The Wall Street Journal reports that big American companies have emerged from the deepest recession since World War II more profitable than ever: flush with cash, less burdened by debt, and with a greater share of the country’s income. But, the paper notes, “Many of the 1.1 million jobs the big companies added since 2007 were outside the U.S. So, too, was much of the $1.2 trillion added to corporate treasuries.”
In a story headlined, “For Big Companies, Life Is Good,” The Wall Street Journal reports that big American companies have emerged from the deepest recession since World War II more profitable than ever: flush with cash, less burdened by debt, and with a greater share of the country’s income. But, the paper notes, “Many of the 1.1 million jobs the big companies added since 2007 were outside the U.S. So, too, was much of the $1.2 trillion added to corporate treasuries.”
One of the four Democrats vying for the new U.S. House seat created by Republican redistricting, Kilroy last week joined a gathering of about 70 people as they marked in protest the second anniversary of the US Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. As she spoke, several activists with Occupy Columbus used the ‘People’s Mic’ to question her populist bonafides.
Cruz Bonlarron read from a crumpled piece of paper and several others with him repeated what he said, one phrase after the other. This was the total message of their repeat-backs; some parts of it were hard to discern even for someone standing nearby, so later Banlarron read it again for me :
Click on the link to go to the WCRS site and listen to the latest "Unconscious Voices" radio program featuring Bob Fitrakis and Harvey Wasserman. Produced by Tom Over, Robb Ebright, Josh Paulson and Joey Pigg.
Radio Show link
Radio Show link
The Robert Jackson Steering Committee, a group of lawyers and journalists founded to uphold the principles of the Nuremberg Trials, is urging the Department of Justice to proceed with trying Khalil Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) and other suspected 9/11 terrorists in federal criminal court, and not in military commissions.
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Committee enumerates several substantial problems with military commissions:
(1) Admissibility of statements following torture in certain circumstances,
(2) Evidence derived from impermissible interrogation methods is not barred,
(3) Evidence seized outside the US without search warrants is not excluded,
(4) The accused is entitled to one "reasonably available" defense counsel,
(5) No mention of the attorney-client privilege,
(6) In a capital case, the accused is entitled to additional counsel "to the greatest extent practicable",
(7) Ex post facto law may be applied,
(8) No right to speedy trial,
(9) Trials may be closed to public,
(10) Conviction by two thirds of jurors rather than unanimity,
In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, the Committee enumerates several substantial problems with military commissions:
(1) Admissibility of statements following torture in certain circumstances,
(2) Evidence derived from impermissible interrogation methods is not barred,
(3) Evidence seized outside the US without search warrants is not excluded,
(4) The accused is entitled to one "reasonably available" defense counsel,
(5) No mention of the attorney-client privilege,
(6) In a capital case, the accused is entitled to additional counsel "to the greatest extent practicable",
(7) Ex post facto law may be applied,
(8) No right to speedy trial,
(9) Trials may be closed to public,
(10) Conviction by two thirds of jurors rather than unanimity,
There is a saying that there is nothing wrong with being knocked down, but it is when it becomes more comfortable being down than getting back up it is time to give up. For several decades, the American workers keeps getting knocked down as corporation after corporation move good, middle class jobs to third-world companies claiming poverty, even at a time when companies are reaching record profits. But the Whirlpool workers at the Evansville, Indiana plant, along with over 5,000 other working Americans, stood back up and decided they don't want to be knocked down anymore.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
"Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country's desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don't help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
A rally hosted by the IUE-CWA and led by AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka took place Friday, Feb. 26 with a simple message: The American Middle Class is being eroded by corporate greed.
"Whirlpool is a bad corporate citizen who is twisting this country's desire to reduce energy usage and using it to export jobs. We are pushing hard to ensure that good intentions on going green don't help fund loss of good manufacturing jobs," said IUE-CWA President Jim Clark.
I recently joined a group of activists who traveled across the state to protest Dr. Larry James' “Psychology of Terrorism Executive Workshop” at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. Col. Larry James was Chief Psychologist of the Joint Intelligence Group and a senior member of the Behavioral Science Consultation Team (BSCT), from 2003 to 2007. For most of the critical torture years of 2003 and 2004, James reported to Major General Geoffrey Miller. Miller was transferred from Guantanamo to Iraq to take over administration of the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad, from which stories and pictures of U.S. torture emerged in 2004. Send Comments
Greetings to everyone,
34 years. It doesn't even sound like a real number to me. Not when one really thinks about being in a jail cell for that long. All these years and I swear, I still think sometimes I'll wake up from this nightmare in my own bed, in my own home, with my family in the next room. I would never have imagined such a thing. Surely the only place people are unjustly imprisoned for 34 years is in far away lands, books or fairy tales.
It's been that long since I woke up when I needed to, worked where I wanted to, loved who I was supposed to love, or did what I was compelled to do. It's been that long-long enough to see my children have grandchildren. Long enough to have many of my friends and loved ones die in the course of a normal life, while I was here unable to know them in their final days.
34 years. It doesn't even sound like a real number to me. Not when one really thinks about being in a jail cell for that long. All these years and I swear, I still think sometimes I'll wake up from this nightmare in my own bed, in my own home, with my family in the next room. I would never have imagined such a thing. Surely the only place people are unjustly imprisoned for 34 years is in far away lands, books or fairy tales.
It's been that long since I woke up when I needed to, worked where I wanted to, loved who I was supposed to love, or did what I was compelled to do. It's been that long-long enough to see my children have grandchildren. Long enough to have many of my friends and loved ones die in the course of a normal life, while I was here unable to know them in their final days.