This year I joined the National Writers Union, UAW Local 1981/AFL-CIO (NWU). I advocate for unions all the time, and this just puts the icing on the cake for me, but more than that, more than how it makes me feel, union membership joins us, arms linked, as we struggle to give our labor force the respect it deserves. (Yes, even those workers who rail against unions. We fight for them, too. Because who else will?)
As I do every Labor Day, I went looking for Labor Day mentions, and the first thing I found was a list of Labor Day quotes to use on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter. Hey! Great! But after reading a few of them I noticed a pattern: They were all about the rewards of hard work, the joys of labor, the shame of idleness. Nothing about unions AT ALL. On Labor Day.
It came from the International Business Times, and their lead paragraph is a study in how to say so little about organized labor you would think it never existed:
Labor Day is more than just a pseudo end to summer. Most Americans throughout the nation are off work on Monday, and that's because more than 100 years ago laborers were forced to work 12-hour days, seven days a week. While you kick back and relax with some delicious food and cold drinks, here are some interesting quotes social media users can share with family and friends, (etc., etc., etc.)
Enough said, apparently. What follows are 25 quotes from people like Maya Angelou, MLK, and Ginger Rogers. Work is good! Everybody should work!
And a little shame can't hurt, says Henry Ford in Quote #24: "Nobody can think straight who does not work. Idleness warps the mind."
But the last thought is the kicker--I think:
Bonus for the fashionistas: "Rules like 'don't wear white after Labor Day' or 'shoes matching the handbag' are antiquated. Modern women should feel free to experiment."
(Look, I just report these things, I shouldn't be expected to explain them, too.)
But Labor Day is traditionally a celebration of organized labor and a reminder of the sacrifices that came before. It's a union-invented holiday, celebrated by all workers everywhere, union or not.
As I write this, Joe Biden is giving his annual Labor Day speech in Pittsburgh, talking about how productivity went up about 73% while wages went up only 9%, and. . .
(What the hell? MSNBC just broke into his speech, saying they'll come back to it if he says something important. They're waiting for him to talk about a run for the presidency. Nothing else is important on this LABOR DAY.)
So guess what C-Span 2 put into their programming this morning--on LABOR DAY? "Gretchen Carlson on 'Getting Real. Fox New anchor Gretchen Carlson shares her life and career in 'broadcasting'." (Oh, honey, I wish I was kidding.)
News flash: MSNBC just cut off the president's LABOR DAY speech, too. CNN didn't cover it at all. As far as I know, the LABOR DAY speeches by POTUS and the Veep were not broadcast in their totality anywhere on television. If I'm wrong, please tell me. Unbelievable. (If it's not Trump, it's not news.)
But on to the better stuff. A round-up of Labor Day observances on this, our day:
Today was the day Chief Justice Roberts creeped out the Republicans by doing the unthinkable: He figured out a way to square the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with the constitution and gave it his okay (if not exactly his blessing). Such a donnybrook! The Dems couldn't believe it, but the Republicans couldn't believe it even more.
I won't be explaining the whole thing here, not because I can't (I really can't), but because every person with a keyboard has already weighed in on what it all means. But even though I didn't know exactly what was going on, I was on top of it all, even before the pundits on TV. At the very moment the decision came down, the supersmart bunch at SCOTUSblog were live-blogging from inside the courtroom, sending out the minute-by-minute news as it happened, ticker-tape style, and I have to tell you, I got goosebumps! Because there I was, in the loop, watching those guys on MSNBC having to wait until Pete Williams came outside to tell them what had gone on inside--which, ha! I already knew! (Click here for SCOTUSblog's simple explanation of what happened at the Supreme Court today. It'll explain everything. At least for today.)
Yes, it was quite a day The decision came down around 10:15 AM or thereabouts, and within minutes the screws began to come loose.
Both Fox and CNN jumped the gun and told their viewers Obamacare had been declared unconstitutional.
Petitions to impeach Chief Justice Roberts appeared and people came out of nowhere to sign the things. One petition got 124 signatures before it shut down, for reasons known only to the petitioners. Another one was at 28 signatures by 9 PM (including the ubiquitous Seemore Butts of Geneva, Il.), hoping for 1000 names by whenever.
Matthew Davis, a former GOP spokesman in Michigan wrote an email right after the decision that moved swiftly through the blogosphere, The Koch-fueled Mackinac Center published it on their CAPCON page (Michigan Capitol Confidential), along with some straight reporting that gave no indication of where they stand when it comes to (cough, gag, retch) Obamacare.
A Lansing-based civil rights attorney who has held positions with
the Michigan Republican Party and Department of Corrections, questioned
in a widely distributed email today whether armed rebellion was
justified over the Supreme Court ruling upholding Obamacare.
Matthew Davis sent the email moments after the Supreme Court ruling
to numerous new media outlets and limited government activists with the
headline: “Is Armed Rebellion Now Justified?”
He stressed that he wasn't calling for armed rebellion but added his
own personal note to the email, saying, “… here’s my response. And yes, I
mean it.”
He said he was writing with an "eye toward asking at what point the Republic is in peril."
“There are times government has to do things to get what it wants and
holds a gun to your head," Davis said. "I’m saying at some point, we
have to ask the question when do we turn that gun around and say no and
resist.
"Was the American Revolution justified?”
Davis said the key word was “justified,” adding that a peaceful
resolution toward changing the law is the goal. He said rebellion often
is the end result of people who get backed against a wall and wondered
when that might occur when it comes to the Obamacare ruling.
Michael Savage offered up the reason Roberts voted the way he did: It was his epilepsy medication. Yeah. That's the ticket.
I swear, the weirdest thing going last week was the Tea Party debate hosted by Ted Turner's brainchild gone wild. (When I heard that the once-venerable CNN was going to give free air-time and thus a large dose of credibility to yet another crazy bunch hell-bent on taking back every single right and privilege afforded us by hundreds of years worth of struggle by our more forward-thinking ancestors, this is what I said out loud: "Waaaaaahhhhhtt??" (Most people I know uttered a variation of WTF??? but it was all I could muster. Trying to save an ungrateful country is exhausting.)
I admit I went into a deep funk over it for a while. I did. I sent out dozens of 140-character Tweets that were nothing more than pathetic variations of "Waaaaahhhhhtt??" (or WTF, if you lean that way.)
But then I read Bob Cesca's HuffPo piece on it and I had to laugh a little. I especially liked this part:
I'm not sure if CNN knows it, but nearly everyone across the political
spectrum thought the CNN presentation of the debate was ridiculously
self-satirical -- a laughing stock only rivaled by the Fox News debate
several weeks ago. It's almost as if the producers and planners were
deliberately attempting to air something that Jon Stewart would
definitely mutilate the following night (he did).
(Worth the read, too, for what he says after this: "Whether it's print or broadcast news, the press is the only industry
specifically named in the Bill of Rights, preserving for history the
founding mandate that the press remain independent and unconstrained as a
means of checking government power. Consequently, an unrivaled degree
of integrity is required to fulfill that mandate.") Then, only yesterday,I came across this post by Andy Borowitz, called "Rabid Dog Briefly Mistaken for Tea Party Candidate". I laughed until the tears came, and it was just the lift I needed until I crashed again, remembering how hysterical I got at the crazy notion of someone like George W. Bush becoming president of anything.
Beware of Granddaughters with access to YouTube: OMG, Bruce and Esther, I HAVE to do this!
(Warning: Do not watch this while eating or drinking. Cover your keyboard and any other sensitive electronic components within spitting distance. Okay. NOW.)
(Note: If you read this you'll find they're okay with it. They were shocked at first, but you just know they're having fun with it now.)
I love this story. When Hurricane Irene washed out mountain roads in rural Vermont, teachers were shocked when kids from the far side of the mountain got off the bus as if it were just another day. It happened like this:
When Vermont roads were washed out by Hurricane Irene,33 schoolkids
made it to school from the other side of the mountain. Their families
had discovered a half-mile-long forest path that they
could walk, from Route 4 across the mountain to their school bus. At
first, the woods were still and unsettling. “My hands shaked a little
bit,” said Jillian Bradley, a second grader.
But as Sophia Hussack, another second grader said, “Since Vermont got
hit by the storm, people think we couldn’t, but we do.” And what
townspeople do and have done is a thing to behold: they have taken that
quiet trail and in two weeks’ time turned it into the I-95 of wooded
paths. More than a 1,000 people a day now walk it to get to their jobs
and go food shopping on the other side. So many cars line Helvi Hill,
the dirt road leading to the path on this side, that handwritten no
parking signs have been posted to make sure the road stays passable.
I love to get a glimpse of the places where writers write. I never get tired of picturing them sitting in their spaces doing what they do. Plush or sparse? Window or no window? Hard or soft chair? Tablet, typewriter or new-fangled electronics? Chatchkes or no? Over in Buckinghamshire, they're trying to preserve Roald Dahl's hut. It's a good, good thing.
Those Magic Moments: Mysterious paper sculptures are appearing in libraries in Edinburgh, Scotland. The gorgeous works of paper art were produced by cutting up old books (which, okay, gives me the shivers) and were then placed on library desks without anyone being the wiser. Notes of thanks accompany them, giving the libraries credit for creating an environment where books are treasures and reading is a gift. What a loving thought.
(Thanks to my daughter, Sue, for sending this to me. I surely would have missed it.)
Yesterday morning I heard Dick Armey tell Kiran Chetry and John Roberts three of the biggest, bald-faced lies I ever heard and when he was finished, I heard Kiran and John thank him for coming, and off he went, lies intact and embedded nicely, no questions asked. This is what he said:
Lie #1:
"Nearly every important office in DC is occupied by someone with an aggressive dislike for our heritage, our freedom, our history and our constitution"
Kiran Chetney (to her credit): "Do you really believe that?"
Lie #2:
"Absolutely. I don't have a doubt about it. I've lived with liberals all my life. Liberals simply don't have appreciation and respect for America."
Lie #3:
"Today if you are a Christian Scientist and you do not sign up for Medicare you lose your Social Security. Nobody put that into law. Where did that come from? It came from their pure audacity and their need to be in charge. So you take a person who, by religious conviction, has never attended a physician in his entire life and will never intend to do so, and you say you must sign up for this government program and if you don't you lose your life savings which you were forced to put into a bad program in the first place. Now are you telling me that's respect for our freedom? That is an audacity of control."
The first two are flat out lies, the third is a blatant fudging of the truth, formulated and propagated by Freedom Works, the anti-government Tea Party headquarters. Their leader monologued it long enough that either Kiran or John would have had plenty of time to step in--ala Maddow--and ask where the hell that was coming from. But they didn't. They smiled---rather uncomfortably, I'll give them that--and let the lie go on to live another day.
The truth is this: Medicare rules have not changed since they were enacted in 1965. Everyone on Social Security has to sign up for Medicare when they turn 65. Armey is right about that. But he would like us to believe this is something new and audacious. It's suddenly "Obamacare". It's not. It's not new to Christian Scientists, either. They know all about Medicare and offer clear guidelines on their website for applying for and using it. The government-run program is accepted in most of their facilities. Christian Scientists pay into and take advantage of Medicare just like almost everyone else. Their people get old, too--and without Medicare (or government paid Cadillac plans) they would be up a creek--or out on an ice floe along with the rest of us.
Why is Dick Armey so opposed to important government programs like Social Security and Medicare? Why is he making such a case for shutting them down when so many people in this country benefit from them? Last year he even went so far as to attempt to sue the government for "forcing" him to accept Medicare. In an article published in the the Washington Examiner, May 22, 2009, he said (emphasis mine),
"Medicare and Social Security trustees on May 12 painted a grim, but not surprising picture of the failing financial health of two entitlement programs. Social Security will be insolvent by 2016, a year earlier than predicted just last year; Medicare by 2017, two years earlier than last year’s forecast.
So why are the Department of Health and Human Services and Social Security Administration fighting tooth and nail to prevent a handful of seniors – including yours truly – from opting out of Medicare Part A, the costly hospital insurance program?
Having some percentage of seniors pay for their own hospitalization coverage would seem like a gift to the cash-strapped Medicare program. From a financial standpoint, the more seniors who choose this option the better.
But the government will have no part of it. Why? Perhaps because doing so could undermine the push for universal health care.
If the government allows us to exercise our legal right to pay privately for medical care, Washington also will have to allow other seniors to decide whether they want Part A coverage or private coverage. And this is the exact opposite of the direction the administration wants to go."
So, fine. A handful of seniors want to pay their own darned way, thank you very much! Why that is, nobody seems to know, when they've already paid into Social Security and Medicare, and when they're assured of a certain amount of paid coverage, but if Armey and his little army want to do it, I say--let 'em.
But shouldn't somebody let his straggling army know WHY they're fighting so hard against Medicare? Do they know who their leader really is? A former lobbyist for pharmaceutical companies. A fine gent whose company, DLA Piper, raked in upwards of 6 million dollars from medical interests from 2005 to 2009. An upstanding citizen whose company lobbies for a dizzying number of dubious interests not particularly keen on cozying up to the government or helping out the little guy. That's who Dick Armey is.
Today I watched a video clip showing some of Dick Armey's fine, upstanding Tea Partiers harassing a man sitting on the ground. The man has Parkinson's Disease, but is out there working hard for health care for everybody. They had to bend down to get in his face. One of the white-shirts threw dollar bills at him. Someone in the background shouted "Communist!" He sat quietly throughout it all, not because he knows his place, but because he knows he's right.
I want that man on the ground to know how much I appreciate what he's doing. I want him to know that the video of his harassment is going to go as viral as the video of the Tienanmen Square student facing down the tanks.
And I want him to know I found integrity and honesty. They were sitting on the ground beside him.
It's fashionable these days among the politicians, pundits and so-called experts to claim that free trade is actually good for us. They say it enables us to buy cheaper goods made with cheap foreign labor and this, in turn, raises our standard of living. With all due respect, the free traders need to ask themselves a more fundamental question: how will Americans buy those goods when they don't even have a paycheck that covers their mortgage, much less the college tuition for their children?
Virg Bernero, Mayor, Lansing, MI
Virg Bernero is my new hero. The mayor of Lansing, Michigan is taking the message of the American laborer and shoving it so tightly down the throats of the pundits, they're getting bilious just thinking about him.
When they began inviting him onto their shows last fall to talk about the prospects of a Big Three bailout, they thought they were dealing with the biggest yokel on the planet. This'll be fun! You could see it in the smirks on their faces, in their sit-back-and-laugh postures, in their questions meant to provoke rather than inform. Outside of Ron Gettelfinger, the president of UAW, (I'm elevating him to hero status, too), who the heck would be out there speaking FOR labor these days? And who in their right mind would do it on, of all places, Fox News?
Well, it turns out that Virg would--every chance he got--and once he was on a roll, nobody was going to shut him up. In November he sparred with Neil Cavuto twice in three days.
In December he did it again, caling the Auto Companies "the most patriotic companies in America". Virg says when all the other companies were shipping their jobs overseas, the American auto companies stayed in America. It's true--to a point. They have shipped some jobs overseas, just not as many. But can we talk about this? Apparently not. See how quickly he's bid a fond adieu by the interviewers.
Here he spends some quality time with some of the folks at CNN--John Roberts, Ali Velshi, Ciran Chetry and Christine Romans--all apparent experts on what this country needs to get going again.
Ali Velshi to Virg: ". . .It's the fact that things are made more cheaply in other parts of the world, which has, in a lot of cases, helped many Americans in their standard of living. They've been able to buy cheaper goods."
Virg: "I disagree vehemently. . ." (It was early in the interview. Virg hadn't gotten his steam up.)
Virg, picking up speed: "I'm tired of hearing the American worker being beat up upon, and people told you need to be more competitive; you need to be more competitive. What they're really talking about is 'cut your wages, cut your benefits, work for nothing, like some peasant somewhere else in the world'. Well, I'm sorry--I'm tired of the American standard of living brought down to the lowest common denominator. We need fair trade agreements fairly enforced."
Christine Romans, using the tired 'some people say' tactic , said: "You will hear from a lot of decision makers that manufacturing is very 20th century and this is a service economy and that we have to innovate and we have to come up with the next thing that's going to move the economy forward. How does that square with Michigan and its labor base?"
Lordy, did she really say that? Yes, Virg heard it, too, but to his credit, given the condescension dripping from her tongue, he remembered what his mother taught him about being polite to women--even silly women--and gave Ms. Romans way more nice than she deserved.
"With all due respect," Virg said, "That--what you just said--I've heard it before. I'm not saying this about you. . . "
Okay. With that out of the way, he wasted no time in getting back on track:
". . .But that is absolute bull. That has been perpetrated by Wall Street. The idea that you can be a service economy. . .What are you servicing? How can you service. . . What are you going to serve? Hamburgers? That is total, utter nonsense that Wall Street has been spewing for years. That's part of the unholy alliance. We need manufacturing in this country. Manufacturing is at the apex of the economy. When you give up manufacturing, you are giving up your future."
That interview was on February 6. I don't know where else Virg has been since then, but just the other day (February 18) he finally quit sparring and went for the jugular, totally obliterating Fox News's Greg Jarrett, who just wanted to know why the unions shouldn't go ahead and give their concession speeches already and get out of Big Business's hair.
Oh, that Virg! He has to talk fast, and he has to talk straight, because it may not be long before the air waves are closed to him forever. You can't have pro-labor people out there making too much sense.
The interesting thing about the Bernero blitz is that those talking points are nothing new. It's a conversation that has gone on in every labor family, ever since unions began surfacing in the early part of the 20th Century. During the Reagan years, when the systematic undermining of labor unions began to get serious, the conversations grew hot and heavy, but, outside of the interested few, nobody else cared.
Along with watching the government-condoned slow but sure destruction of our labor unions, most of the country sat passively still while Big Business thumbed their noses at good old American Can-Do and Know-How by moving major chunks of our formerly vibrant manufacturing base outside our borders. A precious few protested when millions of jobs were outsourced and lost to Americans on the strength of wage packages alone. For years it was okay by us (you, that is) that millions of American wage-earners took home smaller paychecks and forfeited better benefits so that the Fat Cats who owned the businesses could live the life-styles of Sultans and Kings.
This is what happened because of it: Our economy has collapsed in ways we couldn't have even imagined a mere eight years ago, on Inaugural Day, 2000.
We're in a protracted war brought on by hubris and greed, and encouraged by stupidity.
We owe our souls to our national credit company, communist China, and we can't pay them back because we don't make anything anymore.
Health care costs are going through the roof while health care benefits are a thing of the past for many, many millions.
Our food, our water, our very air isn't safe.
We're slowly selling off our natural resources to the highest bidder because we can't afford to keep them anymore.
And hundreds of thousands of American citizens are losing their jobs every month. (That's every month.)
So this shouldn't come as a surprise to anybody, given the sorry state of our nation, but the Fat Cat glory days are over. You'll be getting no more sacrificial lambs from what's left of our puny work force. Even the workers in the south are finally waking up to the con game called "low wages and no benefits are good for me and you--especially me".
In order to build an essential, strong labor force in this country, we need labor activists to combat the still mighty hold of the greedy Kings of Commerce who would rather see our nation destroyed than give up their thrones.
People like Virg Bernero and Ron Gettelfinger and, occasionaly, Barack Obama, understand the important role labor needs to play in order to bring us back to prosperity. We need good jobs that pay well in order to get back to spending again. (People without money don't buy things. I'm just saying, because some people still don't get it.)
On the campaign trail Barack Obama said, loud and clear, "I believe we have to reverse many of the policies toward organized labor that we have seen over the past eight years, policies with which I have sharply disagreed." and "You cannot have a strong middle class without a strong labor movement."
Hold him to that. Labor doesn't have a chance if it doesn't organize. "Solidarity Forever" isn't just a song. It's a battle cry again.
