Open Thread – Finest Worksong
A little Labor Day weekend music from the mighty REM. Stay safe, have fun, and remember to thank a union and remember those who had the bravery to organize.
The time to rise has been engaged
You’re better best to rearrange
I’m talking here to me alone
I listen to the finest worksong
Your finest hour
Your finest hour
Another chance has been engaged
To throw Thoreau and rearrange
You are following this time
I beg you not beg to rhyme (blow your horn)
Your finest hour (blow your horn)
Your finest hour
Take your instinct by the reins
Your better best to rearrange
What we want and what we need
Has been confused, been confused (blow your horn)
Your finest hour (blow your horn)
Your finest hour
Take your instinct by the reins
Better best to rearrange
What we want and what we need
Has been confused, been confused (blow your horn)
Your finest hour (blow your song)
Your finest hour (blow your horn)
Your finest hour (blow your song)
Your finest hour
That was one great article. What I learned is that we have to speak up, speak up, speak up.
As you may know (I posted about it in The Forum), there’s a new book about union songwriter (among many other things), Joe Hill.
http://themanwhoneverdied.com/
He was framed for a murder he didn’t commit, because Utah bosses wanted him dead, and discredited. He famously wrote to his union pals before his execution, “Don’t waste time mourning. Organize.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/27/us/27hill.html?_r=2&hp&pagewanted=all&src=ISMR_HP_LI_LST_FB for the NY Times’ review. Happy Labor Day.
PRAYER REQUEST
I have a prayer request. There is a lady I’ve know forever. She’s very sick. On top of that, she’s being abused by those she has given everything to. Lies about her abound, and seem to come from all sides. Just breaks my heart. Seems there’s nothing I can do alone. But maybe, if we join in and lift her up together we can heal her. She’s well over 200 years old, but way too young to die.
Her name is America… and I love her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQGFmEbuJOY
joining hands with you
If we get enough mudpups, we can all join hands and get Crow Woman to lead us us the Hora!
Or I’ll grab Bear Woman and we can dance the Greek Syrtaki. Can anyone play Hava Nagila or
Zorba the Greek?
Oy, vey, No-Longer-Tropical-Whatever Lee!
Stay off the roads, folks, if you possibly can.
Flash flood watch until 8 pm. 8″ of rain or more expected here.
No worries in the forest, well out of the flood plain with good drainage and an adequate elevation above sea level. Trees are drinking deeply, the pond is full.
High wind watch until this evening, with gusts 30-50 mph.
Tornado watch until 4 pm, so we’ll be unplugged, but the weather radio is charged and monitoring, and we’ll keep a weather eye (and ear) to the sky.
Forecast Tuesday: sunny and 85.
I’m spending part of my Labor Day cleaning up my Union files.
It’s a new school year,
with a new employee evaluation system (carefully crafted to fit Race to the Top criteria),
and proposed changes to our health insurance plan (despite drastic changes last year),
and staggering budget cuts impacting resources and programs and services.
How do I make the most of what I’ve got?
and how do I help others do the same?
*rolling up my sleeves*
DH Happy made a pot of red beans and rice yesterday.
Leftovers, anyone?
Pete Seeger and the Weavers
Solidarity Forever
(with old photographs from US Labor Movement history)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYiKdJoSsb8
and Leonard Cohen’s slower sing-along version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jsQEwW4DVw&feature=related
Stay safe.
L’Chaim! To Life!
thatcrowwoman
FEA, NEA-AFT, AFL-CIO
*Waving* to you from Colorado- 29+ years CO-NEA member… now retired but will never forget the importance of teachers to our country’s future.
the first carpenters union was in nome in 1907 till 1910 then there was one in anchorage 1916 to 1920 . still fighting the good fight my brothers .
Which side are you on boys?
Which side are you on?
I think that is a Pete Seeger union ballad. There are many many others.
I am a little shocked that there is not more reaction to the telling write up
I made reference to earlier. This is the word from the horse’s mouth so to
speak. We should heed it. Truth can be harsh, but its value is unmeasured.
LaniN brought the same piece to the end of yesterday’s open thread, Michele, one L, this morning.
It is a rather extraordinary piece. I hope it generates conversation when folks have time to read it as well.
Pi… 5 days and counting until trip starts !!!
Will be fun! you start from Seattle?
YUP !!! If I don’t get stuck on the Space Needle thingy,,,,,
Stay away from those big city temptations!
The Inside Passage awaits!
http://wildernesspeaks.photoshelter.com/gallery/Alaskas-Inside-Passage/G0000RjkGpQWAmXk/
benny and his blossom on holiday!
Have a lovely time and safe home, eh?
KN… LaniN posted it yesterday on Miichele with a L… 21.2 I promised myself I wouldn’t rant today, as I did THREE yesterday
Well- you are way behind my 5 so get crackin!
rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant,rant…takes deep breath….rant,rant,rant,rnat,rant,rant!!!
oh pffft.
no rant is worth it’s weight unless it has 12 exclamation marks…
roflmao!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and I STILL can’t get on chatroom !!
The truthout.org article was previously posted on the last blog entry as well as on the forum. Also, too, a lot of mudpups are away this weekend.
Oops, just saw that others had posted the same thing. The article is very important for people to read. For me, it just confirmed what I’ve been seeing and hearing – albeit in a very cohesive and articulate (and depressing) manner. Sadly, the people who should read it, won’t.
great article…read it earlier and agree that the ‘horse’s mouth’ finally says what many of us have been thinking all along.
love that Pete Seeger union song–thanks for reminding me of it—I’m listening to him sing it on youtube.com as I type…(smile)
Here are some heartwarming pictures of the President greeting people in Newark, NJ as he arrives to tour the areas damaged by Irene. The pics of the little boy are just adorable.
http://theobamadiary.com/2011/09/04/newark/
Clearly, the residents of Patterson are quite excited to see the President, too.
http://theobamadiary.com/2011/09/04/paterson-new-jersey/
Awwwwwwwww! Warms the cockles of my heart (whatever they are
)
It always makes me smile to see this President interact with the people, particularly kids! He is good for my heart.
that was great! like Forty Watt and Vyccan my cockles are warmed and i have a smile on my face.
http://unionsong.com/u061.html
“Don’t count me out
When I’m on the floor
We’ll win again
We’ve won before
The streets will ring
With a mighty roar
‘Cause you can’t break me!”
dang straight! we will win. we will not be broken. wake up America.
Double dang straight!
My MIL wrote the family a little email this morning on the history of Labour Day (as we spell it up here in Canada) reminding us of the origination of the holiday and what it is that we are celebrating. I’m going to copy the pertinent facts here, leaving out the personal family history stuff that was added after. (although it is nice to have a reminder of what ones family personally had at stake during those days).
Hurrah for Labour Day weekend! (Canada started the holiday in North America!)
Labour Day in Canada has its origin in a printers’ strike of 1872. Union activity was officially illegal at the time. Working conditions were harsh & the work week was 10-12 hours (or longer!) per day, six days a week. The ‘Nine-Hour Movement’ began in Hamilton, Ontario in January 1872 & spread to Montreal, Toronto & elsewhere. After a push for shorter workweeks was dismissed by employers, the Toronto Typographical Union went on strike.
George Brown, political rival of PM John A Macdonald & owner/editor of the Toronto Globe, called for charges against unions for criminal conspiracy to disrupt trade. Police arrested and jailed 24 leaders of the Union. But the arrests caused public outrage & made Brown extremely unpopular.
The following month, a parade was organized for April 14 by the Toronto Trades Assembly to demand abolition of the law against trade unions & the release of the imprisoned union leaders. Two thousand
workers from 27 unions marched thru the city of Toronto, attracting sympathetic crowds until numbers swelled to 10,000 by the time the parade reached government offices at Queen’s Park.
In September of that year, members of seven Ottawa unions marched in a mile-long parade to the home of the PM. Realizing the unpopularity of the law criminalizing trade unions, Macdonald declared his government would abolish it, repealing it later that year of 1872.
Celebration of the strike became an annual event in spring, with Labor Day declared an official holiday in Canada in 1894 & a federal holiday in the U.S. the same year. The Central Labor Union of New York first celebrated Labor Day in the U.S. ten years later in 1882 & it became a federal holiday after the deaths of striking railroad workers earlier that year. The first Monday in September was chosen by both nations to avoid association with May Day celebrations of International Workers’ Day in Europe.
So celebrate, have a good time, but take a moment to remember, especially in this time of attacks once again on Unions across America, exactly what it is that we are celebrating and give thanks to those who came before and fought for the right to Have Unions.
oh my- it’s Sunday . Where’s Erin?
Agh.Thought I’d come from work to another chapter…Agh.
This may be appropriate here for labor day given the present state of affairs in the U.S. I came across it in more than one place but had difficulty reading it on my primitive system, I hope it is easier to access for others here.
http://www.truth-out.org/goodbye-all-reflections-gop-operative-who-left-cult/1314907779
Wow! That was long read but I’ve never before seen someone tie so many pieces together to explain so many puzzlements I’ve never been able to understand. Thanks KN!
Thanks KN,that was an interesting read. I have been offering up the possibility to commenters on AP and Reuters news stories that if there really is a god,he/she/it would surely smite blasphemers Perry and Bachmann with their own jawbones. I am sure that the political right will trot out their favorite cliche-he’s a disgruntled ex-whatever and that will be the extent of their comments.
Thanks for posting, KN. Many of us have read it already (I’m on TruthOut’s email list, and it was the first article I clicked on from the newsletter). Now, how do we get it out to the low-information voter? That’s the real challenge.
We were lucky to see a film about the Reuther brothers at the Traverse City Film Festival. The film is in the final phase of editing now and was made by a Reuther grandson. At the end of the film during a question-and-answer period, I was surprised by the comments of many, including American history teachers, about how they had never learned any of the story of the beginnings of the labor movement. Even teachers from the Detroit area!
Seeing the film made me think of a photo that we have, somewhere in our house, of my father and other UAW local members with Walter Reuther. It also reminded me of the occasional Saturday afternoons my sister and I spent at the UAW local while our father did union work. There was a big blackboard and we drew and played “hangman” and later enjoyed ice cream cones and the latest Donald Duck or Little Lucy comic book from the little store on the ground floor.
I have always had great respect for unions. We should all keep in mind that Walter Reuther suggested to GM in the early 1950’s that they should work together to get universal health care so the companies would not be too burdened with worker health care costs. Another moment in labor history when GM made the wrong decision!
Happy Labor Day, everyone! Say “thank you” to a union member!
“Let us realize that the privilege to work is a gift, that power to work is a blessing, that love of work is success.” – David O. McKay
Happy Labor Day Weekend my Mudpups.
privilege to work ???
i find that hard to swallow.
Not everyone who wants to work is able too, maybe they have a disability or disease that prevents them from working. If I am healthy and able to work and they are not then yes I feel I am privileged, that is where the gift part comes in.
You would find it a privilege to work if you could not find a job.
Been there, done that – 2.5 years unemployed + 1500 miles = 1 part job
It sucks.. I know ! 5 months unemployed, working at half the salary, different industry and WAY overqualified…BUT ! I AM working !
2 years unemployed, with a part time on/off census job for 5 months during the latter part of those 2 years. My son returned from a paid internship in DC, then hunted for 5 months for a regular job, with just occasional one time deals with small checks. He got a couple of days of census work, then a stimulus funded job for about 2 months. So, yeah, we’re grateful for federal jobs & the Stimulus Bill! Finally in January ’11 he was hired for a regular part time job and received some federal grant money to help pay his college fees. Only now, 3 years after pay came to a complete stop, do we feel like we might survive.
And I do wake up some mornings feeling very privileged to have a job! (Even tho I’m not a morning person and haven’t yet had my coffee.) My census team consisted of over 40 years olds, most well over 50, and I’m the only one so far to have found a full time job one year after we were laid off.
I’m very pleased to say that I am now a union member.
I would prefer the privilege of getting paid, I just hate working for free.
So do I, nothing in that quote about working for free though – just sayin
and the same you dear pup. it is indeed a gift, a power; and if we are very lucky to love to work we do then we have achieved success.
love you Shadow.