An interesting piece by Rachel Maddow…

…on the issue in Wisconsin and across the country. She presents it as a partisan issue. She’s right in some respects.  I do believe that opportunistic Republican politicians are “sticking it” to the unions that are politically active in the Democratic Party.  I disagree on her point that this is about the “survival of the Democratic Party.”  Tragically, the Democrats receive mountains of money from corporations as well.  The Democrats will live.  They just will become more like Republicans (Bill Clinton, Barack Obama.)  Ultimately this is about about class. Whether corporations and their owners will be the only voices in our political process, or whether workers and the general population will have some organized voice.

Addendum–a piece with a similar point by Kevin Drum.

The Race to the Bottom

When did “keeping up with the Joneses” turn into “the Joneses have something good that I don’t have, and if I don’t have it, I don’t want them to have it either”?  I realize the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” tends to speak to superficial consumerist desires. I am not a big fan of rampant consumerism so I am using it another sense.  Namely, the notion that if I live in a society where most people have stable jobs, with good benefits, and make enough money to put a little back for a vacation or college for the kids, even if I don’t currently have those things, their widespread availability means the odds of me acquiring them are greater.   So therefore, it’s a good thing. Tragically, we are increasingly governed by a self-destructive siege like mentality that is the exact opposite of this.  If I’m going down, I’m dragging you down with me.

We are one, April 4th.

On April 4 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated. Most know him as a civil rights leader, few know that when killed he was defending public workers right to organize. Today, politicians cry poor as they deprive workers of the right to collectively bargain, while giving tax cuts to the wealthy; as they cut education, but still find ways to build more prisons. Join your local action.

In Memory of Joe Bageant

Irony. What’s up with that?  I’m just starting up my new blog, and the first, and thus far only, member of my blogroll is Joe Bageant.  Well, Joe died this past weekend.  Unless you’ve read his books are accidentally stumbled upon his blog, you’ve probably never heard of him.  I consider his book, Dear Hunting with Jesus, although largely unknown, to be a modern Twain-esque classic, despite my best efforts.  Bageant called himself a “redneck socialist,” never straying far from his cultural roots in rural Virginia, but at the same committing himself to the liberation of his  brethren from their capitalist oppressors, liberal mischaracterizations, and from themselves.  Here’s a clip of him from Kingdom of Survival and his analysis of the Tea Party and urban-rural split.

It was Mother Jones who said “pray for the dead and fight hell for the living.” Today I will be doing both, in addition to doing a shot of Kentucky Bourbon.  To you Joe!

And I won’t be adding anyone to my blogroll for a few days out of honor to Joe.  Also, out of fear of what might happen to them.

Pardon My Dust

As I Please 2.0 is underway.  Thanks for visiting and over the next week or so I will be getting my latest blog up and running.  For those many minions readers of my previous blog, As I Please–welcome back and more to come.

It’s the End of the World as We Know it, and I Feel Fine.

Haven’t you heard? The end of the world is nigh.  And I’m not talking about those silly Biblical myths about rapture and the apocalypse and Jesus returning to judge us.  Who could believe that stuff?  I’m talking the real end of the world. You know because the Mayan calendar is running out, the Moon is too close the Earth, and there is a Green blob in space.  Now do you feel me? Factor in global warming, tsunami’s in Japan, and some quasi-biblical trends like war in the Middle East, Jews going to Israel and we have ourselves are real issue.