Nadercide

I've been supporting Nader ever since Kucinich was out of the Dem race.

I've been trying to organize people on my campus who support Ralph. I saw him speak at Tulane the other day (had to skip a class).

And the more people that learn about my support for Nader, the less people are talking to me. Their demeanor changes. I call it Nadercide.

I'm standing strong though. Once Obama wins, they'll realize how stupid their contempt for my candidate was.

Hopefully.

Fight For Workers' Rights [new Nader article]

By Ralph Nader:

Last year I issued a Labor Day statement noting that the Taft-Hartley Act, one of the great blows to American democracy, had been in effect for 60 years.

[...]

Union officials should speak out for abolition of Taft-Hartley, and not concede this monumental employer usurpation of worker rights.

[...]

Consider the following:

· S&P 500 CEOs now make about 344 times more than the average worker at their firms.

· The top fifth of households own more than 84.7 percent of the nation’s wealth, the middle fifth percent less than 3.8 percent of the nation's wealth.

· The percent of wealth owned and controlled by the wealthiest 1 percent of households, now equals that of the bottom 92 percent.

· Women and minority males earn 69 percent to 80 percent of what White men make.

In addition, more than a third of single mothers with children live in poverty.

Repealing Taft-Hartley would certainly help workers to organize for better wages and working conditions. The fight would be monumental, but so would the gains.

click here for all of it

Last week I was watching the daily rain forecast on some local news station in New Orleans, you know where they show the little picture of the weather conditions for each day of the week? On labor day it had this little picture of a station wagon with a canoe on top. Supposedly, Labor Day is just about not being at work and therefore having time to do something fun, like canoeing. How about a graphic of the Haymarket riots? Or a picket line or something? People literally fought and, yes, put their lives on the line to get labor rights. It's more than just an off day from work and school.

Palin declares holy war

Straight from the AP news feed on Yahoo's front page:

"Our national leaders are sending them out on a task that is from God," she said. "That's what we have to make sure that we're praying for, that there is a plan and that plan is God's plan."

click here for the whole article

I had a pastor once at my Methodist church who said that when we use terms like "God bless America" in the context of "support our troops," we're essentially declaring holy war. Is that what "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is all about? I didn't think it was. If it is, I'm even more against in than I was before.

Keep in mind, a holy war is how "them there terrorists" see it. Are we above them or not?