“We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness
The pursuit of happiness? Does that sound even remotely GOPer to you? It’s kind of like trying to find the “Christ” in the compassionate conservative Christian---not likely.
Throughout the history of this intended republic---but long a practicing empire---there have always been a few who have acted against self-interest and in favor of what is right for the collective and republic---too few.
The majority seem to have somehow, some way lost sight of the conditions that caused European and English alike to brave the Atlantic Ocean and the unknown. Among the main reasons citizens of Europe and England migrated here and entered illegally were the conditions that European and English “oligarchs of the wholly trinity” had created---vile, corrupt, oppressive and hopeless.
Those conditions migrated, here as well, and entered this entire hemisphere illegally, unwanted and uninvited. By 1826 revolutionary counter-culture figures Thomas Jefferson and John Adams noted that the revolution was over. The bad guys (the cancer-like trinity of terrorists , the wholly trinity) had won.
By 1860 hope was all but lost. The violent enmity of the Civil War and the decades that followed were brutally ugly at best. The opportunism and oppression by the ever stronger oligarchs exacerbated the already egregious conditions they---the oligarchs, playing both ends against the middle, had created in the first place.
Still in the early 20th Century there were still a few good, selfless, assertive folk. Among those:
Remembering Mother Jones in Coal Country
The Battle of Blair Mountain, I learned, was the largest armed confrontation in America since the Civil War. In August 1921, some 10,000 West Virginia coal miners picked up their Winchesters and marched against the powerful mine owners who ran the state like a fiefdom. "These miners weren't even getting paid American currency," Paul Lucas explained. They earned company scrip and were forced into debt spending it on rent and food at the company store. "I definitely think that the union was needed back in the Mother Jones days."
White-haired, matronly, and fiercely socialist, Mary Harris "Mother" Jones helped turn the fledgling United Mine Workers (UMW) into the nation's most powerful labor union. "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living," her famous battle cry, was both a salve and a call to arms. In a 1912 speech to striking miners, she warned West Virginia's governor that unless he called off the guards who'd killed workers at the Paint Creek and Cabin Creek mines, "there is going to be one hell of a lot of bloodletting." She later held up the blood-soaked coat of a wounded guard and proclaimed, "This is the first time I ever saw a goddamned mine guard's coat decorated to suit me."
http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/09/mother-jones-coal-west-virginia
Meanwhile to the delight of the oligarchs:
Union jobs in LA disappearing at rapid rate
Jobs are continuing to disappear, and unionized jobs are continuing to disappear along with them.'' Even with the losses, however, Los Angeles accounts for nearly half of all union members in California, which is the most heavily unionized state.
http://topics.npr.org/topic/California
Though Ralph Nadar was my choice the oligarch’s choice in office now has at least appeared to work toward affecting some semblance of progress for all---much to the chagrin of the acrimonious, misanthropic and greatly misidentified compassionate conservative Christian minions of the oligarchs.
Of course there is a price to be paid for disobedience to the oligarchs.
Obama Takes on his GOP Critics in Labor Day Speech
http://www.politicsdaily.com/2010/09/06/obama-takes-on-his-gop-critics-in-labor-day-speech/?icid=main%7Chtmlws-main-w%7Cdl1%7Csec3_lnk1%7C168790
Far from the fracas between oligarchic factions a different life makes its way.
Close to the Bone
I LIVE IN A CITY OF STORIES. EXPLODING, MYSTICAL, straining-at-the-leash, Lorca-esque rhapsodies made of green, ripening pomegranates and the worship of crepe myrtles, belovedness and its violation, scores of abandoned dogs, and the gangster opera of red-shirted redemption. I live in El Hueso, the true capital of San Antonio, the most soulful city in Texas, a mile west of the pinche Alamo. El Hueso, pronounced Wes-Oh, is the unofficial Westside, the oldest barrio in San Antonio with officially designated borders. Unofficially, El Hueso’s borders depend on who’s remembering, because there are no maps for this place of memory, culture and Catholic-taught respeto, where ancestors are sometimes buried in backyards alongside half a dozen pets. Hueso means bone in Spanish, the mero-mero beginnings, the truth, origin, the blood-wire that holds up all the other stories like a neighbor’s just-washed Fruit of the Loom chones. I think I’ve been looking for this place all my life.
http://www.texasobserver.org/dateline/close-to-the-bone
An Altar Boy With a Gun
At Homeboy Industries, Raul Diaz embodies the new generation of activists. A book excerpt from "Do It Anyway."
http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/08/do-it-anyway-courtney-e-martin-raul-diaz
Not all oligarchs are completely mean-spirited and self-interested:
Soros Donates $100 Million To Human Rights Watch
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129693150
Most religiosities on the other hand are exactly what they have been across the millennia---commercial opportunists. The folk who take to them demonstrate that as a collective we’ve learned little across the vastness of time-space and have failed to take to heart the lessons of why we came to the shores of this hemisphere.
Warnings against Quran burning plan
Florida church's plan to burn copies of Muslim holy book could endanger US troops' lives, commanders
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2010/09/2010973657442887.html
Political controversy over Islam surrounds 9/11 anniversary
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/09/AR2010090900005.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Most Americans object to planned Islamic center near Ground Zero, poll finds
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090806231.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Evangelical leaders try to reach out to the pastor who plans to burn the Koran
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/08/AR2010090806267.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
We ignore the root causes that led to the creation of this nation at our own perile. The forces in power (regardless of what those gangs call themselves, Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Tea Party, oligarch and etc) are not there to help you and me. That’s a promise.
Make the most of your day---“pursue some happiness.”
Hasta Siempre,
More:
In 21st Century America it’s still a rich white man’s world….
No recession here: Election spending sets records
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_money_and_politics
Arianna Huffington Sees A 'Third World America
http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=129727773
May? Give me a break. Compassionate conservative Christians flying true colors, no tolerance here…..
Video: Petraeus says Koran burning may spark violence
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/09/07/VI2010090703145.html?wpisrc=nl_politics
Obama to unveil more stimulus, tax breaks for business
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090706646.html?wpisrc=nl_headline
Samuel Gompers
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Gompers
Labor Day
Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.
http://www.dol.gov/opa/aboutdol/laborday.htm
Hard times for workers on Labor Day 2010
On Labor Day 2010, the state of America's workers is appalling
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/05/AR2010090502815.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
Postcard From Woody Guthrie's Hometown
Okemah, Oklahoma—It's hard to imagine a quiet town like Okemah spawning a rabble-rousing, labor-loving, leftist. But then, once you walk around for a bit, it's also really hard to imagine Woodrow Wilson Guthrie coming from anywhere else.
http://motherjones.com/road-trip-blog/2010/09/woody-guthrie-oklahoma-labor
Report: Blackwater created shell companies
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_blackwater
in my grandparent’s day “los rinches”(texas rangers) were just an institutionalized lynchmob-terrorists, some things just don’t change I guess….
State obscures elite Texas Rangers' border work
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100826/ap_on_re_us/us_ranger_recon
The Brothers Koch: Rich, Political And Playing To Win
Chances are you've never heard of Charles and David Koch. The brothers own Koch Industries, a Kansas-based conglomerate that operates oil refineries in several states and is the company behind brands including Brawny paper towels, Dixie cups, Georgia-Pacific lumber, Lycra fibers and Stainmaster carpet. Forbes ranks Koch Industries as the second-largest privately held company in the U.S. — and the Koch brothers themselves? They're worth billions.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186
Covert Operations
The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
Filmmaker Says Katrina No Natural Disaster
Hurricane Katrina, and the destruction it wrought, are often referred to as a natural disaster. Think again, says actor Harry Shearer. In his documentary, The Big Uneasy, Shearer says much of the destruction in New Orleans was man-made and preventable -- and largely the fault of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129451954
George Carlin describing facts about this plutocracy/Oligarchy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1iXXKmq58g
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