I’m writing for tomorrow and feel sufficiently recovered from my volunteer work to function. At Thursday’s meeting my guys were planning their annual banquet. I had arranged to bring in a woman from another local organization, who is working on a pamphlet to assist prisoners prepare to meet the parole board, into our meeting in the prison. She had no experience in that area, so I took her into a side-room to meet with around thirty of the men who have appeared before the board. It was a tough facilitating job, because a couple of my guys, who felt they had been treated unfairly (and one had been), wanted to dominate the session with complaints. However valid, that did not relate to her project. I managed to make that point (several times) and keep it on track, for the most part. The woman came away satisfied that she had gleaned the raw material she needs. One critically important thing to do before the board is to be real. As always, I was proud of my guys.
Jig Zone Puzzle:
Today’s took me 3:42 (average 4:51). To do it, click here. How did you do?
Short Takes:
From Upworthy:
I have a hard time watching this and not getting terribly angry. Those 123 young women and 23 men who died in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire on March 25, 1911, deserve to be remembered. But we're watching it happen all over again in developing countries that supply Walmart, Gap, and other marketing and retail giants.
Sorry/not sorry, I’m mad as hell, and I wish we could live in a world where we didn’t have to take this anymore.
Warning: some violent images.
It's hard to add anything to this, except that the Republican Party is fighting to prevent such legislation.
Daily KosConnecticut has become the first state to pass legislation raising its minimum wage to $10.10 an hour. The bill was passed with strong margins in the state Senate and House and Gov. Dannel Malloy plans to sign it Thursday evening
Here's good news for a change. Kudos to CT!!
From Bill Moyers: Single moms are the problem. Only 9 percent of low-income, urban moms have been single throughout their child’s first five years. Thirty-five percent were married to, or in a relationship with, the child’s father for that entire time.
In the article, the author debunks ten of Republicans' favorite lies about poverty. Click through for the other nine.
Cartoon:
16 Responses to “Open Thread–3/30/2014”
Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.
3:39 Quick like a bunny!
3:39 Reminds me of a rabbit, Fluffy Puff, that we had when I was a child. We were fishing in a pond and noticed that a nearby farmer was going to shoot some baby jack-rabbits and their mother who were creating havoc in his fields. We rescued one baby and raised him.
3:23 Fast like a rabbit!
Crunched!
5:35 – Quick like a handicap bunny…. 😆
It looks like the results of Thursdays meeting made it worthwhile for you to expend all that energy. Good for you. I'm glad you're pleased with the outcome.
Uporthy ~ With the Republithugs' slow erosion of Labor rights, the Middle Class is being destroyed. Workers' safety is at issue here. Look at the video and how the people live. If Republithugs have their way, we will al live like that. Wake up, America!
Daily Kos ~ Kudos Gov. Dan Malloy! You are a good man.
Bill Moyers ~ It's a pity more people don't listen to him.
Cartoon ~ RepublicanTs would denounce Harry today.
Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work, TomCat – both here and in prisons. Wish we could clone you.
In her book, "Museum of Extraordinary Things", Alice Hoffman deals with the Shirtwaist Factory Fire – her descriptions are graphic and horrible. The things that people did and do to each other are beyond comprehension –
I live for a day when being rich is as big a crime as being poor is now.
And instead of Dear Joe, we have an entire party of some very much like him.
I have no problem with someone being rich, if they earned it and do not use it to garner the government transfer of wealth from us toi them
Well done for your excellent day mediating, TC! That must have been exhausting!
Thanks for the Bill Moyers (God bless him) and Mother Jones article on poverty – here's just a small extract
"5. If you’re not officially poor, you’re doing okay. The federal poverty line for a family of two parents and two children in 2012 was $23,283. Basic needs cost at least twice that in 615 of America’s cities and regions."
Anyone else horrified by that? I most certainly am!
Just a last bit ". Handouts are bankrupting us. In 2012, total welfare funding was 0.47 percent of the federal budget." – and still the GOP/TP make half the population believe it is too high – that is disgusting!
God bless Truman for denoucing McCarthy and his witch-hunts!
You know there has been recent research showing that if people are wrong and are proved to be wrong that many just believe their old lies even harder – does anyone know how to counter that kind of brainwashing/stupidity?? If anyone knows anything that works, please tell the rest of us as the world is going down the drain (pushed by the Right Wing) and we need to try and stop it!
UPWORTHY: From the video, there are several Campaigns to read and Petitions to sign at: http://www.globallabourrights.org/
Least we forget, almost one year ago, the worst garment factory disaster occurred in Bangladesh, the 2013 Savar building collapse. On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a sub-district in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh. The search for the dead ended on 13 May with the death toll of 1,129.[4] Approximately 2,515 injured people were rescued from the building alive.[5][6]. It is considered to be the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure in modern human history.[7][8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse
MOYERS: A surprising list of facts. Have a read.
KOS: Once again, the State of Connecticut has moved forward and initiated a stance in passing legislation to raise the minimum wage. Awesome.
CARTOON: The McCarthy era started on February 9, 1950 and ended "on December 2, 1954, the Senate voted to "condemn" McCarthy on both counts by a vote of 67 to 22.[105]" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy
4:47 Ummm – Why is he in a pipe?
Sounds like you got great results from your meeting. Bless you.
Upworthy – I am going to be insulting Americans, and I believe it needs to be said. After the Triangle fire, Americans were horrified and galvanized. That's how we got fair labor laws. After the Bangladesh fire, Americans were apathetic. Why? I grant that some of the apathy comes from ignorance, and while that has moral implications too, I want to point out that the workers in Bangladesh were not white. Racism, people, racism. They did not count. They were not us. Barf bag alert.
Kos – Good for Connecticut indeed.
Moyers – I wish we could clone him. I wish we could elect him to public office, maybe several public offices, and appoint him to others. Right now I need to go watch him.
Cartoon – Good for Truman.
The video touches on most of the reasons why I don't (and never will) shop at major retail outlets like Walmart, Gap, Target, and quite a few others. No business that underpays its workers and overpays its senior executives deserves my support.
Thanks everyone for the comments anfd for the kudos for my prison work.
The Moyers segment did not come from Bill himself. He often includes articles from other authors. You can always tell by clicking through.
Moyers gets amazing guests and lets them talk and gives them support. While the list was from Mother Jones, he only quotes the best. Incidentally MoJo now has a rebuttal to the rebuttal. http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/poverty-myths-debunked-again
OMG…