Posts from December 2008
now that christmas is over with…
here’s most of what i was madly crocheting… still have a couple of other projects to finish up, but this was the majority of them:
oh, and my camera batteries were dying, so colours may be off a tad and ... well, blurry christmas to you!
Capitalism’s Crisis: Elites Play with Class War by Chris Spannos
“It is important to note and remember that while less mobility is worse, more mobility isn’t the end of injustice. If an elite monopolizes wealth all the time, the fact there is some movement into and out of that elite doesn’t diminish the inequality that rules every moment. Additionally, reforms can also be made to increase class mobility while at the same time make wealth and power disparities greater than they were before the reform and also further strengthen elite rule over their class position.”
Capitalism’s current crisis is not the same as the crisis called capitalism. The former was caused by elite efforts to free themselves from constraints on profit making, which not only worsened material conditions for millions of people, but jeopardized their own wealth. The latter is an institutionalized class war waged by elites on the rest of us and is characterized by extreme disparities in material wealth and decision making power. The two combined could prove a detonator for class conflict in the U.S. and some have already begun to fight back.
Conditions for the bottom 80 percent of the U.S. population continue to worsen. Home foreclosures are forecast to be roughly 2.25 million for this year alone, over double the annual rate before today’s housing crisis. The month of November saw the loss of over half-a-million jobs bringing total losses to almost 2 million since the start of recession in late 2007. Two-thirds of these losses occurred since last September and there are forecasts for more. The auto industry is undergoing almost certain restructuring with hundreds-of-thousands more jobs and connected businesses in jeopardy. Republican opposition to the auto bailout plan demanded a 50 percent wage cut for workers implemented over the next few months. Now Washington is considering tapping into part of the $700 billion bailout plan under the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP). However, Republican opposition to the auto bailout has further antagonized class relations in an already volatile economic environment and uncertain future.
Among those who have fought back—-and won—-are the 240 workers in the Chicago Republic Windows and Doors factory. They gained international attention on December 5th by occupying their workplace using Depression-era tactics. The detonator to their struggle was also related to class antagonisms in the U.S. Weeks after taking $25 billion in TARP bailout money Bank of America cut off its line of credit to the factory causing the company to halt operations and terminate its workers with only three days notice and without severance. Their struggle and victory earned them a settlement totaling $1.75 million covering eight weeks of pay, two months of continued health coverage, and pay for all accrued and unused vacation. United Electrical Director of Organization Bob Kingsley described the outcome as “a victory for workers everywhere,”...“an historic victory for America’s labor movement,” and “a win for all working men and women who face uncertainty, unfairness and job loss in a troubled economy.” And this is just the beginning of another struggle for the Republic workers who have created a new foundation they have named the “Window of Opportunity Fund,” dedicated to reopening the plant.
support the troops!!!... er.
New evidence suggests that white supremacists are taking advantage of lowered recruiting standards to enter the armed services.
from Racial Extremists Are Infiltrating the Military for the Chance to ‘Kill a Brown’
Two years ago, the Intelligence Report revealed that alarming numbers of neo-Nazi skinheads and other white supremacist extremists were taking advantage of lowered armed services recruiting standards and lax enforcement of anti-extremist military regulations by infiltrating the U.S. armed forces in order to receive combat training and gain access to weapons and explosives.
Forty members of Congress urged then-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to launch a full-scale investigation and implement a zero-tolerance policy toward white supremacists in the military. “Military extremists present an elevated threat to both their fellow service members and the public,” U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, wrote in a separate open letter to Rumsfeld. “We witnessed with Timothy McVeigh that today’s racist extremist may become tomorrow’s domestic terrorist.”
But neither Rumsfeld nor his successor, Robert Gates, launched any sort of systemic investigation or crackdown. Military and Defense Department officials seem to have made no sustained effort to prevent active white supremacists from joining the armed forces or to weed out those already in uniform.
arin stuff:
Recent Comments:
arin721 on clearing my bookshelf, one page at a time...: heh. s’why i read stephen king. i want to read a book that makes me stay awake all night to finish&hellip
Carol on clearing my bookshelf, one page at a time...: I haven’t read a Stephen King since The Shining. Scared the sheeeeet out of me. I have Veronika Decides to Die&hellip
Carol on bp's oil spill response plan = one giant LOL: I was looking @ some photographs of the consequences of this awful spill yesterday, absolutely breaks my heart to see the&hellip
arin721 on celebrate the beauty that is YOU!: i cannot *wait* to buy your book. up to me, everyone would own it, know it, and celebrate it - it’s&hellip
Karen from Chookooloonks on celebrate the beauty that is YOU!: Thank you so much for this kind shout-out! Judging from your “about me” page, it seems you get the entire concept&hellip
avery edison
brene brown
your monkey called
open left
texas tribune
think progressQuotes I like
hosted by dreamhost. powered by expressionengine.
