It’s that time of year again and Mother Nature doesn’t disappoint. Saturday brought some thunderstorms and this destructive scene just a few miles from my driveway caused by a “small” tornado. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
I am saddened, but not surprised, to report that Orson Scott Card has joined the board of the National Organization for Marriage. A group which brought us this persuasive advertisement:
The only bright spot about this is that I know this is a losing battle. I’m just frustrated that a writer as full of compassion and ethical thought as Orson Scott Card can’t see what’s wrong with this fight.
For more about Orson Scott Card’s views on gay marriage, check out my criticisms here and here.
I don’t very often talk about labor issues because, well, labor law and policy is, for some reason, extremely complicated. As a general rule though, I’ve always been sympathetic towards unions but skeptical about their acquisition of government power (it’s not a long road from “union” to “guild”, if history is any guide). At any rate, this bit about the power of unionism unfettered from government is quite inspiring.
At the Mall of America last summer, workers confronted management about unbearable temperatures in the store. As Forman described it:
We had been complaining about how hot it was for years, but management refused to buy a fan or install air conditioning because it was “too expensive.” At the same time, our store was pulling in $30,000 a week.
One morning, four of my coworkers walked into the back room of our store and gave the boss an ultimatum: “Will you buy the store a fan? Yes or no?” He stalled….so my four coworkers walked off the job, got in a car and drove to Target, leaving the boss to cover the floor. He was livid.
About 20 minutes later, my coworkers walked back in with a $14 box fan. They plugged it in, wrote “Courtesy of the IWW,” drew a small black “Sabotage cat” [the IWW logo] on it, and enjoyed the breeze.
This left management with a choice. They could either remove the fan, in which case they would look like jerks. Or they could leave it there, as a monument to their own negligence.
To their credit, they did the right thing. Two days later, the district manager arrived with a $150 industrial floor fan. Two weeks later, they began installing air conditioning. This is the power of direct action. One week, $40 is too much to spend to bring the temperature in the store to within OSHA standards. The next week, management is spending $10,000 to keep the workers happy.
Similarly, in August 2008, a union member and single mother from the Bronx, Anna Hurst, suffered heat stroke on the job at a New York Starbucks and was forced off the work schedule for two weeks. In response, a dozen baristas marched into the store during rush hours and demanded she be compensated.
Read the whole thing, because the description of the Starbucks union is pretty fascinating, though I’m not sure I’m 100% behind their goals, their methods seem to me to be more in line with what unions should be doing…
This is a haunting series of photographs taken in North Korea. The photographer reports that not once–not once–did he manage to catch a picture of someone smiling.
When van Houtryve approached North Koreans, they walked off or averted their eyes. He never once photographed a smile. Even children ran away from him. “They’d turn and notice me and immediately bolt off—as if a wolf had come up to them.”
Stacy McCain (no relation) has a, well, uniquely medieval approach to the news that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was brutally tortured via waterboarding 183 times in one month.
Who could possibly give a crap about the “rights” of terrorist scumbags like Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed? Their “rights” would not have been infringed if they had gotten a 9mm slug through their skulls the day they were captured. Excuse me for not being surprised that, having mercifully allowed Abu and Khalid to continue breathing, the CIA doesn’t treat these vermin like guests for Sunday dinner.
If I were president — and remember, this is merely a hypothetical — the CIA would have taken Abu and Khalid to the Texas State Fair, where they would have been strapped tightly to a telephone poll. Tickets would be sold at $20 each for one whack at ‘em with an aluminum baseball bat.
Everybody would get their turn, one whack at a time, until there was nothing left of Abu and Khalid except a bloody stain.
I’ve never actually read any Stacy McCain up until now, but this looks like the kind of post clearly meant to whip up a response of outrage, and I refuse to play. One thing that does fascinate me, though, is that McCain writes something like this yet claims to be a Christian. Because, you know, hitting people with baseball bats is what Jesus was all about, right? As a commentator on Outside the Beltway notes:
You know, it seems that R.S. McCain describes himself as a “Christian” on his website, but giving it a quick peruse he seems awfully pagan to me. He possesses a love of vengeance, he’s quick to judge, and he’s an admirer of violence. “By your fruits ye shall know them,” and this one is not of Christ.
Frankly, McCain is far from alone among “Christian” Republicans who seem to be much more interested in living by the sword than they are being blessed peacemakers. So why don’t they just give up the Christian thing and wholeheartedly embrace a culture of bloodthirsty war?
My suggestion? The Republicans should just give up their Jesus trip and follow a path more suited to their desires. In a word: Klingon. Frankly, the Republican embrace of Klingon philosophy would lead to a number of interesting changes in the GOP platform, some of which might actually gain some traction. For example:
No more support for prayer in school. As everyone knows, Klingon
warriors slew their gods millenia ago. Thus, no need to offer them worship.
The doctrine of executive privilege would be abolished. “Executive privilege” involves lying to the people, and only Romulans would resort to such treachery.
Death to William Shatner (California GOP Only). Of course, there would be no peace so long as William Shatner lived. But due to their devotion to principles of Federalism, this could not be made part of the national GOP platform.
Abandon support for Israel. As everyone knows, the GOP only supports Israel because they want the Temple of Solomon to be rebuilt so that Armageddon can begin. After adopting Klingon theology, though, this would be ridiculous. The billions paid in aid to Israel every year would be diverted to quest for the Sword of Kahless in order to hasten his return.
Abolish the Electoral College. This is, of course, only the first step to eliminate Presidential Elections entirely. Republicans would eventually endorse a Constitutional Amendment to replace the current system of elections with an Arbiter of Succesion.
War supporters must actually join the military. Only a lowly Ferengi would let others do the fighting for them.
Abolish the War on Drugs And replace it with the War on Tribbles.
Change Abortion protest tactics. Abortion clinic protesters would stop harrassing innocent women and instead chastise fetuses for dying dishonorably.
Electronic Arts, makers of the John Madden Football video game series, seems to have gotten into a little trouble over some swag it gave away for its most recent game.
Electronic Arts today contacted game writers around the country asking them to return the brass knuckles they were sent as part of a promotion for Godfather II.
The representative that contacted me said that the company wanted to make sure that the brass knuckles were “properly disposed of.” He declined to comment any further.
Brass knuckles or metallic knuckles are illegal in many of the states that they were shipped to. They’re also illegal in California, where EA is based.
I have no idea how EA’s attorneys didn’t spot this as a potential problem. Big companies usually have legal departments for just this reason: to spot potential problems like this while they’re still only potential problems. Either the legal department was asleep at the switch, or EA is really underutilizing their staff.
John Cole has a hilarious little comment about how the fringe right is convinced that ACORN is at the root of all their problems.
ACORN is turning into the phlogiston of wingnut conspiracy theories. They can’t tell you what they do, but if it upsets Republicans, ACORN is there, colorless, odorless, and pissing off Rush Limbaugh. I remember when it used to be A.N.S.W.E.R. and the ACLU that had these guys up in arms over everything. Maybe they are just working their way through the alphabet. If that is the case Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Breast Cancer Research Foundation better get ready for the shitstorm of poorly written emails they are going to get during the 2010 midterms.
“Folks, it’s time to evolve. That’s why we’re troubled. You know why our institutions are failing us, the church, the state, everything’s failing? It’s because, um, — they’re no longer relevant. We’re supposed to keep evolving. Evolution did not end with us growing opposable thumbs. You do know that, right? There’s another 90 percent of our brains that we have to illuminate.”
– Bill Hicks, who, in a just and decent world, would still be alive today
