THANK GOD.

Hill. is. back.

There's a welcoming party over at her new place.

You're not too late to join in the fun.

From My Inbox

1/10/07

Dear Mr. President,

Thanks for your address to the nation. It's good to know you still want to talk to us after how we behaved in November.

Listen, can I be frank? Sending in 20,000 more troops just ain't gonna do the job. That will only bring the troop level back up to what it was last year. And we were losing the war last year! We've already had over a million troops serve some time in Iraq since 2003. Another few thousand is simply not enough to find those weapons of mass destruction! Er, I mean... bringing those responsible for 9/11 to justice! Um, scratch that. Try this -- BRING DEMOCRACY TO THE MIDDLE EAST! YES!!!

You've got to show some courage, dude! You've got to win this one! C'mon, you got Saddam! You hung 'im high! I loved watching the video of that -- just like the old wild west! The bad guy wore black! The hangmen were as crazy as the hangee! Lynch mobs rule!!!

Look, I have to admit I feel very sorry for the predicament you're in. As Ricky Bobby said, "If you're not first, you're last." And you being humiliated in front of the whole world does NONE of us Americans any good.

Sir, listen to me. You have to send in MILLIONS of troops to Iraq, not thousands! The only way to lick this thing now is to flood Iraq with millions of us! I know that you're out of combat-ready soldiers -- so you have to look elsewhere! The only way you are going to beat a nation of 27 million -- Iraq -- is to send in at least 28 million! Here's how it would work:

The first 27 million Americans go in and kill one Iraqi each. That will quickly take care of any insurgency. The other one million of us will stay and rebuild the country. Simple.

Now, I know you're saying, where will I find 28 million Americans to go to Iraq? Here are some suggestions:

1. More than 62,000,000 Americans voted for you in the last election (the one that took place a year and half into a war we already knew we were losing). I am confident that at least a third of them would want to put their body where there vote was and sign up to volunteer. I know many of these people and, while we may disagree politically, I know that they don't believe someone else should have to go and fight their fight for them -- while they hide here in America.

2. Start a "Kill an Iraqi" Meet-Up group in cities across the country. I know this idea is so early-21st century, but I once went to a Lou Dobbs Meet-Up and, I swear, some of the best ideas happen after the third mojito. I'm sure you'll get another five million or so enlistees from this effort.

3. Send over all members of the mainstream media. After all, they were your collaborators in bringing us this war -- and many of them are already trained from having been "embedded!" If that doesn't bring the total to 28 million, then draft all viewers of the FOX News channel.
Mr. Bush, do not give up! Now is not the time to pull your punch! Don't be a weenie by sending in a few over-tired troops. Get your people behind you and YOU lead them in like a true commander in chief! Leave no conservative behind! Full speed ahead!

We promise to write. Go get 'em W!

Yours,

Michael Moore
mmflint@aol.com
www.michaelmoore.com

I haven't even heard the speech yet.

Read what Chuck says about it here.

What Are You Doing To End The War?

it will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need

and the air force has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber

From UnitedForPeace.org:

Please forward widely!

Nationwide Protests This Thursday

TIME FOR A SURGE OF OPPOSITION TO BUSH'S WAR ESCALATION

Hard to believe, but in a primetime televised speech on Wednesday evening, President Bush will announce his plans to send more troops into Iraq. We don't know for sure, but he could be planning to send at least 20,000 more troops, and the numbers could be even higher.

Whatever the numbers are, the Bush administration is once again moving in the wrong direction. In November the voters elected a new Congress with a clear mandate: End this war! The people of this country want the war to end and we do NOT want more troops sent to Iraq.
We need to act quickly and in large numbers to oppose this escalation.

United for Peace and Justice has joined an effort initiated by Win Without War and True Majority to encourage as many local actions in communities all around the country this Thursday, the day after Bush announces his plans. We need to be visible and vocal. Our message must be heard by the White House and by the Congress. NO more troops, end this war now!

Take a moment right now to find out what's already planned in your area. And if you don't see anything listed yet, then plan your own activity and be sure to list it. It's very easy to host something and a lot of the legwork has already been done, including compiling an event organizing kit with resources and tips for making your activity a success.

This wave of activity all around the nation on Thursday can be a critically important opportunity for helping to get the word out about the Jan. 27-29 mobilization in Washington, DC. Momentum is building for what promises to be a politically crucial demonstration. People from all around the nation will be gathering in Washington to send the strongest message possible: It is time to bring the troops home; it is time to end the war in Iraq!

There is still much work to do in these last few weeks. Most importantly, we need to make sure everyone knows this demonstration is taking place. Imagine how you'll feel in the days following the mobilization when people tell you they would have also been in Washington if only they had known about the mobilization! Let's now use every opportunity, every opening we have to spread the word.

At your SAY NO activities on Thursday, be sure to have leaflets about the January 27-29 mobilization.

In any press work you do on Thursday, be sure to mention that the march on Washington on January 27th is the next major action of the antiwar movement.

Organize a phone bank, a day of leafletting, call-ins to radio talk shows and anything else you can think of to get the word out.

It's also important that we organize as many people as possible to stay in Washington, DC, for the national Congressional Lobby Day on Monday, Jan., 29th. You can find out more about this timely effort and how you can get involved by clicking here.

Happy Activist Birthday

...to A. J. Muste (1885 - 1967).

A.J. Muste (pronounced MUS-tee) was one of the leading nonviolent social activists of his time. Starting as a minister in the Dutch Reformed Church, he became a socialist and labor union activist, and was one of the founders and the first director of Brookwood Labor College. In 1936, he recommitted himself to pacifism and focused his energy on war resistance, civil rights, civil liberties and disarmament. Over his life he worked with a wide array of organizations, including the Fellowship of Reconciliation, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and War Resisters League, and served as editor of Liberation magazine. He continued his work for peace during the U.S. war in Vietnam; shortly before his death, he traveled to North Vietnam with a delegation of clergy and met with Communist leader Ho Chi Minh. A.J. Muste was widely respected and admired in the movement for social justice for his ability to relate to people of all ages and backgrounds, to listen to and reflect on all points of view, and to bridge distances among divergent political sectors. His life continues to be an inspiration to many. (Source).

For more information about A.J. Muste, see www.ajmuste.org/ajmbio.htm .

“There is no way to peace — peace is the way.”

Remembering Ramona

"The world has lost an exemplary woman. Mexico, has lost one of those fighters that it needs, and a piece of our heart has been ripped out."

Today marks the one year anniversary of the untimely death of Subcomandante Ramona, feminist, activist, sister, teacher, and fighter of the Zapatistas in southern Mexico. She died of a curable kidney condition while en route to a health clinic from an isolated mountain community. Her untimely departure from this world is mourned by me today. She died as a result of the circumstances that she spent her life fighting to change.

She was responsible for writing the Revolutionary Laws of Women and promoting the Indigenous Women’s Petition, which demanded that the needs of women be immediately addressed:

We the indigenous campesina women ask for the immediate solution to our urgent needs, which the government has never met:

1) Child-birth clinics with gynecologists so that campesina women can receive necessary medical attention.

2) Day-care centers must be built in the communities.

3) We ask the government to send enough food for the children in all the communities such as: milk, corn starch, rice, corn, soy, oil, beans, cheese, eggs, sugar, soup, oatmeal, etc.

4) Kitchens and dining halls, with all the necessary equipment, must be built for the children in the communities.

5) Corn mills and tortilla-makers must be placed in the communities according to the number of families in each area.

6) We should be given the materials necessary to raise chickens, rabbits, sheep, pigs, etc., including technical advice and veterinary services.

7) We ask for the ovens and materials necessary to build bakeries.

8) We want craft workshops to be built, including machinery and materials.

9) There must be a market where crafts can be sold at a fair price.

10) Schools must be built where women can receive technical training.

11) There must be preschools and day-care centers in the rural communities where the children can have fun and grow up strong, morally and physically.

12) As women we must have sufficient transportation to move from one place to another and to transport the products of the various projects we will have.

To learn more about Ramona, go here. You can read her obituary here.

Rest in Peace, hermana.

I'm Old.

The store doesn't open until 10am, but there we were, the little retail soldiers, all still half-asleep as, before sunrise, we rearranged every display in the place. This bimonthly ritual is also known as "floor set." The "visuals" are sent to each store from corporate headquarters and then, on the same day, the same event occurs in every store across America. The pictures of how the store is supposed to look are distributed to the workers and we are given exactly 3.75 hrs. to completely reconfigure every sellable item in tabletop, home furnishings, accessories, and bed and bath. This means taking all the dishes off the glass shelves, taking them to the stockroom, and replacing them with new dishes, etc.

If this sounds like a boring and tedious task, it is. At 6am, it is worse.

So, in order to add some energy to the atmosphere, the management staff puts on a mix disc. Always wanting to make the most of any bad situation, I sometimes sing along, especially if I know all the lyrics.

Today, as I was singing (and dancing) to the following song, a younger coworker of mine began complaining about the music selection. He wanted to know why there weren't any "popular" songs on the mix.

And then, there uttered from my lips, a phrase that makes me officially old. I said, "You mean you don't know this song?"




Are you old? When did you first realize it?

Why?

Because it's been too long: The federal minimum wage has now remained unchanged for almost 10 years, the longest stretch in its history. Since Congress last voted to increase the minimum wage, the cost of living has gone up by 25% and Congress has increased their annual salary by $31,600 dollars.

Because it's too low: A full-time minimum wage worker brings in just $10,712 a year, less than half of the poverty level for a family of four. The proposed increase to $7.25 an hour would help approximately 13 million low-income people, most of whom are women. The $4,400 annual raise is equal to about 15 months worth of groceries.

Because it doesn't cost jobs: Real world studies have consistently found that cities and states with higher minimum wages often retain or even increase job levels. And 86% of small business owners report raising the minimum wage would have no effect on them.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other corporate interests are mounting a vigorous lobbying effort to squash the minimum wage raise—despite the fact that the average CEO these groups represent earns more than 821 times the average minimum wage worker.

Have you signed the petition yet?

H/T MoveOn.org

Quote

Peace

also takes courage.

The Year In Review

I resolve...

...to fight for a federal minimum wage increase, not just by adding my electronic signature to well-written petitions, but by taking on the issue of wages and poverty in this blog.

Here's my head start, stolen from one of my favorite "readable" authors of economic policy.

Minimum Wage Breaks No-Raise Record

by Holly Sklar

Every year, PNC Wealth Management calculates the "Christmas Price Index" based on gifts in the song, "The Twelve Days of Christmas." PNC reports, "Maids-a-Milking, who are paid the minimum wage, were the only service providers not to see an increase this year."The Christmas Price Index rose from $13,344 in 1997 to $18,920 in 2006. The price of Six Geese-a-Laying increased from $150 to $300, for example. But the cost of Eight Maids-a-Milking remained $41.20 -- pegged to the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour since Sept. 1, 1997.On Dec. 2, we broke the record for the longest period without a raise since the minimum wage was established in 1938. The prior record of nine years and three months lasted from Jan. 1, 1981 until the minimum wage increase on Apr. 1, 1990.

Murray Weidenbaum, chairman of President Reagan's first Council of Economic Advisers, has acknowledged they wanted to eliminate the minimum wage. But as the Wall Street Journal reported, "Because that would have been such a 'painful political process,' Mr. Weidenbaum says that he and other officials were content to let inflation turn the minimum wage into 'an effective dead letter.'"

Today's minimum wage is less than the 1950 minimum of $6.28, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics inflation calculator. It takes nearly two workers to match the $9.28 buying power of one minimum wage worker in 1968.

A full-time worker at minimum wage makes just $10,712 a year -- less than $900 a month to cover housing, food, health care, transportation and other expenses. Today, family health coverage costs more than a minimum wage worker's entire annual income.

The minimum wage sets the wage floor. As the floor has sunk below poverty levels, millions of workers find themselves with paychecks above the minimum, but not above poverty wages.

The share of national income going to wages and salaries is at the lowest level since 1929 while the share going to after-tax corporate profits is at the highest. Since 1997, domestic corporate profits have risen 72 percent while the minimum wage has fallen 20 percent, adjusted for inflation.

Looking back to 1968, domestic corporate profits have climbed 214 percent while the minimum wage plummeted 44 percent.CEOs have enriched themselves and their families for generations to come while workers struggle to support themselves and their children. The highest paid CEO in 1968 made as much as 127 average workers and 239 minimum wage workers. The highest paid CEO in 2005 made as much as 7,443 average workers and 23,282 minimum wage workers.With the federal minimum wage mired in quicksand, a growing number of states have raised their minimums. At least 29 states and the District of Columbia will have minimum wages above $5.15 as of Jan. 1, 2007. Washington and Oregon have the highest state minimums -- $7.93 and $7.80 respectively after annual cost of living adjustments effective Jan. 1. States with minimum wages above $5.15 have had better employment trends than the other states."

Democrats promise to pass a minimum wage hike in the first 100 hours of the new Congress. The long-delayed Fair Minimum Wage Act would raise the minimum wage in three steps to $5.85, 60 days after enactment, $6.55 one year later in 2008, and $7.25 one year later in 2009.These are steps in the right direction for workers for whom every dollar counts in the struggle to make ends meet. But workers should not have to wait until 2009 for a $7.25 minimum wage that only partly restores buying power lost since 1968.

The Economic Policy Institute reports, "Most other developed countries either have implemented automatic increases based on rising prices or require regular meetings of boards authorized to increase the minimum wage" based on factors such as rising prices and economic growth.Ireland and England have minimum wages over $10, calculated in U.S. dollars. Both countries have strong economies with lower unemployment rates in recent years than the United States.Congress has had eight pay raises since 1997 and is scheduled for a $3,300 "cost of living adjustment," raising congressional pay on Jan. 1 to $168,500 -- not counting health coverage, pensions and other benefits.Congress should refuse pay increases until the minimum wage is raised enough to keep workers out of poverty instead of in poverty.

It's a Dog's Life

Lila

Sampson

Whoever is responsible for first having coined the phrase "working like a dog" clearly didn't have housemates like mine.

It's afternoon nap time for my two little darlings, while I've been called back into work. I may be physically present while suggesting coordinating lamp shade patterns with area rugs, but in my mind, I'll be doing this:

Demand An Ending To War Funding

From Voters For Peace:

In just one week, Congress begins the 2007 session with new leadership ready to take the reigns. The problem is, the new Congress doesn't look very different than the old Congress that we supposedly voted out of office. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is promoting a troop increase, Nancy Pelosi said that she won't defund the war, and now President Bush is asking for at least $127 billion more to waste on our failed venture in Iraq. Although voters expressed a clear mandate to end the war in Iraq, Democratic Congressional leaders are already on record promising to continue the violence in our name and with our tax dollars.

We think this is an unacceptable betrayal of American voters, so on January 4th, VotersForPeace is working with several peace organizations to remind the new Congress that we will no longer tolerate destroying lives and wasting money for war. We will congratulate them for their win and then demand that they defund Bush's war effort.

HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP:

In Washington, DC: If you are in the DC area, join us in delivering the message to Congress that we don't want to spend another penny for war.

Outside of the DC-metro area: Deliver this statement to your members of Congress at their district office. Fax, mail, or hand deliver the message, and then let us know that you've made your voice heard! If you're unable to hand deliver the message, email it to your member of Congress.

For your local paper: Send a letter to your local media outlet, echoing the sentiment that voters no longer support spending tax dollars for killing in Iraq. Let us know if your letter is published!

You will be joining tens of thousands of other peace voters in putting peace at the top of the agenda from Day One. If you can't join us on January 4th, there will be plenty of other opportunities as we continue to send our message to Congress throughout January.

Need more inspiration? Go read Blue's post. Not one more death. Not one more dollar.

Under Construction

Please be patient with me...
After nearly a month of double shifts in retail land,
I'm going to be cleaning up a little bit around here.
I need to get things all straightened out before
school begins in earnest again.
This means linking to all of my favorite sites and
figuring out how to add pictures to the sidebar.
(Does anyone know how? PLEASE let me know!)
Also, I want to create a button. Hill, can you help?
Is there a button creater site out there?

For now I'm off to sleep a little.
Who knew the holidays could be so exhausting?

Merry Christmas, Everyone

Let Peace Be Our Gift To Each Other.

Managment and Workers

"We have grown up with the belief that control, consistency, and predictability are essential. We have separated managing the work from doing the work. We have created a class system inside our institutions. There is a management calss and an employee or worker class. The management class enjoys privileges and preogatives and is taught management skills. The worker class has fewer privileges and prerogatives and is taught operational or basic skills. The fundamental beliefs we have about how to run organizations and organize work aren't working."

- Peter Block

I'm working two retail jobs over the break from school.

More to come on this social experiment into the depths of hell, where, apparently, they've been all out of "holiday spirit" for decades.

My Gift

A while back, I wrote about the importance of voluntary blood donation. While I am proud of that post, I feel so passionately about this issue that I've decided to highlight it again. When I think of all the things that I, individually and personally, can do to make a real difference in the world, blood donation tops my list. It really is a gift, my gift, to someone, somewhere, who needs me.

So, just how much blood is needed? According to the Red Cross, A LOT.

Coronary Artery Bypass? 1-5 units
Fractured Hip? Joint Replacement? 2-5 units
Cardiovascular Surgery? 2-25 units
Bleeding Ulcer? 3-30 units
Auto Accident? Gun Shot Wound? up to 50 units
Liver Transplant? up to 100 units
Sickle Cell/Aplastic Anemia? 4 units per month
Cancer? up to 8 units per month

This list goes on and on. And, as can be seen, chances are better than not that I will need my own transfusion sometime during my life.

I'm scheduled to give plasma again on Tuesday. I'm CMV-, which means that they can give my plasma to patients whose immune systems are severely compromised: infants, burn victims, people living with HIV/AIDS, etc. The local blood bank tells me that there is always a waiting list for my donations. Even before they've finished with the battery of tests to ensure that the donation is healthy, it has already been assigned to a recipient. With this donation, I will have given three gallons of blood to my local blood bank.

It is uncomfortable. It is inconvenient. It is usually always cold in those rooms. But it is worth it. You can do it too. Go here to get the facts. Then sign up. Trust me, this kind of giving is way better than the office "white elephant" holiday gift exchange.

Gone

Happy Birthday to My Favorite Buttcrack

I heard a rumor that it is Pam's birthday. Go on over and wish her all the best. Oh, and lest a new or unfamiliar reader think I'm mean, "buttcrack" is a familial term of endearment. We all use it.

Axis I - 297.1 Delusional Disorder

From the DSM-IV-TR -

Diagnostic criteria for Delusional Disorder:

A. Nonbizarre delusions of at least one month's duration.

B. Criterion A for Schizophrenia has never been met.

The definition of a delusion? "An erroneous belief that is held in the face of evidence to the contrary."

Evidence in support of Diagnosis -

Today, in honor of the 25th World AIDS Day, Bu$hCo announced that he believes the continued promotion of sexual abstinence to be the most effective method to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS. In spite of these efforts, "rates of HIV infection continue to grow, with 4 million new cases worldwide every year," according to the World Health Organization.

Now, please read this post.

Update 12/02/06: Go. here. Because HIV/AIDS is about US.