Heroines and Heroes

In a major speech today, AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka outlined a vision of what a true labor movement should be. Read the speech here:

We have listened hard, and what workers want is an independent labor movement that builds the power of working people—in the workplace and in political life.

Working people want a labor movement strong enough to help return balance to our economy, fairness to our tax system, security to our families and moral and economic standing to our nation. Our role is not to build the power of a political party or a candidate. It is to improve the lives of working families and strengthen our country.

Read below the fold...

Just got to enjoy Albert Brooks live and in person pitching his new futuristic novel, 2030, The Real Story of What Happens to America at an uptown B&N in NYC.

Brooks arrived at the bookstore just after an appearance on The Daily Show. He announced we were the first B&N stop on the tour, and that by the time he got to B&N in Tennessee he would have it down better if anyone wanted to trail him there.

There was a good turn out and if I hadn’t had the time wrong, it was 7:30pm not 7pm for his appearance, I would have missed hearing him and been relegated to the crestfallen people out of ear shot beyond the glass doors of the author conference room. Brooks upon arriving at the podium indicated those people behind the glass, “What ... they got diseases?” Read below the fold...

(567 Obama-dumping days until 2012 election-Hugh's Obama's Scandals List)

Some members of the Manhattan Greens compiled the comparative issues checklist below. I have also included thereafter some platform stances made by Howie Hawkins in 2008 while running for Governor, a statement taken off the national Green Party website about the profound economic inequality in America, and a list of the 10 key values of the Green Party. Read below the fold...

Hello this is my first post here, just a cross-post of something I wrote last night elsewhere. Far more social than political but I've often had something political to say, just not lately. Jut a little note to say "Hello."

It was Wednesday evening and I went to see Stevie Nicks and Rod Stewart at Madison Square Garden. Since that show I spent a bunch of days working on a New York Philharmonic presentation of Sondheim's Company. The Broadway revival was so great that I'm already having trouble remembering the rock concert, at least the second half is fading. Read below the fold...

You can read about more women doing more stuff at womenshistorymonth.gov but because I am nutty about science and I think that government ought to work for the people...

Yes, I know, it's sponsored by Dow Chemical Co, but here's a virtual conference on The Future of Women in Chemistry and Science. Yay, chemistry!

Larry Summers' threats notwithstanding, grrrlz do have a future in science [and math, and engineering, and technology]. We are not hard-wired to leave this to the boyz. Read below the fold...

From the Bradley Manning Support Network. Read below the fold...

Denice Traina, past co-chair of the Georgia Green Party: "We're eager to hear today's State of the State, hoping that Gov. Deal will use the occasion to propose policies that apply the principals of restorative justice, rather than our failed policies of punishment and social control. Rehabilitation, education and vocational opportunities can help us keep folks working and families together." Read below the fold...

I initially met Julia Williams, an emergency room registered nurse, online on another progressive website and was so happy to reconnect with her here at corrente. When Julia decided to run on the Green Party ticket for US Congress from Detroit Michigan this past November, it inspired me to become more active myself. With her encouragement I joined the Green Party and vowed to not just talk the talk on line but walk the walk as a Green in Manhattan.

This is a statement from Julia Williams on her EMPTY PLATES protest: THE BEGINNING: ONE SMALL OUTCRY!!!! DEC. 12, 2010. The Manhattan Greens held a protest of their own inspired by it. Read below the fold...

If you are on Facebook, you should check out this link about current efforts to end the slaughter of wild dolphins in Taiji, Japan as depicted in the Oscar-winning documentary, The Cove . Most people watch videos like this, think that the exposure will make somebody else do something, and the awfulness will end. Not true.

Below is the powerful 1967 speech delivered by Martin Luther King protesting the Viet Nam War.

But first, another mention of that presumptuous Pentagon official who recently asserted that King would have been in favor of the present MidEast wars.

Sahil Kapur reports in RawStory that a Pentagon official this past week said that Martin Luther King would understand and recognize the need for the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Department of Defense's general counsel Jeh C. Johnson was a graduate of King’s alma mater, Morehouse College. He attended the school at the same time as King’s son. Read below the fold...

“Fair Game” is an ambitious movie with a profound story to tell. Read below the fold...

Chalmers Johnson passed away Saturday at the age of 79. He was a valuable messenger about the scope and danger of American hegemony. A chilling quote: Read below the fold...

Here in New York, Cuomo’s election for Democratic Governor was a veritable cakewalk. All Cuomo did was sit back and let racist Paladino repel voters one sound bite at a time.

David Koch, massive funder of the Tea Party movement, even donated $50,000 for Dem Cuomo’s campaign. CUOMO’S campaign!! I mean, clearly Republican Paladino was gonna lose. So why don’t the sociopathic fat cats grease the palms of the other war/money party candidates? Those contributions sure go far. Look at Obama’s choices. Cuomo even baldly invited Tea Partiers to vote for him due to his similar austerity platform to Paladino but without the verbal nastiness of his opponent. Read below the fold...