Look at the Happy Teabaggers

An article in today's NYT covers the protests held yesterday in DC to oppose the Obama administration and government at large. Jeff Zeleny's piece, Thousands Attend Broad Protest of Government, wavers between exposing the disgusting aspects of the protests and calmly disarming the teabaggers with pats on the head: "While there was no shortage of vitriol among protesters, there was also an air of festivity"; "...still many demonstrators expressed their views without a hint of rage." The paragraph following the latter quote starts with a benign, blithe quote that illustrates the protesters' passivity, "'I want Congress to be afraid.'" Another example in the same story told of costumed teabaggers that donned Revolutionary era garb "calling for revolution." Dick Armey's FreedomWorks and Glenn Beck's 912 Project publicized the gathering and trumped the number of people that came out to listen to speakers and blast the president with cries of "liar, liar, liar"--voicing the refrain made popular after Joe Wilson's insulting heckle to President Obama during the health care speech.

I find the comparisons and likenesses of Obama and Hitler particularly odious. However, folks on the left weren't above trotting out the same analogy with Bush, so I am reluctant to categorically admonish the teabaggers as aberrants that crossed an uncrossable line. However, to treat the demonstrators as happy-go-lucky folks who dispense homespun, folksy wisdom in a peaceful fashion waters down their negative potential. A wealth of evidence from gun-toting protesters, racist signs, and those advocating bloody revolution doesn't paint a sunny picture. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols--my neighbor to the south at the Supermax in Florence--demonstrated how a small cell of radicals can perpetrate a massive crime that murders innocents in the name of freedom and fear of the government.

Nothing will, hopefully, come of this outburst of hysteria and this trend will fizzle as the economy rebounds and people (in and out of government) accept Obama's presidency. Wilson's scream prompted Maureen Dowd to acknowledge the root cause and settle on a disappointing truth: "some people just can’t believe a black man is president and will never accept it." Although Dowd targets the fine track record of South Carolinians of late, her comments extend to cover some of those in the teabagger movement and the GOP who seem content to fan the flames for political gain.


In case you want more photos to sate your desires, here's a flickr page that features a hall of shame and several other appropriately named galleries. You won't be disappointed with gems such as these:

The Passion of the '97

From 8/6/97 Riverport Amphitheater, St. Louis. This is the second clip of that night's You Enjoy Myself. This version wasn't the best of the tour or hardly the year. It reminded me, however, of what I saw in the band that night and how I left the show inspired and craving more, more, more. Even though the video isn't the best quality, the audio doesn't disappoint.

Meet at the Union Hall: Labor Day 2009 & EFCAs Chances

In the wake of Great Railroad Strike of 1877 and Chicago's 1886 Haymarket Affair, labor affairs in the United States encountered fierce opposition courtesy of federal, state, municipal, and corporate forces that linked the working-class to radicalism. Turn of the century labor unrest initiated waves of anti-radicalism and fears of communist/socialist encroachments in the working-class that fueled suppression by national guards, police forces, and corporate hired thugs. So in 1894 when President Grover Cleveland and Congress enshrined a holiday for the working-class, they did not select the day recognized by workers around the world (May 1, to commemorate Haymarket). Instead, he opted for the first Monday in September, which was also proposed by several labor unions. Cleveland's and Congress' decision is one part in the long history of anti-radicalism in the United States.

Since, the plight of the American working-class and organized labor reached dizzying yet fleeting heights and, largely, pits of suppression. Neoliberalism, recessions in the 1970s and early 1980s, and President Ronald Reagan's PATCO firing eviscerated the working-class and its traditional support of organized labor. Corporations and politicians stripped the working-class of any political power with a skillful propaganda campaign that altered the debate by sullying the idea of a working-class (instead we have an amorphous "middle class" that consists of the working-class) and sharpening the tools of union busting. The result? The top 20% of Americans own 80% of the wealth in this country and the bottom 80's wages have moved negligibly from the 1970s. With wealth comes political power, as William Domhoff argues.

SEIU, AFL-CIO, and a host of labor allies recognized the singular opportunity they face with a Democratic Congress and an ally in the White House--the latter of which raked money in from SEIU. So this coalition pushed Congress to reckon with the Employees' Free Choice Act (EFCA) and card check. Card check is dead and won't return. A friend and I discussed card check and he voiced the fear of an anti-democratic procedure foisted on workers, which is a legitimate concern. However, as he and most others don't know, employers are the ones who undertake a deliberately un-democratic tack. They receive fines for obstructing union drives and have the clear upper hand to use pressure in the work place through firing, suspension, forced attendance at anti-union classes, and intimidation, unlike organized labor. By all accounts the future of EFCA will alter the speed at which elections are held and unions' rights to meet with workers, as well monitoring of employers' tactics to prevent a unionization drive.

However, after a bloody August for the administration and Democrats, what is EFCA's fate? As Gallup found in a recent poll, support for organized labor took a substantial dive in the past year.

• In 2008, Gallup reported a 59% positive view of unions. Their recent poll found that level at 48%.
  
• The poll found that 46% of Americans view unions as mostly hurting companies, and 45% believe they mostly help.
• Even worse, 51% of respondents said that unions hurt the economy, and merely 39% said they helped. For comparative purposes, the totals were flipped in 2006.
  

These figures are troubling for unions and their democratic allies as they prepare for the 2010 mid-term elections and the possibility of passing EFCA. Health care will pass--even if it's denuded of actual reform. EFCA is questionable in these economic times with horrible employment figures projected for the future and as pundits such as Charlie Cook portend doom for the Democratic Party next year. As I've said on here in the past, this is the working-class' opportunity. Neither Presidents Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton stood up for labor and, if history is a guide, it's doubtful in times of prosperity that labor reform will pass.

And if you need a refresher on why conservatives despise unions and the working-class, read Jerry Agar's column on Townhall: Labor Day - I'm not Celebrating.

One last addition: President Obama delivered a Labor Day speech at the AFL-CIO picnic in Cincinnati. He comments on EFCA at the very end with five sentences voicing his support of EFCA, which is less than he spoke on Lilly Ledbetter.

If You Believe that it's Somehow Unhealthy for the President to Say Work Hard and Stay in School, You're Stupid.

I don't know if I have anything to add.

Matthew B. Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft

Shop Class as Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work, 2009.

The University of Chicago tradition of training scholars is alive and well, as Matthew Crawford's book demonstrates as he bends and dips between an esoteric philosophical exegesis on labor and his gear head biography. I doubt he would react in anger with the latter description of his book. Indeed, one of the goals of this little book (clocking in at 210 pages on such a nuanced topic) is advocating for the restoration of trade-based education, even if the skill does not determine a person's occupation.

Crawford borrows on Martin Heidegger and a slew of other philosophers to examine what "work" or "labor" consists of today as well as in the past. Stepping back to the scientific management of Frederick Winslow Taylor, in short order he traces the contours of American labor history before slicing apart contemporary jobs that departed from a skill-based profession. Knowing a skill or trade is not only lucrative, it restores agency and infuses our lives with meaning. Unlike his deadening job as an abstract writer or the head of a DC think tank, repairing motorcycles infused his life with purpose in the recognizable way that he hears in the motorcycles he fixed or the jocular rapport of a work shop. A culture that glorifies report card As and the knowledge worker is one of his principle enemies, and he persuasively explains why they've generated nothing more than people who fashion hollow products such as a grade or a promotion.

I'm stuck wondering if this work is dialectical or a simple exploration of a dichotomy. He achieves his goal of explaining why we should restore shop class to the nation's education portfolio. In doing so, he rescues mechanics and the working-class from an economy and learning environment that privileges the knowledge worker as the highest plain of professions. He picks that argument apart and reveals its bankruptcy, partially with his own story of being employed as a knowledge worker. He doesn't romanticize working, rather he celebrates the opportunities it brings to learn about yourself and the way of the world.

Now on to the problems. I find myself agreeing with Crawford rather than disagreeing, so my complaints don't target his argument. In fact, I know plenty of people who would agree with this book if he stated his thesis simply. This isn't a simple book. It's a philosophical treatment of labor and the value it instills. The prose is chalky at points and he veers a bit before arriving at a conclusion. It wasn't an easy read, despite the limited page count, so I think it bears questioning who is the audience? If he is reaching out to middle-class parents who want nothing more than their children to succeed and have fewer professional options than to send their kids off to college, then his approach is troubled.

Finally, for all the negative comments on academia and knowledge workers, Crawford is a fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture at the University of Virginia. I believe he still runs his motorcycle shop, and everyone needs to find gainful employment to survive so I don't think this smacks of hypocrisy. Nevertheless, he's gone back to the warm waters of academia that tend to shelter rather than an expose one to the unpredictable employment winds of working-class life.

My criticisms aside, his general elevation of trade based learning and professions is well argued, even if I question its accessibility. It certainly isn't for light reading and shouldn't be a vacation book.

Tomato Line Up

Here are photos of all of our tomatoes except the Black From Tula, which we ate earlier and are back in green.

Left to Right: Green Zebra, Brandywine (x2), Cherokee Purple (x3)

Green Zebra: with few seeds and robust meat, they are packed with flavor and it's fun to eat a ripe green fruit. This is the second Zebra that was snipped from the vine and the jury's still out with ten to fifteen on the vine.

Brandywine: these are the first two, and the right one will reach its peak on the window sill. We've been battling bug and slugs and I chose to pull it rather than risk losing one of our only two Brandywines.

Cherokee Purple: our favorite. Bursting with tomato goodness, the Purples reach decent- to large-size with purple hues and dark reds. Their fragrant smell is everything you want from a ripe tomato that defines how a tomato should taste, feel, and smell. In other words, it's a sensual experience. And, admittedly, one that I'm romanticizing, but with good reason.

Sugar Cookies

Max and Benny's in Northbrook is baking cookies with famous faces from Chicago and nationally that taste quite good. My mom sent us to these but she reported that Sarah Palin, Ozzie Guillen, and a few Bears personalities grace the popular cookies. If I'm choosing cookies, sugar is one of the last options I select unless they're fresh. Haunting memories of dry, insipid Jewel sugar cookies with disgusting frosting still linger as I age. Fresh sugar cookies are a delight, but hard to come by unless you're present at the creation. The Obama and Lou Piniella were phenomenal and survived the thousand mile trip in immaculate shape and retained their flavor. I don't know if this is some form of a product endorsement--since no one I know will drive to Northbrook for cookies unless you're already there--but I felt like sharing since I can't scare up other ideas to keep the Raptor Space from devolving into the internet representation of a super-market sugar cookie.