Feb 02 2010
Things get expensive from time to time. Right now, with the cold weather, heat is expensive. At other times, being cool is expensive.
Please follow me over the fold to talk about cutting expenses starting now. Most of them will not affect your comfort, but one the most important one just might.
Jan 31 2010
On January 29, 1911, a small band of 18 revolutionaries marched into Mexicali and seized the town, practically without firing a shot. Thus began one of the most unusual and controversial episodes in Mexican history.
These revolutionaries were not the typical warlords that Mexico was used to seeing. These revolutionaries had American volunteers, but not the sort of filibusters that Baja California was already very familiar with. In fact, this revolutionary movement had little in common with anything Mexico had experienced before or since.
These revolutionaries weren’t interested in just overthrowing the corrupt and repressive government, they wanted to overthrow society as well.
Jan 25 2010
As a people we like to mark the anniversaries of important events in our lives. This is true for nations, individuals, corporations, and political groups.
The labor movement has been mostly left out of this tradition. This is my effort to change that. For instance, this Wednesday is the 160th Birthday of Samuel Gompers, founder of the AFL.
For this essay I would like to concentrate of events, such as this Tuesday is the anniversary of the very first worker’s compensation agreement.
Jan 19 2010
originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change
Today’s Training Tuesday comes to us from the Organizing 2.0 Conference in New York back in December. During lunch, we were joined by Colin Delaney, of e.politics.com. He and Charles Lenchner, of the Working Families Party, held a conversation about how to translate lessons about new media from the Obama campaign to local campaigns.
Jan 18 2010
Carbonated water is incredibly common, and, in one form or another, just about everyone drinks it. Sometimes it is enjoyed alone, but often it is mixed with flavoring ingredients. Just about all soft drinks are flavored carbonated water, and in a sense beer, ale, champagne, and spumati are as well, except the traditional carbonation method for the alcoholic drinks is different from that of carbonated water.
Carbonated water with no other ingredients is usually called seltzer in the United States, whilst carbonated water with some added minerals is usually referred to as club soda. Please join me in looking at the history of this material and its unlikely contribution to modern chemistry.
Jan 18 2010
Carbonated water is incredibly common, and, in one form or another, just about everyone drinks it. Sometimes it is enjoyed alone, but often it is mixed with flavoring ingredients. Just about all soft drinks are flavored carbonated water, and in a sense beer, ale, champagne, and spumati are as well, except the traditional carbonation method for the alcoholic drinks is different from that of carbonated water.
Carbonated water with no other ingredients is usually called seltzer in the United States, whilst carbonated water with some added minerals is usually referred to as club soda. Please join me in looking at the history of this material and its unlikely contribution to modern chemistry.
Jan 17 2010
“You saw those cars coming, and you knew who those men were. They wanted you to see them. They wanted you to be afraid of them.”
– Lillie McKoy, former mayor of Maxton talking about the KKK
By the mid-1950’s the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum and the KKK decided they had to fight back. Their campaign of terrorism swept through many of the southern states, but largely fell flat in North Carolina.
James W. “Catfish” Cole, the Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan in South Carolina, decided he was going to change that. Cole was an ordained minister of the Wayside Baptist Church in Summerfield, North Carolina, who regularly preached the Word of God on the radio. His rallies often drew as many as 15,000 people. As Cole told the newspapers: “There’s about 30,000 half-breeds up in Robeson County and we are going to have some cross burnings and scare them up.”
Cole made a critical mistake that couldn’t be avoided by a racist mind – he was completely ignorant of the people he was about to mess with.
Jan 13 2010
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copyright © 2010 Betsy L. Angert. BeThink.org
Do you know one? Perchance your mother, father, brother, or sister is a person you would characterize as lovingly protective. He or she maybe an individual who works to shield loved ones from harm. This fine fellow or femme plots and plans in an attempt to prevent any crisis. People come to depend on caring souls such as he or she. Indeed, you may be the cautious crier who actively expresses concern for the health and welfare of those you treasure. It is a tough task, but you, or someone in your life may have assumed responsibility for the well-being of another. Surely, someone must keep us safe and sane. One never knows who might lurk or linger in the halls, bathroom stalls, on a plane, boat or train. Credentials must be checked. If family and friends cannot safeguard us from the crazies and fanatics certainly, our sweet Uncle Sam will.
Jan 13 2010
originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change
This week’s Training Tuesday takes us back to Democracy for America’s Campaign Academy in Gettysburg, PA 2009. For the last couple weeks we brought you lessons from the Organizing 2.0 conference, and we still have plenty more to come.
Anyways, first things first, a little history on the DFA campaign academy:
Jan 11 2010
It is still cold here in the Bluegrass, as it is in much of the country. The last time that it was freezing or above was at 02:00 on New Year’s Morning. My thermometer right now reads 17.4 degrees F, and it made it up to nearly 30 when the sun came out for a little while this afternoon. There is still snow all over the ground, but the road crews have done a good job with the roads, although two people were killed on the highway off of which I live when it fist started, one only about two miles from me. Drive carefully, please.
Someone asked me the other day why static electricity is so noticeable in winter and not so much so in the summer. I thought this would make a good topic for Pique the Geek, but to understand that it is important to understand what static electricity is in the first place. Please follow for fun and information.
Jan 05 2010
Originally posted by Will Urquhart at Sum of Change
Dec 30 2009
“Clio, the muse of history, is as thoroughly infected with lies as a street whore with syphilis.”
– Schopenhauer
I don’t blame the Tea Party Protesters for getting it wrong. They probably learned the same myths in school that you and I did. It most likely never occurred to them that they were being lied to at such a young age.
Normally the lies we are told are lies of omission. For instance, schools no longer teach the long history of labor struggles in America, or the dozens of times we invaded Latin American countries to defend the profits of American banks.
However, on occasion, the lies we are told are overt and intentional.
The tea party protesters are victims of both flavors of lies. It wasn’t by accident. As Saul Bellow once said, “A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep.”