The history of the labor movement in the United States is one of the most violent of any other industrialized nation. On the other hand, labor conditions were oppressive and cruel. The working person was at the mercy of the employer. The story is one of bravery and violence. This entry is much longer then normal, but is only a tiny summary of a long history. In the 1900’s a sixteen hour six day work week was common. Across the…
David Pietrusza has written 1920 – The year of The Six Presidents. His description of this interesting period of American history is very well written. Warren G. Harding is one of the historical figures he discusses. Harding was the 29th President from 1921 to 1923. He was a Republican Senator from Ohio. Even thought he appointed such distinguished people as Charles Evans Hughes, Andrew Mellon and Herbert Hoover to positions of importance his administration was so scandal ridden as to…
Kevin Boyle has written a history of the famous 1925 criminal trial in Detroit involving eleven blacks who were in a house surrounded by a mob of whites when someone inside fired a shot which killed a white man. The case was twice defended by Clarence Darrow. Boyle’s book Arc of Justice traces the history of widespread bigotry against the black race and the activities of the Klu Klux Klan in Northern cities. The shooting happened on September 29, 1925…
Like a true student of Frank Luntz & Karl Rove Vice President Cheney has a new mantra for continuing the failed Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld Iraq war policy. In a recent speech to American Troops he used "come home with honor." That’s right, "come home with honor." It combines strong words "home" and "honor" while implying any talk of leaving Iraq is dishonorable. Isn’t that clever? That’s how our second in command fashioned his rallying cry for the killing fields of…
John Gribbin is an astrophysicist who trained at Cambridge and has written a number of scientific books.His book, Stardust is a book about the relationship between life and the universe. It is an informative history of discoveries about the universe with technical facts mixed with understandable explanations. A few excerpts from the book are worth repeating. The most startling to me is the fact that we are made of stardust. As Gribbin points out: "In fact, life begins with the process…
I reported here about the Bush administration’s arrogance in trying to appoint Susan Dudley to an important regulatory post: The Bush Administration Makes Another Bad Appointment 12/23/06. Dudley is on record as a dyed in the wool anti regulatory zealot. She has not been bashful about her strong hostility to any regulations that would restrict big oil or big business in their search for another dollar in profit. So, the Bush administration decided she would be perfect as the czar…
Public Citizen News (January/February) published an article entitled "109Th Congress Exists in Disgrace, Giving Big Oil a $10 Billion Break on Oil, Gas Lease Royalty Payments" which tells the whole shameful story. It seems that Congress with the help of lame duck Republican House members cast the deciding vote which gave big oil a huge financial break while allowing drilling in the Golf of Mexico without having to pay American taxpayers for the privilege. A bill to have allowed the…
Fr. Richard P. McBrien is a Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. He is a syndicated columnist. McBrien’s column is regularly published in the National Catholic Reporter where he recently reviewed a book, Freeing Celibacy by Fr. Donald Cozzins who teaches religious studies at John Carroll University at Cleveland. McBrien points out that the Catholic Church had a married priesthood and even married popes during the first one thousand years of its existence. It wasn’t until 1074…
I’ve previously reported on the connection between Vice President Dick Cheney and the Texas based Halliburton Company: Vice President Richard Cheney – Unrestrained Arrogance 1/31/07. They are joined at the hip with the result taxpayers have been robbed by this corporate giant. It is a classic "military industrial complex" illustration of what is wrong with unregulated revolving door relationships between big business and government. Cheney is the former CEO of Halliburton whose world wide business activities involve a number of…
One of my pet peeves is the frequent occurrence of paying offensive amounts of money to outgoing CEO’s at the expense of shareholders and prices paid by their customers. (Overpaid CEO’s & Tort Reform 1/26/07) Now we have another example here in Seattle which I’ve written about before – Another Golden Parachute for a CEO 1/3/07. Fabian Mansson was recruited by Eddie Bauer’s parent company, Spiegel Group in 2002 to save Eddie Bauer from financial distress. A year later Spiegel…
