Raising wages agenda rolled out at AFL-CIO summit

So; the AFL-CIO is going to launch a campaign to raise wages--- AGAIN:


http://peoplesworld.org/raising-wages-agenda-rolled-out-at-afl-cio-summit/


But, once more, these millionaire labor leaders and wealthy politicians like Elizabeth Warren who they team up with, are only creating an illusion of movement building and struggle.


In fact, well over half the union contracts in this country at the present time are poverty wage contracts when compared to actual cost-of-living factors which Trumka and these politicians refuse to compare with wages.


Will we see local committees capable of taking on employers and the politicians these employers bribe being organized in communities across the country capable of advancing raising wages to real living wages in line with the actual cost-of-living? No we won't be seeing this because how do you organize a struggle for something when you don't even dare advance the idea that wages should enable working class families an income which would enable them to live above the poverty line.


In fact, to get working class votes which they required in order to win, Democrats promised a Minimum Wage that is not a poverty wage claiming no working class families should be forced to endure poverty but--- this was while these Dumb Donkeys were campaigning to get elected.
After they were elected, including with super-majorities in many states including here in Minnesota, they used the levers of government to assure employers of highly profitable poverty wages--- and, low and behold, Richard Trumka and his millionaire labor chums cheered these Democrats on and praised them for "raising the Minimum Wage"--- wages which are at present more poverty wages and will amount to even less when they go into effect than what the poverty Minimum Wage is now when compared to what these wages will buy in terms of goods and services.


These millionaire labor leaders have forced concession contract after concession contract down the throats of the workers whose high dues pay their big fat salaries... can we expect such labor leaders to lead any kind of movements now to "raise wages?"


These labor leaders won't even enforce the terms of their existing contracts in the workplace when it comes to job security, health and safety; they won't even struggle around very legitimate grievances that arise in the workplace.


At least 23 members of the AFL-CIO's Executive Committee have called me names because I have insisted that organized labor should lead a struggle to repeal "At-will Employment" legislation in place in every single state with one state having a few restrictions. But, as it stands, union and non-union workers face very Draconian and severe employer enforcement of "At-will Employment" laws which are the primary obstacle to union organizing in this country. It wasn't until I explained this to Leo Gerard in a public exchange on the FireDogLake website that he understood what was at stake; and then his response was to call me filthy names.


We can examine in workplace after workplace all over the country what happens to workers who get involved in struggles to improve their workplace environment and defend the rights of union contract language and what we find is these crooked and corrupt millionaire labor leaders and their state and local cronies harassing and intimidating and even threatening these workers right along with the bosses--- this is shameful and disgusting. From Tootsie Roll to Ford Motor Company to Cleveland Cliffs we see what happens to workers who dare to struggle for what is right and just and how these workers get hounded and harassed and discriminated against by both management and the corrupt union leaders who work in cahoots with the bosses to make the lives of these workers a living hell.


We find language inserted into union by-laws and union constitutions in order to circumvent democracy and thwart rank-and-file participation in the unions to make it easier for these crooked and corrupt union leaders to keep themselves in office through manipulation and control not unlike the way Wall Street and big-money interests controls the Democratic Party--- which, except for the hypocrisy, is no different than the way Wall Street maintains control of the Republican Party.


If we now come forward and suggest that the AFL-CIO should finance "Raise Our Wages" campaigns in every city and community across the country in a way that will bring millions of workers into the streets to enforce our demand for real living, non-poverty, wages we will find our selves harassed and intimidated and even threatened by these millionaire labor leaders and their cronies... if you don't believe me, just ask any worker who has initiated struggle around winning a grievance in their place of employment about how they have been treated.


Ask any worker who has been unjustly fired by an employer, what the union has done to protect their right to their job and their livelihood.


Once again we will see Trumka and company holding these phony "Summits" and press conferences without backing up their militant sounding rhetoric with movement building--- instead, what they intend is to push workers into the arms of the Democratic Party who will give the working class, instead of pay raises, nothing but one more royal shafting. This is the nature of class collaboration trade unions in the age of Wall Street enforced neo-liberalism in the era of capitalism in its most barbaric imperialist stage where these union "leaders" kiss up to management and their bribed politicians instead of working with the rank-and-file from whom they extract dues to pay their big fat salaries.


Richard Trumka and the members of the AFL-CIO's Executive Council know almost every corporate CEO on a first name basis--- how many members of the rank-and-file do they know as well?


Does the AFL-CIO have an agenda intended to "raise wages" or do they have an agenda to elect and re-elect a bunch of worthless Democrats?


If you doubt what I say, I suggest you go to your next union meeting and suggest that your local initiate a "raise our wages" campaign--- to raise wages through collective bargaining and through legislation; chances are your union "leaders" are preparing for another round of a "concession contract negotiations" and will sit on their hands as Democrats shove more poverty wages down the throats of the unorganized.


Have you noticed that instead of the wages of the unorganized going up to meet the higher wages of organized workers just the opposite is going on in this country? Wages of organized union workers are going down to the level of the unorganized... and so are working conditions and benefits.


Think about this:


How can wages of the unorganized go up in relation to actual cost-of-living when the wages of organized workers are going down in relation to the actual cost-of-living?


The Minimum Wage needs to be legislatively tied to actual cost-of-living.


In contract discussions; the discussion about wages needs to be centered around the relationship of wages to actual "cost-of-living."


It is up to rank-and-file workers to bring this kind of discussion into the workplace.


Once we initiate a massive discussion about the relationship of wages to the actual and real "cost-of-living" we will be on our way to winning real wage increases... but, not until this discussion is brought out into the proverbial "public square."

Raising wages agenda rolled out at AFL-CIO summit » peoplesworld

WASHINGTON - The nation's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, rolled out here today its first- ever Raising Wages agenda.

peoplesworld.org

Yes, a

Raising wages agenda has been rolled out at this AFL-CIO summit

But, is it real?

Raising wages agenda rolled out at AFL-CIO summit

by: John Wojcik

January 8 2015

tags: unions, labor, wages, worker rights, national

WASHINGTON - The nation's largest labor federation, the AFL-CIO, rolled out here today its first- ever Raising Wages agenda.
Speaking to the hundreds of union members and allies gathered for the AFL-CIO National Summit on Raising Wages, the federation's president, Richard Trumka, declared that it will involve accountability for all office holders and candidates, coming down to a basic question: "Are you satisfied with an America where the vast majority works harder and harder for less and less, or do you propose to build an America where we the people, share in the wealth we create? This is the single standard by which we will judge leadership."
The gathering here today was another indication that labor's old style of simple transactional politics is dead.
"Not one of us can go it alone," Trumka declared. "We must unify on our common ground, raise the bar, then go out there and raise it even higher."
If the summit here is any indication the progressive movement may be witnessing cooperation and collaboration on an unprecedented scale - realizing, in effect, many of the goals laid out at the AFL-CIO's 2013 convention - aiming to unite the labor movement with many allies who share its goals.
"We hoped for exactly what we've seen today," Trumka declared. "People who share our vision of a better America coming together and getting things done.
At the summit here today there were  union organizers, social media activists and religious leaders engaging in robust talks with one another in the hallways. Professional economists shared breakfast at tables with field organizers from local unions and other organizations, discussing proposals on how best to raise wages. Business leaders chatted with workers about how to overhaul a system that results in unreasonable schedules for millions of workers.
David Borris, owner of Hel's Kitchen Catering in Chicago, explained why, from the point of view of a business owner, higher wages were important. "If one person gets paid $10 million, he explained, it is not as useful to small business as 100 people getting paid $100,000 each. It's the same money getting paid out but the guy with the $10 million is more likely to stash it offshore while the 100 with the $100,00 each will spend it in the community, growing our business' It's also a matter that treating workers with respect leaves them with something to spend at a theater or in a restaurant."
The "roundtable discussion" on the morning agenda was also unique as "roundtables" at conferences go. In addition to the businessman talking about how higher wages will grow his profits there were people from many movements participating. A Walmart worker debated with a think tank president and the mayor of Boston, himself a member of the Laborer's union, picked up some pointers from a Fight for 15 activist.
Trumka singled out what he said were two subjects people don't automatically think about as work and wages issues: immigration and race.
"Let me put it plainly," he declared. "Our Raising Wages campaign can only be complete when there is justice for America's immigrants and people of color. We must have a pathway to citizenship for all immigrants, and we must be a country of dignity for all people, regardless of race or ethnicity. Justice at work and justice in our community are intertwined, and both must advance for either to grow."
Conference participants, rejecting the notion that the wage gap is "just the way things are" and that nothing can really be done about it hammered out a plan of action.
The AFL-CIO announced that in 2015, for example, it, along with community partners, will hold Raising Wages summits in the first four presidential primary states - Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina. "And we're not waiting around," Trumka declared: "The first state summit will be in Iowa this spring. Each summit will bring together diverse voices, just as we did today, to lay out the entire Raising Wages platform and establish state-based standards of accountability."
Although the starting point for the agenda is a living wage for all workers and the availability of collective bargaining rights for all workers it goes on from there to become  a comprehensive economic agenda that includes:
- Trade policies that lift incomes in America and around the world rather that pit workers against one another.
- Strong labor  laws that give all workers the opportunity to bargain for higher wages without fear of losing their jobs.
- Stricter controls on Wall Street's financial speculation. "It means treating Wall Street like it is part of America, not above America," Trumka declared.
- Allowing workers to demand and win fair work schedules, paid sick leave and overtime checks.
- Ending all tax benefits for companies that move jobs offshore.
Photo: Sen. Elizabeth Warren.  |  Jose Luis Magana/AP

Why war games are bad... I am very proud of my Granddaughter, Alicia, who wrote this essay.

Why war games are bad

Written by: Alicia Maki grade 5    2015

War games are bad because they are all about shooting and killing people. They tell kids and adults that it is ok to pretend to kill people when it is not ok to pretend or even kill people. They also teach kids how to use guns and sometimes bombs. When people play war games they think that it would be fun to actually get to be in the war and get to kill people. People playing the game think that they are the good guy when they are the one that is killing the people. The kids would think that it would be fun to actually get to be in the war and shoot and kill people on the game. Playing war games can make people think that it is all right to kill people. People think it is fun when they play war games.


War games are bad because they are all about shooting and killing people. Another reason that the war games are bad is because during the actual war people got sick, injured, and maybe even kidnapped and tortured. Some people in the war attacked other people because they were racist. That is why we should not play war games because it is pretty much supporting the people who were attacking the other innocent people. Playing war games might make kids start battling with sticks and the inside of a paper towel roll and they might pretend to kill their friend or their brother or sister and they won’t realise that it is wrong to pretend like that.


Playing war games can make people think that it is all right to kill people. I think that if kids play the war games too much they might join the army because they think that it would be fun to kill the innocent people in the world. Some of the war games that kids play are: call of duty, black ops, and lots more. These games should not have been made because they are not good for kids to play or act out by having stick fights or other kind of fights.


When people buy war games the company that made it is probably getting money for telling kids that killing is good and make them want to replay the war. I think that the companies make the war games so that kids and parents don’t look twice at the war and so that they might join the army. In war games there is probably a lot of blood, screams, and violence.


In war games you are practically replaying the war and people who know that the war is bad will get mad and tell their kids not to watch or play that kind of game and that it is bad because you would be supporting the war games and the people who made them.


When people play war games they often want to keep playing and tell their friends to start playing and more people would play the war games. Without war games kids would be playing fun games such as Mario, Pokémon or something else, kids would play games that teach them to be good and not support the war.


I think that teachers and parents should tell the kids that killing is wrong and that they shouldn’t play war games.

More discussion on environmentalism and class struggle

This is a link to an interesting article. My opinion follows the link to the article:


http://prospect.org/article/must-environmentalists-and-labor-activists-find-themselves-odds-each-other


This is for sure an interesting article but on its own without broad
discussion and debate without the author being held accountable to defend
his ideas in the presence of Marxists (and others) it is quite useless- and
even ideologically harmful in a way that hinders the kind of movement
building required; for a number of reasons.

First; the author in all of his thousands of words here, not once so much
as mentions the cost of imperialism as far as being a major contributor to
global warming, climate change and deteriorating lives and livelihoods.

Two; the author makes the ridiculous claim that there is nothing for us to
agree on as far as what kind of livelihoods and living conditions offer
something we can all unite around when he intentionally omits any mention
of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights... Isn't this
Declaration THE point of unity?

Third; the author, not surprisingly since his article has been published in
American Prospect magazine, claims there is some kind of "progressive"
Keynesianism is not being honest; quite frankly, Keynesianism was and
always will be a thoroughly reactionary, anti-working class ideology since
its intent is the survival of capitalism which has for decades been in its
most advanced, morbid, cannibalistic and barbaric stage--- imperialism which
is all about making the world and the earth a worse place to live and work
since the parasitical capitalist of which Wall Street investors are the
bosses seek the greatest possible profits through employing the cheapest
labor they can get to attain the cheapest natural resources and then
turning those resources into products and services of "use" (as long as
these products and services are profitable to them) always using the
cheapest labor they can acquire. All of this they enforce through severe
repression, militarism and wars.

Fourth; this author writes as if only "experts" are entitled to seats at
the real decision-making table. Where is the call for rank-and-file workers
and all working people to have a say in the decision-making process----
politically and economically?

Fifth; there is nothing in this article that even suggests that Wall Street
and its junior partners in the G-20 (especially the dominant imperialists
in the G-8) are our main enemy when it comes to creating a livable planet
from which we can all derive a decent standard of living working together
in harmony--- at peace towards the common goals held forth in the United
Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

And, finally, in order to keep this brief, the problem  arising in labor
circles is that a bunch of millionaire labor leaders have relentlessly
tried to push neo-liberal, of which Keynesianism (no matter how it is
packaged) thinking down the throats of working class activists and
rank-and-file workers which is detrimental to the working class movement.

Nothing here suggests the need for an anti-monopoly coalition representing
all the movements this author mentions (and those he very conveniently
ignores mention of like the peace movement).

Nor is there any mention of the need to break free from Wall Streets two
parties, the Democrats and Republicans if we are serious creating a livable
planet we can all survive on while making decent livings with no one left
behind.

And, quite frankly, these millionaire labor leaders and here equally
corrupt little enforcers at the state and local levels have worked
hand-in-hand with the bosses to harass and repress rank-and-file workers
who are advocates of a more just social and economic alternative---
socialism--- in fact, the primary goal and objective of American Prospect
magazine has always been to either defame and slander the advocates of
socialism or to deny their is a socialist alternative--- usually both.

In closing, I would just point out that the wealthy don't simply need to be
"powered down" as this author is suggesting; these wealthy Wall Street few
need to be completely removed from power so they aren't using the levers of
power to destroy OUR living environment as the destroy our livelihoods and
standard-of-living and prevent billions of people from attains a decent
standard-of-living.

If anyone wants to pass this on to the author feel free to do so.

If anyone wants to pass this on to the anti-Communist, anti-working
class rag, The American Prospect magazine, feel free to do so.

I don't think there is much here that any rank-and-file worker who has
struggled to improve the pay and conditions of work in their place of
employment would disagree with.

This article could easily be summed up as just one more intentionally
confusing piece intended to make excuses for the Democrats and those in the
labor movement who have become so well-heeled from holding up the tail of a
bunch of Dumb Donkeys while trying to convince us that we should be content
living off what the sparrows leave behind.

Just imagine what kind of world we could be living in if we were to take
up William Winpisinger's suggestions and beat swords into plow
shares, thereby putting an end to the most environmentally destructive
human endeavor on our planet--- the U.S. Military-Financial-Industrial
Complex established by Wall Street; for which we and our planet pay in so
many hurtful and harmful ways. It is not coincidental that William
Winpisinger's advanced socialist ideas as part of his urging a struggle for
peace and a livable planet.

I can see no reason why we Marxists must withhold comment as these
Keynesians continue to push their very reactionary ideas in the name of
being "progressive" when it is Marxist with ideas advancing the progressive thoughts.

Why should any working class family have to settle for less than what is
embodied as human rights advanced in the United Nations' Universal
Declaration of Human Rights? The only thing standing in the way is
capitalism.

Feel free to comment on my thoughts

Alan L. Maki

A rank-and-file member of UNITE-HERE Local #17, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Unity

Thinking about unity.


Some thoughts for your consideration and discussion.


I posted this:

I am wondering why all of our movements and organizations aren't coalescing around implementation of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights which also provides the basis for challenging Wall Street for political and economic power as well as bringing forward many specific reforms which when implemented would make these words a living reality:

http://unudhr.blogspot.com/

Those who framed the language of this document with its goals and objectives conveniently (and intentionally as capitalist politicians always do when it comes to the needs of working people) left out any specific means for implementation... our organizations and movements have to launch the kind of mass struggles to bring these words to fruition.

Using this important document as a common statement of agreement should enable greater unity in thinking and action.


Perhaps some of you have ideas about what is the stumbling block towards unity?


There really is no need "to keep re-inventing the wheel," as they say.


Is there any amongst us who couldn't consider this as a statement which unites us into which we could plug all of our organizations and movements into?


We would have a pretty decent world to live in if this Declaration was reality for all peoples everywhere. What are the stumbling blocks to this?


Alan L. Maki

2015 was to have been the year poverty was to have been eradicated

2015 was to have been the year to end poverty...


Ending Poverty by 2015: Progress on Millennium Declaration Goals (MDG)


In 2000, world leaders gathered at the United Nations Headquarter to adopt the United Nations Millennium Declaration. The Millennium Declaration committed these nations to reducing extreme poverty by 2015 by setting eight goals: end poverty and hunger, universal education, gender equality, child health, maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, environmental sustainability, and global partnership.

Here were are 15 years later and poverty, instead of being on the decrease, is increasing around the world including right here in the United States, the wealthiest country in the world. If the richest country in the world refuses to eradicate poverty how can we expect any other country to eradicate poverty?


http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration/ares552e.htm/


Like the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights itself, these are pious and hypocritical proclamations intended to deceive us into thinking action will be taken to make these proclamations a reality when in fact no means is put into place to force compliance with the goals and objectives of these statements.


Had the amount of money that has been spent on militarism and wars over the last fifteen years been allocated toward ending poverty, instead, the goals and objectives would have been realized.


Are we going to tolerate the G-20, led by Wall Street, to continue squandering the wealth of our nations on militarism and wars?


If not, we had better consider that we need to challenge Wall Street and its junior partners around the world for political and economic power.


In order to accomplish this requires a broad-based anti-imperialist movement with political parties of the working class that understand it will take specific measures, not meaningless proclamations the issuers never intend to implement, to end poverty and make a more peaceful world.


Here it is 2015 and now these same leaders of capitalism have extended their "goals" and "objectives" to 2030... we are being played for suckers and fools.


Wall Street's profits from militarism and wars alone would be enough to eliminate poverty from the face of the earth.


Read it; study it; share it... organize struggles to achieve these goals and objectives because no Wall Street bribed politicians are going to implement any of this:


http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/

Happy New Year

Welcome to another year of employer harassment, intimidation, firings, poverty wages, rising prices and more of these dirty imperialist wars as Wall Street celebrates greater profits with the politicians intent to saddle us with increased gas taxes.



Let's celebrate another year of deteriorating air and water quality, inadequate housing and attacks on public education with increased racist police brutality.


Be thankful your problems aren't worse; this is all part of the price we pay for Wall Street providing us the opportunity to live in the world's greatest bastion of democracy.


Don't worry; be happy. This is the way it is, and always will be... or so they say.

What lies ahead for U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan?

The headline in today's newspaper asks:

What lies ahead for U.S. in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Of course, the question as asked, is only of concern to the Wall Street imperialists and its merchants of death and destruction who profit from the massive human misery caused--- and while our National wealth is squandered on these dirty wars with this great wealth conveniently finding its way into the pockets of these disgusting Wall Street profiteers, more people will continue to die.

As our Nation's wealth is squandered on these dirty wars, funding for health care, education, housing and food stamps will be cut, potholes will increase in number and size in our streets, roads and highways.


All this senseless military spending will push up the prices we pay for goods and services.

A government hell-bent on continuing these dirty wars will never care about the concerns and needs of its own people.

Our problems, caused by the Wall Street crowd, are now so deep-seated it will be impossible to win the smallest of reforms without simultaneously challenging Wall Street for political and economic power.

Any attempt made by the Democrats--- or anyone else--- to rally the American people around support for some kind of "populist economic agenda" which refuses to address the high price we pay for militarism and war is sheer demagogy and just plain mean.

No concern or even a pretense of concern for what happens to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan as these imperialist wars drag on... this is the epitome of great power chauvinism and the worst kind of jingoism.

The Wall Street Journal tries to stifle the movement against racist police murdering people of color and police brutality. The WSJ cries "mayhem."

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in big, bold headlines sends a message to its bribed politicians that it will only tolerate "progressivism" just so far--- and the WSJ draws the line at criticizing these viciously violent and brutal racist cops; for who else but these cops is going to protect these Wall Street parasites here at home like the U.S. military does abroad?

Apparently Wall Street is afraid the American people are going to challenge it for political and economic power... hence the use of the word "mayhem."

Here are the headlines from the WSJ...


Progressives and the Police
Politicians who campaign against cops are inviting mayhem.

The hypocrisy of a Minimum Wage "increase"

The big, bold headlines in newspapers across the country told us yesterday that the Minimum Wage is "going up" in some twenty states.


We are supposed to cheer.


The problem is, no one except a bunch of worthless politicians and Democratic Party hacks along with a few millionaire labor leaders are doing any cheering even though everyone appreciates a raise.

So; why aren't U.S. workers cheering?


Millions are still unemployed.


Millions are still under-employed as part-time workers.


And millions more receiving the Minimum Wage are fully aware their wages will remain poverty wages when compared to actual cost-of-living which no one seems to want to talk about.


And; oh, yes; the employers are cheering because these poverty wages will assure them of huge super-profits for many years to come.


http://fortune.com/2014/12/19/minimum-wage-raise-states/


Check it out; not one state in this country provides a Minimum Wage that is a real living wage when compared to actual cost-of-living figures:


http://investorplace.com/2014/…/minimum-wage-increase-2015/…


Democrats across the country promised "living wages, non-poverty wages" when running for office. Once elected they delivered Minimum Wage "increases" which remain poverty wages.


Not one single newspaper so much as mentioned the promises made versus what was delivered. Wouldn't it be terrible if the mainstream media's over-paid pundits passing themselves off as journalists were to actually ask these politicians why they failed to deliver on their campaign promises of real living, non-poverty Minimum Wages?


http://www.washingtonpost.com/…/twenty-states-will-raise-t…/


I find it amazingly hypocritical that these mainstream media pundits would be paid so well for peddling lies and half-truths in the name of covering this struggle for living wages while people working their butts off trying to survive are paid such miserly poverty wages.


And the hypocrisy of these Wall Street bribed politicians who give themselves raise after raise for squandering the wealth of the Nation on militarism and wars goes unchecked.


This capitalist system is so rotten to the core with corruption that it stinks.


Something to think about:


The same government which uses the levers of power to minimize wages has never used its governmental levers to restrict profits.

Something to think about...

Are you willing to pay the price to protect Wall Street's interests in Africa?

What is the price we pay?

Do we forgo health care and child care and jobs along with decent pay and a just Minimum Wage in line with the actual cost-of-living?

Are we prepared to pay for Wall Street's imperialism with the blood and lives of our children and grandchildren who are used as cannon fodder to fight these dirty wars?

We pay for this insanity and the Wall Street parasites profit.

Something to think about... it seems the imperialist countries, notably the G-20 led by Wall Street (Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States—along with the European Union) have set their sights on Africa. Cheap resources obtained using cheap labor. War after war will be the result as the people resist theses greedy imperialist beasts:


V.I. Lenin explained it all in this pamphlet available for free here:



http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/


U.S. trade union leader and Communist, William Z. Foster, explained the nature of imperialism even further in this book available for order on the internet:

Gus Hall, the longtime Chair of the Communist Party USA, provides more insight in this book also available from Internet book sellers:







Mark Twain became a fervent anti-imperialist; here are a few excerpts from his writings:

Although born Samuel Langhorne Clemens, he adopted what is one of the most famous pen names in literature, Mark Twain, from a Mississippi river slang phrase. Twain is famous as an author, satirist, essayist, newspaper contributor, and lecturer. He wrote about a myriad of topics, ranging from life along the Mississippi River, detailed in famous works such as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1872) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), to a collection of essays written while abroad, to political essays. Twain was an influential writer of his time and remains so today. During the Spanish-American War, Twain became a fervent anti-imperialist, even joining the Anti-Imperialist League. His sentiments about the war and the war in the Philippines were published nationwide.

Works of related interest

• Twain, Mark. Mark Twain's Autobiography.
• Paine, Albert Bigelow (ed). Mark Twain's Letters. New York: Harper & Bros., 1917. LCCN: 17-30756 r94.
• Zwick, Jim (ed). Mark Twain's weapons of satire: anti-imperialist writings on the Philippine-American War. New York: Syracuse University Press, 1992.

Excerpts

From the New York Herald, October 15, 1900:
I left these shores, at Vancouver, a red-hot imperialist. I wanted the American eagle to go screaming into the Pacific. It seemed tiresome and tame for it to content itself with he Rockies. Why not spread its wings over the Phillippines, I asked myself? And I thought it would be a real good thing to do
I said to myself, here are a people who have suffered for three centuries. We can make them as free as ourselves, give them a government and country of their own, put a miniature of the American constitution afloat in the Pacific, start a brand new republic to take its place among the free nations of the world. It seemed to me a great task to which had addressed ourselves.

But I have thought some more, since then, and I have read carefully the treaty of Paris, and I have seen that we do not intend to free, but to subjugate the people of the Phillippines. We have gone there to conquer, not to redeem. . .

It should, it seems to me, be our pleasure and duty to make those people free, and let them deal with their own domestic questions in their own way. And so I am an anti-imperialist. I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land.



A Boston Herald transcript of a speech he gave in 1900 began thus:
Oh, you have been doing many things in this time that I have been absent; you have done lots of things, some that are well worth remembering, too. Now, we have fought a righteous war since I have been gone, and that is rare in history--a righteous war is so rare that it is almost unknown in history; but by the grace of that war we set Cuba free, and we joined her to those three or four free nations that exist on this earth; and we started out to set those poor Filipinos free too, and why, why, why that most righteous purpose of ours has apparently miscarried I suppose I never shall know.

In a 1906 essay about the Moro massacre in the Phillippines, which was not published until after his death, Twain criticized the military:

General Wood was present and looking on. His order had been, "Kill or capture those savages." Apparently our little army considered that the "or" left them authorized to kill or capture according to taste, and that their taste had remained what it had been for eight years in our army out there--the taste of Christian butchers.



In a February 1901 article titled, "To the Person Sitting in Darkness," he continued to criticize the U.S.:
There must be two Americas: one that sets the captive free, and one that takes a once-captive's new freedom away from him, and picks a quarrel with him with nothing to found it on; then kills him to get his land. . .

True, we have crushed a deceived and confiding people; we have turned against the weak and the friendless who trusted us; we have stamped out a just and intelligent and well-ordered republic; we have stabbed an ally in the back and slapped the face of a guest; we have bought a Shadow from an enemy that hadn't it to sell; we have robbed a trusting friend of his land and his liberty; we have invited clean young men to shoulder a discredited musket and do bandit's work under a flag which bandits have been accustomed to fear, not to follow; we have debauched America's honor and blackened her face before the world. . .

And as for a flag for the Philippine Province, it is easily managed. We can have a special one--our States do it: we can have just our usual flag, with the white stripes painted black and the stars replaced by the skull and cross-bones.



And another essay on the American flag, also from 1901:
I am not finding fault with this use of our flag; for in order not to seem eccentric I have swung around, now, and joined the nation in the conviction that nothing can sully a flag. I was not properly reared, and the illusion that a flag was a thing which must be sacredly guarded against shameful uses and unclean contacts, lest it suffer pollution; and so when it was sent out to the Philippines to float over a wanton war and a robbing expedition I supposed it was polluted, and in an ignorant moment I said so. But I stand corrected. I conceded and acknowledge that it was only the government that sent it on such an errand that was polluted. Let us compromise on that. I am glad to have it that way. For our flag could not well stand pollution, never having been used to it, but it is different with the administration.



Nelson Mandela, like Lenin, Mark Twain, William Z. Foster, W.E.B. DuBois, and Gus Hall was, too, a fervent anti-imperialist.



The age of imperialism:

http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/imperialism/

Stop the deportation of U.S. war resister Joshua Key from Canada

Can we help?

http://www.communitynewscommons.org/…/former-ndp-mla-fight…/
It would seem to me every single person reading this should be willing to help.

My suggestion would be that we each:

1. Sign on to a common letter to both the U.S. and Canadian governments calling for an end to deportation proceedings;

2. Contribute at least $25.00 to help Joshua Key and his family, which includes small children, get through this mess.

Concrete acts of solidarity are needed now; isn't this what we are supposed to be all about?

Please listen to the radio program at the link above.

A "few bad apples" or a massive network of brutal police repression?

These police are becoming even more brutal as they attempt to cover up their crimes now being publicly exposed from one end of the country to the other. Their declared hatred of people protesting their crimes is proof these cops fear being publicly exposed for the brutal bullies they are.

People like to say all the cops are not bad but all the cops are involved because they help cover up the brutal crimes being carried out by the "few bad apples."

In addition, the more people one talks to the more we find out just how widespread this police brutality is.

So far, the focus has been mostly on the police killings of people of color; these police murders now surpass in number those hanged during the dark period of Jim Crow. But how many people have been subjected to police beatings and how many more people have been subjected to racist name-calling by the police.

And the discussion hasn't even begun about the nature of these politically repressive "Red Squads," special units organized by the FBI consisting of the FBI, state, county and local police and a bunch of citizen vigilantes, intended to silence anyone and everyone who participates in these demonstrations against police brutality and any other progressive cause from protesting these dirty wars to demanding raising the Minimum Wage.

The United States is hailed, by those in power who hire the police to do these dirty deeds, as the world's greatest bastion of democracy. A bunch of hypocrites all.

While traveling through the Midwest these past few weeks, I was told by a group of people in Oklahoma that when they were putting up signs alongside garage sale signs they were threatened with arrest by police when they refused to take the signs down... if this isn't a clear attempt to restrict the First Amendment I don't know what is.

I was also told that in order to hold a march for justice for the victims of police killings in San Antonio, Texas the organizers were forced to pay for a permit... once, again, it is "pay to play" in what Wall Street holds as its exclusive right to determine public policy.

Here in Minneapolis, people are being arrested for standing up and protesting organized police violence against the people.

How many people in Ferguson, Missouri have been arrested simply for demanding justice as a racist killer cop goes free?

We are living in an era where those wealthy people in power and their loyal servants and protectors only consider their own lives as having any worth or value... this is not what democracy is supposed to be about.

Wall Street owns Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton

A variety of different articles have painted the Democratic Party as "Wall Street leaning." The Democratic Party is much more than "Wall Street leaning;" the Democratic Party is owned outright by Wall Street every bit as much as the Republican Party and both are an integral component of Wall Street's "two-party trap" set for the working class.

Anyone who doesn't believe this should read their daily newspaper... "hot off the press" today is the article:

"Jeb Bush unwinding some financial affairs; Considering run for president, he quits firm that profited from Obamacare:"

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-jeb-bush-money-20141225-story.html#page=1

"In 2007, Bush joined InnoVida, a Miami manufacturer of composite building materials, winning a seat on the board and a $15,000-a-month consulting contract. At the time, company president Claudio Osorio was a big player in Miami’s glitzy social and political world, hosting fundraisers at his Star Island mansion for Democratic politicians like Hillary Rodham Clinton and, in 2008, for then-Sen. Barack Obama.

In March 2010, InnoVida obtained a $10-million federal loan to build homes and a factory in earthquake-wrecked Haiti. But Osorio scammed millions from that loan and from investors, according to a federal indictment filed in Miami.

"A Securities and Exchange Commission complaint in 2012 said Osorio had recruited Bush and other high-profile figures to lend “an air of legitimacy” to InnoVida and help him raise money. In 2013, Osorio pleaded guilty to fraud charges and was sentenced to 121/2 years in prison.

Bush was paid a total of $468,901 before leaving InnoVida in September 2010.
A court-approved settlement agreement in the company’s bankruptcy case says he provided “substantial assistance” to investigations into the company’s finances, and he agreed to pay back $270,000 to the bankruptcy court."

I do wonder why we haven't heard about the Obama and Hillary Clinton connections to the same dirty corporate money long before this.

And remember all these people who said, "Obama is the last Democrat I am backing; in 2016 I will support building a new working class based progressive people's party for peace, social and economic justice?" Well, these people are running the same line on us again as they support Hillary Clinton... although this time they are clamoring for Warren to run in the primary even though Warren has already proclaimed her support for Hillary.

Wall Street owns Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush... and Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton both own a part of Wall Street--- ditto for Obama; is this what democracy is all about?

And like with Obama's bailout of the Wall Street bankers, Obamacare is all about Wall Street's profits with the Republicans demagogically railing against Obamacare as they laugh all the way to the bank.

In typical Obama style, he partially normailzes relations with Cuba and then places restrictions on Venezuela

So, Obama partially normalizes relations with Cuba and a day later takes reactionary measures against Venezuela.

It will be interesting to see what kind of "financial restrictions" Obama can place on the socialist bus driver who leads the Venezuelan government or any other members of the Venezuelan government.

I doubt we can expect Obama to twist the arms of any members of Congress to end the economic embargo and tourist restrictions on Cuba when he works with Congress to implement these undemocratic restrictions on Venezuela.

Like with everything Obama has done, this normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba is sure to come with other imperialist intrigues, not only against other nations, but most likely even more sinister and aggressive actions against Cuba.

It is Obama's dirty work going on behind closed doors which needs to be examined.

It is time for the American people to have a say in foreign relations. Foreign relations has been the exclusive arena of the Wall Street crowd and this needs to end once and for all.

Police violence against the people... especially the severe racist edge of this police violence must come to an end

There is a lot of talk coming from those in power--- from Obama on down--- about how to reform the police departments in this country but their response evades the fact that none of those in power are insisting on what justice requires.

In response to the steady stream of racist police killings across this country which have resulted in massive demonstrations--- especially in Ferguson, Missouri--- we here talk about how these police need to be better trained, receive diversity training, providing police with personal cameras, de-militarizing police departments, etc.

But, why no demand from those in power to prosecute these black-booted criminals in blue uniforms committing these racist, cold-blooded murders?

Once again we see those in power evading what justice requires--- criminal prosecution.

There is no doubt real reforms require community control over police departments with the police living in the neighborhoods they patrol.

The police departments never should have been armed to the hilt with weapons of war.

Police should be properly trained--- not after they put on police uniforms and a badge, but before.

Cameras on cops would be good, too.

But, all these needed reforms do not replace the need for prosecution of these criminal police.

Darren Wilson should have to stand trial for the murder of Michael Brown and if convicted Wilson should be placed on Missouri's death row in cells beside others convicted of murder.

These politicians who have funded the militarization of the police departments and put in positions of power those appointed public officials responsible for hiring and training police have made sure police were hired who do not respect human rights let alone the Constitution of the United States and Bill of Rights.

Now these politicians act as if their own hands are clean when their hands are as dirty as the racist cops pulling the triggers.

We see these same cops busting up Occupy Wall Street, harassing and hounding those who demand peace instead of war. These same cops bust up protests against poverty wages and these same cops don't hesitate to beat heads using their billy clubs when workers walk peaceful picket lines.

We need to understand that ending this racist police violence in this country is an integral part of the struggles for peace, social and economic justice because when there is no justice there can be no peace.

Justice requires not just reforms of police departments but the full and complete prosecution of these murdering, violent--- and extremely racist--- criminal cops.

Prosecuting these criminal cops is the best education and training the other cops can receive.

Why haven't we learned lessons from LBJ and his disastorous escalation and continuation of the Vietnam War?

Yesterday I visited the President Lyndon B. Johnson museum in Johnson City, Texas.

The tour guide explained how Johnson got his "left economic populism" from his father.

This is one of the most honest displays of a politician's life I have ever seen.

It is explained to people how the Vietnam War caused havoc with all of Johnson's important social and civil rights programs and people learn how the massive protests against the Vietnam War, which Johnson expanded instead of stopping, led to him not running for re-election. This connection between war and poverty is something politicians have not learned.

A few of the displays on civil rights and poverty allow for citizen interaction with people being allowed to post their thoughts on index cards which are posted for everyone to see.

The real lesson to be learned from visiting the Johnson Museum and History center none of these pundits and "populist" economists like Paul Krugman, Robert Reich or even Bernie Sanders seem to understand is that wars create poverty, along with great human misery, and make it impossible to end poverty or even improve the lives and livelihoods of all the people.

Lyndon Johnson lamented the fact that "capitalism created vast wealth" but "a way had not been found to bring the millions in poverty better lives...;" another lesson we need to learn and force these politicians and over-paid pundits to confront.

Lyndon B. Johnson's political career began by fighting the banks, big-agriculture and the oil men and fighting for the New Deal Reforms.

Just imagine what kind of health care, education and jobs programs we could have had in this country had as much effort and resources been expended on building Lyndon B. Johnson's vision of a "Great Society" if so much of our national wealth had not been squandered on war after war the last 50 years... something to think about.

Looking across the "hill country of Texas," which Johnson called "home" one can see the massive poverty.

The facts of what wars are doing to us was made very clear in the graph at the Johnson museum which showed a very brief period of time when real headway was made in the fight against poverty through Johnson's many social and economic reforms and these graphs very lucidly depict how the fight against poverty came to an abrupt end with the rapid, costly escalation of the Vietnam War.

The other thing that is very clear from the Johnson exhibits is that organized, militant and massive public intervention on issues ranging from war and peace to wealth and poverty and in defense of public education and equality for all can really influence the direction of the country in very tangible ways that improve the lives of the majority of the people... one can easily imagine just what kind of country we could be living in if we were to be successful in coming together to take power out of the hands of the greedy Wall Street parasites which include the merchants of death and destruction.

Johnson made a horrible blunder in allowing Wall Street's Military-Industrial Complex to lead him into escalating the Vietnam War... one has to wonder if Johnson's conscience didn't bother him since he died of a massive heart attack at the young age of 64 shortly after deciding not to seek a second term.

Upon Johnson's invitation, he met with George McGovern at his very modest Texas ranch, the Texas White House, shortly before his death and no one seems to know exactly what they discussed. No doubt McGovern, another "left economic populist," but one who understood that war and solving the problems of the people are mutually exclusive, attempted to explain to Johnson that this is where he screwed up.

Hillary Clinton will now attempt a shot at the presidency using this failed "left economic populist" rhetoric devoid of any mention of how these dirty wars are making us all poor and all these Obama supporters will attempt to tell us we need to vote for Hillary because she is the lesser of two evils as compared to Jeb Bush or Scott Walker but history, and economics, prove that any talk based on "economic populism" that is devoid of integrating the need to end war with a just transition to a peace based economy where we beat swords into plowshares is as sure to end up in expanded misery for the majority of the people.

I do find it of interest that all these Democratic Party politicians run from acknowledging Lyndon B. Johnson's victories--- and defeats; especially when there are such important lessons to be learned.

I would also point out that Lyndon B. Johnson supported George McGovern for president from which one can draw the conclusion that Johnson understood, at least in his own mind and in his heart, that he had been wrong in expanding the war in Vietnam... perhaps had Johnson had the courage to take on the Wall Street crowd as he did with the oil barons, big agri-business, the bankers and in his defense of the New Deal we would be living in a much different country today where people come before profits.

I remember many on the left calling for going "part of the way with LBJ;" but life has proven we can not have jobs and a decent standard of living alongside wars... something present day so-called "economic populist" pundits and economists alike do not understand or, more than likely, don't want to understand because they fear offending the Wall Street hand which feeds them.

Isn't it time to begin talking about the politics and economics of livelihood? Ending poverty and wars.

Finally the Cuban Five are free!!!

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/obama-us-re-establishing-relations-with-cuba/ar-BBgUJV0?ocid=mailsignout

Some good news...

Now is the time for the American people to push for ending this barbaric U.S. economic embargo against Cuba and exert pressure on Congress to open up U.S. tourism to Cuba without limitations.

This is the first half-way decent thing Obama has done during his presidency... but still far too little and far too late; but, better late than never even if only a half-measure.

No doubt this will be center-pieced by the Obama Administration to cover up its dirty deeds in bringing us closer to World War III as Obama sends arms to the fascists who have illegally seized power in the Ukraine.

I look forward to being able to get on a boat or plane from the United States with my destination Cuba as I am sure many other Americans do just as our Canadian neighbors to the north have been able to do for so many years.

Two choices: bust up the big banks or take them over?

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling for "busting up" and "breaking up" the big banks:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJpTxONxvoo#t=458

BUT--- busting up the big banks is no solution to anything.

Busting up these big banks isn't even any kind of progressive reform.

What is required is bringing these big banks, and the entire banking and financial industry, under public ownership and democratic control.

We should have learned from the government ordered, overseen and directed break-up of Ma Bell that busting up these huge monopoly corporations is no solution at all... and only makes it more difficult to regulate and control these industries which government ordered the "break-ups" of to reach greater profits through more severe exploitation of the industries' employees (and outright union busting as in cases like Verizon and CenturyLink) while expanding into new heights in ripping off consumers.

Workers and consumers will fair no better with the break-up of big banks like Citibank than they did with the government busting up Ma Bell.

I find it interesting Senator Elizabeth Warren fails to examine what happened after the government busted up Ma Bell before she starts talking about doing the same thing with the big banks like Citibank.

The real progressive solution in both situations--- be it communications or banking--- is nationalization: public ownership of these industries under the democratic control of the people.

Elizabeth Warren sounds like she is attacking Wall Street when Wall Street investors are drooling at the mouth just waiting for the government to bust up these big banks so their fortunes will increase as the misery created for most people deepens.

Just ask any worker who had been employed by Ma Bell if their union is stronger today than before Ma Bell was busted up and if their livelihoods in comparison to actual cost-of-living are better today than before the break-up. And don't forget to ask them about health care costs.

Real reformers of the banking industry talk about public banking and public take-over of the banking industry and they aren't afraid of the red-baiting that they are sure to endure.

Many are saying that this recent speech in the U.S. Senate by Elizabeth Warren has assured her a shot at the presidency; but, does her anti-Wall Street rhetoric match up with the real reforms required which would really challenge Wall Street's strangle-hold on political and economic power?

In fact, in spite of her anti-Wall Street rhetoric, Warren proposes the Wall Street solution... public banking is the working class solution.

Senator Elizabeth Warren should be calling for the establishment of a national bank along the lines of the State Bank of North Dakota... then she would be talking about a real progressive solution.

The KKK not past history in Texas

I am visiting Texas.

Yesterday I went to the Bob Bullock Museum in Austin, Texas.

At this museum a few blocks from the Texas State Capitol building, they have an important exhibit about the Ku Klux Klan in the history of Texas which points out its long, sordid, criminal history of racism and dirty racist deeds.

One fact I found quite surprising, and alarming, since Texas is always puffed up as one of the more modern and forward thinking of the southern states is that Texas has, at present, the largest number of KKK chapters in the United States.

Ethics and morality

Ethics and morality under capitalism.

Some people push the idea that some kind of new ethics and morality beyond greed can be created under capitalism if people will just purchase in an informed manner the products produced by corporations bound by some kind of code of ethics and morality.

Missing from this thinking is the fact that under capitalism all production by these corporations begins with unethical and immoral conduct from which they can't escape; namely, the exploitation of workers by these capitalists and only the public ownership of the mines, mills and factories along with other enterprises can change this.

For working people, capitalism will always be an unethical and immoral system with only socialism being an ethical and moral alternative because socialism puts an end to the exploitation of man by man.

One simply can not wisely purchase products manufactured by workers employed by capitalists believing they are changing corporate ethics and morality because these capitalist corporations and those who own and run them only understand greed: profits.

Do you need a bunch of overpaid party hacks to do your thinking for you?

Trust yourself based on what you see happening in the world around you and your real life experiences; chances are good you know more than you think you do.

Ferguson--- A travesty of justice.

Ferguson--- A travesty of justice. Blame Obama and Holder for not going after this racist cop and the racist Ferguson Police Department for civil rights violations which prepared this grand jury to think that they could come to this decision and get away with it.

Racism and all forms of hate are like a snowball going down a long steep hill on a warm spring day--- the snowball just keeps getting bigger and bigger.
If you let these racist bigots who are cops in this case get away with murder and violence it will encourage other bigots to act in the same way thinking they can get away with murder.

The fact is, it was either convict this racist cop, Darren Wilson, for murdering an innocent Michael Brown or let him go free because if convicted of this racist, cold blooded murder Wilson would have been placed on Missouri's death row and this would have sent a completely different message to all racist bigots that they would be prosecuted for their crimes to the full extent of the law.

This racist cop pumped six or seven bullets into Michael Brown. Could you just imagine what the talk would be had Michael Brown pumped six bullets into Darren Wilson? All these racist bigots would be calling for Michael Brown's execution.

We have gone through this up here in Northern Minnesota with racist cops who kill and commit acts of violence and all kinds of dirty racist acts against Native Americans...

The same United States Department of Justice comes in and says the solution to this racism is "educating" these racist cops with "diversity training."

So, these racist cops get off with an education and people of color go to prison or sit on death row.

What does all of this tell us about justice being blind in America?

And will we find out years from now that the role of the FBI going into Ferguson was to incite the violence we are seeing now in order to cover up the crimes involved in this grand jury decision.

Note how the grand jury was used to shield this racist killer cop from prosecution.

What is the condition of the working class today?

"The condition of the working-class is the real basis and point of departure of all social movements of the present because it is the highest and most unconcealed pinnacle of the social misery existing in our day." Friedrich Engels writing in 1845; as true today as when Engels wrote it.


The AD NAUSEUM support for Obama and the Democrats coming from people who haven't even attended a Democratic Party meeting to push an anti-imperialist working class agenda is sickening. In fact, they don't even attend Democratic Party precinct caucuses, county, state or national conventions because they know if they bring forward peace, social and economic justice issues that would remedy the problems working class families are experiencing they would be red-baited, called names, silenced and chased away by the corporate lawyers placed in charge by the Wall Street firms they are employed by.

Read what former socialist governor of Minnesota elected on the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party ticket had to say:


http://collections.mnhs.org/…/articles/47/v47i04p154-161.pdf

An interesting article about the Minimum Wage/Living Wage Movements by Steven Greenhouse in today's New York Times... BUT---

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/23/business/how-a-coalition-pushed-for-a-hotel-workers-minimum-wage.html?smid=fb-share&_r=0

But, are these real living wages?

More to the point: Will these be real living wages at the time they go into effect?

This is the trap we are led into by the "$15.00 NOW!" movement. Instead of demanding that these wages be tied to actual cost of living, the "$15.00 NOW!" movement assures employers of poverty wages and rising profits.

Workers are always thrilled with any wage increase; nut, being thrilled is not the issue.

The issue is eliminating poverty wages which eliminates poverty.

Furthermore, all of these schemes are attached to leaving thousands of workers without the wages being held up as advances.

We need universal Minimum Wage legislation which assures non-poverty, real living wages tied to actual cost of living factors... and we need a powerful coalition to accomplish this but as a first step we need to widely promote the idea of wages being linked to cost-of-living.

Most unions are opposed to making this link simply because most of the contracts that have been shoved down workers throats since the late 1940's have been poverty wage--- or near poverty wage--- contracts with COLA not being anywhere near the actual rise in cost-of-living.

As Mark Froemke, a leader of the Minnesota/Dakotas AFL-CIO blatantly stated: "We aren't going to advocate anything higher (higher than $10.10) because we aren't getting any dues from these workers." This is the way millionaire labor leaders and their flunkies in the labor movement think.

I was recently thrilled to get a forty-cent an hour increase in my pay... but I'm still getting a poverty wage under a union contract! And I make far less than the pay in this NYT's article.

I would point out that the intent of the Minimum Wage is to get workers to a real living wage in line with actual cost-of-living and not to provide employers with low wages from which they reap huge super-profits.

Steven Greenhouse obviously understand "the big squeeze" workers in this country are being subjected to but does he understand every single working class family is trapped in a COST-OF-LIVING CRISIS and the only way out is through full employment and a real living Minimum Wage based on actual cost-of-living?

What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" where swords will be beat into plowshares and instead of manufacturing multi-billion dollar Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carriers with massive cost overruns (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford-class_aircraft_carrier) we need to invest our resources in National Public Health Care and Child Care Systems which will create meaningful jobs providing the American people with the requirements for decent lives and livelihoods.

An argument is made that these adjustments in the Minimum Wage will eventually get us to real living wages. This simply is not true. Nor will the advocacy piecemeal reforms result in the reforms required.

The Full Employment Act of 1947 was defeated by a vicious red-baiting assault launched by Wall Street. It is time for rank-and-file workers, organized and unorganized to unite and fight for what is needed:a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity."

We should be asking what happened to the AFL-CIO's Committee on Conversion that was brought into existence as a result of the work done by the IAM's William Winpisinger.

Also see:
http://uslaboragainstwar.org/Article/60/uss-gerald-r-ford-check-out-the-construction-of-the-most-expensive-ship-ever/tab/4458

I find it interesting that the Wall Street merchants of death and destruction are always allowed by the government to implement whatever cost overruns they want to claiming rising prices and costs but when it comes to workers needing wage increases to meet their rising cost-of-living requirements the employers and the politicians they elect cry.

More money for militarism and wars

What could we do to improve the lives of people with this kind of money and resources?

Bloomberg.com
November 21, 2014
U.S. Aircraft Carrier’s Cost Likely to Rise Again, GAO Says
By David Lerman and Tony Capaccio

The cost of the U.S. Navy’s new aircraft carrier is likely to keep rising from the $12.9 billion now estimated, with the final price masked by deferring some work until after the ship is delivered, the Government Accountability Office said.

In the latest in a series of reports offering political ammunition to critics of the Navy’s most expensive warship, the GAO yesterday reaffirmed its earlier concerns that the Ford-class carrier being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc. (HII) will cost more and take longer to complete than advertised.

“With the shipbuilder embarking on one of the most complex phases of construction with the greatest likelihood for cost growth, cost increases beyond the current $12.9 billion cost cap appear likely,” the watchdog agency said.

To stay within the cost cap, the Navy is deferring some work, including installing satellite communications equipment and correcting defects, until after the ship is delivered, to create a funding reserve, according to the report.

“This approach obscures visibility into the true cost of the ship and results in delivering a ship that is less complete than initially planned,” the GAO said.

The report may serve as fodder for renewed attacks on the Navy’s construction plans from the Senate Armed Services Committee. Senator John McCain, an Arizona Republican poised to become chairman of the panel in January, has been a persistent critic of the carrier.
McCain Criticism
McCain said in a statement that “after $2.4 billion in cost overruns on this ship already, the Navy is now trying to artificially shift more cost overruns until after the Ford’s delivery.”

“The Armed Services Committee will be seeking further explanation from the Navy on this troubling report and will work to hold those responsible for these cost overruns accountable,” McCain said.

Huntington, the only U.S. builder of aircraft carriers, defended the progress of the Gerald R. Ford, which is the first major redesign of a carrier since the 1960’s-era Nimitz class.

The Ford is 83 percent complete and “we continue to see improvements on our performance on Ford and we continue to further increase efficiencies and to retire risk,” said Beci Brenton, a spokeswoman for the Newport News, Virginia-based shipbuilder.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, urged lawmakers to consider revising legislation that set the cost cap on the ship “to improve accountability of Ford-class construction costs.”
‘Operational Capabilities’
The Pentagon rejected that advice, saying all needed funding is already included, according to a written response to the report by Katrina McFarland, assistant secretary of defense for acquisition.

The GAO also found that Ford will deploy “without demonstrating full operational capabilities” because some requirements, such as increasing aircraft launch rates, won’t be met in time and will limit the carrier’s operations.

The Navy is confident that a ship will be delivered under the cost cap, said Commander Thurraya Kent, a Navy spokesman.

Deferring “some non-critical work, such as air wing berthing spaces, that are not required at delivery was done to allow the shipbuilder to focus his resources on the most critical activities to deliver the ship,” Kent said.

To contact the reporters on this story: David Lerman in Washington at dlerman1@bloomberg.net; Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: John Walcott at jwalcott9@bloomberg.net; Larry Liebert, Michael Shepard

Is there a link between problems with foster care in this country and incarceration?

Recently a group of reform minded people were granted a meeting with the head of the Michigan Department of Corrections.

During this meeting a very important fact came out which I was never aware of and probably most people in this country are not aware of this important fact:

Over 80% of the people locked up in local, state and federal prisons come out of foster homes.

This has apparently been well known by politicians and bureaucrats for a very long period of time.

Common sense would seem to dictate that the foster care system in this country should have come under very close public scrutiny since so much money--- public and private--- is spent on foster care.

I am sure there are some very good foster families because I know some; I also know some who just do foster care for the money.

Much of this foster care is related to the churches and given all the corruption, unethical and criminal behavior of so much of the clergy it would only be logical to conclude many people are in jails and prisons because of the failures of the foster care system in this country.

is there or isn't there a direct correlation between foster care and people being imprisoned?

Seeing as how the government has failed to investigate this I think we have to consider that there is a direct link between foster care and the high rate of incarceration in this country.

I would also note that many of these priests being found guilty of molesting young children have been deeply involved with foster care programs.

I am sure there will be some people who come forward telling me that I have no right to draw these kinds of conclusions based on the fact that 80% of the people incarcerated have been in foster care; however, I ask:

Why has the government failed to investigate this connection?

What will politicians in Michigan now do with this information?

And why aren't the reformers like activist Angela Davis who are so concerned about the prison-industrial complex bringing forward this fact?

The time has come to break free from the two-party trap.

Haven't we heard this talk of "fighting back" from these same millionaire labor leaders over-and-over again with no attempt made to mobilize the working class for fighting back?

What a crock of bullshit.

After tough election, labor leaders say unions are here to stay

by: John Wojcik

November 17 2014

tags: elections, labor, workers, unions, national

CHICAGO - Just weeks after many Republicans were swept into office three of the nation's top labor leaders declared at a public forum here Nov. 13 that unions are ready to fight what they expect will be a renewed nationwide assault on workers' rights.

"What happened in this election," Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO declared, "is that the vast majority of the voters stayed home." He attributed the massive stay-away to widespread disgust with falling wages, fear of the uncertain in both foreign and domestic affairs, a flat or declining standard of living and serious problems in the messaging that came form both major political parties. "The Republicans blamed everything on President Obama and there was no real message coming from the Democrats either," Trumka said.

He warned that the GOP should not interpret the results as "any kind of mandate for their policies," pointing out that when given the chance to vote on specific issues, "people voted overwhelmingly for hikes in the minimum wage. When polled they were overwhelmingly against any cuts in Medicare and Social Security."

Trumka was joined by Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers and by Eliseo Medina, former SEIU secretary-tresurer and currently a leader in the national fight for comprehensive immigration reform. The event was a forum sponsored here by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics.

Gerard said the election results should also be blamed on "the record amount of dark money poured into the Republican campaigns. They, the Koch brothers and their like spent four and a half billion buying this election," Gerard said. "That's a record."

Trumka said the labor movement "can usually be counted upon for 25 percent of the vote. That usual 25 percent went down to 18 percent. Still," he noted, "the fact that 18 percent of the voters were union members puts our participation in the election ahead of our percentage in the overall population."

Nationally, only 11 percent of the workforce is unionized.

Trumka noted that because of the small size of the labor movement, unions cannot alone carry on the fight to defend workers rights and turn the country around. "This is why we are fully engaging with our allies in the community," he said. "Our values and what we stand for are in sync with the majority of Americans. We want to build a permanent coalition on as many issues as possible together with other groups," he added. Trumka noted that current efforts to build lasting coalitions with allies differ from past efforts by unions "which were directed at forming temporary alliances on single issues rather than ongoing coalitions around a number of concerns we all have."

Some in the crowd at the University of Chicago last Thursday questioned the enormous amount of effort unions have been putting into the fight for immigration reform. "Wouldn't it be better if we just froze all immigration for the time being, until the job situation improves?," one participant asked.

"That is not the way to deal with the problem we have," Medina said. "There are millions who are now here with their families. Their immigration status is being used to deny them their rights and this brings down conditions for all workers in the country."

"As long as I am president of the AFL-CIO," Trumka said, "our fight is going to be for full rights for immigrants. That is the only way unscrupulous employers can be prevented from playing immigrant workers against native born. It's the only way to resolve the problem."

Gerard said that when President Obama acts soon by executive order, to provide relief for perhaps millions of undocumented workers, "we [the labor movement] are going to have to get behind him and support him; the Republican attacks on him will be unrelenting," Gerard warned.

Trumka vowed that unions will continue their battle for civil rights on every front.

"We were down in Ferguson right away," he said. "During the last pesidential elections we made it clear that the one totally unacceptable reason for not voting for Barack Obama was that he was black. Equally, it would be unacceptable not to vote for Hillary Clinton because she is a woman."

Gerard said that there is work to be done yet in the area of increasing workers' understanding of major economic issues.
"People need to know, for example," that when the Republicans talk about the 'free market' they are talking about something that doesn't exist. No markets are free. They all have rules, it's only a question of who makes the rules for whom."

Trumka followed up on that theme: "People need to know, for example, that it was Milton Friedman from this university who first developed the extreme free market shock capitalism model and that it was no accident where he applied it first - in Chile where it resulted in tens of thousands of deaths and economic disaster that continues on some levels today."
He was referring to the right-wing economic policies instituted under the Washington-backed military coup that resulted in the death of elected socialist President Salvador Allende in Chile in 1973.

Come on; does anyone really believe this bullshit?

We have all heard this same talk from these big blowhard millionaire labor leaders before with nothing ever being done. They will do nothing now except what Trumka has more than hinted at--- helping to elect Hillary Clinton who is just one more puppet being worked on strings controlled from corporate boardrooms by the parasitical crowd of Wall Street warmongers.

As for what happened in Chile, the barbaric carnage and brutal repression orchestrated by a bunch of murderous fascist bastards working at Wall Street's behest, the AFL-CIO was working side-by-side with Wall Street bosses and hand-in-hand with the U.S. CIA; apparently a story Trumka and Gerard do not want to  fully tell and explain.

These never-ending dirty imperialist wars are making us all poor. There is always enough money for another war but never enough to fund the requirements of working class families for more decent lives. Trumka and Gerard are eating up this crap about a "populist economics" spewed by the likes of NAFTA supporter Robert Reich without any mention of how militarism and wars are robbing our Nation of the wealth created by workers which should be used to fund people's needs like health care and child care through National Public Health Care and National Public Child Care systems which are publicly funded, publicly administered and publicly delivered just like public education.

The Democrats, including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, are no better than the Republicans.

It's time for working people to break free from Wall Street's two-party trap otherwise we are not going to improve our lives and livelihoods; we will not have peace and our living environment will be unable to support healthy populations with clean air, water and land.

As for Obama and "immigration reform;" Obama has deported more workers than any other president and he has not ended these maliciously racist deportations where the only "crime" committed by these working class families has been seeking a better life through hard work.

Compare the way these "undocumented workers" have been treated like criminals to how this rotten Wall Street government has coddled Nazi war criminals who should have been dangling from the hangman's noose, but, instead, were provided with the highest Social Security payments as their dirty deeds were covered up.

 In fact, thousands of workers who have been deported by Obama were paying union dues--- and how have their unions defended them? Listening to Trumka and Gerard talk as if they are actually doing something to defend the rights of "undocumented workers" who are no different from any other workers and entitled to their rights under the United States Constitution, Bill of Rights and the words proclaimed in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights is enough to make one vomit. Mere words; no action.

The cause of workers leaving their homelands is Wall Street's exploitation of workers and the rape of their lands and resources and now these innocent workers are being used as scapegoats for Wall Street to hide its criminal dirty deeds behind. Just leave these "undocumented workers" alone and let them live here in the United States in the peace and dignity they are entitled to; they have had enough punishment for several lifetimes. If anyone should be locked up it is the Wall Street warmongers and the crooked, corrupt and unethical bankers robbing this country blind while creating havoc and misery all over the world--- not to mention these politicians being bribed by Wall Street.

Unions should be using their resources to organize the unorganized and to build a progressive working class-based people's party that has as its intent deep-seated reforms while challenging Wall Street for political and economic power.

To go along with a new people's party we need an anti-imperialist movement and working-class think-tanks all over this country in every place of employment and in every working class community.

As far as all this talk coming from Trumka and these other millionaire labor leaders about how we need a "new economy;" they are definitely correct about this--- but, what are they seeking? A more human capitalism and there is no such thing; never has been and never will be. What we need is what millions of Americans are supporting: socialism, a cooperative socialist commonwealth.


All these people who claim we have such a great democracy, let's find out what they think about giving the American people the right to vote on whether or not they want to continue down this dangerous capitalist road or get on the road to socialism. Capitalism is Wall Street's system; socialism is the workers' system. Capitalism is evil. Socialism provides peace and harmony.

Capitalism was evil at its birth and is even more evil today as it has grown into a barbaric monster of state monopoly capitalism with Wall Street the head of this most cannibalistic imperialist system that capitalism has become. Life for working people under this rotten Wall Street imposed capitalist system will never get any better; life can only get worse--- this is the nature of the beast. The rich get richer; the poor get poorer. This is the way the system works.

That what is supposed to be a revolutionary working class newspaper like the People's World would actually publish a story like this without comment and analysis that is so full of lies, excuses and misinformation is shameful and disgusting. No mention of the need to build working class Communist Party Clubs and united, militant rank-and-file committees and organizations capable of taking to task these millionaire labor leaders living the "life of Riley" off the dues they take in from workers who in return are only getting one bankrupt message from them: Elect more Democrats... when everyone knows that if there was a Democratic super-majority--- a Democratic president, all Democrats in the House and Senate, working class families would fare no better than they do now because the Democrats, just like their Republican counter parts, are part of Wall Street's two-party trap. The two-party trap is intended to trap workers and the working class. Millionaire labor "leaders" like Trumka and Gerard are part of this trap as they use their persuasive powers to push workers out of the streets and into the arms of the Democrats who work for the bosses.

And as for racism, every single community in this country is a "Ferguson, Missouri" with racist killer cops acting just like the black-booted fascists who trampled democracy and murdered a sickly Pablo Neruda in Allende's Chile; fascists who were being being defended in the same way as racist murdering cops by the AFL-CIO.

Has anyone heard Richard Trumka or Leo Gerard call for the arrest of this murdering cop in Ferguson, Missouri which justice requires?

The same military equipment being brought out against the people of Ferguson, Missouri who are demanding justice will be used against workers fighting for justice against the Wall Street bosses.

Workers paying union dues are not being properly represented by these millionaire labor leaders who don't have a clue as to what is meant by "the duty and responsibility" to represent workers when it comes to the most basic and fundamental grievances. How many grievances are just allowed to pile up waiting for filing in "the circular file cabinet"--- the trash can?

Trumka and his coterie of millionaire labor leaders refuse to stand up for the workers whose dues are paying their big fat salaries--- does anyone really believe these millionaire labor leaders have the moral and ethical integrity to defend the interests of the entire working class? They will continue to piss away the dues of hard working Americans supporting Democrats who are owned by Wall Street.

People aren't voting because there is no organized alternative to vote for.

Workers in Canada have their own political party--- the socialist New Democratic Party now challenging Wall Street and its junior partner, Bay Street, for political power. We should be looking north of our border to find out what Canadian workers are doing--- workers who recently elected a class struggle trade unionists to lead the Canadian Labour Congress; why is Trumka getting a free pass?