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Me and Sylvia at the Memorial (April 2009)

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Jeremy's journal

A memorandum-book does not, provided it is neatly written, appear confused to an illiterate person, or to the owner who understands it thoroughly, but to any other person able to read it appears to be inextricably confused.

James Clerk Maxwell


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Monday, March 28th, 2011

At the behest of the Wisconsin IWW, Eric Drooker has created posters calling, in a wide variety of languages, for a general strike.

posted evening of March 28th, 2011: Respond
➳ More posts about Pretty Pictures

Friday, March 25th, 2011

🦋 Labor History: centennial, current

At the Triangle Factory in nineteen-eleven.
One hundred and forty-six died in the flames
On the ninth floor, no hydrants, no fire escapes--

—Robert Pinsky, Shirt

Take a moment to commemorate the passing of 146 garment workers in a factory in Greenwitch Village one hundred years ago today. Read Sec'y Solis' observations about what this anniversary means for exploited workers today. And take some time to read about the intimidation critics of the Republican agenda are facing in Wisconsin, and about the organizational clout behind that agenda.

posted evening of March 25th, 2011: Respond
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Monday, March 7th, 2011

🦋 A matter of scale

Neither should it be forgotten that the 21st of December 1907 wrote in miniature, [and its] defective pantograph would appear imprinted... [on] the morning of 11 September 1973. More or less the same contenders, more or less the same result, more or less the same dead, more or less the same shame, but now all on a gigantic scale.

Eduardo Devés, Los que van a morir te saludan.
quoted by Lessie Jo Frazier, Salt in the Sand.

posted evening of March 7th, 2011: Respond
➳ More posts about Salt in the Sand

Friday, February 11th, 2011

🦋 وحي

أنت مصري، ارفع راسك

posted evening of February 11th, 2011: Respond

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

🦋 Obama's reflections on the shootings

At the memorial service last night:

We should be civil because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other's ideas without questioning each other's love of country and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American Dream to future generations.

They believed - they believed, and I believe that we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved life here - they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another, that's entirely up to us.

And I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.

That's what I believe, in part because that's what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed.

Imagine - imagine for a moment, here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that some day she, too, might play a part in shaping her nation's future. She had been elected to her student council. She saw public service as something exciting and hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.

I want to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as Christina imagined it. I want America to be as good as she imagined it. All of us - we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children's expectations.

posted morning of January 13th, 2011: Respond

Tuesday, November 23rd, 2010

🦋 The Year in Protest

Today, boston.com's Big Picture runs a gallery of photos of political demonstrations around the world in 2010; by turns inspiring, depressing, confusing, amusing... Thanks for the link, CK!

posted afternoon of November 23rd, 2010: Respond

Wednesday, August 4th, 2010

🦋 Overturned


Today was a good day in California.

posted evening of August 4th, 2010: Respond

Monday, March 22nd, 2010

🦋 Good news

(cartoon by Andrew Wahl)

(The president's address to the House Democratic Caucus is worth while.)

posted evening of March 22nd, 2010: Respond

Friday, March 27th, 2009

🦋 Road to Prosperity

There are a lot of funny reactions to the seriously warped Republican Budget pamphlet -- a couple of my favorites play on the diagram that shows a couple of republican policies leading magically to happy white families, after passing through a magical region labeled "Republica Road to Recovery" (and not even going along the road, just idly crossing it):

Oh and also: Apostropher is where I first caught wind of this; he has a link to a hilarious thread at Fark; and in his comments Waldo rewrites "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", surely worth doing.

posted evening of March 27th, 2009: Respond

Monday, March 23rd, 2009

🦋 FMLN

By way of Saramago's Notebook, I see that Mauricio Funes, of the FMLN, has been elected President of El Salvador; ARENA will leave office peacefully after 2 decades in power. This strikes me as fantastic news. In El País, Moíses Naím speculates as to whether the new center of power in Latin America will be Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, or Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. It is natural to think an FMLN victory would give Chávez more influence; and Lula's recent meeting with Obama can be seen as the end of "a long period of disengagement between the US and Latin America."

Saramago notes that Mauricio Funes shares his surname with Funes the Memorious, and advises him:

...Thousands of men and women [have witnessed] at last, the birth of hope. Do not disappoint them, Mister President. The political history of South America breathes deception and frustration, whole peoples tired of lies and deceit; it is time, it is urgent that all that change.

posted morning of March 23rd, 2009: 1 response
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