Monday, September 26, 2011
[LINK: 
Friday, September 23, 2011
The revolution continues...Thursday, September 22, 2011
23 percent of unemployed Minnesota vets
| QUOTE OF THE WEEK |
“You run into sergeant majors and lieutenant colonels who did 26 years in the military and have college educations, but yet you see them at a job fair looking for work.”
- Jeff Holmstrom, 33-year-old staff sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard who spent months job hunting after returning from his second deployment, on the 23 percent of unemployed Minnesota vets.(Source:Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
Monday, September 19, 2011
I refuse to believe corporations are people until...
“I refuse to believe corporations are people until Texas executes one.”
- Ara Rubya via @DanonNewsNet
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Call to non-violent revolution: the New Social Revolution
We must first as individuals and then as a body enter into a non-violent insurgency against forces that remove our self-worth, our self-respect and most importantly our dignity.
The corner stone of our non-violent revolution will be: Living within our needs.
When we break the cycle of desire we will being to escape the trap of materialism. When we live within our needs we begin to escape the trap that our profit driven captors hold us in. Succumbing to their fabricated crises of fake hunger and contrived vanity we willingly allow their influence to color our otherwise healthy decision making process.
We must allow ourselves to make better, healthy decisions.
We must live intentional lives, accepting personal responsibility by living to the measure of our needs.
When we deny supporting the driving efforts of desire driven profiteers we throw of the yoke of their false desires.
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
- Papa
-----------------------------
-----------------------------
William Meloney VII
Voice: 270-215-4275
They are ignoring us now.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi:
Be aware and not fooled. They are ignoring us now. then in their arrogance they will laugh at our broken efforts. Soon, all too soon, they will meet our actions with violence. Then we must be the strongest in our posture of non-violent revolution.
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.
Be aware and not fooled. They are ignoring us now. then in their arrogance they will laugh at our broken efforts. Soon, all too soon, they will meet our actions with violence. Then we must be the strongest in our posture of non-violent revolution.
The time has come to begin the New Social Revolution.
The rains...
The rains have returned
by bentlily
The rains have returned
I forgot
how loud
it attacks
like marbles shaking
in a tin can
underneath it
we try to sleep
wondering why
no one in this wet land
builds gardens on their roofs
to swallow
the falling ocean
turn it upside down
into proud lineups of snow peas
and artichokes
and at night
a blanket of earth above us
to hush
the clamour.
by bentlily
The rains have returned
I forgot
how loud
it attacks
like marbles shaking
in a tin can
underneath it
we try to sleep
wondering why
no one in this wet land
builds gardens on their roofs
to swallow
the falling ocean
turn it upside down
into proud lineups of snow peas
and artichokes
and at night
a blanket of earth above us
to hush
the clamour.
Contradictions: Why this stated position is disingenuous
Perhaps this author is only trying to be cute but the underlying message is devastating. Moreover, the implication that 'science is horrid' is disingenuous. For it is only by the work of science that "machinery", "mainspring", "hydraulics", and "x-ray" are even possible.
by Vachel Lindsay "There's machinery in the
butterfly;
There's a mainspring to the
bee;
There's hydraulics to a daisy,
And contraptions to a tree."If we could see the birdie
That makes the chirping sound
With x-ray, scientific eyes,
We could see the wheels go
round."And I hope all men
Who think like this
Will soon lie
Underground.
The Horrid Voice of Science
by Vachel Lindsay "There's machinery in the
butterfly;
There's a mainspring to the
bee;
There's hydraulics to a daisy,
And contraptions to a tree."If we could see the birdie
That makes the chirping sound
With x-ray, scientific eyes,
We could see the wheels go
round."And I hope all men
Who think like this
Will soon lie
Underground.
[LINK: Vachel Lindsay ]
Thursday, September 15, 2011
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Eye-popping pay
Eye-popping pay package. The folks at Footnoted.org discovered some breathtaking perks in the employment contract of DFC Global CEO Jeffrey A. Weiss. The most striking is the company’s promise to pay Weiss the equivalent of $300,000 a year for life once he leaves the company. Then there’s an “Incremental Capstone Award” promising him a further $150,000 a year for life. That’s all on top of a $1 million salary and a $1.25 million target annual bonus. Here’s the text of the employment agreement.
[LINK: WSJ ]
Wednesday, September 07, 2011
Saturday, September 03, 2011
Micky D's in different cultures
The McArabia is made with grilled chicken or grilled kofta (beef with spices). Comes with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, and garlic mayonnaise, wrapped in an Arabic style pita bread.
Friday, September 02, 2011
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Monday, August 29, 2011
Eight False Things
Eight False Things The Public “Knows” Prior To Election Day
(Note: The words that appear in red are links that you can click.)
There are a number things the public "knows" as we head into the election that are just false. If people elect leaders based on false information, the things those leaders do in office will not be what the public expects or needs.
Here are eight of the biggest myths that are out there:
1) President Obama tripled the deficit.
Reality: Bush's last budget had a $1.416 trillion deficit. Obama's first budget reduced that to $1.29 trillion.
2) President Obama raised taxes, which hurt the economy.
Reality: Obama cut taxes. 40% of the "stimulus" was wasted on tax cuts which only create debt, which is why it was so much less effective than it could have been.
3) President Obama bailed out the banks.
Reality: While many people conflate the "stimulus" with the bank bailouts, the bank bailouts were requested by President Bush and his Treasury Secretary, former Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson. (Paulson also wanted the bailouts to be "non-reviewable by any court or any agency.") The bailouts passed and began before the 2008 election of President Obama.
4) The stimulus didn't work.
Reality: The stimulus worked, but was not enough. In fact, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the stimulus raised employment by between 1.4 million and 3.3 million jobs.
5) Businesses will hire if they get tax cuts.
Reality: A business hires the right number of employees to meet demand. Having extra cash does not cause a business to hire, but a business that has a demand for what it does will find the money to hire. Businesses want customers, not tax cuts.
6) Health care reform costs $1 trillion.
Reality: The health care reform reduces government deficits by $138 billion.
7) Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, is "going broke," people live longer, fewer workers per retiree, etc.
Reality: Social Security has run a surplus since it began, has a trust fund in the trillions, is completely sound for at least 25 more years and cannot legally borrow so cannot contribute to the deficit (compare that to the military budget!) Life expectancy is only longer because fewer babies die; people who reach 65 live about the same number of years as they used to.
8) Government spending takes money out of the economy.
Reality: Government is We, the People and the money it spends is on We, the People. Many people do not know that it is governmentthat builds the roads, airports, ports, courts, schools and other things that are the soil in which business thrives. Many people think that all government spending is on "welfare" and "foreign aid" when that is only a small part of the government's budget.
This stuff really matters.
Bachmann is just a joke. -God
Just a joke: Bachmann's hurricane message from God
 | CNN Political Unit |
(CNN) - Michele Bachmann's press secretary characterized comments by the Republican presidential candidate, when she said Hurricane Irene was a message to Washington, as a joke.
"Obviously she was saying it in jest," Alice Stewart told TalkingPointsMemo Monday.
The Hurricane
The Hurricane
by William Carlos Williams The tree lay down
on the garage roof
and stretched, You
have your heaven,
it said, go to it.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
The deal about theology
Theology is to truth like a model globe is to the earth. A globe is spherical and represents the proper placement of the continents and oceans. But a globe is not wet, contains no dirt, lacks any living creatures, and is a bit on the small side. When we build theology we take the raw materials of revelation, tradition, community, and experience and build the best model we possibly can. We are thankful that in many ways we have built an excellent model of truth, but absolute adherence to even the best model is somewhere between hubris and lunacy.
-- Overheard
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Nobody but yourself
To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day to make you everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight --- and never stop fighting.
E. E. Cummings
But can he take the heat?
Texas' Perry rejects manmade global warming
By STEVE PEOPLES, Associated Press
BEDFORD, N.H. — GOP presidential candidate Rick Perry told New Hampshire voters Wednesday that he does not believe in manmade global warming, calling it a scientific theory that has not been proven.“I think we’re seeing almost weekly, or even daily, scientists that are coming forward and questioning the original idea that manmade global warming is what is causing the climate to change,” the Texas governor said on the first stop of a two-day trip to the first-in-the-nation primary state. He said some want billions or trillions of taxpayer dollars spent to address the issue, but he added: “I don’t think from my perspective that I want to be engaged in spending that much money on still a scientific theory that has not been proven and from my perspective is more and more being put into question.”
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Ya see? That's what you get for jailing anti-corruption activists. D'oh!
Anna Hazare, India's Leading Anti-Corruption Activist, Refuses to Leave Delhi Jail
BY: SIMON DENYER, RAMA LAKSHMI | THE WASHINGTON POSTNEW DELHI - Indian police jailed a leading anti-corruption campaigner and detained thousands of his supporters Tuesday morning, hours before the veteran activist was due to begin an indefinite hunger strike to demand tougher laws against graft.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
You might be a conservative if...
1: You’re irate over the president taking so many vacation days on the taxpayer’s dime (61 thus far), but you thought George W. Bush earned every minute of his leisure time (196 days at the same point in his presidency).
2: You’re happy with your 40 hour work week, paid vacations and company-provided healthcare, but you’re strongly anti-union, because those commies haven’t done anything for you lately.
3: You strongly support the First Amendment and it’s guarantee of religious freedom to all, but you don’t think Muslims have a right to build an Islamic Community Center in Manhattan.
4: You believe Ronald Reagan was a devout Christian, even though he hated going to church, but any president who spends twenty years going to the same Trinity United Church in Chicago must be a Muslim.
5: You believe when a Republican governor creates a healthcare package with an individual mandate for everyone in his state, that’s a good idea. But when a Democratic president does it, suddenly it’s unconstitutional.
6: You’re so enthused about demonstrating your Second Amendment rights, you can think of no finer place to brandish your pistol in public than at a presidential rally.
7: You believe Bill Clinton was responsible for Osama bin Laden’s escape ten years ago, but thankfully George W. Bush caught up with him and killed him in Pakistan.
8: You believe in putting American jobs first, except when president Obama rescued 1.5 million GM and Chrysler autoworkers, because that was socialism.
9: It angers you that you can’t communicate with the Mexican busboy at your local Olive Garden, but when you took a vacation to San Francisco’s Chinatown, you thought it’s quaint that so many Chinese-Americans are holding fast to their traditional language. Because that’s America!
10: You deny that the lunatic who tried to murder Gaby Giffords was a conservative, even though he targeted a Jewish, pro-choice, pro gay rights, Democratic Congresswoman.
11: You thought it was perfectly normal that every president in history had an untethered right to raise the debt ceiling when warranted, but when Obama asked the GOP held congress to do it, you thought it only natural that it be tied to cutting Social Security and Medicare.
12: When the new 112th Congress was sworn in, you swooned as they promised to focus on “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” But when they pivoted, and went after NPR, Planned Parenthood and gay rights, you cheered.
13: You accuse president Obama of raising your taxes to the highest point ever, even though they’re lower today than at any time since 1950.
14: You believe the wealthiest Americans are “job creators,” and they are — but it doesn’t bother you that all the workers in those positions are in India, China and Malaysia, and they’re doing the jobs that our fathers once did.
15: You believe gays are anti-American, because their lifestyle is a threat to the children… unless they’re married to Tea Party-backed presidential candidates from Minnesota.
16: You strongly defend individual freedom, but that freedom doesn’t include a woman’s right to decide her own healthcare needs.
17: You believe corporations are people too, and are deserving of the same rights as the rest of us. Just not the same obligations to pay personal income tax free of corporate loopholes, or penalties for massive criminal behavior and tax evasion. In these matters, corporations are deserving of special rights.
18: And since corporations are now people too, you must believe in their right to a driver’s license, the right to marry, to adopt children, etc. These rights shall not be denied to Exxon, Halliburton and BP (but still immune from the right of the People to try, convict and sentence to death any corporation that conspires to commit a felony… because at that point, they’re suddenly not people again.)
19: You still believe Climate Change is a myth, and the recent record highs, lows, floods and droughts around the world coinciding with climate scientist’s predictions are all an amazing coincidence. Oh, and Al Gore is FAT!
20: You believe when George W. Bush took the national debt from $5 trillion to $11 trillion, it was necessary for him to do so to keep America safe. But when Barack Obama added to it by trying to rescue the country from a second Great Depression, he was deliberately trying to destroy America!
21: You believe America is a God fearing country, and that the Almighty protects those who believe just as you do. But it’s never crossed your mind that the majority of tornados, hurricanes and floods all occur in the Bible Belt.
22: You believe that no matter who’s in the White House, the office, if not the man himself is deserving of your respect. The only exceptions to this rule, are if his middle name sounds Muslim, and if he’s not at least as white as that black guy who works down in the mailroom at the office.
[ LINK: Addicting Info ]
Monday, August 15, 2011
What makes America look unreliable
"What makes America look unreliable isn’t budget math, it’s politics. And please, let’s not have the usual declarations that both sides are at fault. Our problems are almost entirely one-sided -- specifically, they’re caused by the rise of an extremist right that is prepared to create repeated crises rather than give an inch on its demands." -- Paul Krugman in yesterday's Times [LINK: Stolen entirely from Deus Ex Malcontent ]
Sunday, August 14, 2011
...the Democrats to my eternal bafflement
“I think the U.S. has every chance of having a good year next year, but the politicians are doing their damnedest to prevent it from happening — the Republicans are — and the Democrats to my eternal bafflement have not stood their ground,” Ian C. Shepherdson, chief United States economist for High Frequency Economics, a research firm
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Revisionist History: Whitewash
New Film 'The Help' Whitewashes the Civil Rights Struggle into a Heartstring-tugging Hallmark Card
August 13, 2011 |
This week, disgusted by The Help’s revisionist history, scholar and pundit Melissa Harris Perry began livetweeting the film halfway through it. This one summed it up best: “I just timed it. Miss Skeeter's date got same amount of screen time as Medgar Evers assassination. #TheHelpMovie sigh.”
[LINK: Whitewash ]
Monday, August 08, 2011
It is a sad state of affairs
It is a sad state of affairs when a leader is criticized for not attacking his opponents.
Leadership is not about who can scream the loudest at their political opponent. Leadership is about sitting down with friend and foe, finding common ground to do what is right for the people. These times are too perilous to do otherwise. That is why I believe in Steve Beshear. Both his record and his judgment give Kentuckians the confidence that he is the right person at the right time to lead Kentucky.
Saturday, August 06, 2011
Friday, August 05, 2011
Thursday, August 04, 2011
Worlds from before
We must remember the worlds our ancestors traveled. Always wear the songs they gave us. Remember we are made of prayers. Now we leave wrapped in blankets of love and wisdom.
Luci Tapahonso Diné (Navajo)
Tuesday, August 02, 2011
Living the unresolved
I beg you . . . to have patience with everything unresolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves as if they were locked rooms or books written in a very foreign language. Don't search for the answers, which could not be given you now, because you would not be able to live them. And the point is, to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps then, someday for in the future, you will gradually, without even noticing it, live your way into the answer.
Rainer Maria Rilke
Start or join the conversation for this posting on the Emergent Village Facebook Page
Monday, August 01, 2011
Getting take to the cleaners...
Robert Reich | Ransom Paid
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics. The deal does not raise taxes on America's wealthy and most fortunate - who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years."
Read the Article
Robert Reich, Robert Reich's Blog: "Anyone who characterizes the deal between the President, Democratic, and Republican leaders as a victory for the American people over partisanship understands neither economics nor politics. The deal does not raise taxes on America's wealthy and most fortunate - who are now taking home a larger share of total income and wealth, and whose tax rates are already lower than they have been, in eighty years."
Read the Article
Friday, July 29, 2011
![Every Time You Watch Jersey Shore, A Book Commits Suicide [PIC]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_t1fivmsB0EEKfDlR_F8t7_ybfzaWryeaZmjFg0-71qWl1OQ9LriSA5QTYlCn2lYrc-0PpybvMPjWzkLCkoyRY=s0-d)
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Thanks to Monday, July 18, 2011
How conveeeenient...
News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead
Death of Sean Hoare – who was first named journalist to allege Andy Coulson knew of hacking – not being treated as suspicious
• Sean Hoare profile: A courageous and distinguished reporterChoices
Making choices
There comes a time in the spiritual journey when you start making choices from a very different place. And if a choice lines up so that it supports truth, health, happiness, wisdom and love, it's the right choice.
Angeles Arrien
Friday, July 15, 2011
God is infinite.
God is not a Christian
We should in humility and joyfulness acknowledge that the supernatural and divine reality we all worship in some form or other transcends all our particular categories of thought and imagining, and that because the divine -- however named, however apprehended or conceived -- is infinite and we are forever finite, we shall never comprehend the divine completely.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu
New false teeth.
| Artificially grown tooth transplanted into mouse | |
| It may be time to redefine the concept of false teeth. A tooth grown from embryonic cells has been successfully transplanted into the jaw of a mouse. The transplant is a step towards providing artificial replacements for donor organs that are in short supply. To create the tooth, researchers at Tokyo University of Science in Japan took cells destined to become teeth from mouse embryos. The cells were implanted into an adult mouse, beneath a membrane that surrounds the kidney. Two months later, the cells had developed into a molar complete with a periodontal ligament – fibres that attach the tooth to bone. The team extracted the tooth and implanted it into the jawbone of another mouse. Within 30 days, blood vessels and nerves surrounded the transplant which functioned as if it were a native tooth. | |
|
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
The American Tourist and the Mexican Fisherman
An American tourist was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked.
Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna. The tourist complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
The Mexican replied, “Only a little while.”
The tourist then asked, “Why didn’t you stay out longer and catch more fish?”
The Mexican said, “With this I have more than enough to support my family’s needs.”
The tourist then asked, “But what do you do with the rest of your time?”
The Mexican fisherman said, “I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I sip wine and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life.”
The tourist scoffed, “I can help you. You should spend more time fishing; and with the proceeds, buy a bigger boat: With the proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats. Eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor; eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You could leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then Los Angeles and eventually New York where you could run your ever-expanding enterprise.”
The Mexican fisherman asked, “But, how long will this all take?”
The tourist replied, “15 to 20 years.”
“But what then?” asked the Mexican.
The tourist laughed and said, “That’s the best part. When the time is right you would sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.”
“Millions?…Then what?”
The American said, “Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your kids, take siesta with your wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could sip wine and play your guitar with your amigos.”
- Author Unknown
[ LINK: Stolen from Soup ]
Monday, July 04, 2011
'Hour of Power' church rocked by money woes
via The Independent - World RSS Feed on 7/4/11
Robert H Schuller, the preacher whose "Hour of Power" once attracted millions of TV viewers and turned him into one of America's first superstar televangelists, has been forced out of the church he founded, which has fallen deep into debt and is being torn apart by a simmering family dispute.
 |  |
Against Corporate Politics - Up With People!
The New War of Independence - Against Corporate Politics
by: Richard (RJ) Eskow, Campaign for America's Future | Op-Ed
This is the age of corporatized politics. That means we may admire our leaders, but we can't depend on them. We're paying the price for Thomas Jefferson's unfulfilled desire to "crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial by strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country."
Note: WM: We have entered a new arena of social activism. We are no longer focused on issues as we are with the power brokers, the "Gnomes" who pull the marionette strings of modern politics. We do not yet know the fabric of the next battlefield nor the role that we will play - but the lesson we did learn is that all revolution is grass roots in nature. Down with Corporate Politics - Up With People.
The cost of personal freedom.
Freedom: proceed carefully
Our greatest happiness does not depend on the condition of life in which chance has placed us, but is always the result of a good conscience, good health, occupation and freedom in all just pursuits.
In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.
Thomas Jefferson - Martin Luther King, Jr.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
As hat!
Michele Bachmann kicked off her presidential campaign on Monday in Waterloo, Iowa, and in one interview surrounding the official event she promised to mimic the spirit of Waterloo's own John Wayne.
The only problem, as one eagle-eyed reader notes: Waterloo's John Wayne was not the beloved movie star, but rather
Monday, June 27, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Ai Weiwei Released from Detention
Ng Han Guan/Associated Press
The artist Ai Weiwei made a brief statement to reporters outside his home on Thursday in Beijing.
. . .
It is too soon to tell what kind of restrictions Mr. Ai might face on his ability to work, socialize or communicate with the outside world. Any impulse to speak out might also be tempered by the knowledge that three of his associates — a designer, an accountant and one of his assistants — remain in detention as part of the financial inquiry that his family says his groundless.
Even as they celebrated his release on Thursday, some human rights advocates said they feared the government might have successfully muzzled one of the nation’s most renownedvoices of conscience.
“A political power can easily silence an individual,” said Pu Zhiqiang, a rights lawyer in Beijing. “But in doing so, it also shows its fear and lack of confidence. And it also shows to the world the failings of China’s legal system.”
[LINK: Ai Weiwei Released from Detention ]
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Are we known as critics, consumers, copiers, condemners of culture?
Creating Culture
Our best response to the world is to make something of it.
5 of 5 
The simple truth is that in the mainstream of culture, cultivation and creativity are the postures that confer legitimacy for the other gestures. People who consider themselves stewards of culture, guardians of what is best in a neighborhood, an institution, or a field of cultural practice gain the respect of their peers. Even more so, those who go beyond being mere custodians to creating new cultural goods are the ones who have the world's attention. Indeed, those who have cultivated and created are precisely the ones who have the legitimacy to condemn—whose denunciations, rare and carefully chosen, carry outsize weight. Cultivators and creators are the ones who are invited to critique and whose critiques are often the most telling and fruitful.
[LINK: Creating Culture ]
Possibly the most insulting and degrading remark ever made
"Every female associate and every customer can feel even better about the company as a result of today’s decision."UPDATED Walmart Statements Regarding Supreme Court Ruling in Dukes Case
“Clearly today’s ruling in the Dukes case has important legal implications but just as important, it pulls the rug out from under the accusations made against Walmart over the last 10 years. Every female associate and every customer can feel even better about the company as a result of today’s decision.
"Walmart has a long history of providing advancement opportunities for our female associates and over the years we have made tremendous strides in developing women throughout the organization. In fact, we have created specific training and mentoring programs to help prepare women for opportunities at all levels in our company. As a result of our efforts, Walmart is often recognized as a great place for women to work.”
--Gisel Ruiz, Executive Vice President, People, Walmart U.S.
This is by far the most insulting and degrading remark ever made by a corporate mouth-piece. It is further laughable that this person sites "Executive Vice President, People" as their title - as if People were just anther department like Kitchen&Bath or Outdoors.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
My Mother Was No White Dove
My Mother Was No White Dove
by Reginald Shepherd no dove at all, coo-rooing through the dusk
and foraging for small seeds
My mother was the clouded-over night
a moon swims through, the dark against which stars
switch themselves on, so many already dead
by now (stars switch themselves off
and are my mother, she was never
so celestial, so clearly seen)My mother was the murderous flight of crows
stilled, black plumage gleaming
among black branches, taken
for nocturnal leaves, the difference
between two darks:a cacophony of needs
in the bare tree silhouette,
a flight of feathers, scattering
black. She was the night
streetlights oppose (perch
for the crows, their purchase on sight),
obscure bruise across the sky
making up names for rainMy mother always falling
was never snow, no kind
of bird, pigeon or crow
[ LINK: Reginald Shepherd ]
Equal Pay Act
"This act represents many years of effort… to call attention to the unconscionable practice of paying female employees less wages than male employees for the same job. This measure adds to our laws another structure basic to democracy. It will add protection at the working place to the women, the same rights at the working place in a sense that they have enjoyed at the polling place."
- President John F. Kennedy, remarks upon signing the Equal Pay Act of 1963
On this day in 1963, President John F. Kennedy signed into law the Equal Pay Act, a law intended to end gender-based pay discrimination. At the time, women were earning, on average, only 59 cents for every dollar earned, on average, by men. Companies were posting the same jobs on men's and women's help wanted pages -- with different salaries. Discrimination was rampant and overt; it was still legal to pay unfairly. The Equal Pay Act was intended to be a key first step toward changing the way America did business, for the better.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
