FOX NEWS won their lawsuit where they can lie and still present their program as "news" because the action covers the First Amendment and Free Speech. And I'm fine with this, because Free Speech is just that: free. But to call it "news" is a bit of a stretch, I believe. I think they should be made to change their name to read, "FAUX NOISE," if that is indeed the case. At least then the unenlightened will no longer have any excuse for their purposeful obtuseness. Other than being loyal to those who would have them killed for existing in the same establishments with them.
She cut her teeth on others' unprecedented chutzpah:
"They worked ten hours a day, although an Act of Congress in 1868 had declared an eight-hour day for all laboring men on government contracts. Murch was elected to press the claims of the men for the extra pay due for the two hours.
"One of my first subjects in the public school debating society was 'Should the Government Own the Coal Mines?' I enthusiastically took the affirmative. This grew out of the 1902 anthracite coal strike in Pennsylvania, led by John Mitchell, when 150,000 miners demanded nine hours instead of ten and recognition of their union--the United Mine Workers of America. The strike, which lasted five months, hit New York hard. A coal shortage forced the curtailment of the 'El' services, then run with coal engines. This was serious in those pre-subway days. (sic) The strike won general sympathy, especially after the head of the Operators' Association, George F. Baer, made his arrogant remark that 'God in His infinite wisdom gave us the possession of the coal mines.' Ever after he was called 'Divine Right' Baer. An Arbitration Commission, appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, awarded the miners a nine-hour day and a ten per cent increase. They returned to their dangerous jobs, where daily they took their lives in their hands in the dark earth.
"This debate was my first approach to the subject of public ownership of natural resources and industries. It appealed to me. I had begun to feel very strongly that in a rich and fertile country like ours there was no excuse for poverty, unemployment, child labor and long strikes."
-Elizabeth Gurley Flynn
(Rebel Girl: An Autobiography; My First Life [1906-1926] pgs. 44-45, 'THE SPARK FROM ANTHRACITE')
Without this woman and her supporters, none of this would have been used to further the People's Stance and eventually get American citizens to an eight-hour work day, with anything after that being "overtime." Now it's been modified to over 40 hours a week, something the Corporate Machine prefers. This way they can work you three 12-hour shifts, never having to pay you any overtime on top of it all. Any time we allow these Corporations what was fought so hard to obtain, we spit in the faces of those trailblazers before us. Forgetting our history and the histories of this woman, with whom we do not discuss, because of her political affiliation, should be a sin.
We are a nation of ideas. We are a hodgepodge of differences that can be used utilized and used for a better existence for all, instead we have decided to waste it and use it to divide. All in the name of some phoney notion of "independence!," which is a also misnomer, because any successful corporation is as such because of the People who made it happen; the Labor. Without the Laborers there is no "successful, 'self-made' business person." Without those who pitched in, not only the person with the original idea, but those who contributed to the wealth, need compensation for that role. Otherwise, the People become machination pieces, such as a "cog." And a cog has no emotions, does not have to pay bills or feed its children; a cog is life-less. The cog does not pay a mortgage, fuel up a vehicle, or have to buy eggs, bacon, coffee, and college tuition.
Why do I take this stance? Take a good look around this nation lately. What are you seeing and hearing? Capitalism, without regulations, is every bit as dangerous and deadly as Communism, or any other isms, for that matter, without restrictions. When you (systematically) "pull out all the stops," when you allow those who can manipulate the system that ends up hurting the People, you have failed. And your philosophy is dead. It's a steroid-pumped, methamphetamine-coursing Zombie Gorilla. Your Corporate-induced (through television) words no longer mean anything (to me). Am I a "Communist"? No, I don't think I am. Why do I promote this ideology? Because it's a swing in the opposite direction of the one we're (ignorantly) embracing now. We need to take a swing back in other direction.
I am not able to post the YouTube video, because of this site's policy on that stuff, so I would like you to go to YouTube and type in, "RSA Animation - The Divided Brain," and watch this eleven-minute presentation.
We are out of balance. The left-brained world has lost its collective mind. That's the side of the brain that promotes "security." That is the side of the brain that kills and tortures and justifies that violence with talk of "self-preservation." That is the side of the brain that would rather lock everyone up and figure it out at a later time, just so long as those victims are not one of their family members or friends. And I'm not saying that all left-brained people are of this philosophy, but as a whole... the hive has decided it's okay. And it seems to be complicit with this mindset because fear and the advent of all this (selfish) technology has dictated as much. I have a friend who cleans up the streets of Berkeley, and he tells me that "99% of all conversations" he hears on those streets are "people complaining about other people" to the people they are speaking with on that device.
Frivolous nonsense has replaced sanity and family, it appears. It has succeeded in a large enough distraction so that the collective doesn't care what happens to people in their neighborhoods or their nation, let alone someone somewhere halfway around the globe. And it's not necessarily technology I am fighting against here. Technology will advance whether I like it or not. The issue is the People. Once again, it's the People. Not that all are of this ilk. Individuals are doing things... sadly, however, the numbers are stacked against us.
When discussing human beings' inclination to "destroy the planet," again, it's George Carlin I have to go to for advice, and balance:
"Besides, there is nothing wrong with the planet. Nothing wrong with the planet. The planet is fine. The PEOPLE are fucked. Difference. Difference. The planet is fine. Compared to the people, the planet is doing great. Been here four and a half billion years. Did you ever think about the arithmetic? The planet has been here four and a half billion years. We've been here, what, a hundred thousand? Maybe two hundred thousand? And we've only been engaged in heavy industry for a little over two hundred years. Two hundred years versus four and a half billion. And we have the CONCEIT to think that somehow we're a threat? That somehow we're gonna put in jeopardy this beautiful little blue-green ball that's just a-floatin' around the sun?
"The planet has been through a lot worse than us. Been through all kinds of things worse than us. Been through earthquakes, volcanoes, plate tectonics, continental drift, solar flares, sun spots, magnetic storms, the magnetic reversal of the poles, hundreds of thousands of years of bombardment by comets and asteroids and meteors, worldwide floods, tidal waves, worldwide fires, erosion, cosmic rays, recurring ice ages. And we think some plastic bags, and some aluminum cans are going to make a difference? The planet... the planet... the planet isn't going anywhere. WE ARE!"
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