Labor Day

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I don’t really understand how and why it happened that working people began to fight with each other, and look at others with such disdain. Those who encourage that behavior are usually those quite free from worry about their own comfortable lives and wealth. But it is we the people who listen and allow ourselves to be pitted one again the other.

It doesn’t have to be that way. It was better once. We stood together and fought for our own fair share of the wealth of this nation, for the right to work in safety and peace. It can be that way again, if we will it to be so.

Solidarity forever!



In our hands is placed a power greater than their hoarded gold,
Greater than the might of armies, magnified a thousand-fold.
We can bring to birth a new world from the ashes of the old
For the union makes us strong.


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Eugene Robinson on Barbour’s history errors

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Recently Haley Barbour attempted to claim that he had attended integrated schools and had grown up in a Republican party where there really was no racial divide. This is pretty clearly an attempt to erase the real history of Republicans in the South, in preparation for Barbour’s own run for President in later years.

Last night, Rachel Maddow did a thorough fact-check on Barbour’s twisted version of history. Then she turned to Eugene Robinson, who was not at all happy with the attempt to lie about what happened between blacks and whites in the South, and with the Republican Party’s history of racism. His rant is a wonder to behold, as you can see below.



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Elizabeth Warren

Fierce Planet Posted on by

I simply don’t believe we’ll ever see her as the head of the Consumer Protection Agency. Which is too bad, because she has a singular understanding of the importance of that post, and of the ways in which our economy as it is currently structured works against ordinary middle-class people and those who aspire to the middle class.

But the owners, the super-rich for whom our economy really works, and their compliant enablers in the Congress, will never allow a real progressive in that post. It might cost them too much money. I’d be delighted to be wrong, but I just don’t believe it.

Here is the video of her speaking at Netroots Nation, on the subject of “Building a Progressive Economic Vision”.



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Iraq

Fierce Planet Posted on by

For me, at least, the winding down of this war demands a great scream of outrage, a reflection of the scream that has pounded through my own head from the night I sat up and watched the “shock and awe” bombings that began the thing . Wrapped in every form of death, degradation, and corruption, the War in Iraq is and always will be a a stain on our national history, an emblem of hubris and greed.

The President can’t say any of that, and probably wouldn’t even if he felt he could. He’s a milder person than I am. He aims for accommodation and tolerance, and in the case of this war, and of the sins of the Bush Administration, I simply and completely believe he is wrong.

But I’m glad that at least most of our troops are home, and I hope that Obama will keep his further promise to bring the rest of our citizens back as well. The screams will have to be left for others of us to carry.

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How bad will it be come November?

Fierce Planet Posted on by

The question of the day seems to be how to interpret recent generic polling that shows the Dems still trailing in general terms, either by a little or by a lot. No one doubts that if the Republicans actually take control of either house of Congress, they will again lead off with spurious investigations and other kinds of disruptions meant to solidify their political good fortune. The fact that their actions hurt the country doesn’t seem to matter to them at all.

I know for myself I am not as energized as I was in 2008, though I will vote of course, and I will vote for the Democratic candidate. Whatever issues I have with how the Democrats do things — and I have many issues with them — Republicans have no useful ideas for dealing with the problems we confront. I have no reason to doubt that Republican enthusiasm is higher now that they’re out of power. That is a natural state of affairs. But I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that independents and conservative Dems have already forgotten what a terrible job the Republicans did for the country during the George W. Bush years.

But maybe that’s the way it’s going to go. I’m in a wait-and-see mode. I console myself with the certainty that any swing towards the Republicans will inevitably swing back, because I know that given a chance the Republicans will just fuck everything up again.

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Egg Producers Ignored Basic Health Precautions

Fierce Planet Posted on by

Inspectors at the massive factory farms which distributed millions of contaminated eggs have found many obvious problems on those farms.

Visits to five Wright County Egg facilities found barns with abundant rodent holes and gaps in doors and siding where rodents, which can carry salmonella, could enter. Many live mice were spotted, according to the reports.

…workers were seen moving from barn to barn without changing protective clothing or cleaning tools. All that could allow workers could track bacteria from one barn to another.

The report also described pits beneath laying houses where manure was piled four to eight feet high and in such quantity that it pushed pit doors open. It described hens that had escaped from laying cages tracking through the manure — a possible means of spreading contamination.

In addition, a Wright County Egg feed mill had wild birds roosting and flying about feed bins and milling operations. Wild birds can carry salmonella.


The good news is that FDA inspectors plan to visit all the large egg production facilities in the country over the next 15 months, enforcing the tougher regulations that were recently added for chicken and egg production.

Personally, I’m going to continue to pay a bit more for eggs from a smaller producer that hasn’t had these problems. But I wish that all hens in this country were required to be vaccinated against salmonella. That’s a cheap and effective way to prevent the outbreaks.

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