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Showing posts with label AFL-CIO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AFL-CIO. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

"When all the fingers on the hand work together they form a mighty fist"


I am wondering how long the Alabama LapDog Press is going to continue to ignore the upcoming  Selma to Montgomery March, which organizers predict will be bigger than the original march, due to Alabama's ongoing slide back to the days of Jim Crow and Slavery.   One thing they can't ignore is the revenue (money), and the attention it's bringing to Sweet Home Alabama.

Five fingers pointing the blame don’t amount to nothin. But together they make a mighty fist which can strike a mighty blow.~ Mother Jo from the movie Soul Food

Hosts

Faya Rose Toure and Senator Hank Sanders
National Union Officers
Arlene Holt Baker and Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO; Randi Weingarten, AFT; Tom Buffenbarger, IAM; Bob King, UAW; Lee Saunders, AFSCME; Mary Kay Henry, Eliseo Medina & Gerald Hudson, SEIU; Bill Lucy, CBTU; Cecil Roberts, UMWA.
National Coalitions
Benjamin Jealous, NAACP; Rev. Al Sharpton, NAN; Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rainbow-Push; Deepak Bhargava, CCC; Janet Murguia, La Raza.
Congressional Delegation
Congressman John Lewis will lead a delegation of members of Congress that will participate in the Selma-to-Montgomery activities.
Student Delegations
Administration, Faculty, and Students at Alabama State University and Tuskegee University will mobilize the campuses to participate in the week of activities, including teach-ins.
Bus Operations
AFL-CIO Central Labor Councils, along with Community Services Liaisons, in Memphis, Nashville, Atlanta, Mobile, Birmingham and Jackson, Miss. have set up bus operations working with local unions and community partners. These buses will attend the March 9th rally at the State Capitol. In addition, there are buses being organized by AFGE, SEIU, UMWA, USW, UAW, CBTU, and our Coalition partners. If you are interested in bus operations, please contact them directly:
Denise Mays: 404-525-3559
Janine Brown: 404-527-7417
Michael Allen: 615-780-2413
Pat Rabbeitt: 251-431-0101
Casel Jones: 901-299-5261
Terry Davis: 205-903-1568
Jim Evans: 601-209-2928

Schedule of Events
March 4
Brown Chapel AME Church services 7 a.m.
Rally and March across Bridge 1:30 p.m.
March 5-9
March each day starts at 9 a.m.
Evening community events at 6 p.m.
March 9
Alabama State University event 9 a.m.
Rally at State Capitol 11:30 a.m.

Now is the time for all good Americans to work together to form a mighty fist and fight take our country back from the right (wrong) wingers.  I will be there.  Will you?

Monday, February 27, 2012

Alabama in the house at the Academy Awards in Hollywood, California

Montgomery, Alabama native, and Auburn University grad , actress Octavia Spencer won the Oscar for best supporting actress for her role as an uppity maid in The Help,   a novel written by University of Alabama grad Kathryn Stockett .  Isn't it nice when Alabama is recognized in a positive light for something instead of football, bigotry and ignorance?

Montgomery's sister city  Birmingham was also represented at the Academy Awards, with the nomination of the short film Foot soldier:  The barber of Birmingham , putting the spotlight on the unsung heroes of the Civil Rights movement such as the late James Armstrong, who dedicated his life to fighting for civil rights.

We owe James Armstrong, Colonel Stone Johnson and the other foot soldiers a debt of gratitude that is priceless.

The struggle continues. Reverend Al Sharpton, along with the AFL-CIO and other grass roots organizations, will lead foot soldiers in a  march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama beginning March 4 in, ending  March 9, 2012 to protest the new voter laws, or as I call them, the keep black folks from voting laws.

Black voters are not engaged in voter fraud.  The right to vote is sacred to black voters.

All roads lead to Montgomery, Alabama ,the birthplace of Academy Award winning actress Octavia Spencer.

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Let them eat sugar coated Satan Sandwiches!


What just happened?

The phony debt ceiling crisis was, from beginning to end, a con. It was an elaborate and successful hoax in which the nation's first black president, the Democratic and Republican parties, Wall Street and corporate media all played indispensable parts. The object of the supposed “crisis” was to short circuit public opinion, existing law, democratic process and traditions of public oversight, in order to deal fatal blows to Medicaid, Medicare, social security, job growth and public expenditures for the common good. It worked. We've been conned.


Now they call for "leadership"

Can't Make This Up: After Staying Silent Until Budget Deal Passed, AFL-CIO Now Issues a "Call for Leadership and for Action"


The result was as painful as it was predictable.


If nothing else, the debt ceiling crisis provided what Barack Obama is so fond of calling a "teachable moment." Hopefully, that extends to the President himself. After seeing his nominees blocked, his legislation filibustered and popular upper-income tax increases delayed by Republicans who withheld their support from his watered down stimulus and health care programs, President Obama nevertheless continued to seek common ground with those whose only goal remains his political destruction. The result was as painful as it was predictable.


Hope is not a plan

When everyone says a deal sucks it sucks.

Our Congress Critters protected their modest wealth.

Happy Birthday Mr. President, enjoy your birthday cake while the rest of us choke on a sugar coated Satan Sandwich.

What is a Satan sandwich exactly? According to a 2004 Urban Dictionary definition, it’s Dressing up a successful right-wing hostage-taking situation as an act of political compromise.

Un Huh.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

This is what One Nation looks like!

You won't see wall to wall, breathless coverage of the One Nation Working Together rally held in Washington D.C. today because it's not a bunch of Obama hating white folks waving their flags while they waive their rights. Nope, it's red, yellow, black and white Americans from red states and blue states coming together to reclaim The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and demanding the CHANGE we voted for.

One Nation Working Together
For Jobs, Justice and Education for All
WHO WE ARE
We are One Nation, born from many, determined to build a more united America – with jobs, justice and education for all.

We are young people, frustrated that society seems willing to spend more locking up our bodies than educating our minds, yet still we find ways to succeed and shine.

We are students and newly-returned veterans – persevering in the face of mounting debt – determined not to be the first generation to end up worse off than our parents.

We are baby boomers and seniors – who saw hope killed in 1968 and will not let the dream of a united America be taken from us again.

We are conservatives and moderates, progressives and liberals, non-believers and people of deep faith, united by escalating assaults on our reason, our environment, and our rights.

We are workers of every age, faith, race, sex, nationality, gender identity, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and ability – who have suffered discrimination but never stopped loving our neighbors, or our nation.

We are American Indians and Alaska Natives – citizens of Native nations – who maintain our cultures, protect our sovereignty, and strength America’s economy.

We are the new immigrants, raising our children in the torchlight of the Statue of Liberty, while confronting the shadows that are bigotry and mass deportations.

We are the native born. We inherited the divided legacies of settlers and American Indians, black slaves and white and Asian indentured servants. And yet, in this moment of shared suffering, we rejoice in new found friendships and new alliances.

We are people who got thrown out – thrown out of our jobs, schools, houses, farms and small businesses – while Wall Street's wrongdoers got bailed out. We are families who pray every day – for peace and prosperity; for deliverance from foreclosures; for good jobs to come back to urban and rural America.

We are unemployed workers – forced to watch hopes for bold action dashed – because some Senators threaten filibusters, and other would-be champions fold in fear.

And yet, we are the majority – fueled by hope, not hate. We have the pride, power and determination to keep ourselves – and our country – moving up and out of the valley greed created.

And most importantly – from ensuring women are treated fairly at work, to expanding health care coverage for millions– we have been victorious whenever we worked together. We have proven the only thing we need to succeed is each other.


Enthusiasm gap my Donkey!
Enthusiasm gap, schmenthusiasm gap. Without the benefit of months and months of advertising and promotion on Fox News Channel (in fact, I'm only aware of Ed Schultz on MSNBC doing any kind of TV promotion), the One Nation Working Together rally in Washington DC has gathered more supporters than Glenn Beck's much ballyhooed rally, which I will lovingly refer to as "Whitestock".

Preliminary satellite estimates put the crowd size at 175,000 to 200,000 at about noon EST. By the calculations of Bachman/Beck, et al., that would mean at least 1,000,000, non?

The question is whether the corporate media will keep pimping the "importance" and influence of the tea baggers and ignore the bigger numbers on the Democratic side of the aisle. Of the cable outlets, only C-Span is airing the event, so clearly this doesn't fit the narrative that MSNBC/CNN/Fox want to push.


The gop infused, media enabled Tea Party will NOT get their greedy paws on our government again.
The National Mall looked like a patchwork quilt, with thousands of union workers grouped in clusters wearing t-shirts in their respective colors. Unions such as the AFL-CIO and SEIU bused in workers from all over the country, and many attendees at the event said that they learned about it from their local chapters and were hoping it would mobilize people to get out the vote for November. The Rev. Al Sharpton called the upcoming elections the country's "midterm exams" and said the left needed to get ready. "We've got to go home and got to hit the pavement," he urged attendees. "We've got to knock on doors... We've got to get ready for the midterm."


Let's Roll for ONE NATION with liberty and justice for ALL not for some!