Happy Labor Day!

Your damn right they did!

 I'm a proud member of the UFCW.

As I've noted numerous times before, this is my favorite holiday.  Despite Corporate America's and the GOP's best efforts to make it only a day to celebrate workers of all stripes (which it is), it's still the day when we celebrate all that labor unions have given us:  higher wages, better benefits, safer workplaces, and a voice in our careers.  Union made, union proud, and union strong.

This year I've chosen Billy Bragg's version of "Which Side Are You On?" to extoll this special day.  The song was originally written in 1912 by Florence Reece (at the ripe old age of twelve) while her father was on strike and updated it in 1931 to the version sung today.   Reece, the wife of a union organizer for the miners, updated the song when her family was terrorized by a mining company while her husband was on strike during the Harlan County War in Kentucky.

Labor Lyrics:  "Oh, workers can you stand it?/Oh, tell me how you can?/Will you be a lousy scab/Or will you be a man?..."

Enjoy--and Happy Labor Day!:

Republicans = Nazis

Peace,

emaycee

UFCW 876

 

The Union Advantage

For the first time since I was twenty years old (that would be 43 years ago, boys and girls), this Labor Day I will be the proud member of a union, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.  

Not only that, but at this point in our history unions are winning historic victories (Starbucks, Amazon), union membership is rising, and we have a President and a Democratic Congress that are firmly on our side.

We have many, many reasons to celebrate this Labor Day.  The fight is far from over, but we are landing more punches and helping more workers each and every day.

Somehow in my yearly Labor Day post I have never used (though I did quote from it one year) "I Guess I Planted" (lyrics by Woody Guthrie, music by Billy Bragg, performed by Bragg and Wilco from their classic album, Mermaid Avenue) as my Labor Day celebration song, especially considering it's one of my favorite union songs.  So, we have two special firsts today.

Lyric Sheet:  "Union song. Union battled/All added up. Won us what we got now..."

Enjoy:

Happy Labor Day!

Peace,

emaycee

A Labor Day song for you

 

The best holiday of the year

For some reason (my guess, Presidential election/COVID-19), last year I forgot my annual tradition of featuring a pro labor union tune on Labor Day, but have no fear because I am prepared again this year.

While remembering weekends, paid holidays, paid sick leave, forty hour weeks, child labor laws, better wages, better benefits, safer jobs, overtime pay, unemployment insurance, and retirement funds take a second to enjoy this tasty tune from noted union sympathizer Billy Bragg (lyrics here if you want to sing along...):

And have yourself a hell of a Labor Day!

People Who Refuse the COVID-19 Vaccine Are Why Our Lives Can't Return to Normal

Peace,

emaycee

The Twelve Dissents of Christmas: The Third Day

Kick ass now and take names later

On the third day of Christmas:

Per Elizabeth Warren, never lose sight--and never let anyone forget-- of the fact that we won the most votes for the President and the Senate and we have a mandate to oppose Trump.  His election was a fluke and our Senate candidates garnered 7 million more votes than republican candidates.  Democrats have been sent back to Washington to fight for the policies and programs that a majority of Americans want,

And in the words of Billy Bragg, remember that "The Revolution is just a t-shirt away..."

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. VII--Billy Bragg: Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards

The fun and games couldn't last forever--you knew eventually I had to feature at least one overtly political song....

Billy Bragg is a long time musician and political activist of the left wing variety--he had a modicum of success here in the states (including a Grammy nomination) for his work with Wilco wherein they put the unused lyrics of Woody Guthrie to music which became the Mermaid Avenue albums.  The bulk of his success has occurred in his native U.K.

Released in 1988, "Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards" (on his album Workers Playtime) takes as its inspiration China's disastrous economic and social initiative entitled The Great Leap Forward which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese from famine and political retribution--i.e., all too often our better selves are diminished by the reality of human nature.  Still, while the song starts as a lament for the disappointments and disillusions of political activism, it ends on a rousing call to arms and an exhortation to keep fighting.

The song also follows one of my favorite patterns in a--a slow musical entrance that grows into a crescendo by song's end.  It's basically an old folkie's dream--a little piano, a little guitar, and a political theme.  Bragg's vocals are also a treat--from the weariness as he lists the broken ideals of the Kennedys, Fidel Castro, Robert Oppenheimer, and himself to the fuck this, we're gonna keep on keepin' on brashness of its conclusion, Bragg never falters.

And as the man says, the revolution is just a t-shirt away...

Enjoy:

Peace,
emaycee

The third world is just around the corner

Digby had another piece today about the disconnect between the 1% and the rest of us--she suggests (to me) that it's only a matter of time before their downfall if they continue to leave the rest of us behind.  I tend to see it in starker terms:  as more and more people (espedially those who have been taught since birth of their right to have a decent economic lifestyle) are unable to feed their kids, pay heating bills, have a place to live, and watch those on the other end of the economic spectrum light cigars with hundred dollar bills, a whole hell of a lot of wealthy people are going to find their property taken from them at best, and their lives end up a morality play the rest of us teach our children ("See the rich man hanging from his chandelier kids?  That's what we do to people who are too greedy!") at worst.

One thing I will say for a Romney victory in November--it will put us just that much closer to the start of the revolution.

Peace,
emaycee