Here it is…

A brilliant and important, five month old column by Mark Morford, written just after the disastrous midterms, which closely resembles a post I have written again and again in my own head.  But as my Twitter followers know, I’ve only been able to tweet (ok, rant) about it in 140 character bursts. I’m just too fucking ADHD to write this well. So shoot me. Fortunately, Morford is not. You simply must read and understand it.

Oh, now you’ve done it. See? You see what happens when you young, liberal voters get so disgruntled and disillusioned that you drop all your party’s newborn, hard-won ideas about Hope and Change, without really giving them sufficient time to mature, without understanding that hugely foreign concept known as “the long view”?

And like me, he doesn’t just chide the dreamy-eyed idealists for neglecting a long view, but also for not realizing a threat to their well being that is more terrifying—and potentially more deadly—than anything this nation has never faced. Worse than the Civil War, Dred Scott, Pearl Harbor, or 9/11. (Yeah, Teaparty, chow down, motherfuckers. I consider you a greater threat to America than terrorism. Deal with it.)

Check it out, kiddo: This is not just any Republican party you allowed back into power; these mealy folks are not anything like the war-hungry, Bush-tainted army of flying monkeys and Dick Cheney moose knuckles you so wonderfully helped bury in the history books last election.

No, the GOP of 2010-2011 is even weirder, dumber, less interested in anything you even remotely care about; this GOP is infused like a sour cocktail with the most cartoonish, climate change-denying Tea Party dingbats imaginable — most of whom think you’re an elitist, terrorist-loving, gay-supporting threat to “real” American values, btw — all led by a tearful glad-hander named Boehner who wears a shellacked tan so creepy and surreal it makes Nancy Pelosi looks healthy.

Read Full Article


When you finish, take stock of these sad and terrifying facts. If it all comes to pass, as is far more likely than not, the gloom and doom of the last midterms will seem like a day at the beach:

Thanks to @raindrops_SF for this bit of perfect prose. Pass it to everyone you know—before it’s not too late.

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I was just given this by a reader of this post. It is equally brilliant and a must read:

 

I quibble over some of his choices at times, but as my readers know, I've been a big fan of the @punkPatriot since I first came across him.  If I had the spare change, I'd be putting him up in house somewhere, and pay him to make these videos all day long, so he didn't have to waste his talents on the shop floor of a shoe factory. 

I keep hoping someone else will, one of these days, and I will do my part to keep hinting at that any chance I get.  He has a talent for telling the tales of our struggles against the plutocratic machine with a down-to-earth charm, simplicity and candor that we just don't see much today. He's an idealist and a educator, but not a philosophic fanboy, nor a zealot. I like and respect him.

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Flashback #1

   Well,well, well.. here's a "Dutch" treat.

After all the moronic and self-serving blather that conservatives have spewed about Ronald Reagan and unions in the past month, look at what turns up.  Now just imagine how they will twist themselves into balloon animals trying to spin this little historical artifact.  Wait for it.

In the meantime, please retweet the living crap outta this gem, willya?  Hit that tweet button below. 

Thanks to @wajobu for find and passing this bit of magic on to me.

Partial Transcript

But restoring the American dream requires more than restoring a sound, productive economy, vitally important as that is.  It requires a return to spiritual and moral values, values so deeply held by those who came here to build a new life.  We need to restore those values in our daily life, in our neighborhoods and in our government’s dealings with the other nations of the world.

These are the values inspiring those brave workers in Poland. The values that have inspired other dissidents under Communist domination.  They remind us that where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.  They remind us that freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.  You and I must protect and preserve freedom here or it will not be passed on to our children.  Today the workers in Poland are showing a new generation not how high is the price of freedom but how much it is worth that price.

Labor Day Speech at Liberty State Park, Jersey City, New Jersey,  September 1, 1980
Full Transcript

Flashback #2

Labor Movement History

The labor movement in the United States grew out of the need to protect the common interest of workers. For those in the industrial sector, organized labor unions fought for better wages, reasonable hours and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired.

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