[Lore]

This just in.....

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ow Historians Rank the Presidents
Saturday, February 19, 2011 | 8:25 a.m.

The Siena College Research Institute has asked 238 presidential scholars to rank presidents five times since 1982. This year was a polling year. Franklin Roosevelt came in first, Barack Obama at 15th, George W. Bush at 40th, and Andrew Johnson dead last.
http://nationaljournal.com/how-historia ... 219?page=1

[FairMaiden]

I'm in Canada but worker's rights are hard fought everywhere. I remember my mother marching for solidarity in the 80's when I was a child.

So it is with utter amazement that I am watching all of our rights demolished with nary a word!

My husband works "mandatory overtime"...that is if he refuses to work past his 10 hour shift (10.5 but they don't pay for his lunch break) or refuses to come in on his day off, then he is fired. If you are fired with due cause here, you cannot get employment insurance. He wouldn't get welfare either as he owns a car.

I thought "that's illegal under the labour laws here!"...guess what? They quietly changed them back in 2004 and no one mentioned it. Not one report. Nothing. I tell ppl and they go,"really?" in a very disinterested way...until/if it affects them, they don't seem to care.

I guess our generation and the next just can't wrap their minds around any of this sitting from their comfortable living room seats. It's nonfiction but that's just a fancy word to differentiate books they'll never read.

[gollum]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 'T')his just in.....

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')ow Historians Rank the Presidents
Saturday, February 19, 2011 | 8:25 a.m.



The Siena College Research Institute has asked 238 presidential scholars to rank presidents five times since 1982. This year was a polling year. Franklin Roosevelt came in first, Barack Obama at 15th, George W. Bush at 40th, and Andrew Johnson dead last.
http://nationaljournal.com/how-historia ... 219?page=1

[Lore]

Yeah,… I’m trying to figure that out myself, he was only 4th from the bottom.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FairMaiden', 'I')'m in Canada but worker's rights are hard fought everywhere. I remember my mother marching for solidarity in the 80's when I was a child.

So it is with utter amazement that I am watching all of our rights demolished with nary a word!

My husband works "mandatory overtime"...that is if he refuses to work past his 10 hour shift (10.5 but they don't pay for his lunch break) or refuses to come in on his day off, then he is fired. If you are fired with due cause here, you cannot get employment insurance. He wouldn't get welfare either as he owns a car.

I thought "that's illegal under the labour laws here!"...guess what? They quietly changed them back in 2004 and no one mentioned it. Not one report. Nothing. I tell ppl and they go,"really?" in a very disinterested way...until/if it affects them, they don't seem to care.

I guess our generation and the next just can't wrap their minds around any of this sitting from their comfortable living room seats. It's nonfiction but that's just a fancy word to differentiate books they'll never read.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', 'y')ou should be thanking FDR every day ...he co-opted the left and ensured that the socialist and communist parties in the US could not carry forth a true revolution.

[Lore]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('nobodypanic', 'y')ou should be thanking FDR every day ...he co-opted the left and ensured that the socialist and communist parties in the US could not carry forth a true revolution.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lore', 's')eems strange then that FDR was ranked #1 among all Presidents by a recent historian poll.

[Cid_Yama]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')heir strategy was two-fold: first, stoke the resentment of the population about the calamitous state of its living conditions-no matter that those conditions had been created by the very right-wing oligarchs who now pretended to befriend the little guy. Rage is rage. It is glandular and unseeing. Once catalyzed it is easy to turn on any subject.

And stoking resentment was easy to do. Just before the War ended, the military concocted its most sensational lie: the German army hadn't actually been defeated. It had been "stabbed in the back" by communists, traitors, and Jews. It was an easy lie to sell. It entwined an attack on an alien political ideology - liberalism- with the latent, pervasive myth of German racial superiority.

The second strategy of the right was to prevent the new government from succeeding. To begin with, success of the left would conspicuously advertise the failure of the right. Moreover, success by the left would legitimize republican government, so hated by the oligarchs of the right. Much better for the people to be ruled by the self-aggrandizing right-wing autocracy that had governed Germany for centuries.

So the rightists set out to do everything they could to make it impossible for the leftists to govern. They would use parliamentary maneuver, shifting coalitions, domination of the new mass media, legislative obstruction, staged public relations spectacles, relentless pressure by narrow but powerful interests, judicial intimidation and, eventually, outright murder of their political opponents.

Contrition for their abject failure, humility for their destructive hubris, compassion for their crippled country-those had nothing to do with it. All they possessed was a blinding, visceral hatred of the left and a masturbatory lust for the return to power.

Eventually, they succeeded. Every setback in recovery - and there would inevitably be many - was met with hysterical demonizing of the left wing government.

[Shar_Lamagne]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '1')794: The first strike takes place in New York

Referencing the "pursuit of happiness," one of the unalienable rights in the Declaration of Independence, printers in New York went out on strike for shorter working hours and better wages in 1794. Over the next few years, cabinet makers and carpenters also went out on strike for better working conditions.

1869: The Knights of Labor organization forms in Philadelphia

Building a membership that included immigrants, African-Americans and women, the Knights of Labor (KOL) formed in Philadelphia in 1869, spreading to Chicago by 1877. Using the motto " An injury to one is the concern of all," the KOL sought to unite all members of the working class and helped promote the eight-hour workday.

1881: Samuel Gompers forms the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions

Cigar maker Samuel Gompers created the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions to push for shorter working hours and higher pay. Gompers also was an advocate of the labor strike to achieve better conditions for workers. In 1886, the organization was renamed as the American Federation of Labor (AFL), with Gompers serving as the first president.

1901: The Team Drivers International Union forms

Teamsters, the name given to men driving teams of horses, often had to work 12 to 14 hours days in the early 20th century, earning $2 per day for delivering merchandise. Advocating better working conditions, the Team Drivers International Union (TDIU) formed in 1901, becoming the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) in 1903.

1904: The National Child Labor Committee forms in New York City

To get children out of factories and into schools, the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC) was formed during a meeting at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Receiving its federal charter in 1907, the NCLC became an advocate for children's rights and is credited with hiring photographer Lewis Wickes Hine to document the plight of young workers.

1935: John L. Lewis organizes unskilled laborers

In response to the American Federation of Labor's reluctance to include unskilled laborers, John L. Lewis formed the Committee for Industrial Organization within the AFL, in 1935. The rift between skilled and unskilled labor was so great, however, the Lewis reformed his committee as the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), a separate entity.

1938: The Federal Labor Standards Act is enacted

Containing regulations favorable to workers, the Federal Labor Standard Act of 1938 (FLSA) helped bring about overtime pay, better collective bargaining and guidelines about child labor.

1955: Merger of the AFL and CIO

After 20 years of rivalry, the AFL and CIO merged in 1955 in an effort to create a stronger labor organization. George Meany was elected as the president of the AFL-CIO.

[Shar_Lamagne]

Looks like the Wage Slavers are already starting to get what they want in America. You've got a serious problem there.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')hile the Department of Labor estimates that 22,000 of the nation's sweatshops are located in places like New York, California, Dallas, Miami, and Atlanta, the wages are at sub-poverty levels and regulatory enforcement is lax or absent. Employees, for fear of retaliation or termination, typically endure long hours and unsafe working conditions.

Likewise, millions of farmworkers find themselves in similar working conditions. They are paid sub-poverty wages, no overtime wages, receive no benefits, and they live in abominable conditions. Workers living in Florida, Texas, California, Washington, and North Carolina are most susceptible to such exploitation due to a lack of enforcement or redress.

[Shar_Lamagne]

The earliest reference I could find seems to have been a Southern justification for actual slavery.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he growing industrial economy of the North swallowed these new workers into its factories, employing them for long hours at low wages. These manufacturing jobs were repetitious and sometimes hazardous. And from their meager earnings, Northern laborers had to pay for every one of life's necessities.

For some Southerners, the situation of Northern workers looked a lot worse than slavery. In fact, they argued, unlike the "wage slavery" of the North, the slavery system in the South provided food, clothing, medical care, and leisure to slaves, caring for them throughout their lives. Prominent defenders of slavery, including George Fitzhugh, based their pro-slavery attitudes on a racist assessment of African Americans as inferior to whites.

On top of its fundamentally racist outlook, this Southern justification of slavery ignored the central issue of self-determination: Northern workers could make their own choices, leaving their jobs or possibly heading West to the frontier, while slaves could not.

[Pretorian]

How many workers do you know in America? I personally know 1 guy out of hundreds that I am acquainted with. You?

[Cid_Yama]

Irrelevant to the discussion, Please stay on topic, wage slaver.

Since I personally know hundreds, you want to try that line with me?

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'I')rrelevant to the discussion, Please stay on topic, wage slaver.

Since I personally know hundreds, you want to try that line with me?

[Cid_Yama]

Listen, Mephestopheles, you are about the Evilest of the bunch on here. My wife and I are actively involved with assisting those downtrodden by your wage slavery.

I'm not putting up with any guff from you or any of the other wage slavers on this board.

[Pretorian]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'L')isten, Mephestopheles, you are about the Evilest of the bunch on here. My wife and I are actively involved with assisting those downtrodden by your wage slavery.

I'm not putting up with any guff from you or any of the other wage slavers on this board.

[Umber]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cid_Yama', 'L')isten, Mephestopheles, you are about the Evilest of the bunch on here. My wife and I are actively involved with assisting those downtrodden by your wage slavery.

I'm not putting up with any guff from you or any of the other wage slavers on this board.

[Cid_Yama]

To suffer an evil one day longer than necessary would be a travesty and a sin.

[Cid_Yama]

What is it with these states?