According to the NYTimes, real wages fail to match the increase in productivity:
The median hourly wage for American workers has declined 2 percent since 2003, after factoring in inflation. The drop has been especially notable, economists say, because productivity — the amount that an average worker produces in an hour and the basic wellspring of a nation’s living standards — has risen steadily over the same period.
As a result, wages and salaries now make up the lowest share of the nation’s gross domestic product since the government began recording the data in 1947, while corporate profits have climbed to their highest share since the 1960’s. UBS, the investment bank, recently described the current period as “the golden era of profitability.”
Until the last year, stagnating wages were somewhat offset by the rising value of benefits, especially health insurance, which caused overall compensation for most Americans to continue increasing. Since last summer, however, the value of workers’ benefits has also failed to keep pace with inflation, according to government data.
At the very top of the income spectrum, many workers have continued to receive raises that outpace inflation, and the gains have been large enough to keep average income and consumer spending rising.
Good thing Congress has been able to give itself a raise for the last few years, huh? I mean, with their comprehensive benefits package and all, they would barely be able to hold cocktail parties without an annual raise.
Oh, except this year, Democrats have vowed that they will block any Congressional pay raise without a corresponding increase in the minimum wage for working Americans. So we are at a stalemate at the moment, meanwhile working Americans are still getting squeezed because the GOP will not enact any legislation to help the working poor without tacking on a benefits package for large estates and other goodies for the very rich.
Had enough?
PS — Happy birthday Anne!
Related posts:
- Ezra Klein: Since Workers Don’t Understand, Tax on Health Insurance Will Work
- FDL Book Salon Welcomes David Owen, Green Metropolis: Why Living Smaller, Living Closer, and Driving Less are the Keys to Sustainability
- Public Option: Why Pay More?
- Baucus’ Budget Impact is “Voodoo Savings” Achieved by Taxing the Middle Class
- Health Insurers Report Profits Aplenty – to Pay Lobbyists
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Fitz! (And chs)!
Good morning Christy!
Twolf1!
OT, but go check out Atrios, dearhearts. Scroll down to see a cool “Had Enough” video, then click through the link to Howie’s site, and please have credit cards ready. ;)
Morning Redd
I made a bet with myself about which article you would start with today, this one was on the list
Morning gang. Still stuffy, but feeling a bit better this morning. But desperately in need of coffee. How is everyone?
Also fits into the health care issue, since all the Congresscritters also have full care for them and their families, and Jim Hightower had a nice piece on this on Air America this morning. If you’ve never had to choose between health insurance, rent money, or food — even temporarily as a grad student for a couple of semesters — you’ve got little exposure to, or appreciation for, how many people have to make such choices.
Sorry you are still under the weather. Stuffy sinus plus rain equals misery.
Is it stillraing by you?
NY is so soggy
They should, at least, be required to raise the minimum wage every time they raise their own salaries.
Glad you are feeling better CHS.
Morning, Christy!!
Strong coffee with lots of steam is Dr. Imm’s prescription.
Fish Guy Dave – your comment is now free…and I am deleting the duplicate. Re-load your browser to see it.
Word to the wise – I think “h*alth *nsurance” may trigger the spam filter, so be careful!
Old Sow!
Anne @ 10
Duly noted, and still learning the tricks. Thanks!
From belowthread:
TRex – you’ve given your friend a lovely tribute. I am very sorry for your loss, but happy that you shared such a wonderful soul with us.
John C – (this is the ‘old’ Mary) the Mary/Pluto /Joe rant is very good, but it is a “newer” Mary (an underlined Mary, so I think she has a blog). There have been a couple of new Marys, underlined and not,
I missed what is happening with lotus, but hope things are well or on their way to well. If there’s something that can be done? And also hope things are well with HSAT?
The Bin Laden piece is odd. The difference between the Euorpean approach – trials, criminal process, etc. – and our approach – militarization, try to act like scarier criminals, sanctimonious war crimes with a few oops here and there – gets more and more stark.
Hope everyone in the Gulf Coast region is stocking up — it looks like Ernesto is not slowing down as of this morning. (At least according to the latest from MSNBC.)
Mary at 14 — Hope was on over the weekend — she and Dr. Turtle made it home safely. :)
lhp — did you see this in the WaPo?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..87_pf.html
They have a quote from David Kelly in there. Interesting stuff — wondered if you had seen it yet this morning.
Actually, as of the 8 a.m. update, no-one’s quite sure yet where Ernesto’s going to hit the U.S. mainland first — that point could be anywhere in Florida, and it depends a lot on how the storm interacts with Cuba. More on Ernesto at 11 a.m. from the NHC. In the meantime, south Florida’s getting ready.
Morning, Christy – glad you seem to be over the hump on the bug…our friends in Florida are scrambling, I guess, to make sure they are ready for whatever Ernesto has in mind. Am hoping for all concerned that Ernesto’s V**gra was confiscated in Cuba and he will be unable to wage much damage.
Today’s my birthday, so am planning a short day at the office, then a trip to the gym (the office is having a Carvel ice-cream cake for me, and it really would not go over well not to have some!), and then the State Fair with my husband and kids – kind of a family tradition for us. Want to catch the bull-riding tonight at 7:00, so am hoping either the rain holds off or it takes an intermission (we really need the rain, so I don’t feel like I should wish for a dry day – even if it is my birthday and I want to go to the Fair).
With so few legislative working days left is the session – especially before the elections – don’t expect much. The big job: the unfinished appropriations bills that fund the government, whose budget expires on September 30.
Hmmm . . . the politics of budgeting and the election.
Does the increasing support that Democrats are seeing in the polls mean that Republicans might try to get as much as they can NOW, before November, on the off chance that they will be out of power in January? Alternatively, does it mean that R’s will be less likely to push hard now, for fear of antagonizing voters even more? Similarly, does this mean that Dem’s might be more willing to hold a hard line against R’s excesses, and force delays until after November?
No matter how you slice it, I think you can bet on a big continuing resolution, to fund things until after the election – when everyone can see how things are shaking out.
Yet another reason to make keep the pressure on the Dems now to hold the line, and to make sure we get more Dems to DC in January.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 6
A cup or two of coffee, but then: tea, my dear, tea. Green tea. Vitamin C. Flavonoids. The usual anti-aging micronutrients, plus katekin, so great for slimming (yes the science is in) — and is why I most certainly need another cup!
Latest Zogby, says Lieberman up by 10 according to The Raw Story http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._0827.html
MAry 4 ever
You are still the ONLY Mary as far as i am concerned.
What did I miss about Lotus? Is she OK? I have not been keeping up lately.
re: bin Laden. We USED to have trials. We USED to use due process. That was the Dave Kelley/Pat Fitz/Mary Jo White method.
And it worked well, I thought. It stopped the “day of terror” plot, it stopped the “milleniun bomb” plot, it stopped Abdel Rachman from blowing up the bridges and tunnels in NYC.
I actually think Pat and Dave had a pretty good track record of keeping America safe. It wasn’t until the WH stopped listening to the the info that the FBI and DOJ et al where sending to Washington that we had 9-11.
It is not the failure of the people on the groaund to warn the President (look at the meanigful briefings Bush got bey teleconference before katrina), it is the failure of Bush to heed those warnigs that jeapordizes us all.
And Katrina proves that BUSH still has a pre-9-11 mindset when it comes to heeding warnings of imminent danger
Medaka at 21 — oh yeah, it has definitely been a tea-filled week at this house. I usually switch over to tea after my second cup of coffee.
Mary4evah, thanks for the clarification.
WRT lotus, check the “Sad. Funny. Tragic.” thread.
Good morning, Christy and everyone. I’ve been over re-reading the book salon thread. That was some interesting discussion and I noticed that Bob Altemeyer, whose research was the foundation of much of Mr. Dean’s work, dropped in.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 17
Yeah I did and commented on it below thread.
I am confused by it. Several anomolies.
Why quote Dave (who is certainly knowledgeable, but it was’t his case) when they could have gone directly to Pat, who actually tried the case?
Why print this story today? It’s and “evergreen”. It’s not new news.
To me, it looks like a set up pice for news they expect to break soon.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 15
Christy, according to the news WE’RE getting, not only has it slowed, but it’s been downgraded to Tropical Storm, and is projected to cross Cuba and Florida and go out into the Atlantic. Hmmm.
lhp at 23 — there was a kerfuffle over language at some point over the weekend (Friday? Saturday? It’s all kind of a blur for me with the nyquil…) and lotus decided not to post here any longer. I was asleep, so I missed the whole thing and got a summary from someone the next morning.
See Lotus at 110 prior thread……
lindyh — they are now saying it is going to hit Cuba and likely slow a bit while there…I don’t think they have any idea where it is going from there, though, at least based on the MSNBC weather chicka.
Mornin’ all, mornin’ Christy, glad you got some sleep. Sleep deficit can be a real *itch, esp. when you’re sick.
I must havbe missed the explanation of the symbols at the end of the posts. Can anyone enlighten moi?
Yeah, I’ve had enough.
I’ve had it with rich white guys shipping American jobs overseas, looting what’s left of the commons for corporate profit and turning America into a helpless third world nation with a basket case economy.
Rich white guys can’t be trusted with responsibility to manage a government by the people and for the people.
The greed factor is ruining America.
Morning All,I was wondering what does the article really mean. ? Do you guys think that this is really big.? Glad you’re better Christy.
lotus just sent me a jpg of the projected route, and in this forecast it
looks like Ernie is headed straight for her house…
So: once it passes, lotus, you’d better post here,
if only to let us ALL know you’re okay! OKAY??
medaka @
21
Medaka, I’m with you on the green tea. The best places I know to find reasonably priced “organic” green tea (who knows?) are the Chinese markets in NYC or Flushing. I like to let it set and steep for a long time. When you get to the bottom it is bitter and oh so refreshing and vitalizing! (Truth to tell, thin as a reed, I don’t need slimming!) At home I always use the loose leaf, but take bags in my backpack.
Anyhoo, reading the article at the following link, I have a moniker for Lieberman’s political affiliation: Shamocrat or if you like your tea stronger, Shameocrat.”
http://www.greenwichtime.com/n…..-headlines
Christy @16 – thank you (hope you feel better soon too)
My secretary brought in a Carvel ice-cream cake for my birthday today – anyone want to help me eat it? Come on – you know you want some – it’s never too early in the day for ice-cream cake! Quick – before it melts!
‘mornin’…
I’m back home. O/T, yesterday morning I arrived at the airport in Melbourne FL to the CNN breaking news coverage of the Comair CRJ plane crash in Lexington, KY. It was on all day, even on the little seat-back TV screens Delta now has installed in their larger aircraft (e.g., my ATL to LAS leg on a 757). I fly on those same little Canada Regional Air jets a lot. Well, it got my attention.
It is breathtakingly beyond criminally negligent that we don’t have simple technology in place to prevent a pilot from taking off on the wrong runway. And, the lawyers are gonna run with this point to great and expensive effect. Runway numbers are simply the compass direction divided by 10. Yesterday, for example, I flew out of MLB taking off on runway 9R, meaning 90 degrees, or due east, heading to the right off the end of the taxiway (its nomenclature reciprocal is 27L, or 270 degrees due west, same — or a parallel — runway).
Planes all have compasses in their avionics, uh, heLLO (”heading indicator”)? Simple ground control/preflight check programming should immediately and loudly alert a pilot in the event of a rollout on the wrong runway. The cost of doing this en masse would be vanishingly TRIVIAL relative to what this tragedy is now gonna cost once the FAA and NTSB investigations and the tort and class-action lawyers are finished.
Unbelievable. The crudest, $5 Radio Shack electronic technology could immediately tell a 40 degree differential (i.e., runway 22 vs 26).
If they don’t do this kind of idiot-proofing forthwith, it will be CRIMINAL.
_
Lotus,
Honey you gotta come back, please. There are some voices here, John Casper, you, Peterr, that make us better people. That remind us to be kind and gentle with each other jsut by the examples you set.
We need you.
I don’t know what happened and I can’t get the “sad, funny, tragic” thread to load, so I am unlikely to find out the specifics, but whatever it was, I hope you will be able to let it go and come back where you are wanted, needed and embraced.
You are the one who taught me how to send hugs on the internet
(((((hugs)))))
LHP
Happy Birthday Anne !
if it’s the professional bull riders, there’s this cowboy over 6′ 3″ . . .jes sayin’
John Casper and Old Sow,
thanks for the directions downstairs – now find myself all wound up trying to think through a resolution satisfactory to all parties – really not happy with some of my initial impressions of what the hell happened
“Maybe you can eat at Baja Fresh,” said Rep. John Doolittle when questioned about his push for a $165 (tax free) per diem.
How many Americans work a full day and don’t even earn $165 before taxes? They’d love to eat at Baja Fresh, but they can’t afford it.
Anyone who wants some insight on the lotus thing can e-mail me at aschoonmaker AT saul DOT com.
Probably best not to take this thread off the tracks.
Lhp – I think a large part of what goes missing (in addition to morals, values, justice, etc.) is that any other approach is not evidence based. That means that things get missed that could end up being very important later. It means that torture elicited info (or crazy guy rantings, which apparently have become soup de jour) is used without verification. It means that things become more and more self justifying – because the alternative is admitting a string a mistakes. It’s not just the right/wrong values arguments; it is the right/wrong on the facts argument. And, of course, just as torture of central figures was a part of the genesis of some of what we are facing now, so more torture is just fuel for the fire. Sometimes military support is going to need to be an element of the overall approach, but we’ve gone down a very wrong track and no one laid the breadcrumb trail to get us back.
OT ~ CHS – Forget the MSM for current weather news. Meet Intellicast:
http://www.intellicast.com/Ica…..odnav=none
cbl @ 41
Not really sure – I assume it’s professional, but I’ve never seen it in person, so thought it would be a hoot!
Happy Birthday!!!!
OT, but important –On the fifth anniversary of Bush’s Biggest Fuckup, ABC’s running a pseudo-documentary la the Corsi-O’Neill “Swift Boat” crap intended to dump the blame on Clinton.Get the attention of the Media Matters people! We need to mobilize and spread the inoculating truth BEFORE this lie-fest airs!
Lou Costello @ 45
Here’s another resource for tropical weather:
http://skeetobiteweather.com/
Christy – sorry for the OTs, this was an excellent post! I still remember, VIVIDLY, when the Clintons pushed through the last min. wage increases, Limbaugh ranting on and on that because of Hilary no one would be able to afford fast food burgers anymore. Uh duh yeah Rush. Are those guys ever right about anything?
Do we know which members of Congress simply refuse Congressional wage increases, or refuse them until real wages rise? Or promise to change the law that makes Congressional wage increases automatic when increases in real wages are not automatic for working Americans?
This seems like a golden opportunity for D’s to dramatize what Republican policies have done to harm the broader middle class, not only those depending on minimum wage.
D’s (and candidates) should vote against Congressional wage increases until the real wages of working Americans also rise. And they should make that a campaign issue.
Although I normally believe that elected representatives and government civil servants should be compensated from the Treasury — not from lobbyists — it seems to me this is a special case where candidates for Congress should blow the whistle and make demands beyond minimum wage. The voters whom we need to get a Democratic Congress are far beyond those at the bottom economically.
Apparently there is no longer a separate vote for Congressional wage increases. Instead, as the June article linked by Christy points out, Congress has its wage increase “triggered” by passage of general appropriations bills. See http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITI…..index.html
I wonder if the European countries are having the same problems with minimum wage. Somehow it seems in Europe there is more job satisfaction. Maybe we could learn something?
BobbyG at 29 — hey! Good to see you — was just talking to Oilfieldguy about you yesterday.
OFG stopped in Morgantown, WV on his way through to deliver a load in PA, and Fiona and I had lunch with him yesterday and got to hang out with him at a Barnes and Noble for a bit. Was very fun. :)
Re the topic of this thread, it is not just the wage stagnation that is hurting those who work for a living but the quantum leap in prices at the markets. This is your proverbial double whammy. A period of wage stagnation accompanied by deflation is at least tolerable. This is not — we are in an inflationary spiral due in large part to gas prices — and hurting lots of folks, including yours truly.
I no longer buy fruits and veggies at the supermarkets, but shop at the small produce stands that are on every corner in NY. And forget about organics at places like Whole Foods. Only the aristocrats shop there.
The essential problem goes back to the failure of “compassionate conservatism” to set the correct priorities for this nation. A concerted and well conceived plan to protect ourselves against terrorism would have cost a fraction of the price we are paying for an illegal war in Iraq. (And we are STILL LESS SAFE from terrorism!) And you can use this same criticism of misplaced priorities to everything Bush/Cheney/Rummy have done.
Happy Birthday, Anne. I’ll take a slice of that yummy ice cream and save it for later.
My 25th annual 29th birthday celebration is exactly one month from today.
Lotus, please let us know that you’re ok after the storm. I know you’re lurking…
Lou at 45 — oh my — I’m going to be playing with that all day now. *g*
Happy birthday, Anne!
Come back, lotus.
Hi Christy,
FWIW, David Corn has a followup on the Armitage article posted at HuffPo.
I’m a bit perplexed by the fact that Novak used the words “CIA operative” to describe “Wilson’s wife,” and as Novak knows “operative” means undercover. The Isikoff/Corn article indicates that Armitage didn’t know that she was undercover. So perhaps Rove did more than simply “confirm” what Novak already knew. Hmmmmm.
your talking points rolled out fresh this morning – start chatting ‘em up !!!
in the grocery store line
at the pharmacy counter
at the gas pump
the Take Out counter
in your LTE’s
even before the red tide went out on Chimpy, always found my fellow red staters open to hearing anything that effects them sooo directly – easily half the time find myself talking with folks with a second job or in the process of getting a second job -
OT–Executioner protein causes colon and lung cancers to kill themselves
Good morning all,
Glad you’re feeling better Christy.
Happy birthday Anne.
wigwam at 58 — the question that Swopa has been asking — and I think it is a very good one — is whether Novak knew something about Valerie before he went fishing for confirmation. THAT would be an awfully good question to ask — but he hasn’t answered it thus far. You have to wonder exactly what was confirmed, by whom, and when in all of this, don’t you?
OJ – it is funny, they talk about how much more available organics are, but they are pricey. Healthy food in this country, especially for people who don’t have the time to be able to do a lot of home prep, is expensive. Sugar and fat are cheap and end up being the staples.
We used to have a few organic farms in the area that you could get a share of the produce — but the expenses for gasoline and other energy needs have priced them out of the market, I’m afraid. I tried to buy into one this year, knowing that my joint issues were going to make gardening difficult for me, but couldn’t find any that were operational within driving distance for us. Next year, I’m putting in veggies no matter what…
OFT, cbl, fwiw and jmo. As everyone knows, FDL was built from nothing by two very strong women, Jane and Christy, who work incredibly hard, basically seven days a week, to generate great posts. They also make a real effort to participate in the comments section, which is very rare. Worse, neither is filling their 401(k) with the profits, but they’re only too happy to drive donations to Democratic candidates. That’s money that could be funding FDL.
In addition, Jane and Christy both make their emails available to us all. I think if anyone has concerns in any direction, that is one way to go.
There are a lot of issues involved with this, but one that might be overlooked, is that, I think, we all really like it when posters comment, particularly Jane and Christy.
Another issue is we’re here to kick Dick Cheney’s ass and Bush and Rumsfeld and Joe….. We’re all going to rub each other a little wrong every once in awhile.
I think we lost a really good commenter in lotus, and I certainly don’t mean to diminish that. I had a dust-up with medaka, because I cleary didn’t “get it.” If it hadn’t been for lotus, stepping in, it would have gotten a lot worse, needlessly. I hope she decides to come back, if that’s best for her.
FDL isn’t perfect and neither are Jane or Christy. I just haven’t found any blog I enjoy anywhere near as much on a whole lot of different levels.
8.2ontherichter @ 22
Well, it just shows that 1) Repubs are responding to Joe and 2) the Repubs are doing a lot more to promote Joe than the Dems are doing to promote Ned.
Hello DNC, DCSS, DSSSS – get off the dime and unify around the Democratic primary winner.
Thanks, John.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 56
CHS ~ Glad you like my link. As Ernesto gets closer…
Key West Radar:
http://www.intellicast.com/Ica…..odnav=none
Miami Metro:
http://www.intellicast.com/Ica…..odnav=none
I agree it’s unfortunate citizens can’t make more money and elevate their standard of living. Congress needs to step in and raise the minimum wage. Gone are the days a person could deliberately set out to learn a skill or trade paying a higher wage than the current job they hold. What good is an economy that won’t allow you to accrue ever increasing pay for performing the very same job year after year? If only the federal government, various states or local municipalities offered free or subsidized job training, educational assistance or tax breaks for relocation and retraining to other jobs would the underpaid worker’s plight improve. Oh, wait……
Here’s a organic co op for NJ, PA, MD, DE.
http://suburbanorganics.com/
I’ve belonged to this group, my local coop went bust and I see now they’ve updated the site with another one in my area, which means I can sign up again.
Any Congressional Democrat who isn’t running – - and running hard – - on the Dems’ promise not to go along with the pay raise without a raise in the minimum wage hasn’t got a political bone in their body.
That’s the kind of issue that people can understand and relate to.
Happy Birthday Anne! Belated Happy Birthday to *ilson.
Maybe I’m missing a deeper point on the OBL piece, but I take it in large part to be getting at the fact, with the London investigations going on, that we have abandoned that kind of response/reaction. Bush doesn’t want to have a criminal trials of anyone involved in “terrorism” and they definitely don’t want to have to exclude torture testimony (one reason I haven’t been happy about watching the progress of the Salah case, although I don’t have any doubts he is guilty). The Bolton and Israeli arguments are already up – bombing Arab babies is just not “as bad as” Arabs bombing Jewish American European babies. Not a crime – see, looky, legal opinion says so.
No one is going to be seeking indictments or “investigating” for terrorism much anymore. Legislation is all over the place to memorialize Padilla as law of the land. Bin Laden is never going to be an “FBI” priority – just a military and covert one – that a CIC and “foreign matters” President can handle just as dirty as he wants. Even the intelligence and evidence aspects from the CIA unit have been abandoned. And a careful approach to the sources won’t give Bush the flexibility he has now to go after almost anyone, al-Qaeda tie or not, and literally bury in an unmarked grave. No one even discusses the wives and children that we have “in custody” I don’t think it’s surprising they got their quote from Kelly. What’s the USA for ND IL going to say?
Happy Birthday, Anne!
Christy Hardin Smith @ 64
Don’t know how big a garden you do, but once it’s in, the Peanut is at that age where she’d probably get a real kick out of watering, weeding (carefully supervised!), and otherwise watching her dinner grow. No garden for us this year, but in the past The Kid has loved going into the back yard to pick out which tomatoes we’re going to have for dinner – and he’s never turned up his nose at anything cooked from stuff he’s seen/helped grow in the back yard, even if it comes from the market this year.
Another funny thing: I used to belong to an organic food co-op. Here’s an example of what happened: every Thursday I would go pick up my goodies. So I often found myself bringing home four pounds of organic brocolli which I was unable to finish before the next batch was picked up. Or six pounds of potatoes. You get my meaning. I left the co-op.
Mary at 44 and Phoenix Woman at 48
Evidence based prosecution or even jsut evidence based investigation is what folks ina reality based community do.
The Clinto Administration lived in a reality based world. The bigest problems I had with how Clinton handled terrorism where the problems resulting from the Gorelick memo and his hestiency to take bold action during times when he was under attck for his private life.
The whole impeachment debacle made him timid. When he launched the missles, I erronioulsy thought he was trying to divert attention from Monicagate. He became timid in insecure at the end. Had he been a braver president and more willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the country, well…
I think it was his own guilt about his own private bad behavior that let him buy in to the denunciations from the Republicans. He he has more of a sense of entitlement, he would have been able to shrug it off
Happy Birthday Anne.
Many more to you
Happy Birthday Anne.
Christy-
Here’s a link for oragnic vegetables delivered in West Virgina.
http://www.doortodoororganics……rganic.htm
I found organic and whole foods helped me with my RA.
Good morning, and Happy Birthday, Anne.
According to the AP, they’ve decided to scrub Tuesday’s shuttle launch on account of some impending wind:
August 28,2006 | CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With Tropical Storm Ernesto breathing down their necks, NASA managers gave up on a Tuesday space shuttle launch and prepared to move Atlantis indoors if the storm continues to threaten.
Let’s hope that’s the worst of it. I see from earlier in the thread Ernesto is going to hit Cuba soon.
John Casper @ 65
Hear, hear HERE John Casper! We were so ready to argue, huh? And we didn’t realize we were both fighting for the same thing! A seriously deep bow to lotus for pointing that out!
Yes, this is the only blog that works for me, too, and it seems the same for many folks out there. Let’s chalk this one up to growing pains, shall we? What say, lotus? Because growing is what’s happening here by the hour. I mean, if I could give back 1/100th of what you all teach me, I would be one hotshot philanthropist mofo, kids!
Okay, work calls — I really need to iron some threads. I’ll try to check back in after I get the iron all nice and hot, heh heh ;-0
Happy Birthday Anne!
New thread, gang!
Another bombing this morning in Turkey – 2 dead as of now.
so much chaos in the world and we simply sow more
great article on US mil deserters – hat tip to MFI for link:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/a…..43,00.html
LHP #76 & 75:
Happy birthday, Anne! It’s a beautiful day here in SoCal, and now we know why – ’cause it’s yours!
I’ve started working* my way through Ultimate Sacrifice, the latest and greatest on the JFK assasination. While he might’ve had his problems (and who among us doesn’t?), it’s already apparent in the first 100 pages that he became his own Profile in Courage even at the cost of his own life.
There was the kind of leader we need now, someone who could calm the fears of all those authoritarian wannabes from yesterday’s book salon. Someone posted yesterday about “how far we’ve fallen” since the JFK/RFK era, and that poster (wish I could remember!) was spot on, IMO. They were each light-years ahead of Clinton,who in turn if off the charts compared to the little boys playing dress-up we have now.
* Between this tome and all the time I spend here, it’s little wonder the Book Salon selections are piling up!
John Casper:
Thanks for articulating what made me stick around here when I first became drawn to this site, wrt Jane and Christy. Having worked closely with them, I hold them in the highest personal regard.
I don’t expect them to be superheroes or perfect people, just as I long got over expecting perfection from my parents or being disappointed by their foibles. But Jane and Christy’s integrity, passion, intelligence, judgment and honesty make them people I unreservedly admire, all of which qualities I have been able to observe with consistency up close.
Y’all don’t have an organic produce section in the local grocery stores?
John Casper,
I simply couldn’t agree more with everything you said upthread.
my note about “initial impressions” had to do with a perceived dynamic – not the specific exchange involved.
appropos of Christy’s post – my dreams of a better life for my family in Central Tex has basically been a 3 year nightmare wherein we find ourselves now firmly esconced in the ranks of the working poor(straight up bad luck, bad timing, etc.) in no way do I bring it up to elicit sympathy or share too much personal info -
in tandem with the personal setbacks, these monsters in charge have been on a tear . . .
and then through sheer dumb luck, I happen upon this place – over and over again, our hosts have created this incredible font of education and inspiration – although now clearly past the newly addicted stage, I get flat out sweaty when thinking of a life without this place and y’all
yet more unsolicited personal info – have been keeping a personal gratitude journal for 10 years – one of those deals where you write a thank you note to your God for at least 5 things in the day for which you are grateful -
mentions of FDL match in number those for healthy children, a paycheck, a roof, a meal . . .
Prof @ 87
Yes, but they are prohibitively expensive, at least for me. Plus the selections are very thin in variety. How much organic lettuce can I eat? Just yesterday I saw at my local Waldbaums organic tomatoes, $7 a pound. Actually I lie. It was $6.95 per pound.
In fairness I should add that I live in New York (Queens), I think the third most expensive city next to SF and Honolulu.
lotus, honey:
on a cobweb afternoon
in a room full of emptiness
by a freeway i confess
i was lost in the pages
of a book full of death
reading how we’ll die alone
and if we’re good we’ll lay to rest
anywhere we want to go
in your house i long to be
room by room patiently
i’ll wait for you there
like a stone i’ll wait for you there
alone
on my deathbed i will pray
to the gods and the angels
like a pagan to anyone
who will take me to heaven
to a place i call
i was there so long ago
the sky was bruised
the wine was bled
and there you led me on
in your house i long to be
room by room patiently
i’ll wait for you there
like a stone i’ll wait for you there
alone
and on i read
until the day was gone
and i sat in regret
of all the things i’ve done
for all that i’ve blessed
and all that i’ve wronged
in dreams until my death
i will wander on
~Audioslave
One of my dreams is to start an organic food coop in my town, as or tied to an ROP project for the high school. Anyone have experience starting uo one of them things? There’s an organization that has a stepbystep manual for startup but I want to hear from some horses…mouths.
I used to get organic produce delivered to my door every other week by a lovely team of people. It came with a recipe page that incorporated the veggies in the basket that week. I enjoyed not knowing exactly what I would get. They gave us a “hate” and “love” form to fill out when we first signed up, so at least I knew I wouldn’t get a whole basket of, say, lima beans and zucchini.
mommybrain at 91 — hahahaha Am picturing what we’d do with a whole basket full of lima beans. For us it would be a hate basket of lima beans, brussels sprouts and beets. Blergh. *g* That’s a great idea, though, to be able to sign up that way. I wish we had a co-op nearer to us. I’ll check out the link that Millineryman provided. Maybe I can get mine UPS. ;-)
Mommybrain, 91:
Check out what Alice Waters has done in the Berkeley School district in CA. Here’s a link you can start with:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…..8FL1C1.DTL
Christy Hardin Smith @ 92
Christy – this made me laugh out loud! Beets – always thought they tasted like dirt (not that I eat dirt, but you know what I mean). Husband tells me that when he was in Vietnam they called lima beans “motherf**kers.” Tried edamame (soy beans), and it was like someone made lima beans the way they were supposed to taste – really good and very good for you. Brussels sprouts – always looked like a good idea, but the reality… not so much. Even the dog won’t eat them, and anyone who knows labs knows they are the canine version of goats (or that kid on the Life cereal commercial).
orangejumpsuit @
93
Thanks, orange. Great story. Have you heard anthing about how it’s going?
In Orange County a few years ago there was a big kerfuffle about a private school that tried to get some reality into kids lives about where their food comes from. They did a kosher slaughter of a cow they’d raised, just like 4H kids do on the farm, only…kids fainted, threw up, got really wigged, even though it had all been explained to them beforehand. I think parents sued. Sigh. They’ll be the first to perish come the deluge.
Christy, I used to hate beets as a child but lovelovelove them now. Brush with olive oyl, roast at 400 about an hour; cool, peel, sprinkle with s&p and your favorite vinegar. What changed my mind was a jello salad from an old Fannie Farmer cookbood that included vinegar and shredded beets. It was so unexpectedly good that I knew I needed to revisit that particular food prejudice. And I’m really glad I did. Just remember when you eat beets, it colors everything that comes out of your body for a few days. No, you’re not bleeding internally…
I know I’m very late to this thread but… last year a little kindergarten girl was unaware of where milk comes from… after learning about milking a cow, she made a terrible face and declared, “BLEGH! That’s disgusting! I’m never drinking milk again!”
funny and yet disturbing somehow…
Mommybrain @
91
We are a ‘cell’ of this organization in Toronto, Foodshare/Field-to-Table. it’s been around for quite a while. My husband was involved in several food coops in Boston and CA when he lived there, he says this beats them all hollow.
One orders bi-weekly and there is a small drop-off group, 6 to 12 families, usually. Price for each type of box is fixed, you get your $19 worth of whatever is best that day. Since you pick up your stuff from a local drop-spot here can be lots of effective flexibility, eg, ’standing order’ or not, I’ll swap my bok choy for your beets and do down a batch, or someone will bring 6 copies of their vichysoisse recipe during potato season.� It’s a good way to meet some of your neighbours and do some local networking.
I get the ‘regular’ good food box, only some organic so I get more variety, also it helps farmers transition from ‘regular’ to organic farming. I will buy their stuff before they can be certified (have been off chemicals for the required 3 years), it’s cheaper and I don’t mind the occasional worm-hole. Some of the produce is local produce, from various small commercial growers, old hippy communes, and Mennonites. Communication is interesting w/them, as can’t contact them on Sabbath and most don’t have electricity, let alone phones or computers. The order is faxed to a gas station near one of the farms, someone from the farm walks down to the gas station, word is then passed to the other farms involved. Neat-o! They will know how tolive ‘after the deluge’, I am so glad to have a connection with them.
The boxes often have ‘foreign’ stuff in them, too. We sometimes get mangoes, coconuts, papayas and green figs, always some nice surprise in the box. Sometimes lovely herbal teas, or a big bunch of basil — yay, pesto tonight!
Highly recommended. Great idea, great folks, great food, lots of fun.
OldCoastie @ 96
Heard of a bunch of interns who inadvertantly drank a quart of human milk from the nursing station fridge. Three out of 4 threw up, so I’m told, and I gotta say I get a little queasy at the thought. Me, I’m a Carnation-and-cornsyrup kid (born 1949).
I ‘ve said this before but dammit congress should get paid the median wage workers not investors, trust fundies etc get in their state. This way their pay is raised if the workers in their state get a raise. also they should pay the same percentage of their income in taxes as the average worker does no fancy loopholes, no cayman island offshore accounts, yeesh! Our congress has more ways to launder illict cash than Columban drug dealers
Thanks so much for posting this. Please keep it up. People who live from a paycheck are getting screwed worse and worse all the time. And the people who’ve got their boots on our necks are the same people running for election on “Family Values”.
I guess the new “Family Values” doesn’t include actually having any time to spend with your family because you are working so many hours just to get by. And forget about “vacation”. Yeah, the best Family Values are when it’s impossible to spend quality time with your family.