It was the unions calling me to GOTV this year — 5 different union locals, in fact. Very well coordinated in W. Pa.

I’m actually surprised you were glad to get that many calls, IMO 5 to 1 household is a waste of resources

Im in W PA and didnt really do any phonebanking because by 6pm i tend to be feeling half dead, but i talked to someone who was doorknocking THE SAME DOORS that someone in IBEW was also knocking on- so they coordinated between themselves to make sure they didnt duplicate anymore

why is this a problem? both are using the same central lists provided by the AFLCIO(most unions guard their member lists like nothing else, but political lists are ‘different’) and the doorknocked was coordinated BY the central labor council(even the CTW doorknocking was done by the aflcio… I was pretty pissed when i got a CTW email touting *THEIR* GOTV effort… ya maybe your members GOTV effort… anyway thats another topic altogether)- so basically the AFLCIO was sending 2 people to the same doors: waste of resources? i think so

how much affect did we have in PA? since pittsburgh is the home to 12 international unions(not that UE did any GOTV efforts…) we had MASSIVE human resources, but most of the PA seats were washouts… except altmire… and we put ALOT of human resources into his campaign; personally im 100% sure we got him elected, and unlike dkmich claims, he WILL NOT screw us- he knows exactly why he got elected

I think we’re going to be more effective than others believe, why? communications: over the past 6 years we’ve been building communications networks that we havent been able to fully utilize(sure, CTW had some nice little activism events in LA and NJ and florida, but the effect was just in those areas), now when someone(altmire, tester, ect) drafts some legislation, it WILL get to the floor, and we can use our communications networks to mobolize people to make the calls and show up at the gates

like i posted here election night: everyone buy some new megaphones, were gonna use em hard!

Sorry I got back here so very late. Kind of you to reply! And I think it’s way cool that you learned these things from your grandfather.

I never got to meet the set of grandparents from the side of the family dating back to before the Revolution here, more’s the pity, although I’ve been digging up all manner of info on them through genealogical research, but it’s not the same, as I’m sure you know.

The other set of grandparents was better able to tell me more about life in “the old country.” Which was also interesting, but again, not the same thing.

Did you have a really really neat-o chemistry set as a kid?

Thanks again for your little heads-up note in the thread above, too!

Good night to you and all the other wonderful Firedoggies!

My very shaky understanding, though, is informed not by reading, as yours is MrsK8, but through conversations with my grandfather while a youngster — he hoping I’d have an eventual interest in his chemical business and that said chemical business would survive independently long enough to catch my interest, neither being true by the 1970s.

Mrs. K8 @ 46

Marion in Savannah @ 40

Mrs. K8 @ 31

Marion’s a very bright cookie, indeed.

{Extremely bright red blush…}

What was that wonderful quote of Mark Twain’s? Something like –

“I could live for two weeks on a good compliment.”

It’s so true, isn’t it? I often think if, whenever I (or we) think good things about someone else, I (or we) were to speak up and voice that good thought (instead of staying shyly quiet), people around me (us) would be smiling more often, and walking with more of a spring in their step.

I know when someone here says a kind thing to me, I go off to my chores humming a bright tune.

.. or off to the trampoline, depending on the time of day!

Hey there! You must be psychic. That’s EXACTLY what I was just doing. That puts a “spring” in my step, too!

And thanks for the info on Hoover.

I knew he was almost universally reviled amongst the “working stiffs” who became the “unemployed stiffs.” (”Hooverville” and all that.)

I think I need to read up more on what was going on just before FDR hit the scene. I read Blanche What’s-Her-Name’s great 2 volume bio (and I think a 3rd is on the way) of Eleanor Roosevelt, and while it covered some things, it’s clear that I have a lot to still learn about the dynamics of that huge disaster (Great Depression).

As a follow-up question if you don’t mind — while Hoover helped rebuild Europe, were there the sorts of “no-bid contracts” going on back then that outrage us today? Having read Smedley Butler’s “War is a Racket” — it wouldn’t surprise me in the least.

The Big Three is no longer accurate. Toyota is #2 now and soon to be #1. What Bush met with was the “Detroit 3″.

Detroit 2 and a German subsidiary of Daimler-Benz.

November 14th, 2006 at 7:58 pm *

My sense is that we have to now take the time to define a Democratic economic platform that is something other than reactive. It’s not enough to say we’re for the workers. And we only divide OUR base if we fall in for Lou Dobbsian dittoheadism (which I believe is as much about racism and cultural insecurity than it is about economics). I think it has to include the following key tenets:–
To lengthy to fully quote from #78

They are all noble ideas…definitely promotes the common good. Of the stuff you listed I think that workforce housing plans, national health care and a return to progressive tax would offer the most benefit for the buck – short-term and long-term. I am not much of an economist but I could definitely see these 3 spurring savings, investment and growth. Especially if they were introduced in tandem with a big idea like 75-80% energy independence in 10 years.

Regards