Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Archive for September 2013

The Daily F Bomb, Wednesday 9/4/13

Interrogatories

Who is your all-time favorite athlete? Why?

What foods are considered staples in your house?

Have you ever had to have stitches? How many?

What was the best vacation you ever went on as a kid? What made it so good?

The Twitter Emitter

Wednesday Watering Hole: Check In & Hangout for the Herd

Good morning, Moosekind. Don’t forget to let your peeps know where to find you.


  PLEASE Do Not Recommend the check-in diary! 

        Recs on the weather jar comment are still welcome.

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

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The union that built the black middle class




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I spent yesterday, Labor Day, thinking about the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, and my family ties to that union who played such an important role in black history.

One of the books I suggest you read if you are interested in both black history and sociology and the development of the labor movement is Rising from the Rails: Pullman Porters and the Making of the Black Middle Class, by Larry Tye

Although Tye focuses on Pullman porters and the formation of the black middle class, his analysis of class perceptions and race relations reverberates to the current day. Following Reconstruction, industrialist George Pullman took advantage of the limited opportunities available for freedmen, hiring and exploiting blacks–the darker the better–to serve as porters on his railroad. The porters suffered low wages, long hours, and weeks if not months away from home. In addition, they were expected to adopt a servile demeanor to provide comfort to the mostly white patrons of the Pullman sleeping cars. But the upside was employment, travel, and middle-class values and opportunities. Moreover, the fight for union recognition through A. Phillip Randolph’s leadership was the basis for progress for blacks during the pre-civil rights era. The porters’ labor dispute and efforts to include blacks in more favorable positions in the war industry led to the first march on Washington. Tye also explores the tension between the perception of Pullman porters as docile servants and their challenge to the status quo. Vernon Ford

Austin’s Pride Parade, AIDS Walk Austin & Dining for Life

Austin’s Pride Parade is this Saturday. Our Pride events were moved to September a couple of years ago, so the UT students will be in town, and also it is usually less drastically hot now than June. It starts at 8, if you’re interested in coming. I’ll be with a group from my church, in orange “Love Your Neighbor” shirts. There’s a group of welcoming churches, we’re going to make a rainbow with ourt shirts, my church is orange. Here’s the link for parade info: http://www.austinpride.org/#!p…

The Daily F Bomb, Tuesday 9/3/13

Interrogatories

What is the tallest building you’ve ever been in? Did you go all the way to the top?

Are you any good at winter sports, like skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, ice skating?

Did you ever think Welsh Rarebit was Welsh Rabbit?

What languages can you speak or read?

What is your least favorite vegetable?

The Twitter Emitter

Republican Outrageousness: Mona-maniacal Rantings

Ordinarily, my advice for progressives is to not react to every outrageous thing that Republicans say because, really, there is too much of it and we Democrats have better things to do (eg, laser-like focus on 2014). You may have also noticed that right-wing pundits are increasingly writing for each other (sentient human beings having pretty much tuned them out) so there is both little new and little of value.

But every once in a while, I read something that is so flabbergastingly outré that it rises above “someone is wrong on the Internet” to “what the HECK is wrong with that person???”.

The Daily F Bomb, Monday 9/2/13

Interrogatories

It’s National Potato Month. Potatoes have probably killed as many diets as cheese has, if not more. Since it’s summer, tell the rest of the class what ingredients make up your favorite potato salad?

It’s also National Beheading Day (nobody knows where this one came from). I know none of you have ever actually beheaded any living creature (well, I HOPE), but how about plush toys and Barbies and the like?

Preference: Carpet, hardwood, tile, or something else?

What kind of laundry person are you? Do you separate colors, use different temperatures, etc.? How strict are you about it? Do you do the detergent/bleach/fabric softener/etc. or are you a detergent only kind of person? Do you use green detergents?

The Twitter Emitter

The Real Meaning of Labor Day

By: inoljt, http://mypolitikal.com/

Today is Labor Day. When I was younger,  I didn’t understand what that meant. A day to celebrate labor? It was a strange concept. It didn’t mean much to me.

That was because to most Americans Labor Day means nothing. They take a day off work. They go shopping. They mark the end of summer.

The rest of the world doesn’t celebrate Labor Day, either. Instead, they celebrate something called May Day, or the International Workers’ Day.

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May Day in China

More below.

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