Vote Lou Agre on May 18th!

Well, with the primary season in full swing, I decided to focus on a heated local race to my area (Philadelphia, Pa). This race is for the Democratic nomination for State Representative of the 194th District. Which covers the Manayunk-Roxborough neighborhoods along with Wissahickon, East Falls, Wynnefield Heights, and West Parkside in Philadelphia County. The District also includes Bala Cynwyd, Bellmont Hills, Lower Merion, Merion, and part of Merion Station in Montgomery County. So, on top of the fact that this is a very heated race with five candidates running for the same nomination, it's a very diverse district, with people from all walks of life. Just like the district is full of people from all walks of life, the candidates in the race are as well.

Now, I want to focus on one of the candidates though, Lou Agre. I met Lou for the first time about two weeks ago at his campaign office located at 6210 Ridge Avenue in Philadelphia. Prior to stopping in I did a bit research into the candidates and Lou is the only one that I felt really shared my views on the issues. After graduating from Cornell University with a degree in Industrial and Labor Relations and later Temple Law School, he began to help those who had no one to fight for them. Lou has been a constant advocate for working families throughout our country, from organizing textile mills in the south to running his own law practice protecting worker's rights. Currently Lou is and has been for several years now an Organizer and Legal counsel for the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 542 here in the Philadelphia area, and continues to fight for working families.

Throughout all of this, Lou has been a champion of the Manayunk-Roxborough area, from helping in securing $800,000 in federal highway funds for streetscape projects, to most recently $20,000 dollars for the 21st Ward Athletic Association. Lou brings people together for the common good of the community. Lou has been on the 21st Ward Democratic Committee for many years, being elected Ward Leader 8 years ago. These are positions that are not paid positions within the party, Lou has taken countless hours of his own time to help his neighbors and the community at large.

After researching the candidates and concluding that Lou was getting my vote, I decided to stop up at the campaign office to get a yard sign to show my support. I'm certainly glad I did, it gave me a chance to meet Lou face to face and talk for a bit about the community and certain issues my neighbors and I were concerned about on our block. The meeting lasted a half hour to forty five minutes and Lou was happy to answer any question I had on my mind. I feel that Lou is one of those people who really care about his community and isn't running for himself, but for the good of the District.

These are many of the reasons why I'm voting for Lou Agre on May 18th, 2010, but I'm not the only one that knows he's the best man for the job. His endorsements say it all, most of the Labor Organizations in the city are backing him. Also, many prominent local leaders here in Philadelphia, Congressman Chaka Fattah, Congressman Bob Brady, Councilman Curtis Jones Jr, and District Attorney Seth Williams just to name a few. For more information about Lou Agre I recommend visiting his website at louagreforstaterep.com and you can see for yourself why Lou deserves your vote on May 18th.

Bank Reform Now!

Alright! Bank-o-rama Debate 2010 Begins!!! Here we go again, republicans screaming "big government" and "free market". Well, not all of them, I think that some do recognize that they walk a very slippery slope with this issue. If they take a hands off approach to Wall Street as some repubs have said, then they risk looking like they think business as usual (exorbitant bonuses and the like) is just fine in their book. Which in turn pisses off their constituents and they possibly don't get reelected. Now, this creates something very positive in my eyes, I don't think that there will be as much trouble passing this bill as with healthcare. Simple reasons, America is very unhappy with the banking industry right now, bail outs, bonuses, difficulty for business to procure the necessary loans needed to keep going. And with all of this, there are still people saying, "Whoah, slow down a minute, who better to police the industry than the industry itself!" Yes...because they've done such a great job prior to this. Give me a break!

One myth going around is that there is going to be a 50 Billion dollar fund created to bail out failing businesses. This is partially true, there is going to be a 50 Billion dollar fund, but it's not for bail outs...it is in fact going to be used to shut those businesses down, so not to burden the rest of the market. And by the way, it's being funded by the banks, not the taxpayer. Also, the myth of government is going to run American business. False again, by making it illegal to peddle unethical, dangerous investments is not controlling business, its making it safe for investors. So they don't have to fear if the brokerage firm they're with is giving them an above board investment or poison.

Every investment has some sort of risk that comes along with it, but when the firm you're a client of is purposely selling you something they know is going to fail...and to add insult to injury are betting against you at the same time. Damn, that's just messed up. I don't remember learning that in business ethics class. And what's wrong with giving shareholders more voting power in the companies that they buy stock in? I don't understand why you wouldn't want reform in this industry, no wait, yes I do! Good old fashioned American GREED! The attitude of "Screw em all, I got mine!" Yeah...I can't get on board with that.

Ludlow Massacre

I offer this piece taken from the United Mine Worker's website.

Ludlow Massacre

The date April 20, 1914 will forever be a day of infamy for American workers. On that day, 20 innocent men, women and children were killed in the Ludlow Massacre. The coal miners in Colorado and other western states had been trying to join the UMWA for many years. They were bitterly opposed by the coal operators, led by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. Upon striking, the miners and their families had been evicted from their company-owned houses and had set up a tent colony on public property. The massacre occurred in a carefully planned attack on the tent colony by Colorado militiamen, coal company guards, and thugs hired as private detectives and strike breakers. They shot and burned to death 20 people, including a dozen women and small children. Later investigations revealed that kerosene had intentionally been poured on the tents to set them ablaze. The miners had dug foxholes in the tents so the women and children could avoid the bullets that randomly were shot through the tent colony by company thugs. The women and children were found huddled together at the bottoms of their tents. The Baldwin Felts Detective Agency had been brought in to suppress the Colorado miners. They brought with them an armored car mounted with a machine gun-the Death Special-that roamed the area spraying bullets. The day of the massacre, the miners were celebrating Greek Easter. At 10:00 AM the militia ringed the camp and began firing into the tents upon a signal from the commander, Lt. Karl E. Lindenfelter. Not one of the perpetrators were ever punished, but scores of miners and their leaders were arrested and black-balled from the coal industry.--A monument erected by the United Mine Workers of America stands today in Ludlow, Colorado in remembrance of the brave and innocent souls who died for freedom and human dignity.

96 years have come and gone...may they rest in peace.

Stronger Working Class = A Strong Economy

To start off, I'm not an economist, nor have I ever claimed to be one. Right now in our history we are at a crossroad. There are people out there that will tell you the structure our economy has been running on for the last decade or so is just fine...I call Bullshit! Whatever you want to call it, be it trickle-down, supply-side, voodoo or the ever popular reaganomics, they are all the same thing. Giving to the wealthy, be it through tax breaks or incentives, allowing outsourcing, and deregulation to just name a few. The theory is that with all this extra or freed up capital wealthy individuals or businesses would reinvest by creating more jobs and opportunity. This has been proven time and time again that it just doesn't work. As my father used to say, "Trickle-down economics doesn't trickle down to us." What most people don't realize is that one of the ways the rich stay rich is by being incredibly cheap and stingy. So, if they get a huge tax break do you really think they're going to put it into a business? In most cases, no.

There is also another economic policy that has been practiced in this country traditionally known as "Laissez-faire", which translates into "Let it be". Meaning, let industry be free from government intervention of any kind. This is a "Hands-Off" system that has failed time and time again, most recently in 2008 with our economic meltdown, which we are still feeling today...at least I know I am. We can not trust that industry will do the right thing, ethics in business is dead. It is up to the american people and our government to become the stewards of our economy through regulation. Because, if it was up to "Big Business" we'd all be in chains, working 16 hour shifts, for pennies a day.

Now, there is another way of thinking, I'm not exactly sure what it is classified as, but I like to call it "common sense." Think of a house, for a house to be able to stand the test of time there must be a strong foundation, if you build your house on the sand, it will surely sink and fall. Our economy is like a house, the working class is its foundation, if you have a poorly treated and meagerly paid working class it is just like building your house on sand...the economy will sink and fall. If you look back in history, our economy is strongest when the working class has strong Union representation. When people make a higher wage they are more likely to buy back into our economy, meaning spend money on goods and services, hence creating a stronger economy. And the rich will still make lots and lots of money. This is one reason why The Employee Free Choice Act must pass.

There are other factors to consider as well, our manufacturing sector has been decimated by the hands-off policies and free trade agreements of the past. 2.4 million jobs lost to China since the year 2000, that is unacceptable. And some of it has to do with China lowering the worth of its currency, which makes our American goods very expensive and Chinese goods very cheap. Our government has been trying to convince the Chinese to stop this practice to make things fair again. I doubt China will change the way it does business. What may have to happen for things to balance out is the government should impose heavy tariffs on Chinese imports to equalize the pricing with american goods. There by making it a level playing field for American manufacturers to compete in the market. This could quite possibly create a boom for the american manufacturing industry, and we may get many of our jobs back that we lost.

Some people take the loss of our manufacturing sector way too lightly. There are the obvious effects of hurting working families and local economies. But, there is another very damaging effect of losing manufacturing in this country. Our country is becoming a nation of consumers, we buy this, we buy that...but what do we make? If we are ever caught in an economic blockade or embargo, we would be, for lack of a better term...FUCKED.

So, we're at a crossroad in our economic history. Do we keep running things as we have been, or do we choose to create something better for those we leave behind.

America's Toxic Political Landscape

Last night I made a certain immortal phrase my status on Facebook, "A House Divided Against itself Cannot Stand". A very well known quote from Abraham Lincoln in June of 1858, this speech propelled Lincoln into the national spotlight. When speaking these words he was referring to the nation divided on the issue of slavery. Slave states vs Free states, what to do with the new territories in the west...our nation was bitterly divided.

As the day wore on, those words kept finding me, I could not get them out of my mind. Right now, we as a nation are divided. Whichever side you hail from, if you don't see this, then perhaps you should go to the eye doctor for a check up. I myself am a Moderate, I feel any extreme can be dangerous. But, we the American people are so polarized right now and to a degree I blame our rapid transference of information. And I say "information" not knowledge, perhaps if it was a transference of knowledge we would all be in a better place. The fact is you have to wade through the muck to find the truth. But people don't want to do that.....they will just take any pundit's word for it. If I hear someone ranting and raving about some outlandish claim (from the right or the left), I will research it to see if it's true or not, I urge others to do so as well.

One of the most recent is that Healthcare reform is unconstitutional. When first hearing this, my first thought was, "I don't think it is". But, I wasn't sure, so I found a copy of the constitution with all attached articles and proceeded to study it.....and do you know what I found? Nothing that can repeal Healthcare Reform. So, I now have a constitution app for my iPod Touch that has the entire document and all articles. If someone tells me it's unconstitutional, I will hand them my iPod and say, "here, you show me where." Not trying to be a smart-ass, I just want to prove a point. If you are going to make a statement, you damn sure better be able to back it up if I'm around.

And either way you feel about the healthcare debate, I say let's see where this thing takes us, it might surprise many people out there. We need to all come back together and look at what has been said and done in the last three weeks. Spitting acid at each other isn't going to solve any of our countries problems. What has to happen in this country for us to throw away this toxic "ultra-partisanship"? I hope nothing too drastic....

And so it begins....

Well, this is my first ever blog......so here goes.....2:00am

I sit in a hotel room near our nation's capital and stare at the glowing monitor. I have my headphones on with the iPod set to shuffle so not to wake my wife's slumber. I'm not sure what this blog will contain, most likely politics and the state of our world as we all travel through.

I suppose I should start with what I know. I know that we live in one of the greatest countries in the world. I know that Americans are tough, hard working and always harness their ingenuity to tackle seemingly insurmountable odds. I know that if you're a worker, unions are the way to go, and something you will never regret.

You may ask how I'm so sure about the last statement, well I've been a union member for over seven years. Also my family has been in the Labor Movement for three generations. There have been tough and lean times, but we always came out on the other side ready to go to work, just like so many others. What pisses me off is when something goes wrong who is blamed....the Unions. Don't blame the men and women up in their ivory towers who mismanaged these companies, blame working people. Because the worker made these decisions that ran the company to the brink. And these people get rewarded with severance packages.....while working families receive a swift kick in the ass....

People act outraged about acts such as these, for about five minutes.....but then something else captures their attention. Why that scumbag Blankenship isn't in jail is beyond me....those worker's blood is on his hands!!! And we're outraged......and nothing happens, he is allowed to continue to mistreat the worker. The latest slap in the face is telling his workers that if they take time off to go to their friend's funerals, they will be fired...disgusting. And certain commentators ask, "Where were the unions during all this?" They asked the question, but what they didn't do is research the fact that the Union was forced out in 1982. If they were union, this more than likely wouldn't have happened and those men would still be alive.

I love this country, but our priorities are so skewed. So many refuse to fight for what is right and just. Yet if Conan O'Brien gets wronged, a Facebook group is formed and over a million people join it. And they have rallies over why it was wrong...Don't get me wrong I think it was a load of bull what happened to Conan, but the point is that people will rally and get behind something like this, but when it comes to what really matters. Most would rather put their blinders back on and continue to watch American Idol.

I suppose that's all for now....