Labor Day, 2009. While this is a National Holiday, vigilance does not sleep because as Thomas Jefferson so clearly pointed out for us, “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”
Van Jones, President Obama’s “green jobs Czar” resigned his position at 2 am on Sunday, September 6, 2009. I’m not even sure how a government official tenders a resignation at 2 am on a weekend but since the White House apparently has enough discretionary funds to pay the salaries of three dozen “special advisors” outside of the Congressional funding apparatus, there must be enough left over to pay for a publically funded 24 hour Czar resignation hotline that is a secretive as the czars themselves.
Truthfully, this administration is very adept in politics, particularly Chicago politics. Triumphs are publically announced at 9 am on Monday mornings while damaging revelations mysteriously dribble out of the White House in the middle of the night during the weekend; a time that they hope no one is looking. That is why we must remain vigilant. There are so many things that they would love to weave into our lives in the darkness of night.
Mr. Jones was the most outspoken and divisive member of this administration. He was a self proclaimed communist with a history of involvement in radical Marxist movements and a log of highly inflammatory racist quotes to punctuate those connections. Mr. Jones’s mindless accusations and his declared intention to use the environmental movement to topple capitalism was the subject of fear among many that took the time to investigate this man’s background.
In the end, it was not the Marxist ties or the race bating comments that brought the end for Mr. Jones. The mainstream press obviously didn’t think it was newsworthy to note that the President had a communist and radical racist in his circle of closest advisors so they simply did not report it. It was the disclosure that he had signed a document in 2001 that demanded the government release the truth of their involvement in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center; in essence, he was a “truther”. “Truthers believe that the US government destroyed the towers and attacked the Pentagon, killing 3000 Americans to further their own geopolitical goals. It was his association with a loony government conspiracy theory that brought Mr. Jones down. This is so reminiscent of the fall of Al Capone.
Al Capone was a known gangster that had a stranglehold on the Chicago area and his crime syndicate had ties with the criminal networks nestled in other major cities. He was known to be a major distributor of illegally manufactured alcohol during prohibition. He was also engaged in prostitution, narcotics, loan sharking, extortion, and murder. In the end, Mr. Capone was convicted and sent to prison for tax evasion, not for the crimes he committed. Law enforcement didn’t really care what mechanism placed him behind bars as long as he was off the streets but it does make a sad statement about our government. One could say that message from government was that Mr. Capone could have done what he wanted as long as he secured the privilege by paying taxes on the proceeds.
Today we celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day in our country is modeled after a Canadian event. A labor dispute in 1870 was being violently repressed. Eventually, these disputes and the methods that were used to suppress them led to the Canadian Trade Union Act that legalized and protected union activities in 1870.
The Canadian celebrations that sprung from the 1870 Trade Unions Act were witnessed by American Labor leader Peter McGuire, during his visit to Toronto. Mr. McGuire was impressed by the idea of a holiday celebrating the workers of that country and returned to New York and began work to organize a labor celebration in this country.
The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5, 1882 and was strictly a local affair. It wasn’t until the bloody 1894 Pullman strike that then President Grover Cleveland nationalized the Labor Day holiday as part of an attempt to reconcile the differences between Labor and employers.
Let’s not forget that at that time, the conditions of the workplace were horrid and labor in many industries was considered as disposable as a worn out machine. The labor movements were a direct result of those abuses and sought to bring some measure of fairness and security for those workers. There is no doubt that the labor movement in general was brought on by the philosophies of Karl Marx and the efforts of communists to make the world a workers utopia by destroying the ruling class in Europe and the industrialists here in America.
In Russia they succeeded only because the rule of the Tsar was absolute and brutal. Violent reprisal and revolution was inevitable. In the United States we averted disaster only because it was recognized that labor was an integral part of enterprise, industry and the wealth that sprung from it. If the national economy was to remain vibrant and grow, we had to recognize that the men that worked the factories and mines were as responsible for that growth as the industrialists the created the companies that employed them. The government did much to address the concerns of the workers and established the rules that brought civility to the union bargaining process, safety in the workplace and protections for striking workers against armed suppression of the strikes.
Today, because of the sensibility that was used to address the grievances of labor, Labor Day in America has become another day of hot dogs and apple pie. Jerry Lewis continues to break records for donations to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy and tomorrow we will all shake off the dust from our day of play and go back to work. Regardless of your political persuasion or your opinion of labor unions, enjoy the day and celebrate the civility with which Americans solve their disagreements.
Tomorrow we continue our work with the third and last part of the First Amendment. The right to assemble.
Paul
Van Jones, President Obama’s “green jobs Czar” resigned his position at 2 am on Sunday, September 6, 2009. I’m not even sure how a government official tenders a resignation at 2 am on a weekend but since the White House apparently has enough discretionary funds to pay the salaries of three dozen “special advisors” outside of the Congressional funding apparatus, there must be enough left over to pay for a publically funded 24 hour Czar resignation hotline that is a secretive as the czars themselves.
Truthfully, this administration is very adept in politics, particularly Chicago politics. Triumphs are publically announced at 9 am on Monday mornings while damaging revelations mysteriously dribble out of the White House in the middle of the night during the weekend; a time that they hope no one is looking. That is why we must remain vigilant. There are so many things that they would love to weave into our lives in the darkness of night.
Mr. Jones was the most outspoken and divisive member of this administration. He was a self proclaimed communist with a history of involvement in radical Marxist movements and a log of highly inflammatory racist quotes to punctuate those connections. Mr. Jones’s mindless accusations and his declared intention to use the environmental movement to topple capitalism was the subject of fear among many that took the time to investigate this man’s background.
In the end, it was not the Marxist ties or the race bating comments that brought the end for Mr. Jones. The mainstream press obviously didn’t think it was newsworthy to note that the President had a communist and radical racist in his circle of closest advisors so they simply did not report it. It was the disclosure that he had signed a document in 2001 that demanded the government release the truth of their involvement in the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center; in essence, he was a “truther”. “Truthers believe that the US government destroyed the towers and attacked the Pentagon, killing 3000 Americans to further their own geopolitical goals. It was his association with a loony government conspiracy theory that brought Mr. Jones down. This is so reminiscent of the fall of Al Capone.
Al Capone was a known gangster that had a stranglehold on the Chicago area and his crime syndicate had ties with the criminal networks nestled in other major cities. He was known to be a major distributor of illegally manufactured alcohol during prohibition. He was also engaged in prostitution, narcotics, loan sharking, extortion, and murder. In the end, Mr. Capone was convicted and sent to prison for tax evasion, not for the crimes he committed. Law enforcement didn’t really care what mechanism placed him behind bars as long as he was off the streets but it does make a sad statement about our government. One could say that message from government was that Mr. Capone could have done what he wanted as long as he secured the privilege by paying taxes on the proceeds.
Today we celebrate Labor Day. Labor Day in our country is modeled after a Canadian event. A labor dispute in 1870 was being violently repressed. Eventually, these disputes and the methods that were used to suppress them led to the Canadian Trade Union Act that legalized and protected union activities in 1870.
The Canadian celebrations that sprung from the 1870 Trade Unions Act were witnessed by American Labor leader Peter McGuire, during his visit to Toronto. Mr. McGuire was impressed by the idea of a holiday celebrating the workers of that country and returned to New York and began work to organize a labor celebration in this country.
The first Labor Day was celebrated in New York City on September 5, 1882 and was strictly a local affair. It wasn’t until the bloody 1894 Pullman strike that then President Grover Cleveland nationalized the Labor Day holiday as part of an attempt to reconcile the differences between Labor and employers.
Let’s not forget that at that time, the conditions of the workplace were horrid and labor in many industries was considered as disposable as a worn out machine. The labor movements were a direct result of those abuses and sought to bring some measure of fairness and security for those workers. There is no doubt that the labor movement in general was brought on by the philosophies of Karl Marx and the efforts of communists to make the world a workers utopia by destroying the ruling class in Europe and the industrialists here in America.
In Russia they succeeded only because the rule of the Tsar was absolute and brutal. Violent reprisal and revolution was inevitable. In the United States we averted disaster only because it was recognized that labor was an integral part of enterprise, industry and the wealth that sprung from it. If the national economy was to remain vibrant and grow, we had to recognize that the men that worked the factories and mines were as responsible for that growth as the industrialists the created the companies that employed them. The government did much to address the concerns of the workers and established the rules that brought civility to the union bargaining process, safety in the workplace and protections for striking workers against armed suppression of the strikes.
Today, because of the sensibility that was used to address the grievances of labor, Labor Day in America has become another day of hot dogs and apple pie. Jerry Lewis continues to break records for donations to find a cure for Muscular Dystrophy and tomorrow we will all shake off the dust from our day of play and go back to work. Regardless of your political persuasion or your opinion of labor unions, enjoy the day and celebrate the civility with which Americans solve their disagreements.
Tomorrow we continue our work with the third and last part of the First Amendment. The right to assemble.
Paul
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