The Personal is Political. The Political is Personal.

 
"Burger King Moms"

Jim Wallis writes as follows in the 6/4/04 Washington Post:

"Soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads" have received much attention in recent election campaigns. But who will speak to or for Burger King Mom?
...
Most Americans believe that if you work hard and full time, you should not be poor. But the truth is that many working families are, and many low-income breadwinners must hold down multiple jobs just to survive. . . .

While divided on other issues such as gay marriage and abortion, some church leaders are displaying a determined "unity" to make poverty a religious issue in this election year. Maybe Burger King Mom will have somebody speaking for her and her kids after all.

Who is this Jim Wallis fellow? He is apparently one of the folks behind Call to Renewal, and he writes things like this:

How a candidate deals with poverty is a religious issue, and the Bush administration's failure to support poor working families should be named as a religious failure. Neglect of the environment is a religious issue. Fighting pre-emptive and unilateral wars based on false claims is a religious issue (a fact not changed by the capture of Saddam Hussein).

Such issues could pose problems for the Bush administration among religious and nonreligious people alike - if someone were to define them in moral terms.

How many "Burger King Moms" are out there? I don't really know, but I do know that the Economic Policy Institute said this in January 2004:

In 48 of the 50 states, jobs in higher-paying industries have given way to jobs in lower-paying industries since the recession ended in November 2001. Nationwide, industries that are gaining jobs relative to industries that are losing jobs pay 21% less annually.

The shift in jobs from higher-paying industries to lower-paying industries has affected nearly every state. This dynamic has the potential to significantly slow the growth of living standards for working families.

By the way, just how bad does it suck to work at Burger King? For one answer, ask these folks at the Disgruntled Ex-Burger King Employees page.

Other websites that pertain to how much it sucks to work retail include RetailWorker.com (put out by those sneaky Wobblies), its apparent cousin, You Are Worth More, and the fantabulous BitterWaitress.com.

Yes, you should go to the latter website, visit their Sh*tty Tipper Database and search for the name "Cheney." After searching for your own name, of course.

[update 6/9/04: Congressman George Miller (D-CA) cites to the EPI (no, not that EPI) statistic referenced above, and has more info on what he calls "working families battling the middle class squeeze," in a new report entitled "When Work Doesn't Pay," findable here (.pdf).]

"I don’t give a sh*t, I’m gonna shoot, I’m gonna shoot, I’m gonna shoot!"

Saddest and most infuriating, horrifying article I read all week? Oh, that's an easy one:

"On-the-ground-reality TV," by Jason Vest, in the Boston Phoenix for May 28-June 3d. Subtitled "Shocking footage of US military conduct in Iraq is available through major news services, yet the American public seldom sees what reporters see."


why abu ghraib

Page DuBois apparently published a book entitled Truth and Torture (1991), in which she made a timely observation about the possible psychology of the torturer.

Truth is constituted as residing in the body of the slave; because he can apprehend reason, without possessing reason, under coercion he is assumed to speak the truth. The free man, the citizen, because he possesses reason, can lie freely, recognizing that he may lose his rights, but choosing to gamble that his authority will authorize his speech.

The slave, incapable of reasoning, can only produce truth under coercion, can produce truth only under coercion.

The above passage came to my attention via this thoughtful and name-droppey essay on war, truth and postmodernism, written by Steven Connor.

(yes, i am aware that on many, many levels, the question "why abu ghraib?" is completely unanswerable)


"Charlie [Parker] told Sartre...

'I'm very glad to meet you, Mr. Sartre. I like your playing very much.' "

from "A-Bombs, Bebop and C-Rations: Jazz as a Cultural Call To Arms Against 1940s Anxieties," by Siva Vaidhyanathan


"One forgets...
that although the clown never imitates a wise man, a wise man can imitate the clown."

Malcolm X said that. Quote found by reading a riveting, three-part article, "The Hidden History of Muhammad Ali," by Davis Zirin: wham, bam, pow.


What's the big deal about sports?

Lester "Red" Rodney recently explained how he successfully argued for a sports page in the Daily Worker in 1936:

I sent a letter to them just mildly suggesting that, yes, they ought to speak about what's wrong with sports and so on, but realize that sports are also something that are meaningful to American workers and for good reasons.

I didn't make some big argument that a collective effort of a team, the coming together, and finding satisfaction in getting the job well done, is some kind of revolutionary act. I didn't go into all that but I did say that the paper ought to relax and cover sports and respect people who are interested in sports.

They called me in and I was hired to head it up - even though at that point I hadn't even joined the Party.

Les Halles, 1968



Two translations

Here are two translations of "Un Jour Viendra," written circa 1927-28 by Blaise Cendrars (1887-1961). The first translation is by Ron Padgett.

The day will come
Modern technology can't handle it anymore
Each crossing costs the voters a million
With planes and dirigibles it will cost ten million
Underwater cables my first-class cabin the wheels the port projects
the big industries eat money
All the prodigious activity which is our pride
Machines can't handle it anymore
Bankruptcy
On his dungheap Job still uses his electric face massager
That's nice

The second translation of this poem about machines is done by that most modern of machines within a machine, Google.

One day will come
The modern technique is not enough there any more
Each crossing costs a million to the voters With the planes
and the airships that will cost ten million
The underwater cables my de
luxe cabin the wheels work of
the ports the large-scale industries eat money
All this extraordinary activity which makes our pride
The machines are not enough there any more
Bankruptcy
On its Job manure is still useful itself of its electric face-
massage
It is merry.

posted by TiR at 9:49 PM