Chennault
Chennault
Get Ready For Higher Taxes And Fees
Get Ready For Higher Taxes And Fees Now that states are in the “red” like banks, insurance and mortgage companies they are going to make us pay to get themselves into a better financial zone. It doesn
Play Ball!
Play Ball! Once again, it
My Greatest Childhood Fear? Being Bitten By A Radioactive Moth
My Greatest Childhood Fear?
For most of us, there comes a time in our lives when we must face the truth, and accept the fact we will never actually possess any type of super-human powers. This includes the ability to fly, shoot laser beams out of our eyes, look good in a skin-tight costume, or spontaneously emit a cloud of paralyzing gas (Let
The Queen And I
The Queen And I President and Michelle Obama recently visited the Queen of England in Buckingham Palace. Although the event obviously took place in England, for me it was yet another “only in America” event. In what other country could Michelle and Barack Obama come from where they were born and raised and end up visiting the Queen? If you used that time machine you have in the garage, and went back a few decades and were driving through the South Side of Chicago or the streets of Honolulu, and you pointed to young Michelle and/or young Barack and you told your passenger, “Some day he (or she) is going to have a private audience with Queen Elizabeth,” you would have been put away faster than you could say, “totally delusional.” But there they were in Buckingham palace. We Americans probably have even more affection for the institution of the British monarchy than the Brits themselves. We wouldn
Wearing Out (And Getting Dirty): Part 2
Wearing Out
So how does one come to be carefree about dirt? About dirty work clothes specifically? (That was the subject of last week
Heraclitus on the South
Heraclitus on the South In the Sixth Century B.C. Heraclitus “wept” over the Grecian world. After learning to read at three, I began wringing my own hands about “change,” not to say the Logos
Obama
Obama
Ousting Bank CEOs Okay By Geithner
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Campus Gun Law Worries Texas Colleges
AUSTIN, Texas
The 7th-Inning Waterboard
The 7th-Inning Waterboard Dear Peace Community, Former President George W. Bush is slated to throw out the first pitch for his former Texas Rangers major league baseball club. How will you respond? Still looking for an idea? How about sports analogies! The United States taxpayers have spent about $800 billion on this so-called “war on terrorism” that the U.S. military still has not won in six years. The most valuable team in the National Football League
Hersh: Obama Stopped Gaza Seige Last Fall
NEW YORK CITY, N.Y. – Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh gave credit to Barack Obama
Kucinich Goes After Merrill Lynch Bonus
WASHINGTON, D.C.
Ruling Makes Cornyn Cry
ST. PAUL, Minn.
Texas Tops In Uninsured Percentage
AUSTIN, Texas
Rush Takes Vow Of Poverty… Not! — Anti-Poverty Conference Ignores Labor Movement
Anti-Poverty Conference Ignores Labor Movement WASHINGTON, D.C. Sojourners magazine almost pulled a fast one on us last week. The publication billing itself as a progressive Christian outlet reported that conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh had announced his acceptance to give the keynote address at the Mobilization to End Poverty conference later this month. Too bad the news came on April Fool’s Day. “Okay, as you may have already guessed April Fools! But seriously folks, come to Washington, D.C. this April for the Mobilization to End Poverty!” the story concluded. But even that invitation rang hollow upon closer inspection of the sponsors, speakers, and workshop facilitators of the so-called anti-poverty conference. Not a one was a union, a union leader, or a union organizer. And you’d think that if you wanted to end poverty, you’d invite a few unions that explain how unionization alleviates poverty to your conference whose stated aim is to alleviate poverty. When asked about the lack of union voices, a spokesperson for the conference replied to the Lone Star Iconoclast via email: “Thanks for your question about The Mobilization. Sojourners has close ties with SEIU and just a couple weeks ago Jim Wallis was on the hill testifying about the Employee Free Choice Act. I know we’ve made an effort to go with only union vendors for the event, and tried to make as clear as possible anything dealing with the Mobilization that is non-union. That being said, I’m not sure about other specifically union involvement in The Mobilization. We don’t have any unions as sponsors or outreach partners.” Okay, so let’s break it down. First, Sojourners is friends with one union as if having one black friend means you’re not racist. Second, Wallis was on “the hill” in support of the Employee Free Choice Act as if congressmen couldn’t find a conservative Christian clergyman with a parish full of card-carrying rank and file. Third, union vendors as if unions were being reduced to selling wieners at Nationals Park or something? Lastly, yeah, we know you don’t have any unions. That’s why we asked you in the first place! As if we needed to be talked down in a fashion akin to Rachel Maddow of MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, the executive director of the Interfaith Worker Justice Kim Bobo gave The Iconoclast some perspective on the Rev. Jim Wallis and the disconnect between communions and unions in America. “I know Jim Wallis very well. The organization is a leader on poverty issues,” said Bobo. “It’s actually not done all that much on labor issues and so the fact that Jim spoke out in favor of the Employee Free Choice Act, from my point of view, is a very good thing.” Bobo also said that she has a general invitation to attend the conference but won’t due to her tour in promotion of her new book “Wage Theft.” Sojourners not only promoted her book but has also published a few articles of hers promoting labor issues that can be found on Sojourner’s website, she noted. That said, Sojourners’ blind spot to the labor movement is a symptom of a more systemic problem in the greater rel
