U.S. Army troops sent by President Cleveland to break Pullman strike, 1894.
Jim Hightower:
Occasionally, I see something that is so bizarre, so out of place, so wrong that I have to assume I’m hallucinating. For example, I could have sworn I was delusional when I heard about the National Park Service’s Pullman National Monument in Chicago.
19th century robber baron George Pullman seems an unlikely figure for a new national monument here in marginally more enlightened 2015, but you can't argue that this particular contribution, the 600 acre planned community of Pullman, wasn't historic. Built to house his factory workers, it was the epitome of the
company town:
Pullman considered himself a beneficent employer, having built a 600-acre town for the workforce and vaingloriously naming the new home-place for himself. PullmanTown included houses he rented to his workers, churches, schools, a bank, library, and parks — all owned by his company. Indeed, when officials announced this year that Pullman’s town was becoming an honored part of America’s park system, officials attested to his generosity by hailing the town as a place he created “to provide his employees a good life.”
A life that included no taverns, no independent newspapers, no public meetings, a church that stood empty because no Pullman-"approved" denomination was willing to pay Pullman's rent, and steep prices at Pullman-owned town stores for basic necessities. For years workers grumbled and put up with it, but in 1894 Pullman went too far, and then some.
In 1894, the workers got Pullman’s hell on Earth. Not only did he drastically cut his workers’ (he referred to his workers condescendingly as his “children”) wages five times, he also refused to lower their rent. He had guaranteed a 6 percent return to the wealthy investors who financed the town, he explained — and the investors’ needs came first. What a dysfunctional father! The suffering imposed by this feudal lord on his workers led to the historic Pullman Strike that quickly spread nationwide, led by union icon Eugene Debs.
Pullman died just three years later. By then a widely despised figure, he was buried in a lead-lined coffin in a Chicago grave filled with steel beams and poured concrete to deter would-be desecrators who might attempt to dig up the corpse.
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—What "Maverick" Really Means:
You could see the right wing pundits puff up their chests as they talked about it: with the Palin pick, McCain had recovered his patented maverick mojo. After being bashed as just another cog in the great GOP machine, McCain was showing again that he was different. Sure, ninety-percent of the time, his Magic 8-Ball says "Just Listen to Bush," but when that other face finally flips to the surface, stand back! When it's maverick time, anything can happen.
Choosing Palin for his VP is a very good illustration of this principle, and it's a jarring reminder that having this kind of erratic, unpredictable, inconsistent "maverick" in a leadership position is a very bad idea.
Opinion polls consistently show that the American public has more faith in Mr McCain as commander-in-chief. He looks like the safe choice for dangerous times.
But this is wrong. Mr McCain will not run a "safe" foreign policy. He adores rolling the dice. His decision to select Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska as his running mate typifies the man. It is a big risk. It could turn out to be inspired. Or it might turn out to be a disaster. But it is not "safe."
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On
today's Kagro in the Morning show:
David Waldman inspects a core sample of stupid: OH wants Mt. McKinley back.
Greg Dworkin attempts to make sense of the nonsensical: CNN turns it up to 11, but why? Cruz more of a headache for McConnell. Gefiltegate. The Biden delusion. Rubio loves the US even more than Trump! Trump supporters love Obama’s ideas if you call them Trump’s. Immigration lawyer debunks Gop immigration ideas.
Joan McCarter stops by to help laugh at dumb people: Rand Paul defends KY clerk. Organized crime kingpin James O’Keefe. Group behind Planned Parenthood videos tied to extremists. Gop & corporations screw poor, yep. 34th vote secured on Iran Deal.
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