No Longer Lonely Crusaders—How Do We Cope With That?

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Tuesday March 19, 2013 · 7:47 AM PDT

2013/03/19 · 07:47

Yesterday I re-posted a Washington Post poll on facebook that showed a clear majority of Americans now support marriage equality and that the trend is accelerating. While obviously something to celebrate, I could not help but preface the post with a sort of snarky comment, “This will be a big disappointment for Unitarian Universalists who are addicted to being in a lonely minority.”

Not that UUs have a corner on this. It happens to a lot of social justice crusaders who spend years, often most of their lives, fighting the unwinnable battle against enormous odds. We are used to being the only guy or gal out in the pouring rain with our picket sign expecting to be spit upon. We are so instinctively counter-cultural that we are suspicious of any popular opinion.

But what happens when after years of diligent work, we wake up and see that it has really paid off—that slowly our concerns were heard, tolerated, accepted, and finally embraced? The tipping point has been reached and passed. Suddenly we are in the middle of a Fourth of July parade down Main Street.

pmurfin

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Thursday March 08, 2012 · 5:17 PM PST

2012/03/08 · 17:17

A careful examination of the nation’s most stringent anti-abortion legislation yet which is hurtling a break-neck speed through the Kansas House of Representatives and seems destined for the promised signature of Governor Sam Brownback, has turned up a previously un-noticed provision—a $500 bounty on the ears of abortion providers, medical staff, Planned Parenthood members, pro-choice petition signers, and women who have abortions or who are overheard asking about them.

The provision at first escaped notice because it was written in Pig Latin and invisible ink on the back of a page. No matter, sources close to the Republican legislative leadership say, “The bill will pass un-amended and in its entirety.”

More below the fold.

pmurfin

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Tuesday January 10, 2012 · 11:05 AM PST

2012/01/10 · 11:05

Yesterday’s Northwest Herald, the daily paper of McHenry County, Illinois tucked the shocking news away in a tiny short hard by the obituaries.

Chicago—Officials with Chicago Public Schools said the number of homeless students his increased compared with last year.
The Chicago Sun Times reported that there were more than 10,660 homeless students at the beginning of the school year. That’s nearly 1,500 more than the previous school year…

Nichole Amling is the Director of Public Policy at the Chicago Alliance to End Homelessness. She said many families are becoming homeless for the first time because they’ve lost housings. Others are having a difficult time finding work

More below the fold.

pmurfin

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Thursday December 15, 2011 · 9:57 AM PST

2011/12/15 · 09:57

A befuddled Congress this week discovered a strange document while sorting mismatched socks. In the drawer under the Argyles, tube sox, over-the-calf dress hose, smelly gym socks, and some that apparently were used for, well, cleaning up “nocturnal emissions” they discovered a tattered page on yellowing parchment with faded ink.

Funny, the last time Congress looked the liner was the Wall Street Journal page of insider stock tips with a bullet.

More under the fold..

pmurfin

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Thursday October 13, 2011 · 2:12 PM PDT

2011/10/13 · 14:12

A woman in McHenry County Jail in Illinois suffered a life-threatening injury in a fall. The rest of the story is that she had spent six days in the slammer for failing to make a $100 cash bond—for disorderly conduct.

pmurfin

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Tuesday September 20, 2011 · 11:54 AM PDT

2011/09/20 · 11:54

Class War, it’s nothing new. In fact part of the power of the phrase comes because it conjures up images of bloody revolution. Depending on which side you are on, you envision the Paris Mob dragging their betters to the guillotine and grim Bolshevik hoards or American militia attacking a camp of sleeping striking miners with machine guns. My old outfit, the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), a product of those times, put it unflinchingly in their famous Preamble, “The working class and the employing class have nothing in common…”

But we haven’t heard much about Class War in America for the last several decades until fairly recently. That’s because the Depression era reforms of the New Deal effectively called a truce. American workers were granted certain protections—child labor laws, the 40 hour work week, the right to unionize, unemployment insurance, Social Security—in exchange for refraining from trying to carry the heads of Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and assorted other malefactors of great wealth around the streets on pikes.

Poll

10 votes Show Results

Are you in or out?

10 votes Vote Now!

Are you in or out?

Count me in.

7 votes

Who me?

0 votes

I'm with the winner: eat shit commie bastards!

1 vote

Maybe. Does this mean I have to get my hands dirty?

1 vote

Can't I just write a check?

1 vote

Electoral politics only--you are scaring voters!

0 votes

Only in the event of a draft

0 votes

The Real First "March on Washington"

pmurfin

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Thursday March 25, 2010 · 8:33 AM PDT

2010/03/25 · 08:33

On March 25, 1894, an Easter Sunday not entirely by accident, the Commonweal in Christ set off from a farm near Massillon, Ohio aiming to reach the capital of Washington, D.C. by May First. The marchers came to be known as Coxey’s Army after their leader, Jacob Coxey. The country was in the midst of the worst of the great economic panics that punctuated Nineteenth Century.

More below the fold.

pmurfin

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Monday February 08, 2010 · 1:10 PM PST

2010/02/08 · 13:10

Ok. Scott Lee Cohen’s reality show-esque tearful departure from the Illinois Democratic Party ticket in a noisy saloon as Super Bowl fans whooped it up, caused a sigh of relief in the beleaguered Party. The man whose pawn shop millions bought the Lt. Governor’s race in the Primary saw his dreams of political glory crumble as allegation after sordid allegation about past steroid use, abusive behavior in his marriage, and a knife wielding episode that left his prostitute girl friend slightly injured.

The good news is Cohen’s quick surrender to the inevitable offers the Party, whose reputation has taken a pounding in the wake of former Governor Rod Blagjevich and attendant scandals, a golden opportunity to rebrand itself. The bad news is that his replacement on the ticket is in the autocratic hands of Illinois Democratic Party Chair and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan.

More below the Fold

Poll

82 votes Show Results

My Choice for Illinois Lt. Governor is:

82 votes Vote Now!

My Choice for Illinois Lt. Governor is:

Rep. Art Turner

4 votes

Dan Hynes

3 votes

Sen. Terry Link

2 votes

Rep. Mike Boland

0 votes

Rep. Julie Hamos

6 votes

Raja Kirhsnamoorthi

20 votes

Tammy Duckworth

12 votes

Sheila Simon

3 votes

Chris Kennedy

2 votes

David Hoffman

10 votes

Michael Madigan's boxers

1 vote

Bullwinkle J. Moose

11 votes

None of the above

8 votes

Illinois bought pig in poke with Lt. Gov nominee

pmurfin

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Thursday February 04, 2010 · 9:35 AM PST

2010/02/04 · 09:35

The Chicago Sun Timesthis morning reports that freshly minted Illinois Democratic Lt. Governor candidate has some embarrassing skeletons in his closet.

The obscure Scott Lee Cohen swept to victory over five rivals in the little noticed race by deluging voters with slick TV ads, robo calls and daily mailers that he paid for out of his own fortune. He far outspent all of his rivals, who included four members of the legislature, combined.

More below the fold.

Poll

69 votes Show Results

Illinois Democrats should...

69 votes Vote Now!

Illinois Democrats should...

Learn not to take down ticket races for granted.

22 votes

Whistle past the grave yard.

4 votes

Whimper.

0 votes

Denounce the guy and insure a Republican Lt. Governor.

16 votes

Bribe Cohen to go away.

6 votes

Hope for an act of God.

4 votes

Ask Obama to appoint him Ambasadore to San Marino.

11 votes

Post an add on Craigs List for certain-ahem-services-wink,nod.

6 votes

Viral Activism Hits Facebook

pmurfin

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Friday September 04, 2009 · 11:08 AM PDT

2009/09/04 · 11:08

Yesterday morning I noted a message from a Facebook friend that:

No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day.

In the next couple of hours the same message popped up from other friends, many of whom were not directly connected. I updated my status. All through the afternoon and into the night more and more friends were doing the same. These folks included the usual political types and many of liberally inclined Unitarian Universalist acquaintances, but also just a cross section of folks I have known over a long life.

More below the fold

Poll

101 votes Show Results

Did you participate in viral activism for health care

101 votes Vote Now!

Did you participate in viral activism for health care

Yes, on Facebook

73 votes

Yes, on Twitter

1 vote

Yes, on both

11 votes

Yes, on other sites like My Space or on a blog

1 vote

No, I don't use those media

9 votes

No, I don't believe politics should intrude on social networks

0 votes

No, It's a waste of time

3 votes

No, I like things just the way they are

0 votes

No, Glenn Beck didn't say it was OK

3 votes

Pennsylvania Gym Shooting—Yes, It Was a Hate Crime

pmurfin

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday August 05, 2009 · 1:59 PM PDT

2009/08/05 · 13:59

The Pennsylvania Gym Shooting—note how quickly these things acquire proper titles—is just another event in a familiar parade of American gore. Another heavily armed loner/psycho lets loose with real fire power. Result—tragedy, carnage, and a blip on a 24 hour cable news cycle.

More below the fold

pmurfin

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Thursday July 30, 2009 · 5:15 PM PDT

2009/07/30 · 17:15

I was grabbing my daily morning jolt of java at the convenience store on my way to work this morning when a headline in the USA Today caught my eye. Tough Times for Older Male Workers the headline screamed. Now I don’t usually read that newspaper, but I made a note to check out the story on line when I had time. I have.

My reaction below the fold

Poll

132 votes Show Results

I am...

132 votes Vote Now!

I am...

An Employed Male over 50

23 votes

An Unemployed Male over 50

20 votes

Under Employed Male over 50

8 votes

Indepenently Wealthy Male over 50, you can kiss my ass

2 votes

An Employed Female over 50

11 votes

An Unemployed Female over 50

7 votes

Under Employed Female over 50

5 votes

Supported by what's his name

2 votes

Employed 18-30

5 votes

Unemployed 18-30

7 votes

Employed 30-50

21 votes

Unemployed 30-50

14 votes

Just Drifting along with breeze, free as you please

5 votes

Shell shocked

2 votes

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Older

RSS

No Longer Lonely Crusaders—How Do We Cope With That?

Flash! Surprise Provision Buried Deep in Kansas Anti-Abortion Bill

Jaw Dropping News on Child Homelessness in Chicago

Forgotten Document Found Lining Sock Drawer

Mc Henry County Justice--Are You Ready for an Epic Rant?

Let’s Make Class War More than the Buzz Word of the Moment

The Real First "March on Washington"

Cohen Out as No. 2 on Illinois Ticket—Now what?

Illinois bought pig in poke with Lt. Gov nominee

Viral Activism Hits Facebook

Pennsylvania Gym Shooting—Yes, It Was a Hate Crime

USA TODAY Discovers Job Losses Now Hitting Older Men