Ocassional Thoughts of an Independent Progressive Atheistic Humanist
One part of political debate I like is using images to make a point. Whether it is a chart or a quote image, these graphics hold on to the adage that a picture is worth a thousand words. They are also easy to share in social media. However one still needs to be careful one isn’t sharing inaccurate information. Don’t post or share any graphic unless you can confirm the accuracy of the information.
Earlier this year this chart was making the rounds of the blogs I read:
There are some people who have birthdays at inconvenient times. Some were born on or near Christmas or during some national tragedy like those born on September 11th. There are others who were born on leap day so they can only celebrate the actual day of their birth in years that are evenly divisible by 4. Back when I was in elementary school, my birthday conflicted with Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Why did he have to be born the day after me? Martin Luther King Jr. ruined my childhood.
In my elementary school when someone had a birthday, they would bring in a treat for their classmates. The birthday boy or girl would get some kind of hat. The usual in my school was the paper crown you could get for free at any Burger King restaurant. We would also get to be first in line for recess, lunch, and for bathroom breaks. Then at a certain time, usually just after lunch the class would sing “Happy Birthday” and nosh on the treats. It was a special day and one I wanted to have very badly.
Some people think the Occupy movement and the issues brought up by the protests is something new. I know I’ve been talking about corporatism and income inequality for many years. While archiving some past writings, I found an essay I wrote in 2003 which has ideas in it that wouldn’t seem out of place today – unfortunately.
One of my hobbies is political debate. I would rather debate in person and I often do but I also like using ‘Letters to the Editor’ in local newspapers. Every so often I will read a letter that frankly pisses me off and I have to respond. One such letter in the Findlay Ohio Courier showed some anti-union views are based on misinformation.
The letter in question was written by a friend of mine who happens to hold a lot of cheap labor conservative views even though he is a blue collar worker. Here is the text of the letter that was published on 11/28/2011:
On FOX “news” Sunday, the panel decided that the Occupy movement was un-American and maybe even Marxist but during the Tea Party protests FOX “news” fell over itself to promote them. There is no difference between the Occupy movement and the Tea Party protests – in that they both were an exercise of their right to protest for what they believe in. To say one is “un-American” and the other isn’t betrays FOX’s bias toward the 1%.