Happy Labor Day

"Salt of the Earth" - Bettye LaVette

A pretty stunning cover of a rare, underappreciated Rolling Stones' song.

Hope all is well with you.  Still recovering from too much work, which has rendered me somewhat depleted in terms of desire to write.  That and a certain despair about the current political moment.  But on the plus side, it is stunningly beautiful here.  The windows are open for the first time since the last week of June, there is actually a bit of a chill in the air, and the last two days have been crystaline.  I managed to get back to the gym yesterday for the first time in about three weeks and to play a couple of hours of tennis and live to tell the tale.

Amusing anecdote of the week:  I arrived early at the courts at the hoity toity St. Alban's school and began hitting serves by myself (I am not a member but one of my playing partners belongs) when the young tennis pro there walked by and said "sir, we have a whites only policy."  I laughed and said, "well, it's always seemed that way to me, but I don't think I'd say it so openly."  He looked puzzled -- it occurred to me that he was not from the U.S. -- and said, "the dress code sir, you need to wear whites."  I, of course, had my black shorts, black sneakers, and gray sleeveless shirt ensemble on, suitable for all occasions.  I assured him that I would look completely virginal the next time I took to the courts.

I suppose it would be appropriate to discuss the state of the labor movement on Labor Day, but frankly I'd rather focus on the beautiful weather and the prospects of playing tennis again on Monday.  Suffice it to say that things suck and I really don't know what the future holds, but nothing good seems to be on the horizon. 

But still, we fight on, we must fight on. 

Enjoy your day off and remember those who made it possible.  And drink a toast to the salt of the earth.  And consider this an open thread.    

Comments

[Eric Wilde]

Is that St. Alban's School in Hertfordshire or DC? As a creative outlet I write fan fiction that is centered in the lands around St. Alban's School in Hertfordshire.

[Emma]

Lucky you lot, with a day off. Our Labour Day holiday isn't till October. Sydney is just warming up with jasmine flowering everywhere, and my vegetable garden suddenly busting out lettuce, parsley and spinach faster than we can eat it.All the chickens are laying, as well.
Our election result still isn't clear, but there's a good possibility that the negotiations to form a governing alliance have pushed Labor to the left, because they need the Greens. It might be the best of all possible results, but it's not in the bag yet. Both major parties have had a major wake up call, and there's a lot of reassessment to do. Whatever happens, the game has changed and the next election campaign won't be like the last few. It's very interesting to watch. Julia Gillard is still PM at the moment, and is showing why she made partner at one of Australia's biggest personal injury law firms in three years -- it's all about the negotiation. The opposition leader, Tony Abbott (aka the Mad Monk), on the other hand, is alternating between bluster and bullying with very limited success. Turns out that bullying people you need to help you is a losing strategy. So far, anyway.
Rest up, Sir Charles. Everything looks better with a bit of sleep and recreation.

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

I was going to, and will, be discussing one hobby that is a pleasant way of spending a holiday, but before I do, have to pass on the news, from Religion Dispatches that a German company is introducing an on-line "God Game" (like CIVILIZATION) which is 'really a God game, since it is based on the book of Genesis, apparently being able to play as one of the patriarchs, or as God, the writer wasn't sure, but is joining a beta-version today. (Tweeters can apparently get reports at www.twitter.com/godwired but since I don't and won't tweet, I can't help on this.)

The article is quite worth reading in itself, and the question as to the 'theological implications' are really fun to contemplate from both sides of the 'god' question. I wish i had the time, but don't. If anyone does and can report...

[Joe]

On this end of summer day, I feel like people must have felt in 1938 or 1939. Everyone knew World War II was coming and yet the world was mired in the Great Depression and there was little hope for better outcomes in the near or intermediate term future. Institutions seemed unable to cope with either current problems or the gathering storm.

Now, we're mired in this Great Recession along with the rest of the world, and every person in the reality based community can see that we're nearing a tipping point in regard to global climate change- which may ultimately be as devastating as World War II to the globe. Yet institutions seem unable to cope with either this Recession or with the gathering storm on the horizon (global climate change which coincidentally, actually will cause horrible storms).

[Eric Wilde]

Joe, you're such an optimist! I worry that climate change will be worse than WWII.

[Sir Charles]

Eric,

Very much the St. Alban's in DC. Al Gore's alma mater.

[oddjob]

"I've seen just about everything," Estrada said. "But what I've not seen is a beheading. and I've not seen the cartels controlling American territory."

[oddjob]

Bush's Poodle demonstrates why he still doesn't get it.

If he'd listened to his left, at present he either would have most likely either retired with his legacy honorably intact, or still been PM.

[oddjob]

In which the Roman Catholic Church shows itself to be more open minded and freedom embracing than the US of A.

[big bad wolf]

i'm going to go with mick on this one, though betty has a better voice. the stones salt of the earth has more layers; mick implicates the singer and thus makes salt of the earth both a true and an excusing appellation. mick's is better art, i think; betty's better politics. i, i guess, by picking mick's put myself out there as soulless aesthete.

i'm with eric, joe. i think climate change is going to be worse than WWII. i hope, if you are right about the 1939 feeling, we get our september 1, 1939 soon, and, of course, so actually action.

i read in the new yorker that the servers that hold internet data now contribute two and a half to three times the green house gases that air travel does. quite depressing, if true.

SC, wonderful. wit, not white, is the soul of tennis

[kathy a.]

tennis has soul?

[big bad wolf]

i may be a romantic, kathy (look for instance, to my ridiculous, on a practical level, job), but i'd say yes. check the borg-mcenroe wimbledon, or the one with becker diving all over the place (86?), or the one with agassi actually caring or the federer/nadal, then federer/roddick matches. the players are wildly overpaid and they are mundanely and historically inconsequential, but they do it in real time and the work hard. in that, there is something beautiful and at times soulful.

all that said, mostly i meant that SC was quite amusing

[kathy a.]

the white thing is very funny.

[Sir Charles]

kathy/bbw,

Although it is not what one would describe as a blue collar sport, I quite love tennis, both to play and watch. In fact, I would highly recommend going to the U.S. Open sometime in its early stages. There are all kinds of things going on -- great players you can see on side courts with only a handful of people watching, in a setting where there freakish skills are easy to see. (The Arthur Ashe stadium is I am afraid a bit too big for optimal viewing and its preponderance of corporate boxes down at the lower levels take some of the crazy passion out of the place, especially in early rounds where the boxes are ofetn empty during the day.)

Tennis players are very alone out there and they are incredibly hard working and fit. I've seen guys playing at the tournament here in DC in July keep playing while they are puking their guts up from the heat. Not for the faint of heart I'm telling you.

If you want to read great stuff about tennis, find something written by David Foster Wallace, who was a passionate fan and player, in addition to being a great writer. He wrote a piece on a journeyman player named Michael Joyce that is one of the most extraordinary bits of sports journalism ever.

The "whites only" comment was one of those straight lines that you can't believe have been served up to you -- as it were. Like a short lob.

[Eric Wilde]

i read in the new yorker that the servers that hold internet data now contribute two and a half to three times the green house gases that air travel does. quite depressing, if true.

I wonder what the overall effect is. With online meetings growing much easier over the past decade I actually travel about half as much as I used to travel.

[kathy a.]

california's billionaire candidates celebrate labor day by blaming working people for california's budget woes. right, it's all about the nurses, teachers, and grocery clerks...

i've never been a union member myself -- either my work has been temporary/contract, or my workplaces have been too small. but i know i have benefitted from the security that workers and unions have wrestled from employers -- my longest-running job tried to keep pay and benefits in line with similar work in a unionized workplace -- and my beloved's current job is union.

it just absolutely destroys me that someone who has spent over $100 million of her own money on a campaign is gunning for workers hoping to hold on to their jobs so they have health insurance and enough to cover the mortgage and expenses. or that a former CEO known for laying off tens of thousands and then getting fired [while getting rich herself] thinks she represents the best interests of california.

these folks ought to see how the lesser 98% live. maybe they could try a food-stamp and welfare budget for a couple weeks; try dealing with the paperwork for an elderly and destitute relative who needs nursing home care; try teaching a bursting classroom of students in a district where the teachers have to buy their own supplies and make do with a portable classroom. not using their wealth and influence, but their wages. maybe they should ride the busses; visit people in trailer parks and housing projects; see if they could get hired for a minimum wage job.

[Eric Wilde]

kathy,

I see people who are on food stamps or unemployment or even out in the street who still blame unions and workers for our current woes. Having Fiorina or others walk a mile in workers' shoes ain't gonna help.

[oddjob]

Food for thought

[Prup (aka Jim Benton)]

Thanks oddjob. The analysis Marshall gives is, sadly, too accurate. If we do suffer a "Republican wave' too many Democrats will try moving even more to the right, which is why I am scared that my optimism is wrong.

But I AM still optimistic, and, for a change, have nore of a reason to be so -- thanks to several stories at Steve Benen's this morning. Maybe we've underestimated the Democrats, and maybe they can do a very good job of salvaging the election -- and at the very least, they have played the 'game of lowered expectations' brilliantly as far as the interpretation of the results go. Now if we merely hold both Houses it will be looked on as a triumph.

(Unfortunately, playing that game can be dangerous because it can create a 'self-fulfilling prophecy' that we are going to lose, so why get excited and work hard for a doomed candidate.)

But -- for most people who are not 'political junkies' -- the campaign is really starting about now. The Republicans -- partially because of 'tea-party forced' primaries -- have shot off most of their ammunition. They really don't have anything new to say during the campaign. Now they are forced into repeating the positions they've already taken -- and the Democrats have a chance to fight back against each of their abusrdities. The Republicans may have 'peaked too early.' If I am right that they have, there's a good chance at pulling ahead on a lot of races, if people are still caring enough to work, to donate, or to volunteer on them.

Steve got an advance copy of Tim Kaine's remarks tonight at UPenn, and they seem to be brilliant at hitting the Republicans on all their weakness, in pointing out the absurdities of some of the more 'keep away from matches and sharp instruments' candidates, and then swinging that into an attack on 'Boehnerism.'

Don't know how much play the speech will get, but I hope it gets a lot. It -- and Obama's recent speeches, and just a little boldness from Democrats, willing to lose on one just to display how vicious Republican ideas are -- might be looked back on as the turning point.

For all our sakes, I hope it is.

[kathy a.]

i don't know what happened to my last comment. but hey -- the cal supremes won't force the AG and governator to defend prop 8!

[big bad wolf]

back to tennis. this is worth seeing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dzRgNUC2Sc&feature=fvst