WE NEED MORE OF THIS!!!

Here's What Class Warfare Looks Like

Among the most darkly grotesquely absurdities of contemporary political life is that class warfare is used to describe marginal tax increases for rich people and calls for mild redistribution to the working class. Here's what it actually means. These are janitors in Houston who make $20 a day with no health insurance. Their labor is physical, the chance for workplace injuries massive, and the desire for better conditions natural. So they struck. And the police came in with horses.


They really tried to break us down. The first night they put the temperature so high that a woman—one of the other inmates—had a seizure. The second night they made it freezing and took away many of our blankets. We didn’t have access to the cots so we had to sleep on a concrete floor. When we would finally fall asleep the guards would come and yell ‘Are you Anna Denise Solís? Are you so and so?’ One of the protesters had a fractured wrist from the horses. She had a cast on and when she would fall asleep the guard would kick the cast to wake her up. She was in a lot of pain.

The guards would tell us: ‘This is what you get for protesting.’ One of them said, ‘Who gives a shit about janitors making 5 dollars an hour? Lots of people make that much.’ The other inmates—there were a lot of prostitutes in there—said that they had never seen the jail this bad. The guards told them: ‘We’re trying to teach the protesters a lesson.’

That's what class warfare looks like. Support the Houston Janitors.
http://ezraklein.typepad.com/blog/2006/11/heres_what_clas.html

The Houston Janitors website
http://www.houstonjanitors.org/

:kick:

gives them the right to "teach the protestors a lesson?"

That's such a crock of shit.

they inevitably start pushing into areas further and further from the law.

At demonstrations police frequently ask for cooperation to improve
public safety--cooperation that invariably hampers the effectiveness
of the demonstration.

:wtf:

They're the state that was proud of George Bush. Any Bush.

that says a lot about some Texans

Think. It's patriotic.

Didn't you know? Bashing Texans is perfectly okay. :sarcasm:

I WILL BASH IT ALL I G.D. PLEASE

Why be miserable?

yes INDEED; I'm not miserable - and I never said all Texans suck - read my original post - note the word "SOME". Having lived in many places however, I do notice the ignorance more here than elsewhere.

I WILL BASH IT ALL I G.D. PLEASE....the difference between me and "Texans" is I was not born here so I wasn't brainwashed from birth to think that Texas SHIT don't stink

You are welcome to bash away. I couldn't wait to get out of there. I blew past the Texas border at 95mph into New Mexico at 3am...didn't stop for a hotel until I made it to the glorious state of CA.

Links On The Chain
By Phil Ochs

Come you ranks of labor, come you union core,
And see if you remember the struggles of before,
When you were standing helpless on the outside of the door
And you started building links on the Chain.
On the Chain, you started building links on the Chain.


When the police on the horses were waitin' on demand,
ridin' through the strike with the pistols in their hands,
Swingin' at the skulls of many a union man,
As you built one more link on the chain, on the chain,
As you built one more link on the chain.

Then the army of the fascists tried to put you on the run,
but the army of the union, they did what could be done,
Oh, the power of the factory was greater than the gun,
As you built one more link on the chain, on the chain,
As you built one more link on the chain.

And then in 1954, decisions finally made,
The black man was a-risin' fast and racin' from the shade,
And your union took no stand and your union was betrayed,
As you lost yourself a link on the chain, on the chain,
As you lost yourslef a link on the chain.

And then there came the boycotts and then the freedom rides,
And forgetting what you stood for, you tried to block the tide,
Oh, the automation bosses werre laughin' on the side,
As they watched you lose your link on the chain, on the chain,
As they watched you lose your link on the chain.


You know when they block your trucks boys, by layin' on the road,
All that they are doin' is all that you have showed,
That you gotta strike, you gotta fight to get what you are owed,
When you're building all your links on the chain, on the chain,
When you're building all your links on the chain.

Amd the man who tries to tell you that they'll take your job away,
He's the same man who was scabbin' hard just the other day,
And your union's not a union till he's thrown out of the way,
And he's chokin' on your links of the chain, of the chain,
And he's chokin' on your links of the chain.

For now the times are tellin' you the times are rollin' on,
And you're fighting for the same thing, the jobs that will be gone,
Now it's only fair to ask you boys, which side are you on?
As you're buildin' all your links on the chain, on the chain,
As you're buildin' all your links on the chain.

The comments section is enlightening. There is a relentless, logical, clear headed rebuttal of a thick headed police-brutality apologist that is well worth reading.

and I can assume that the city jails also follow suit.. I have heard about them opening windows when the temp was in the thirties with only a sheet for cover... I have also heard that they have locked up tanks to where people could not go to the bathroom for 8 hours... It needs to be exposed....

the confinements of said Jail, so they get away with it... Prisoners are not believed and let's face it, the public does not care how they are treated.....

They got their new contract, with a pay hike, longer hours and health insurance.

I don't remember his name.

He said access to health insurance won't start until 2009, but at least it's in the contract. In this contract, anyway...there's no guarantee that the company won't fight for takeaways in future negotiations...

Two things he said that struck me. He said the same company provides cleaning contractors all over the country, including Minnesota. And in the very building from which they were broadcasting yesterday, janitors make about $11.65 per hour. The Houston janitors were making $5.15. That's wrong in so many ways.

He also discussed how the SEIU targeted companies like Chevron that have offices in the buildings where the janitors work. To illustrate how much money the new contract's increases will cost, he compared the total amount to the amount of profit Chevron made last year.

All the increases could be paid for with the profit Chevron made in one minute. Not the amount Chevron made in that minute, but the profit alone would cover the whole amount.

The SEIU are heroes for the amount of effort and money they put into organizing the Houston janitors. My father organized factories for the Machinists so I know it's no easy task to win the cooperation of workers who are afraid of losing their jobs.

Dad lobbied against right-to-work in the 60s. I know he would be thrilled by this victory.

and replace them with human beings.

They see them as beneath them and treat them as such... How do you correct that?

:wtf:

:toast:

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/4350409.html


This bit of info was posted over on YouTube in the comments. Although the original poster credits the info to the Chronicle, I can't find it online.

From the Houston Chronicle:
"44 Janitors Arrested in Non-Violent Civil Disobedience in Houston Held on Combined $39.1 Million Bond For peaceful protestors charged with Class B misdemeanors, bond for each set at unprecedented $888,888 cash; For Harris County man recently charged with murder, bond set at $30,000"