Happy and Safe Labor Day Weekend, everyone

Thanks, PD! We're probably gonna BBQ on Sunday, otherwise the schedule's pretty open.

I hope the rain ends soon so you can get in a game. Watch out for the Canadian geese!

I found something nice about the history of the holiday I thought I'd share:

Labor Day, celebarated the first Monday in September, is a day that Americans can sit back and enjoy a day off for a job well done.

"American holidays are more or less connected with conflicts and battles of man's prowess over man, of strife and discord for greed and power, of glories achieved by one nation over another, or to praise one of the nation's great past leaders. Labor Day is devoted to no man, living or dead ... Labor Day differs in every essential way from the other holidays of the year in any country," said Samuel Gompers, founder and president of the American Federation of Labor.

The holiday is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes an annual national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity and well-being of our country.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor those " who from rude nature have delved and carved all the grandeur we behold."

But Pete's place in Labor Day history has not gone unchallenged. Recent research suggests that Matthew Maguire, a member of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, NJ, proposed the holiday in 1882, while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York. The CLU adopted a Labor Day proposal that year and appointed a committee to plan a demonstration and a picnic.

In 1884, the first Monday in September was selected and the Central Labor Union urged its sister organizations in other cities to follow its example and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that day.

By 1885 many of the United States' industrial centers were celebrating Labor Day. The first governmental recognition came through municipal ordinances in 1885 and '86; from there developed the movement to secure state legislation. The first state bill was introduced in the New York legislature, but the first to become law was passed in Oregon on Feb. 21, 1887. During that year, four more states -- Colorado, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York -- created the Labor Day holiday by legislative enactment. By the end of the decade Connecticutt, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania had followed suit.

By 1894, 23 states had adopted the holiday in honor of workers, and on June 28 of that year, Congress passed legislation making the first Monday in September of each year a federal holiday and extending it to the District of Columbia and US territories.

"It is an important day for workers nationwide," said Raymond Sandle, spokesman for the US Department of Labor.

"It is the one day of the year when all Americans can come together to take pride in themselves."

Thanks PDiddie, great history lesson. Looks like a beautiful day here, so we will have a family BBQ. Hope you a have a nice holiday weekend too.

Any discussion about the erosion of the American middle class must include a conversation about how labor unions have been maligned, disenfranchised and -- in a word -- abused by the ruling class (and the ruling political party).

Hell, the labor unions in this country are the only reason a middle class ever came into existence in the first place.

John Reed and the IWW in Russia are a fascinating chapter in the international labor movement. Watch the movie "Reds", with Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton, if nothing else. (There's a little red meat for the conservatives... :wink: )

Digressing to a a larger theme, there's a book out right now, called "What's the Matter with Kansas?" that delves into the postulate that the common folk in this country have been sold a stale and fraudulent bill of goods by the GOP. Highly recommended for those who wonder how and why the Republicans have gained near-total state control (by rigorously influencing social opinion on morality, for one example) in defiance of logic.

Unions ought to be embraced by the working folks, but they have heard tales of corruption and the like and that turns them away. They get intimidated by the bosses and government until they figure it's not worth it.

I don't disagree with that, but as the continuing Wal-Martization of the workforce results in a lower and lower standard of living, America will begin to resemble the sweatshops in Asia.

All of those things that men fought, bled and died for has been handed right back to the corporations without so much as a whimper.

What do you think (not you specifically, ed) it is going to take for people to begin to fight for themselves, for their way of life, for their financial well-being?

I once belonged to the Teamsters, and when the bosses summarily fired me because of a day of illness (I had a doctor's note), the union took a hand and got my job back.