2026 Miscellany #2 — ice edition

Scranton Flats, Cuyahoga River 16 February

When most of Lake Erie is frozen over, spots on the Cuyahoga are often clear. The thermal pollution warms the water, and the ducks and other birds have a place to land and swim. Still, corpses of those who either froze, or starved to death are seen.

mostly red breasted mergansers, common winter visitors/migrants

Sunlight did not help this one, on Scranton in Cleveland, a dog care business.

A local television news story mentioned these placards/posters appearing in Cleveland on vacant commercial buildings.  I wonder, whether this is nation wide.  I suppose the supporters of American Gestapo are none too pleased.  Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi as a rapster uses the name Kid Cudi.  As a painter, he is Scotty Ramon. These posters are signed Scotty Ramon.

Resistance Art

A form of peaceful resistance is mocking the devil. It is what the devil hates. Those without power can not do much. This they can do, and it can be effective. Last week two interesting installations of resistance art appeared in the two capitals of the countries that warred in the failed Southern Rebellion of the 1860s. First in the weekend, Project Scholl posted four thousand posters, of seven designs by Robert Russell, in the style of patriotic propaganda against nazism in the District of Columbia. The group was named after a twenty-one year old martyr, Sophie Scholl 1943☨ who was guillotined for treason (as was her brother Hans, Christoph Probst, Willi Graf, Alexander Schmorell, Kurt Huber), and for the distribution of anti-war leaflets in Nazi Germany.

A few miles away, a few days later, the art collective, Indecline, made eight dummies dressed as clowns with ku klux klan robes. They hanged them, by rope, in Richmond's Joseph Bryan Park. In 1800, twenty-six slaves were hanged in that park. They had been led by a blacksmith named Gabriel, before “Gabriel’s Rebellion” could be realised, they were found out and captured.

Authorities in both cities were not amused. The posters began to be torn down. The resistance artists came during the night. The police came in the morning and closed the park, and took down the Ku Klux Klowns.

comparision of political priorities

Whoever does these posters for Democratic Underground captures reporting and analysis of the political current events perfectly. But as Johnny Carson used to say,"some days it is just rip and read". If you fall into one of the two political camps, or not, AND IF you are honest, then you must acknowledge they are truthful. I have borrowed already from this source. [i think, all the political graphics i have posted have been borrowed; most of the snapshots and other fotos were snapped by my hand]

And why oh why, is the most evil man in American history, still shooting his mouth (and guns) off? He still shows utter contempt for democracy, and humanity. He has cheated death many times through medical intervention. He is surely scared of death, his not anyone else's. I am still waiting to hear the sizzle.

 dick cheney

Discerning Cat

Workers' Memorial Day 2013

Because of God-awful situations as Texas, the United States needs to be interested in worker (Human) safety. The Canadian Union of Public Employees began Workers' Memorial Day in 1984, since then it has been adopted elsewhere.

Texas City 16 April 1947 -- A ship containing ammonium nitrate went boom, after the initial explosion other ships, and much of the industrial port town went to fire. Officially, more than 580 people were killed, but many bodies were incinerated, and Texas had a history (re: Galveston flood) of under counting deaths. Windows were broken in Houston 40 miles away.

Texas City 23 March 2005 -- Vapor explosion at the US's third largest oil refinery (owned by BP) kills fifteen.

West 17 April 2013 -- West Fertilizer Company fire caused an explosion, fourteen dead, mostly firemen.  Tons (270?) of ammonium nitrate were on site. Last OHSA inspection was in 1985.  Rick Perry (Republican) is the governor. He shot off his fool mouth about Texas seceding, he complains of business regulation, he complains of taxes being collected for governmental spending, he demands money from Washington for spending in Texas. Perhaps the entire Repuke congressional delegation from Texas acts this way.

 a British poster

 “I have a word of advice for employers frustrated by Illinois’ short-sighted approach to business: you need to get out while there’s still time. The escape route leads straight to Texas, where limited government, low taxes and a pro-business environment are creating more jobs than any other state.” -- Rick Perry

  _______________________________________________________________
Postscriptum 4.30 pm: the cartoon infra by Jack Ohman, was published Thursday, 25 April in the Sacramento Bee. Some thin skinned political nitwits in Texas are upset. Republicans always cry foul when their bullshit is exposed. They expect to mouth their nonsense without rebuttal, and when reality occurs, no one is to point out that reality contradicts their propaganda. On the contrary, they want silence. Perry's Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst (he who lost the senatorial primary) wants the cartoonist fired, apparently Republican lieutenant governors believe they have the right to end anyone's right to make a living anywhere. Is this considered 'messing with Texas'?

[borrowed images]

Battling for Suffrage and Franchise

 This was the goal, to drop a completed ballot into this box.

 new message on E. 35th & Cuyahoga Community College

Beginning yesterday, some of the voter suppression billboards went down. A few were replaced by a voting encouragement one. This should not be a Republican versus Democratic issue, BUT IT CERTAINLY IS. Over all in exposure, the Republicans won the trick. Their signs were anonymously procured, to begin with. They were up for more days before the election, than there are now left, and there were more of them. The damage is done, and no penalty occurred. It must be, always noted, that, Clear Channel (the owner of the billboards) is intimately linked with Romney's Bain Capital. The new signs were sponsored by Cleveland City Council, and that is ONLY because the Republicans have not a member on it to obstruct, bitch, piss, and moan. In other jurisdictions, under Republicans, such tactics hold. It is apparent, that, the United States has two political parties: an aggressive, fascistic one in the form of the Republicans, and a democratic one (the Democratic Party).

Now, these democratic signs are up largely because the councilman for Ward 5, Phyllis Cleveland (and State Senator Nina Turner), exposed the Republican tricks nationally. Yesterday, they called the press to record the change on the first billboard on Central Avenue. As Ms. Cleveland has said, "...It's just a blatant attempt to keep people in this community, particularly black people and poor people, from voting." Her ward was the most heavily targeted.

people voting, to-day, Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

Cuyahoga is both the most populated, and the most Democratic county in Ohio. Early voting leans Democratic. Will the votes be counted?, and counted as cast? Many remember the antics, and unprosecuted fraud that Ohio (and the country) suffered in 2004.

 Voting is a Right. Not a Crime!

voter suppression billboard

One of four billboards on the corner of East 79th and Cedar. This one is on 79th close to Carnegie.

In the month before the general election, the Republicans the Fascists are trying to intimidate likely Democratic voters. A couple of weeks ago, the Cleveland Plain Dealer did the democracy one good. Councilman Phyllis Cleveland (Ward 5) brought to their attention several billboards with the copy supra. The paper then listed ten locations*:

    Carnegie Ave. and E 36th St.
    Cedar Ave. NS and E 79th.
    Community College Ave and E 35th
    E 14th St. and Carnegie Ave.
    E 55th St. and N. Carry Ave
    E 185th and Harland Ave
    Green Rd and S Euclid Ave
    Madison Ave and W 93 St
    Triskett Rd and W 140th St
    W 140th St and Lorain Ave

Some of these spots are in densely (as of to-day's standards) black populated areas, and heavily traversed streets away from the freeways. The purpose of this campaign is to depress turnout of certain people. 

What the sign speaks about, is rarer than an honest, professional Republican. There are states that can not find an instance of it. When great organised electoral fraud did occur in Florida in 2000, and Ohio in 2004, there were no investigations. Voter fraud is done by individuals voting. Electoral fraud is done by local, and state government, and especially those tallying the votes (and now through computer software) .

Clear Channel put up the billboards, they are owned by Bain Capital (R$, Romney's creation). The identification of the entity ordering the advertisements is (Paid for by a Private Family Foundation). Who is this brave family exercising this warning to the general public? Where else in America are they up? Perhaps Milwaukee? The formula is simple: the large city in the state with the largest black population, and that state is one that was won in 2008 by the black man in the White House, that could be won by a white man this time.
_______________________________
*later it was reported that thirty such billboards were out up in Cleveland
postscriptum 21 October: Justice! Cleveland's Plain Dealer reports the accursed signs will come down. The paper quotes Clear Channel saying "... billboards violate our policy of not accepting anonymous political ads...".  Clear Channel says it will "donate" ten billboards, and Cleveland City Council will pay for five reading "Voting Is a Right. Not a Crime!".  The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law has paid for signs reading, "Stand up and have your say -- Vote. When we vote, we are all equal.". Some of these signs are expected to be in Milwaukee, Columbus, and Cincinnati.

I expect to post a photograph. 

of liars

Sometimes such a drawing is called 'clip art'. This one has copy, as if a sardonic greeting card writer became a news cartoonist without fear for his employment continuance. It is also akin to a child's cry for absent justice.

and to fully tie it to the last essay...

The Republicans are always good for stealing lyrics from artists, whom they never consulted, nor would permit the appropriation of their words. The Castaways were a garage band from Minnesota. Their one national hit was, 'Liar, Liar', at least that would be à propos. N'est pas, mon ami?

Last night's debate

 "With all due respect, that's a bunch of malarkey, because not a single thing he said is accurate. Number one, this lecture on embassy security - the congressman here cut embassy security in his budget by $300 million below what we asked for, number one. So much for the embassy security piece. Number two, Governor Romney, before he knew the facts, before he even knew that our ambassador was killed, he was out making a political statement which was panned by the media around the world."

Joseph Biden did what Barack Obama did not do. He challenged nearly every lie that his opponent uttered. He made Ryan  uncomfortable. He showed the Republican his hypocrisy.

VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: — months and months. They found no evidence of cronyism. And I love my friend here. I — I'm not allowed to show letters, but go on our website: He sent me two letters saying, by the way, can you send me some stimulus money for companies here in the state of Wisconsin? We sent millions of dollars. You know why he said he needed —
MS. RADDATZ: You did ask for stimulus money, correct?
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: Sure he did. By the way — (inaudible) —
REP. RYAN: On two occasions, we — we — we advocated for constituents who were applying for grants.
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: (Chuckles.)
REP. RYAN: That's what we do. We do that for all constituents who are — (inaudible) — for grants.
VICE PRESIDENT BIDEN: I love that. I love that. This is such a bad program, and he writes me a letter saying — writes the Department of Energy a letter saying, the reason we need this stimulus — it will create growth and jobs. He — his words. And now he's sitting here looking at me — and by the way, that program — again, investigated — what the Congress said was, it was a model: less than four-tenths of 1 percent waste or fraud in the program. And all this talk about cronyism — they investigated, investigated; did not find one single piece of evidence. I wish he would just tell — be a little more candid.

The entire event transcript is here. You know, the Republicans know Biden defeated Ryan; because they are complaining about Biden's manner. Well, that is the way one deals with a lying fraud in conversation. Obama failed to do this, and Romney domineered; of course if  President Obama would show Biden's vigor, Obama would be called 'an uppity negro', and worse; but of course, the Republicans would use different words when presenting in the press.

R U OK? Day

"R U OK?Day is a national day of action on the second Thursday of September (13 September 2012), dedicated to inspiring all people of all backgrounds to regularly ask each other ‘Are you ok?'
By raising awareness about the importance of connection and providing resources throughout the year, the R U OK? Foundation aims to prevent isolation by empowering people to support each other through life's ups and downs."

The first R U OK? Day was in Australia on 29 November 2009. It was announced by the then Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon. Its founder was Gavin Larkin. Larkin was a successful advertising executive, and in his own words "a bit of a prick". His father, Barry, killed himself in 1995. Gavin Larkin came up with the idea of R U OK? Day in 2008, on the thought that a conversation at the right time(s) could help people out of the loneliness and isolation that build to self destroying despair.

February 2010 he was told he had lymphoma. Thereafter he was told his son had a brain tumour.

The third R U OK? Day was on 15 September 2011. Ten percent of adult Australians had the conversation. Gavin Larkin died a few days later feeling he accomplished something.

http://www.ruokday.com/resources-for-you/how-to-ask-r-u-ok/

Last year a national spokesman was the actor, Hugh Jackman.

It is not only a problem in one country. The announcement of depression is an embarrassing admission for many people, in many places, to make. Kept secret, the problem often gets worse. By encouraging others to speak to their friends [more frequent, the better], those friends may receive enough emotional support to carry on.

Now, such despair can be overcome. Current bad times may end. Now, for some that doesn't come; but continual caring conversation can keep them going.

In World War One, battle experiences drove some soldiers mad. The 'talking cure' brought many men back to sanity. That term was first used in 1893 by a patient, Bertha Pappenheim [Anna O.], of Joseph Breuer in Vienna. Breuer was an older colleague of Sigmund Freud.

Simple caring conversation can save friends. Australian ideas have come to America, and elsewhere, before. This is another idea that can travel.

Labor Day

Sometimes, people need to know what day it is. Sometimes, people need to know why to celebrate. The United States, and Canada acknowledge the first Monday in September as Labour Day.

Mitt's great choice

If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we've got to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition - and then admit that we just don't want to do it.
— Stephen Colbert. 16 Dec. 2010.

Paul Ryan is a disciple of the worst writer in the English language, Ayn Rand. She wrote 'philosophical' novels of conspiracies. Her ideas were simple: selfishness is good, those super individuals of productive greed were hampered by interventionist government and the poor. It is no surprise that Republicans, teabaggers, capitalists, and teenage jerks are smitten.

Those that whine and whinge about government have some similarity to a character in Monty Python's Life of Brian, whom admits (okay, the similarity is not there) after several exceptions are brought up, "All right, but apart from the sanitation, medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?"

I have touched upon this Nimrod before. Ryan is an intellectual for the Republicans, he also attacks well. The Democrats will play up what he wishes to do with Medicare, and Medicaid. So, unless the Republicans successfully game the vote counting in several states, it will be close to a Democratic landslide. Enough elderly teabaggers will vote for the Democracy, that Florida and, perhaps, Arizona will go for Obama. The Congress may have two Democratic majorities.

The Right to Strike

First, one history lesson: Ralph Hosea Chaplin *1887, 1961† was an artist and labor unionist. He wrote the song, Solidarity Forever. His drawing of a black cat, with arched back, became the symbol of strikes, especially wild cat strikes. Now, Chaplin was a wobblie (member of the I.W.W.). They formed in 1905 from various socialist, anarchist, and radical labor activists. They were targeted at the end of the Wilson Administration in the 1919-20 Palmer Raids. By the middle '20s they had become inconsequential, and a few years later, a small fraction of what they had been.

Now, under the current fiction that comes from Fox, and the rest of the Republican Party, this is changed. The moderate and weak unionists of to-day are described with words that are beyond those that describe the Wobblies. Wilson's [anti-labor] progressiveness they have equated with Leninist-stalinist socialism (communism). What is true, is that the Wobblies did not consolidate their victories, and were eventually crushed by not the police, and thugs, that cracked their heads opened, but by federal government.

The A.F.of L. and the C.I.O. trade and general unions, at their most brave and militant past, were far milder towards capitalism than the Wobblies. John L. Lewis would puke to-day at the condition of Labor.

Wild cat strikes [here is the operative point, when there is a labor-management CONTRACT] are considered illegal. They are spontaneous, and local, and not officially announced, nor sanctioned. Many contracts specifically prohibit their exercise. The courts, and executive government (and the police, and other 'security forces') extend this concept.

Second, another history lesson: The first strike in English speaking America occurred in Jamestown Virginia in 1619. Now, the English wanted a profit making colony, and many of the English thought labor beneath them. John Smith recruited a few Polish artisans to make glass, and other products. The average Englishman, not being able to differentiate, called these people 'Deutsch >> Dutchmen (Germans)'. The Virginia House of Burgess' was elected in 1619, but Catholics and other foreigners were not allowed to vote. The Poles went on strike. The English understood the economics involved. The Poles achieved the suffrage franchise.

Argument: Slaves are not allowed to strike, that is an insurrection. Freemen can strike, and it is not always seen as an insurrection. Laws forbidding strikes transgress freedom. Free labor disappears, it is replaced by serfdom, peonage, slavery or something similar.

"Qu'est-ce qu'un homme révolté ? Un homme qui dit non. Mais s'il refuse, il ne renonce pas : c'est aussi un homme qui dit oui, dès son premier mouvement. Un esclave, qui a reçu des ordres toute sa vie, juge soudain inacceptable un nouveau commandement."
"What is a rebel? A man who says no, but whose refusal does not imply a renunciation. He is also a man who says yes, from the moment he makes his first gesture of rebellion. A slave who has taken orders all his life suddenly decides that he can not obey some new command." — Albert Camus. L'Homme Révolté (The Rebel) 1951.

Most of the world has May Day as Labor Day. In the past, general strikes were called for this day. I read, that some in the Occupy Movement have called for one. There is not much intersection between them and the Labor; beyond that, strikes are very rare in the United States. People have to be cognisant of history. Since Ronnie Reagan began the evisceration of Labor, and laissez-faire capitalism has evolved into locust capitalism, and oligarchic, fascist plutocracy; the working class have become increasingly impotent.

Now, there were exceptions to these sort of Republicans in the past:

I am glad to see that a system of labor prevails in New England under which laborers can strike when they want to where they are not obliged to work under all circumstances, and are not tied down and obliged to labor whether you pay them or not! — New Haven, Connecticut. 6 March 1860. Abraham Lincoln.

For Lincoln, this was not an isolated statement. Here he is suggesting the difference between free, and unfree labor (it was not just slavery). Later, speaking to Congress 3 December 1861, Lincoln explains the difference between labor and capital:

Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration.

Which Republican, to-day, would say that? Which apologist of theirs would admit that the words were spoken?, and mean what they mean in a dictionary?

Registering to Vote

Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Ben Shahn. Our Friend [campaign poster]. 1944.

Ben Shahn made lithograph posters for the the CIO to encourage voting in 1946.

Those who do not wish you to vote, if you are not a person of property to-day, are Republicans. [click here to read those thoughts from the crazy congressman from Iowa] So it has been since the beginning of Hoover's and his party's creation of the Great Depression. You don't want the poor, homeless, jobless, colored, crippled, the too young, or the too old to vote; for they may vote for social justice, and an America for all Americans; which means a vote for the Democracy and its party — the Democratic.

See this story of a 96 year old woman from Tennessee, born in Georgia. A new law to stop supposed 'voter fraud', which cannot be found, has been instituted in Tennessee, as in many Republican controlled state governments. Since she had been married, and her marriage name wasn't the name on her birth certificate, she has been denied the state identification card, which is now necessary to vote. Job done — old, poor, black woman barred from voting. Multiply this by millions, and see the Republicans 'win' elections through this plan of voter suppression.

This is why Republicans do not want the voice of labor to compete with the voice of capital.
This is why Republicans do not want the voice of a generation that doesn't look like them to vote.
Another of Ben Shahn's 1946 Congress of Industrial Organizations posters.

Saint Joan inspires us still

As i have mentioned, there is a Saint Joan of Arc chapel in St. Jerome's Church, Cleve., O. Everyone should see it. There used to be two tabernacles at St. Jerome's. One had been on the high altar, but it was decided to have just one to confirm with rubrics. It rests on an altar in the transept with the windows that tell Saint Joan's story.

Now, Saint Joan was belatedly canonised. Her case was written in the transcripts of her trial. She held up under the persecution of Bishop Cauchon, an employee of the english government in occupied France. She was faultless in her faith.

She became the spirit of French resistance for all time. This accidental warrior was in the popular imagination a knight. In World War I, she became a propaganda poster to sell US war bonds. Her image has been used to sell cheese, and all sorts of things. Her story has been told in wonderful plays and movies, and in wretched ones.

Ste. Jeanne d'Arc is what we wish her to be. She will always be connected with a romanticism of bravery, a constancy of divine purpose. The shortened form of the answer she gave to a woman, whom asked her why go on such a dangerous path?, has been, “I am not afraid. I was born to do this.”
Poster created by Tom Pepper for Mohawk College, Brantford Ontario.

Triangle Fire,100 yrs. on

It was a quarter or so to 5, Saturday afternoon. The work week was near finish. The 8th, 9th and 10th storeys of a 10 storey building in New York City contained the Triangle Shirtwaist [woman's blouse] Factory. A fire broke out on the eighth. Someone phoned the 10th. Word did not reach the 9th, the fire did.

The building had a fire escape in poor condition, 2 freight elevators, and two stairwells. The fire escape collapsed and people fell to their death. The elevator operators made trips with survivors until the elevators failed. One stairwell was on fire. The other stairwell, was locked and the foreman with the key gone.

129 women and girls died, and 17 men. Some burned to death, some died from the fall or jump. In a few minutes the fire department had the fire contained. Fire truck ladders could only reach to the 6th floor. The building had no fire sprinklers

Most of the dead were young immigrants, italians and jews. Mother died with daughter, sister with sister, cousin with cousin.

Two years had passed since a major strike. Amongst the outrageous items the women wanted, through collective bargaining, was a work week of just 52 hours and an increase from 13¢ an hour. They got some of that, but not the right to join the union.

The owners, Isaac Harris and Max Blanck, came off the boat too; but now they were as good as any american born capitalist and owner. Their hatred of unionisation was great. They had contrived with cops, goons, street whores and judges to defeat the workers.

Frances Perkins was at a tea party (tea parties came about with the victorian age when women of the higher social classes had much idle time, they are somewhat different than those held by little girls and their imaginary friends, and different still than those of some political fanatics of to-day) in downtown Manhattan, and she and many other people came to watch the fire. She saw bodies splat. Some fell like torches.

Perkins would later call that Saturday "the day the New Deal began". A Factory Investigating Commission was set up by the State of New York. Frances Perkins was part of it. They held hearings about the state. Laws (governmental regulations) were eventually made, intrusive things such as fire drills, occupancy limits and exit signs. New York State became the most regulated state in the country concerning worker safety.

Harris and Blanck went on trial for manslaughter. They hired an expensive lawyer. They skated. The insurance company paid them more than their supposed losses. Two years later Blanck was caught for another locked door. He was fined $20.

The Triangle may be only a paragraph, or less, in school books now; but with fine 'patriotic' citizens, who cherish 'balance', on textbook committees such un-american paragraphs, or sentences, in high school textbooks can be removed. Recently HBO and PBS ran documentaries on the fire. This is the sort of 'liberal' programming that angers 'conservatives'. These sort of programmes in 'public' funded broadcasting which are broadcast on PBS and NPR are 'dangerously' biased. People writing about such programmes and their subject matter are suspect.

By coincidence, i was working on a project in which i was sewing one piece of cloth on another while watching the PBS 'propaganda'. I listened to the part where the girls had their pay taken (docked) for mistakes, and the part where the needles would go through their fingers, and they kept working, while i bumbled with green thread.

Now we are living with freshly elected Republican governors in northern states, whom wish to make business more friendly to entrepreneurs such as Isaac Harris and Max Blanck. Such unions such as The International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union (now part of UNITE HERE), and those of government workers attack the liberty and property of owners, and the flexibility of governors to balance budgets.

None of those recent governors (Walker, Kasich, Snyder, LePage [who is creating an orwellian memory hole], Christie) (some winning with a minority of voters) may serve a second term, but they will be taken care of by the people they are taking care of. Of course some of those governors are of the same class as those whom they benefit. It is hard to determine which is the most obnoxious and contemptible.

detail of panel 8 with Frances Perkins, part of an 11 panel mural by Judy Taylor in Maine's Department of Labor building, all of which were ordered to be removed by the new governor, Paul LePage as being 'anti-business' and 'one-sided'

from the Statehouse lawn

Senate Bill 5

John Kasich and the Republicans of the Statehouse of Ohio want to cram a bill into law that would take away collective bargaining with government employees. This follows Wisconsin's lead. Other states with new Republican governments would follow. This is the first step in the curtailment of unions. In Wisconsin, and Ohio, people have come out of their slumber, and have engaged Democracy in trying to stop these dictates.  

The themes of the participants are in accord with the lesson of history. Their signs and actions recall the past. They remember Hitler destroying unions. They remember Pastor Martin Niemöller's lament for not speaking out for others. They remember the Polish free trade union (Solidarność, Solidarity) and its leader Lech Wałęsa that brought down communism.  

They also note current events. Ohio is only hours behind Wisconsin's battle. People remember the recent Egyptian example. Someone alluded to a television programme and cast Kasich as a money loving Ferengi.  

Here follows images of to-day. Note, unlike the teabaggers, the signs tend to keep grammar and spelling as one was taught. 

The one cardboard sign below reads: We must close union offices !!! Confiscate their money and put their leaders in prison! We must reduce workers' salaries and take away their right to strike.—Adolph Hitler, May 2nd 1933. [Many Republicans, teabaggers and other American fascists deny Hitler said this, but this is exactly what was done on that day in accordance to his orders. They know that Hitler and Nazism still has 'bad press', so they must disassociate their actions with his name.] On the 1st of May 1933 Hitler celebrated May (Labor) Day at Templehof (near Berlin) airfield. In his speech, he spoke the great spring festival would be celebrated, and all class conflict had ended for the one people (Volk) of Germany. The crowd cheered and sang, he had union leaders cheering too. The next day free unions disappeared.  

Goebbels wrote in his diary for 17April: On 2 May the trade union offices will be occupied. ... Once the trade unions are in our hands the other parties and organisations will not be able to hold out for much longer. And on that day what was planned in secret, and written down became real. The SA (brownshirts, stormtroopers), the SS, and the police came. People were beaten, arrested, a few killed. Union papers were closed and funds taken. What was once, perhaps, the strongest labor movement in the world was reduced to nothing in minutes. Goebbels wrote his diary, We are the masters of Germany.

It is to be remembered that at the same time Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to the presidency in the United States and promoted unions. He said, "If I went to work in a factory the first thing I'd do is join a union." Ever since Franklin Roosevelt the Republicans wanted things back to pre-1933. Where their power was unchecked, and they could squash unionism by physical force. Their economic panacea brought the Great Depression, this Great Recession happened because of the anti-Roosevelt gains they had made. They forget the disasters they created, and certainly will not confess to them, yet they can not forget when they had all the power to create the disasters. Such a combination of arrogance, stupidity, avarice and mean-spirit is onerous. 

The Niemöller quote has been translated in several versions, here is one version:

"In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up."

[this was one of the posts blogger re-formatted, i have tried reclaiming paragraph structure, i could not return the fotos to the larger size]