Thursday Night Music Club (Ohio roots ed.)

Just saw Tim Easton at the Cabin Fever Festival in Nelsonville (along w/ Freakwater, Cotton Jones, and Dolfish). Nice show; nice venue (as always). Check out Stuart's Opera House if you're ever in SE OH.

Here is Tim in Cleveland performing "Don't Walk Alone"--enjoy. 

Why Unions?

Why should you support unions? Why are unions needed today more than ever? What do you say that relative who is anti-union?

Well, here's a quick primer from the Teamsters: http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/unions-101-how-to-explain-and-defend.html

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on a related note, Ezra Klein explains how "right-to-work" legislation might impact Michigan (Ohioans might want to pay attention to this; Kasich might have been chastened in Nov. 2011 but all politicians have conveniently short memories): 

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/10/how-right-to-work-laws-could-reshape-michigans-economy/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein 

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(from the Teamsters)

what/where to buy union-made products this winter: http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/buy-union-made-products-for-winter.html

*note: and buy local whenever you can--something like an additional .25/1.00 stays in the community when you buy local vs the chains/box stores

Where might Obama rank?

(from Nate Silver)

According to the aggregate of several surveys by historians (that's Silver's methodology), who ranks as our greatest President? (Lincoln should be an easy guess) How about the second best? Washington? Jefferson? The Worst? (btw, it's not a recent one)

Why is JFK ranked so high (served 3 years) and William Henry Harrison so low (served 1 month)?

Interesting read: 

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/23/contemplating-obamas-place-in-history-statistically/

Thursday Night Music Club--enjoy every sandwich ed.

today would have been Warren Zevon's 66th birthday--here's one of his best.

"Are Babies Born Good?" (from Smithsonian)

(via LongReads) 

Nature vs Nurture? Well, it's a bit more complicated than that. Read more here:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Are-Babies-Born-Good-183837741.html?c=y&story=fullstory&src=longreads&utm_source=buffer&buffer_share=38bb4

Wealth Gap--as explained by Lou Grant

 Remember Lou Grant? (actually, Ed Asner)  Well, here he is narrating a brief video he made for the California Federation of Teachers--you really got to watch it. 

(via The Teamsters)
http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/01/ed-asner-infuriates-fox-friends-with.html

Thursday Night Music Club--Country Roads ed.

Heading to Athens for the weekend w/ the fam and meeting some friends for Cabin Fever Fest and a little hotel pool swimming--can't wait. Not quite WV, but pretty darn close (esp if you take the new 50).

A little John Denver for the drive--enjoy. 

Thursday Night Music Club--delayed gratificaiton ed.

Saw Malcolm Holcombe a couple years ago in Nelsonville @ Stuart's Opera House--he's not really like anyone else. Sure, you can hear the John Prine in there. Maybe even a little Howlin' Wolf. But that doesn't truly capture the sound and presence of Malcolm during his performance. Check him out if you get the chance.

Not bad for a guy who was washing dishes in Nashville not that long ago--enjoy.

Aaron Swartz--R.I.P.

I think it was Dave Weigel (or Glenn Greenwald) who said before today he didn't really know who Aaron Swartz was, but he wished 1) that he knew of him sooner 2) grief will be replaced by anger as people learn what our government was doing to people like Aaron Swartz, who committed suicide Friday night.

Here is the statement offered by the family and partner of Swartz, released earlier today (via Glenn Greenwald): http://soupsoup.tumblr.com/post/40373383323/official-statement-from-the-family-and-partner-of

And here is a sad, personal but helpful piece from Rick Perlstein (The Nation) if Swartz's name is new to you: http://www.thenation.com/blog/172187/aaron-swartz#

(via Glenn Greenwald)
expert witness of yet-to-be-but-now-moot trial sets the record straight: http://unhandled.com/2013/01/12/the-truth-about-aaron-swartzs-crime/ 

and this is why people are incensed about what was being done to Aaron Swartz: http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/hsbc-pay-record-19-billion-settle-money-laundering/story?id=17934134

(from Chris Hayes)
Chris offers his resepects here (about four minutes long): http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/01/13/the-brilliant-mind-righteous-heart-of-aaron-swartz-will-be-missed/ 

Drinking with Falstaff

Shakespeare, again, ahead of the curve

http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/essays/players-club.php?page=all

Why Ban Fracking?

from Food and Water Watch: why more communities need to ban fracking (250 have done it so far). Many links to other sources here as well: http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/fracking/

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according to The Alliance Review, a local newspaper here in NE Ohio, the gas/oil industry has paid out 2.2 billion to landowners in Ohio so far during this shale boom. Sssshhhhhh . . . some interesting data is showing up in Utah and Colorado about the leakage of methane from gas fields. I didn't know this, but methane is a much more powerful a greenhouse gas than even CO2. You can read more here from Think Progress.

That Fiscal Cliff Thing

Bernie Sanders ‏@SenSanders

Corporations today are making record profits while their effective tax rate is at or near a 60-year low. 

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David Corn ‏@DavidCornDC

It's a great day to be an American...earning between $250,000 and $400,000

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(Robert Reich on the bad deal Obama got)

http://robertreich.org/#.UOIGpKEOnds.twitter

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Ronald Brownstein ‏@RonBrownstein

CBPP's Bob Greenstein calculates #fiscalcliff deal makes permanent 84% of Bush tax cuts, leaves govt "not close" to long term revenue needs

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Your cheat-sheet for the "deal" that doesn't include the debt ceiling, insuring we'll get to go through this posturing and silliness again in two months. Yeah.

(via E.J. Dionne)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2012/12/31/your-fiscal-cliff-deal-cheat-sheet/

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(from Paul Krugman) some perspective . . .(he's come off the ledge a bit, so to speak)

 http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/perspective-on-the-deal/?smid=tw-NytimesKrugman&seid=auto

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How to change the conversation--make sure you read this one:

(via E.J. Dionne)
http://prospect.org/article/retrench-warfare#.UOL3ANBzcvU.twitter

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What corporations are getting subsidies in the bill? Find out here: 

(via Neil Barofsky)
 http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2013/01/eight-corporate-subsidies-in-the-fiscal-cliff-bill-from-goldman-sachs-to-disney-to-nascar.html