Archive for June, 2011

Building Illinois-Iowa Solidarity for Locked Out Roquette Workers

by , posted on Sunday, June 26th, 2011 at 9:30 pm

I attended the Northern Illinois Jobs With Justice monthly meeting this weekend to learn about another chapter in the ongoing war on the middle class.  Buddy

Howard, a locked out worker from Roquette, a French-owned company in Keokuk, Iowa, attended the meeting to share his story.  Buddy is one of the 240 BCTGM Local 48G members who have been locked out since Sept. 28, 2010.

After the meeting, Buddy shared his story with radio host Adam Klugman.  You can listen by clicking the link.

(more…)

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In the Basement

by , posted on Tuesday, June 21st, 2011 at 8:25 pm

Okay, it’s a finished basement, nice cozy furniture, big screen TV, great place to ride out a bad storm. Tornado warning in effect until 9 p.m. National Weather Service says the storm should hit this town – Geneva – at around 8:20 p.m.

With all the truly destructive tornados lately, I think we’re all taking these warnings a little more seriously.

Okay, having just typed that I went to take a look at the south – this storm is blowing from south to north, somewhat unusual for this area, usually we get west to east. Watched a wall of clouds just roll over in a matter of minutes. Instant dark. Will be back with more if there is more.

Update: It’s 8:53 p.m., which puts us seven minutes short of the tornado warning ending, but the worst of this storm has blown past – still raining like crazy, lots of thunder and lighting, but the wall-o-wind is past…lots of small tree branches, and one bigger one, down in the yard.

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Sign of the Times: Endangered

by , posted on Monday, June 20th, 2011 at 12:11 pm

Although I can’t claim to study it, I usually at least read the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Annual Most Endangered Historic Places List. This year, I was struck by something that seems to me to be unusual; I can’t remember a list so replete with sites that are endangered not by residential or commercial development, but rather by negative environmental impacts, whether those are represented by erosion and storms, or by mining and oil-well placement.

On the list and endangered by environmental threats are:

Bear Butte, South Dakota
Fort Gaines, Alabama
Greater Chaco Landscape, New Mexico
Isaac Manchester Farm, Pennsylvania

Also of note on this 11 most endangered list is item 11: “Sites Imperiled by State Actions” although I think they could have called this “State Inaction” because it amounts to funding for preservation projects drying up in states that are all experiencing budget shortfalls. And since I think we can all agree that “Our Endangered Economy” is impacting all 50 states, that would amount to just about every corner of the U.S. that is poised to lose important landmarks.

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