diane gee
HE HAS THE THICK FINGERS of a carpenter, nails short and blunt, yet he can tie a micro-filament knot with the delicacy of a surgeon. Fly fishing season was nearly over, and there was little to do these days but prep for next year. The sound of the phone not ringing was almost palpable over the drone of the local news broadcast at noon. Another idle day, the contractor must had not coughed up the money for the next delivery of materials. His girlfriend had been making noises about him moving in with her and her two very young kids. It felt too soon, but his rent was already two weeks late. The cops beating on those people was depressing as hell; he turned off the news and went outside to rake the last of the fall leaves.
Wake up the dawn and ask her why
A dreamer dreams, she never dies
Wipe that tear away now from your eye
She was an angel. That’s what she like to call her temp job doing in-home care for the elderly.She was getting attached to her clients, and had already gotten in trouble for cleaning one persons house while they slept. “Not in your job description,” she was told. Worse? When she helped that half blind lady write out her checks, she learned that the company was getting over three times her pay an hour for her services. She would love to work for herself, save them money and perhaps make a little more. Things were tight enough, and she was up against enough keeping custody of her two daughters being openly gay. But self-employed meant paying for a LLC license and having to insure herself heavily. Hell, they didn’t have health insurance at home, how could she afford to insure a business? She had no idea what the demonstrations were about, but the pastor at her church said they were anarchists. Sounded scary. Read more…
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A Review of Joe Bageant’s Rainbow Pie: A Redneck Memoir
Cotton never saw much cash, and never got rich by any means. Not on the ten-cent and fifteen-cent purchases that farmers made there for over one hundred years. Yet he could pay Jackson Luttrell for the tomato hauling — in credit at the store. That enabled Jackson to buy seed, feed, hardware, fertilizer, tools, and gasoline, and farm until harvest time with very little cash, leaving him with enough to invest in a truck. Unger could run his tomato cannery and transform local produce into cash, because he could barter credit for farm products and services. This was a community economic ecology that blended labor, money, and goods to sustain a modest but satisfactory life for all.– from Rainbow Pie
By William Bowles | APRIL 03, 2011
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PRESENTED by Amy Goodman’s DEMOCRACY NOW!
BONUS FEATURE:
Building the left in the US
[ti_audio media="12619"]
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MADE OUR DAY. THIS IS THE STORY OF “BEAUTY”, THE XMAS CAT
The crew at TGP (all certifiable animal lovers and defenders) wishes to thank Natalie JARNSTEDT, for forwarding this touching story, and for contributing so generously to this poor creature’s second chance. Way to go, Beauty!
—PG
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ANIMALS, as usual, provide the best lessons. Let’s hope the good people of Brazil take care of him now.
January 17th, 2011
06:10 PM ET [print_link]
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As the death toll from devastating flooding in Brazil continues to rise, a single picture drives home the sense of loss.
Leao, a medium-sized brown mutt, lies next to the grave of her owner, Cristina Maria Cesario Santana, who died in the catastrophic landslides caused by heavy rain. This AFP/Getty picture was taken on Saturday, the second consecutive day that the dog refused to leave the woman’s grave at the cemetery in Teresopolis, near Rio de Janiero.
Brazilians are bracing for more rain, fearing more landslides after waves of muddy water swallowed towns in the country’s worst flood disaster on record.
At least 655 deaths were reported in a mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro state, northeast of the city of Rio.
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