Monday, December 21, 2009
AMERICAN LABOUR:
SCROOGE OF THE YEAR-THE WINNER IS...
Well, the results are in, and the Jobs With Justice Coalition has a new winner for this year's 'Scrooge of the Year'. The announcement...
ALALALALALALAL
& the winner of the 2009 national Scrooge of the Year election is...:
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Elected 2009's National Scrooge of the Year
The Chamber's narrow, radical agenda advocating for anti-worker,profit-focused solutions to the broken health care, labor, and environmental systems garnered them the most votes for the national Jobs with Justice "Scrooge of the Year" award.
Thousands of votes were cast in the Jobs with Justice annual contest to determine which greedy, cold-hearted organization or person deserves the title "Scrooge of the Year." Voters chose the Chamber of Commerce as their winner this year as it's became increasingly clear that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has developed into a front group for a few narrow interests, not a membership association that represents the voice of mainstream American businesses. The Chamber has spent millions of dollars lobbying against legislation that would benefit workers and families like the Employee Free Choice Act, health insurance reform, paid sick days, and environmental regulations. Their extreme positions have led some companies and local chapters of the Chamber to disaffiliate from the national group.
This year's Scrooge contest pitted the Chamber of Commerce against Bank of America, nominated for their role in the sub-prime lending crisis and failure to extend credit to small businesses, Hyatt Hotels for their Scrooge-like firing of 100 housekeepers in Boston and other anti-worker actions, Publix Supermarkets for their resisting the call to be part of the solution to human rights violations in Florida fields by continuing to buy tomatoes from growers prosecuted for modern-day slavery, and student loan lenders Sallie Mae and Citibank for their expensive, variable rate loans for students. An impressive write-in campaign was also waged for United Airlines, for their slashing of workers' wages and pensions while continuing to award lavish bonuses to top executives.
"There was plenty of competition for the award this year," said Jobs with Justice Executive Director Sarita Gupta. ? But the similarities between Scrooge and the Chamber of Commerce were hard to beat. The ghost of years past would show that the policies they've promoted including deregulation and maximizing profits at the expense of workers are directly connected to the destruction of America's middle class."
Throughout the country, many people remain unemployed and more are working harder and longer than ever before to make ends meet, as highlighted in our recently released report examining the impact of the economic crisis on working people. Over the holidays and in the coming weeks, Jobs with Justice will begin a campaign to engage working people in the fight for the creation of a national jobs program.
"We fully expect the Chamber of Commerce to come out in opposition to our demand for good paying and family sustaining jobs," said Gupta, "but we will not cede this moment nor shy away from this fight. The ghost of future years will show that in this time of crisis, it was our efforts that helped put people back to work."
Labels: American Chamber of Commerce, American labour, contests, Jobs With Justice, labour, Scrooge of the Year Contest
Friday, December 18, 2009
BLOGGING:
ONE MORE DAY TO VOTE:
Only one more day to go over at the Canadian Blog Awards where Molly is one of the finalists in the 'Best Political Blog' category. It's not too late. Go on over, and help Molly go for the gold. Last year I came in number 5. This year...who knows. It's all up to you. Do you want the Liberals and the Conservatives to rule forever on the blogosphere as well as in the real world ? If not...VOTE MOLLY.
"I have read this message and I approve of it"- Mollymew, for the committee to elect Mollymew.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
FOUR MORE DAYS:
That's right...just four more days of voting in Round 2 of the Canadian Blog Awards. Molly made it into the finalists again this year, but this poor helpless little cat living at the edge of nowhere in Winnipeg Manitoba needs your help if she is to "go for the gold". Help Molly beat out all those dastardly conservatives, liberals and social democrats. Go to the CBA, search out 'Round 2', find the 'Political' category, and help push Molly over the top. It will give you such a good, warm feeling if you do. It'll be great for my ego-boo too.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal
Monday, December 14, 2009
AMERICAN LABOUR:
'SCROOGE OF THE YEAR' RUNOFF:
The nominees have been chosen for the 'Scrooge of the Year' contest sponsored by the American Jobs With Justice group. Here, from the AFL-CIO Blog is the announcement about the "winners" and how you can vote for the evilest boss of the year. While looking over this contest don't forget to go over to the Canadian Blog Awards and vote for 'Molly's Blog' as the best 'Political Blog' of the year in Canada. One good vote deserves another after all. Voting at the CBA is open until December 19.
ûûûûûûûûûûûûûûû
Cast Your Vote for ‘Scrooge of the Year’:
by James Parks, Dec 14, 2009
It’s the holiday season and time once again to say “bah humbug” to the most cold-hearted and greedy CEOs, corporations and politicians who exemplify the spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge.
Cast Your Vote for ‘Scrooge of the Year’:
by James Parks, Dec 14, 2009
It’s the holiday season and time once again to say “bah humbug” to the most cold-hearted and greedy CEOs, corporations and politicians who exemplify the spirit of Ebenezer Scrooge.
This is the 10th year that Jobs with Justice (JwJ) has “honored” the person or group that has done the most to “scrooge” workers. And given the current crop of nominees—Bank of America, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Hyatt Hotels, Publix Supermarkets and student loan providers—it looks like it will be a hard decision to pick just one.
You can cast your vote for any of these deserving nominees here. The winner will be announced Dec. 21.
First, there’s Bank of America, which had a hand in the worst of the subprime lending excesses, providing financing to four of the top five largest subprime lenders during the years prior to the crash. Among them, these four firms issued more than $320 billion in subprime loans from 2005-2007. As a result of these kinds of abuses, Bank of America helped crash the economy and then accepted bailouts and backstops totaling $199.2 billion.
Next, it’s becoming increasingly clear that the second nominee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, has become a front group for a few narrow interests, not a membership association that represents the voice of mainstream American businesses.
The Chamber opposes the Employee Free Choice Act, paid sick days and other basic workers’ rights. Recently, members of the U.S. Chamber have been renouncing their membership—including major corporations and local chambers of commerce that have quit or distanced themselves, in large part because of the Chamber’s extreme stance on environmental issues.
In Boston, Hyatt Hotels fired the entire housekeeping departments of its three nonunion hotels, replacing long-time employees who were paid around $15 an hour with subcontracted workers paid the minimum wage. It gets worse: Hyatt required Boston-area housekeepers to train their replacements before they were fired.
At unionized Hyatt hotels in San Francisco and Chicago, Hyatt is using the recession as an excuse to roll back health care and other hard-won contract standards. In Indianapolis, San Antonio, Long Beach and elsewhere, Hyatt is fighting its own workers as they seek a fair process to organize a union. Penny Pritzker, who is chairwoman of four Hyatt-related companies, has come out strongly against the Employee Free Choice Act, which would level the playing field for workers seeking to join a union.
Then there’s Publix Supermarkets, which had 2008 revenues of more than $24 billion, but refuses to pay just one penny more per pound for its tomatoes to directly improve worker’s wages. Publix also won’t work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers to implement a code of conduct to protect farm workers’ basic human rights.
Other corporations, including Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Subway and Publix competitor Whole Foods, already have agreed to pay an additional one cent per pound. Publix, on the other hand, continues to purchase tomatoes from two of the growers tainted by last year’s modern-day slavery prosecution.
Finally, an increasing number of students depend on private companies like Sallie Mae, Citibank and other lenders for loans to finance their college educations, yet these loans get little oversight from government regulators. Private student loans are expensive and mostly variable-rate loans that cost more for those who can least afford them. They lack the flexible repayment options of federal student loans, functioning more like a credit card than a student loan.
Whoever wins the Scrooge award will join an infamous group. Last year’s winner was the entire lot of Wall Street executives whose unchecked corporate greed led to our nation’s economic disaster.
Labels: AFL-CIO Blog, American labour, contests, Jobs With Justice, labour, Scrooge of the Year Contest
Sunday, December 13, 2009
CANADIAN BLOG AWARDS:
MOLLY'S IN ROUND TWO:
Well, Round 1 of the voting is over at the Canadian Blog Awards, and in the 'Best Political Blog' category Molly's Blog has once more made it into the finalists. This year I placed 6 out of 10, and Round 2 of voting will go on until December 19th. So get out your clicking finger, and go right over and help Molly out by voting for her in Round 2. Here's how it's done...
♦Go to the Canadian Blog Awards website
♦See the section 'Round 2 Ready'
♦Click 'round 2 is up for voting
♦Go to 'Political' and click
♦Find Molly's Blog on the list and click,click,click,click for her as your first choice.
It's that simple. So her a poor cat out and Vote For Molly. Free virtual beer for all my supporters.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal
Friday, December 11, 2009
Disclaimer; Well it looks like I was wrong in my opinion that follows. It "seems" that there will indeed be a "Round 2" for the 'Best Political Blog'. After some bizarre gyrations the final count seems to have elected 10 finalists (though I might be wrong about that). Molly came in at # 6 out of ten. 'Informed Vote', the largest entrant, seems to have gathered an astounding 78.1% of its votes from lower ranked votes. As expected Molly was not the 'second, third fourth, etc.' choice
of very many people. 'Informed Vote' perhaps lacks colour, but the blog's "reasonableness" made it quite popular as an alternative. All things to all people perhaps ? Happily 'Calgary Grit' the only other finalist from last year besides Molly in the running also made it into the top ten. If I'm right about this complex process there will be a Round 2 happening soon, hopefully with a single vote rather than the complex, byzantine system that the CBAs used in Round 1.
1) In each round, each ballot not assigned to an elected candidate is assigned to its highest-ranked continuing candidate. (A "continuing" candidate is one who has not yet been elected or eliminated.)
2) If no continuing candidates are ranked on a ballot, it is assigned to its highest-ranked elected candidate, if any, or otherwise counted as a vote for "none of these" continuing candidates.
3) If any continuing candidates have a number of votes exceeding the threshold (defined below), they are declared elected.
4) If the number of continuing candidates does not exceed the number to be elected, all of them are declared elected. To finish the process and arrange so that each winner represents the same number of voters, a final series of transfers is made (by the usual procedure below) from the candidate with the most votes to candidates with less than a seat's worth of votes. This transfer is performed for each candidate with more that that number.
5) If any candidates have a number of votes exceeding the threshold, the candidate(s) elected in the earliest round, and then the candidate with the most votes among those, is identified. Some ballots assigned to this candidate are split into a fraction (defined below) that stays assigned to that candidate and a fraction that will count toward continuing candidates in subsequent rounds. Only the ballots most recently assigned to the candidate in the round in which s/he won, and only those that have a valid next choice, are subject to splitting.
6) If no candidates exceeded the threshold in this round, the last-place candidate is eliminated.
7) This process repeats until it is finished.
of very many people. 'Informed Vote' perhaps lacks colour, but the blog's "reasonableness" made it quite popular as an alternative. All things to all people perhaps ? Happily 'Calgary Grit' the only other finalist from last year besides Molly in the running also made it into the top ten. If I'm right about this complex process there will be a Round 2 happening soon, hopefully with a single vote rather than the complex, byzantine system that the CBAs used in Round 1. BLOGGING:
CANADIAN BLOG AWARDS-I LOST, I THINK:
The results of the first round in the ' Best Political Blogs' category are now in at the Canadian Blog Awards. In an eerie replay of last year Molly's Blog once more came in 5th, with 82 votes (5.4% of the total). Voting seemed to be a lot more sparse this year, perhaps because of the more than slightly strange voting system (see later). It seems that 'Informed Vote' was declared 'The Winner' with 218 votes (14.3% of the total), and as far as I can determine there will be no "Round 2" as, if any candidate (and no other) gets above 9.1% that person is declared "elected". I might be wrong. I'll see in the next couple of days. 'Informed Vote' has no clear political perspective, but, if I were to hazard a guess, I'd put him as small l liberal. The right wingers, as I have mentioned before, waged a serious campaign this time around (they had the plurality of nominees), but only one candidate made it into the top 5. 'Strictly Right' with 117 votes (7.7% of the total) is of the mouth-frothing, water-fearing, Indian-hating variety of conservative that any serious political strategist in said party seeks to have banished to somewhere where they can do the least harm. Barring that send the head to Ottawa or Lethbridge for fluorescent antibody diagnosis. Number 3, 'Broadsides' (with 93 votes-6.1% of the total) is some sort of "house-feminists" for, I believe, the Toronto Star. Seems like a harmless enough vague lefty, but what I see from her blog says that she is very much a one note orchestra. Number 4, 'Daveberta' is also a vague lefty from, of all places, Alberta. Looking at his blog I get the eerie feeling that he got a lot of "second votes" because of his professed inability to choose between the Liberals and the NDP. I wonder how many "second votes" I got. probably close to zero.
Anyways, I think that the voting for the 'Best Political Blog' is over and that 'Informed Vote' is the winner. The author of that blog seems like a reasonable enough fellow, and I guess he deserves to win. If I'm wrong, and there is a second round you can be sure that I'll be campaigning again. In the meantime, for your amusement, here is the "explanation" of the system of voting that the Canadian Blog Awards used this year.
???????????????????
How are the results tallied?
It's easiest to understand this by just watching how the votes move on the results pages, but here are the detailed rules for the count.
It's easiest to understand this by just watching how the votes move on the results pages, but here are the detailed rules for the count.
1) In each round, each ballot not assigned to an elected candidate is assigned to its highest-ranked continuing candidate. (A "continuing" candidate is one who has not yet been elected or eliminated.)
2) If no continuing candidates are ranked on a ballot, it is assigned to its highest-ranked elected candidate, if any, or otherwise counted as a vote for "none of these" continuing candidates.
3) If any continuing candidates have a number of votes exceeding the threshold (defined below), they are declared elected.
4) If the number of continuing candidates does not exceed the number to be elected, all of them are declared elected. To finish the process and arrange so that each winner represents the same number of voters, a final series of transfers is made (by the usual procedure below) from the candidate with the most votes to candidates with less than a seat's worth of votes. This transfer is performed for each candidate with more that that number.
5) If any candidates have a number of votes exceeding the threshold, the candidate(s) elected in the earliest round, and then the candidate with the most votes among those, is identified. Some ballots assigned to this candidate are split into a fraction (defined below) that stays assigned to that candidate and a fraction that will count toward continuing candidates in subsequent rounds. Only the ballots most recently assigned to the candidate in the round in which s/he won, and only those that have a valid next choice, are subject to splitting.
6) If no candidates exceeded the threshold in this round, the last-place candidate is eliminated.
7) This process repeats until it is finished.
If the election is an "instant runoff" for a single winner, rule 5 has no effect, and the process stops immediately if any candidate reaches the threshold.
?????????????????
If the above seems "clear" to you you are either 1)very much smarter than I am or 2) a lawyer or 3)on some sort of drug that I would never even consider trying at any time. This sort of thing makes the proportional representation system that was last proposed for BC seem like the very essence of clarity. None the less I wish those who got more votes that I did well, except for the "Rabidly Right' candidate to whom I suggest a new business plan of opening up a B & D bordello complete with WW2 uniforms. There's a lot of money in them there hills.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal
BLOGGING:
CANADIAN BLOG AWARDS-WHERE HAVE ALL THE WINNERS GONE:
Once more Molly's Blog is in the running for the annual Canadian Blog Awards under the category of 'Best Political Blog'. If you like what you see here go on over to the blog site, click 'Vote 2009', go to 'Political' and, of course, vote 'Molly's Blog'. Voting will end on December 12th, and finalists ( the top 10) will be chosen for the second round. Last year Molly made it into the top 5 finalists, but came fifth out of five. Help me better that result this year.
A question, however, has come to my mind. The vast majority of the blogs listed on the Canadian Blog Awards are either Conservative or NDP. When I compare this year to last only Molly's Blog and the 'Calgary Grit' (ie Liberal) blog amongst last year's finalists have been nominated this year. This seems rather anomalous to me, as the other three finalists still have existing blogs. When I look at the nominees I am under the impression that there has been a serious "push" amongst the conservatives to put their names up for voting. I doubt that the over-representation of conservative bloggers amongst the nominees is reflective of what is really happening in the Canadian blogosphere.
What do you think ? In any case I couldn't think of a greater insult to Sneaky Stevie Harper and his crew than for a tiny anarchist blog to beat his true believers. So go on over and Vote Molly at the Canadian Blog Awards if you are tired of the lies of our present government.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, conservatives, contests, personal, Steven Harper
Friday, December 04, 2009
BLOGGING:
YET ANOTHER REASON WHY MOLLY SHOULD WIN:
As Molly has repeated ad nauseum before on this blog, Molly's Blog is in the running for the 'Best Political Blog' over at the Canadian Blog Awards. If you like what you see here and need yet another reason to vote for Molly consider the following. The CBA seem to be pretty much an anglophone affair. the 'Best French language Blog' category had so few entries that voting there was put off until round 2. For the large number of Conservative bloggers who have been nominated this may not be a bad thing. They do, after all, tend to have heart attacks and strokes when they turn their cereal boxes around in the morning. As far as I can determine Molly's Blog is the only entry where posts in French and translations from same appear (sporadically enough I must admit ). According to the 2009 Canada Year Book there are still 22% of the Canadian population who list their first language as French. While 22% of the posts on this blog are not in French, the small number that are posted here are indeed better than 0%. Thus...I conclude that Molly is the only real Canadian amongst the nominees, and you should therefore vote for her. Do it now while the spirit moves you. Consider that many of the Conservatives would be pleased as punch to betray their country and have it join the USA. patriotism is not mindless support for invading a foreign country on the other side of the Earth. It may, however, consist of preserving aspects of our nation that make us different from the only country that has ever invaded Canada in history. Think about it, and vote Molly. That's it for the night. See you in the morning.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal
Thursday, December 03, 2009
BLOGGING:
SNIFFING OUT THE POLITICOS:
As the whole world ( or at least that small handful of fans that I have) knows Molly has once more been nominated for the 'Best Political Blog' over at the Canadian Blog Awards. Last year I made it into the finalists, but I ended up as the fifth out of five. This year it's heavy duty campaigning, so get used to the nagging tone of my voice. If you'd like to vote for Molly just go to the CBA website, click on the Vote 2009 link on the masthead, search for the 'Political' category, click again, look down the list for 'Molly's Blog' and there you go.
Meanwhile I found it interesting to search down the political biases of the 47 nominations in this category. The largest number (15) were obvious Conservatives, of which only four or five were of the mouth frothing variety. Most were quite intelligent. I suspect that the large number of conservative bloggers nominated is because most conservatives feel the overwhelming need to yell more often than the rest of us. The next on the list were NDPers at 10, mostly from out west here. Sort of sad as all their best rhetoric and catchphrases have long since been stolen by the Liberals...or even the Conservatives. The category of "vague lefty" held 8 entries. What can I say ? NDPers in drag ? Likely to vote for the Green Party if drunk enough. There were 7 entries that I couldn't categorize, some of them because I had a hard time figuring what was at all "political" about their blogs. My ignorance I guess. The Liberal Party had a sad 6 entries. If the blogosphere were reflective of actual public opinion they would be in deeper doo-doo than they already are. There was one 'libertarian'. Or maybe she was conservative. I had a hard time typing her. Then, of course, there was our heroine , the brave Mollymew, sole anarchist in the lot. Hopefully hissing and spitting her way to victory. Vote for Molly if for no other reason than to flip the bird to the parties that the others favour.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal, political parties
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
AMERICAN LABOUR/AMERICAN POLITICS:
SCROOGE OF THE YEAR CONTEST:
Speaking of contests here's another one, this one from down stateside way. the Jobs With Justice Coalition have opened nominations for their 'Scrooge of the Year'. Is there one boss or politician who stands out from the others in pure coal-hearted nastiness ? If you think you know such a one nominate him or her for the JwJ contest. (A note to my fellow Canadians- do you think we can sneak Stevie Harper in there ? ) Here's how.
╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩╩
Bah, Humbug!
Bah, Humbug!
Nominate the 2009 Scrooge of the Year:
Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an "award" to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year.
Each year, national Jobs with Justice gives an "award" to the greediest, most cold-hearted company or person of the year.
Past winners of this dubious honor include: Wal-Mart, George W.Bush, and Goodyear Tire & Rubber. National Jobs with Justice is now accepting nominations for the 2009 "Scrooge of the Year"contest. We are collecting nominations this week and will start the election on December 7th.
SUBMIT YOUR NOMINATION TODAY!
Labels: American labour, contests, holidays, Jobs With Justice, labour, Scrooge of the Year Contest
BLOGGING:
IT'S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR AGAIN...
VOTE FOR MOLLY:
Yes, it's that time of the year again, and Molly is out on the hustings, kissing hands and shaking babies (or is it the other way around?). Yes, we're talking about the annual Canadian Blog Awards, and Molly is once more nominated and in the running for 'Best Political Blog'. Last year Molly made it into the five finalists, but I placed 5th out of 5. This year I intend to hit the podium. Better than the Olympics ! Better than the Grey Cup ! Watch Molly run. Help cheer her on. Here's how...
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
If you like what we're doing here why not 'Vote for Molly'. It's simple.
A)Go to the canadian Blog Awards Site ( http://cdnba.wordpress.com ).
B)Click on the 'Vote 2009' heading in the masthead.
C)Go down the list and click 'Political'.
D)Search out 'Molly's Blog' amongst the list and give it your number 1 vote. Check out the other blogs on the list to see if you'd like to name a second,third, fourth, etc. choice.
It's that simple. It's that easy. Do it now and get a customized 'Molly Hug'.
♥!♥!♥!♥!♥!♥!♥!
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, personal, voting
Sunday, November 22, 2009
BLOGGING:
MEANWHILE ELSEWHERE IN THE BLOGOSPHERE...:
I figured I'd alert my dearly devoted fan(s?) to other neat new developments out there in Blogland. First of all Larry Gambone who has been writing great common sense anarchism for several decades now is busy moving his writings that were stored on the recently deceased Geocities site (cue funeral music) over to other places. Check out the process at the Porkupine Blog. Also Larry's recent collection of aphorisms. 'Rules to Rebel By' perhaps ?
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Also (cue drum roll please), here in Winnipeg, the throbbing, pulsating centre of the universe (whatyamean 'world class', we go for 'galactic class'), the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog has been running a series on 'Labour's November Martyrs'. Long before one section of our rulers sent young men to kill others in 1914 and the 'other side' did ditto, all over a dispute about who exactly gets to beat black and brown people over the back with a stick, November 11 was remembered in labour circles as the execution date of the Haymarket Martyrs. These were four innocent anarchist labour activists who were framed and killed on November 11 during the struggle for the 8 hour day. Their remembrance led to what is now known as 'Mayday'. Many others laid down their lives during this sad month as well. Read all about at the Winnipeg Wobbly Blog.@@@@@@@@@@
Finally, last but not least, the good folks down Ontario way at the Common Cause/Linchpin site have a new feature on their website (cue marching band music). Linchpin News is an online Twitter based newsfeed bringing the news of the class struggle fresh daily to your inbox. This one actually has great potential. There are other anarchist news sites, some of them with more sense than others, but none of them are Canadian. We need this up here in the frozen north. Another thing that I see about this new bouncing baby boy is that it extends its area of interest outside of the "anarchist movement" (with all its virtues and vices) and reports on the 'class struggle' (in the widest sense), not only when it has the big black 'A' tag on it. In the end anarchism will probably always remain the creed of a small minority, but the most important thing is whether a majority of the people begin to act in a libertarian way in practical actions to solve their problems. Check it out either at Twitter (follow it there) or at the Linchpin website. Tell 'em Molly sent you. @@@@@@@@@@
Finally a word from out sponsor (cue Mr. Clean Commercial music). Nominations for the annual Canadian Blog Awards are now closed, and, like last year, it seems that Mol
ly has been nominated in the category of "Best Political Blog". Voting will begin on November 29. Last year Molly made it into the top 5 finalists, but (weep, wail, moan, whimper) came in last of the five. This year I hope to do better. So here's the deal. When voting opens go over to the Blog Awards site and vote for Molly. You'd better do this or.... I'm going to give you the longest, most boring political lecture that has ever been given in human history. I mean it. Think I can't do it ? Just watch me. When I get going they could put that miserable sneaky prison maker Fidel, along with his slimy little brother Raoul and throw in that cheap Mussolini imitation the megalomaniac Chavez and when all three of the miserable old Stalinist coots had keeled over with massive pulmonary edema Molly would just be getting her second wind.
ly has been nominated in the category of "Best Political Blog". Voting will begin on November 29. Last year Molly made it into the top 5 finalists, but (weep, wail, moan, whimper) came in last of the five. This year I hope to do better. So here's the deal. When voting opens go over to the Blog Awards site and vote for Molly. You'd better do this or.... I'm going to give you the longest, most boring political lecture that has ever been given in human history. I mean it. Think I can't do it ? Just watch me. When I get going they could put that miserable sneaky prison maker Fidel, along with his slimy little brother Raoul and throw in that cheap Mussolini imitation the megalomaniac Chavez and when all three of the miserable old Stalinist coots had keeled over with massive pulmonary edema Molly would just be getting her second wind. Wanna avoid a fate worse than death or Sarah Palin as President ? Vote for Molly. There's no other choice. Why settle for the best when you can get the bestest best.
Labels: blogging, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, Larry Gambone, Linchpin, Porkupine Blog, Winnipeg Wobbly Blog
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:LABOUR PHOTO OF THE YEAR CONTEST:
Once again this year the online labour solidarity site Labour Start is holding their 'Labour Photo of the Year' contest. The competition has been narrowed down to 5 finalists. Go on over to the Labour Start website to view the contestants and to vote on what you think is the best. Here's the promo from labour Start.
LLLLLLLLLLLL
Vote today for the Labour Photo of the Year:
For the second year in a row, Labour Start is sponsoring the Labour Photo of the Year competition.
This year, we had nearly double the number of submissions of photos. Our panel of judges have picked a short-list of five official nominees.
All five are outstanding photos and starting today, you can help choose which one of them becomes the Labour Photo of the Year.
You can see the five photos and cast your vote here:
The photos shown on that page are just tiny thumbnails. Click on each image to see the full-size photo as well as read text about it. This opens in a separate window or tab.
Voting ends on October 31st. We'll announce the winner the following day.
Please spread the word -- pass this message on!
Labels: contests, international labour, labour, Labour Photo of the Year, Labour Start
Monday, September 21, 2009
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
LABOUR PHOTO OF THE YEAR CONTEST:
As in years past the folks over at the online labour solidarity site Labour Start are once more holding their 'Labour Photo of the Year' contest. Here's all the details.
ILILILILILILIL
Labour Photo of the Year 2009:
Last year, Labour Start sponsored the first-ever international Labour Photo of the Year competition. It was a huge success. Photographers from all over the world submitted their pictures and a panel of expert judges selected a short-list of the five best. Our readers then voted in their thousands to choose the winning photo.
Today we're very pleased to announce the second annual Labour Photo of the Year. We're doing this because we want to encourage and recognize the talents of worker-photographers around the world, and at the same time to encourage them to tell the stories of our struggles in photos. The deadline for submissions of photos is 30 September.
Full details are here:
http://www.labourstart.org/lpoty/
Please share this message with your fellow union members -- especially those with cameras! ( Well, I certainly hope it is "those with cameras". Perhaps those who can draw real fast and real good might also be eligible- Molly )
Labels: contests, international labour, labour, Labour Photo of the Year, Labour Start
Thursday, January 22, 2009
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
LABOUR START'S 'LABOUR WEBSITE OF THE YEAR' CONTEST:
Every year the online labour solidarity site Labour Start holds a contest for the best labour website of the year. This year's (2008 actually) has a short list of 12 contestants to choose from. Here's the story.
...........................
It's that time of year again – time for the Labour Website of the Year competition:
This is a competition that LabourStart has run every year since 1998.
This is a competition that LabourStart has run every year since 1998.
As trade union use of the Internet grows, the competition grows as well.
This year, we asked our readers to nominate their favorite union websites. You nominated 170 sites – nearly twice as many as the year before.
We then asked our volunteer correspondents to vote for the best ones from that list, and we now have a short-list of 12 sites – from the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Palestine, and Europe.
Today it's your turn to pick the best of those 12. Please go here to cast your vote:
http://www.labourstart.org/lwsoty/2009/
Please check out the sites that you may never have visited before. There are some fantastic resources here including three sites that have already won the website of the year competition in the past.
Voting ends on 5 February 2009.
Please encourage your friends and co-workers to vote as well. (But remember, you can only vote once!)
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And now....here are the contestants. Please go to the highlighted site above to vote.
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Vote for the Labour Website of the Year ;
Voting ends on 5 February 2009.
Here is the short-list of websites nominated by you, selected by LabourStart's volunteer correspondents. To view the website, click on the link. To vote for a site, check the box and then click on 'Next'.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review
Here is the short-list of websites nominated by you, selected by LabourStart's volunteer correspondents. To view the website, click on the link. To vote for a site, check the box and then click on 'Next'.
Anarcho-Syndicalist Review
Labels: contests, Labour Site of the Year, Labour Start
Sunday, January 11, 2009
PERSONAL:
HERE AT MOLLY'S BLOG:
I am long delayed in announcing the following, but "I didn't win" in the contest over at the Canadian Blog Awards for "best political blog". I came last of the five finalists. The winner was the Liberal blog Calgary Grit. The runner up was the Conservative Small Dead Animals. Others in third and fourth place were the non-partisan Bond Papers and Nunc Scio. Molly was actually amazed that she was nominated at all, let alone making it to the second round of voting, and she'd like to thank all who voted for her now. It is not surprising that a Liberal blog came in number one, and it is only slightly less surprising that a Conservative blog came in number 2 (though Molly wonders about whether many Conservative supporters have evolved enough to have opposable thumbs to type with). I'm sad that a non-partisan blog didn't win. yet it is totally amazing that an anarchist blog was in the running. Well, thank you once more.
I'm continuing my editing, though it may not be apparent on the surface. See later for more details.
Finally, don't forget to check out the latest at Molly's Polls...'Steven Harper Is...'. It's more or less for fun, but it has a biting point as well.
Labels: blogging, Bond papers, Calgary Grit, Canadian Blog Awards, contests, Molly's Blog, Molly's Polls, Nunc Scio, personal, Small Dead Animals
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
BLOGGING:
INTRODUCING "MOLLY'S POLLS":
If you look to the left of this page you will see a new heading..."Molly's Polls". This is the public opinion research centre of that gigantic international conglomerate Mollymew Inc.. It's also a lot of fun. Each poll there will last a week, but popular ones will be reset to keep on going. The first one is 'How do you describe yourself politically ?". I don't know if this will get much response, but toddle on over if you want you two bits worth.
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In the same vein I'll be doing my "Best Anarchist Websites of the Year" feature again this January. This time around there will be two categories, my personal choices and the public favourites. This is to announce the opening of nominations for the public choice. Please leave your ideas as a comment here. Also, I'd like to do a "Best 2008 Anarchist Story/Headline". The first choice is obvious, the events in Greece, but, once more, leave your suggestions here. I'll be bugging the readership for suggestions at regular intervals.
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One more housecleaning matter. I have finally finished separating the general links section into Canadian and other links, but there is still a long way to go before I am done the necessary editing. This is obviously going to be a very long term project.
Keep smiling, and don't forget to vote.
Labels: blogging, contests, links, Molly's Polls, polls
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
AMERICAN LABOUR:
"GRINCH OF THE YEAR"- THE WINNER IS...."WALL STREET EXECS"
The votes are in , and the results are final. The Jobs With Justice Coalition's contest for 'The Grinch of the Year' is..."Wall Street Executives". Here's the story.
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And the Winner for 2008 Grinch of the Year is...:
All of the candidates for Grinch of the Year were deserving of this year's prize, but ultimately Wall Street's unchecked corporate greed secured them the award for 2008 National Grinch of the Year. Thousands of votes were cast in this year's contest, which pitted anti-worker corporate lobbyist Richard Berman against Wall Street Executives and current US Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Wall Street won with 47% of the votes cast. Popular write-in candidates included Blue Diamond, American Airlines, United Airline, and perennial favorite and 2002 winner George W. Bush.
The 'Grinch of the Year' awards began locally with Jobs with Justice Coalitions around the country highlighting the greedy grinch in their hometowns, and that tradition continues.Union-busting Western Union edged out Mary Junck, CEO of Lee Enterprises (publisher of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch) and others in a crowded field in Missouri. In Colorado, JwJ delivered Grinch of the Year awards to Jake Jabs, CEO of American Furniture Warehouse, and Steve Ells, CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill.
Our hope is that these greedy grinches' hearts will grow 3 sizes bigger, as Dr. Seuss envisioned.
Labels: American labour, contests, Grinch of the Year Contest, Jobs With Justice, labour, Wall Street executives
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
AMERICAN LABOUR:
NOMINATIONS OPEN FOR 'GRINCH OF THE YEAR':
Nominations are now open for the 'Jobs With Justice' Grinch of the Year award. For the 7th year running the JwJ coalition is hosting the online nominations for the personage who has done the most harm to workers and their families in the past year. Here's the contest details.
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Nominate for National "Grinch of the Year":
For more than a decade, JwJ coalitions across the country have held local 'Grinch of the Year' elections to determine the most deserving greedy Grinch in their hometowns. This year, national Jobs with Justice will sponsor the seventh annual online Grinch of the Year election to determine the national figure who does the most harm to working families.
Please submit your nomination for the national Grinch of the Year by Friday, November 30th. Be sure to include a few sentences on why you think your nominee is deserving. We will be announcing the nominees and beginning the election soon!
NOMINATE YOUR FAVORITE GREEDY GRINCH HERE
Check out past winners & nominees here:
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Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this.
If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Jobs with Justice at: http://www.unionvoice.org/jobswithjustice/join.html?r=Kp_xDw7qKY32E
Labels: American labour, bosses, contests, Grinch, Grinch of the Year Contest, humour, Jobs With Justice, labour, Union Voice
Sunday, October 26, 2008
INTERNATIONAL LABOUR:
LABOUR PHOTO OF THE YEAR CONTEST ENDS ON HALLOWEEN:
The 'Labour Photo of the Year' contest sponsored by the online union solidarity site Labour Start ends this coming Friday. the contest has been narrowed to five entries, and there's still time to get your vote in. Go to THIS LINK to see the finalists and vote. Do it before the ghosties and the goblins come out.
Labels: contests, labour, Labour Photo of the Year, Labour Start
