Labor Day #238
by Hank Silverberg
Labor Day 2022. It's still sizzling hot in many parts of the country and with climate change now apparent to almost everyone (except maybe the GOP), it's clear some things will have to change.
Labor Day used to mark the unofficial end of summer. Kids were going back to school, the leaves were starting to turn colors, the warm pleasant days of swimming, boating and gardening were turning into cool nights on the porch. There was the anticipation of the broadcast TV networks starting their seasons off with new adventures on "Must See TV" or fresh episodes of old favorites.
It was time to plan that trip up to Skyline Drive or the Catskills to see the foliage and get ready for the World Series and the NFL season. Labor Day also used to be the day political campaigns began their big push towards the November election.
But these days many children head back to school in August, the temperatures stay in the 80's or even 90's at night, there is too much overlap between playoff baseball and early season football and "streaming" has taken away the excitement of a new TV season.
And the election season? Well, it never seems to end, so there is no big push after Labor Day. There's just more of the same vitriolic rhetoric that highlights the divisiveness of our national debate.
Labor Day is no longer the unofficial end of summer.
Many of us did get a long weekend to recharge before fall, which always seems to be the busiest time of the year. That did not change.
Why all the nostalgia? It's just to remind us that Labor Day was set up to honor those Americans who have always worked hard and played by the rules instead of those who break the rules and exploit the working class for their own political or personal gain.
Some in powerful positions seem to be attacking those who actually work for a living more and attempting to rid us of the safety net created over the last century through sweat and political activism.
1) The 40-hour work week (though this is being abused more and more these days).
2) Safety in the workplace for the most part.
3) No child labor in the United States (think about this when you buy anything made in China or any other countries which exploit the young).
4) The right to organize and fight for higher wages though still under assault from time to time in so-called "Right to Work " states.
5) Paid vacation
6) Paid sick leave
7) Maternity leave
8) And the biggest one, minimum wage.
Sure, Labor Unions have their faults, especially the big ones who are sometimes less responsive to their members than the companies they battle. But be grateful to those early 20th century labor union organizers who made life better for the working class, in many cases helping the every-day worker become middle class.
Give those activists a toast with a hot dog and beer this Labor Day. Don't forget about them on your Tuesday morning commute, whether it be on the highway or the computer chair. Don't let those in power steal what was gained the hard way.
A House Divided
There is little debate right now that America is in a
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But how bad is it? Are we headed for more violence like we saw on January 6th, 2021?
A new poll from YouGov and The Economist shows two in five Americans believe a civil war is at least "somewhat likely" in the next decade. About 14% said it is "very likely" and among Republicans that number jumps to 21%.
Only 35% of those surveyed said it was "not likely or not "very likely".
And a big majority (66%) believe things are getting worse.
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Americans expect political divisions and political violence to increase over the next few years
See more deailed results here: https://today.yougov.com/topics/politics/articles-reports/2022/08/26/two-in-five-americans-civil-war-somewhat-likely
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Three in five Americans (60%) also believe there will be an increase in political violence in the next few years, while only 9% think it will decline.
These are startling statistics when you think about them.
To The Moon and Beyond
"We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. "
--JFK, September 12,1962
President Kennedy's famous "Moon" speech came at the height of the Cold War at a time when the United States was in a space race with the Soviet Union and going to the moon was not just about science.
He gave NASA a decade to do it, though he did not live to see the biggest triumph. The first landing of Apollo 11 on the lunar surface was on July 16, 1969, and six lunar excursion missions followed.
(One other, Apollo 13, was supposed to land, but an explosion on board kept it from that mission and produced the now famous and heroic effort by NASA that saved the three astronauts on board.)
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| (Apollo 17 astronaut on the Moon, courtesy of NASA) |
It was a shortsighted decision. Now, 50 years later, with climate change having its first big impacts, the United States is headed back to the Moon. In terms of space exploration, 50 years is a short period of time, less than one generation. But we may have lost some valuable time in the last half century.
Saturday's launch of the Artemis 1 space craft was delayed because of the type of technical problem, a fuel leak, that plagued the early days of space travel decades ago. (In Greek mythology, Artemis was
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| (Artemis 1 on launch pad, courtesy NASA) |
Apollo's sister.) The mission has been set back a number of times. The launch window, the best and shortest route to the Moon determined by the orbit of the Earth and the Moon, won't open again until September 19th. It's not clear if NASA will have the problem fixed by then, so the launch may not occur until late October.
This unmanned $4.1 billion mission is designed to test the new SLS rocket, with the hope of eventually putting men on the Moon once again, this time to spend weeks at a time there as a training ground for an eventual mission to Mars a decade from now.
https://news.yahoo.com/nasa-fuels-moon-rocket-weeks-110132349.html
The mission is no longer about the Cold War, though there is still a political threat, this time from China.
Artemis may be the first step in saving our planet, which is possibly now polluted beyond repair, and preventing the destruction of the human race.
Dumbest Quote of The Week!
For the first time in 238 weeks of writing this blog, the only one I could find came from Donald J. Trump, but I never want to quote him on anything again, so I looked elsewhere. I could not find one. I would like to think that is evidence that politics is getting more civil, and people are thinking again before they speak. But I know I just wasn't paying close enough attention. I am sure this feature will return next week.
:)
(Your suggestions and comments are welcome)
(My book "The Campaign" can be purchased at the links below. Or you can buy a copy by emailing me at:
HankSilverberg@gmail.com for instructions on how to get a copy at a reduced price and with my signature.)
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B084Q7K6M5/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-campaign-hank-silverberg/1126429796
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