Around this time every year, it behooves prog blogs to remind their readers of the radical origins of Mother’s Day. The first Mother’s Day was proclaimed in 1870 by Julia Ward Howe, author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic. She had spent the aftermath of the Civil War dealing with orphans and wounded veterans and saw that war had long-term impacts on people’s lives. She proclaimed the first Mother’s Day in 1870 as a response to the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian...
Read moreThe University of Kentucky press just released their catalogue for Fall 2012. You can peruse their pdf catalogue yourself, but three books stuck out as particularly interesting for progressives. First, big time black feminist bell hooks (who happens to be from Hopkinsville and teach at Berea College) has a book of poetry coming called Appalachian Elegy: Poetry and Place. Next there’s a book by University of Cincinnati Africana Studies professor Nikki M. Taylor about Cincinnati-based...
Read moreSo remember last year when Steve Beshear told us he was going to save the state between $365 million and $375 million dollars by switching the Commonwealth’s 800,000 Medicaid recipients into a private, managed care system?* Well, now we’re really reaping the benefits of having the same health insurance companies that are the bane of doctors and patients everywhere run our Medicaid reimbursement system. Recently Coventry Cares, one of the three companies that our Medicaid system...
Read moreOkay, so this mostly for the lulz, but in process of proclaiming his solidarity with workers in all countries, Joey DeFrancesco (of Joey Quits! fame) does a good job of explaining what May Day is all about. You can read more about his Serbian adventures over at his tumblr. Meanwhile Occupy protestors have been taking to the streets today to revitalize their movement and celebrate the proud history of International Workers Day.
The amount of student debt has been more than the amount of consumer credit card debt for a while now and, in case you missed it, as of Wednesday the amount of student debt in the country is estimated to be at a trillion dollars. Student debt is the most pernicious form of debt because you can’t discharge it in bankruptcy. You’re a slave for life. Victims of the student debt crisis across the country referred to Wednesday as 1T Day and had protests calling for a cancellation...
Read more
