Archive for February 13th, 2007
February 13th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Do you really need us to suggest checking out the best of the best — the New York Times and Wall Street Journal and Washington Times and Chicago Tribune and L.A. Times and St. Petersburg Times? We thought not. So make some progress, baby, and allows us to make a trio of recommendations:
1. Your local newspaper or papers rock in their own local way. This probably falls under the category of “Duh,” but humor us. To help progressive causes, reading your local papers seems key to us. If you can’t afford a subscription, most papers have websites these days with the majority of the content available online. Because we’ll be suggesting typing up letters to the editor on specific subjects, an awareness of the style and content of the opinion page in your hometown Picayune, Chronicle, Journal, Post, Echo, Gazette, News, Observer, Herald (you get the idea) will help.
2. Getting a flavor for other areas of the country seems like a good move to us; we read parts of five newspapers each day to find interesting progressive news for y’all (and us, too). Maybe read a few articles online from one newspaper not from your time zone. Here’s one we give mad props from each general area of the country:
There’s always a special place in our hearts for the Buffalo News, Niagara Gazette, Niagara Falls Reporter, and Art Voice — the four newspapers available in Western New York. So, if you’re pining for the 411 of our rather snow-soaked area, check those suckers out.
3. You might be wondering: Where, pray tell, might I find a rather complete list of newspapers throughout this red, white and blue land of ours? Well, my friend, the website 50 States, in addition to cataloguing the various state birds, mottos, and trees, also has an exhaustive compilation of the places where you can find the news that’s fit (and sometimes, you know, rather unfit) to print. Check it here.
*
One last thing: please, please, please feel free to forward us links to interesting articles and snippets that demonstrate progressive successes through our Contact page. We appreciate it big time in advance.
1 We of the Blizzard of ’77 hear that the Southwest has a “dry heat.–
February 13th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
Okay, so we're not big fans of Wal-Mart. No secret there. They're big, they put small businesses under, they pay rock-bottom wages, they cost taxpayer billions, they violate hundreds of labor laws every day, they rent their own buildings to themselves to cheat having to pay as much in taxes, and they are developing a giant robot to travel around the country demolishing all of their competitors (that last one is unconfirmed). They also discriminate based on gender, and now they're being called on it with the largest class action lawsuit in history.
On June 22nd, 2004 a judge certified a national class action lawsuit and now, according to the official website’s press release:
U.S. District Court Judge Martin Jenkins ruled that six current and former Wal-Mart employees from California may represent all female employees of Wal-Mart who worked at its U.S. stores anytime since December 26, 1998
The suit charges that Wal-Mart discriminates against its female retail employees in pay and promotions. The class in this case includes more than 1.6 million current and former female employees of Wal-Mart retail stores in America, including Wal-Mart discount stores, super centers, neighborhood stores, and Sam's Clubs.
While we don't support frivolous lawsuits, this is hardly the case here. Wal-Mart is a corporation and corporations will only do what is best for their bottom line. If there is no threat of profit loss, women will continue to be overlooked, tax loopholes exploited, the environment destroyed, and that robot– ¦
To learn more about Progressive Wednesday, just click here, here, or here.
February 13th, 2007 by Progressive Wednesday
John Stuart was born and raised in a suburb of Niagara Falls, New York. He attended a vocational program during high school, and specialized in CNC Machining. As a member of SkillsUSA, John won the gold medal for automated manufacturing technology at the national skills competition in Kansas City. He even has his own billboard dedicated to him.
John is currently attending Niagara County Community College, majoring in criminal justice. One day he hopes to become a private investigator. John works part-time at a gas station, and he spends his summers slinging drinks as bartender at Artpark, a New York State Park for the visual and performing arts. In his free time, John enjoys being a computer nerd. He also digs photography and just about anything that keeps him entertained.
February 13th, 2007 by Matt
I’m willing to wager, dollars to donuts, that you’ve heard of the Do Not Call Registry. And if you’ve heard of it, I’m also betting you’ve signed up. If you haven’t, do it, baby. You want telemarketers to leave you alone? This free government service is for you.
So that’ll take care of that thing that rings, waking the cat sleeping on your lap, who, as he or she leaps away suddenly terrified, only scratches the hell out of your leg if you’re lucky.
What about junk mail, those Wal-Mart fliers and grocery coupons, a googolplex of new credit card offers and one too many Publisher’s Clearinghouse promises of riches? Well, we may have stumbled on an answer.
Green Dimes is a service that gets your name and address off junk mail lists. You read that right: no more junk mail. By stopping the annoyance that is a mailbox full of useless crap, you in turn save, quite literally, forests full of trees. There is a hitch, though: it costs you one dime each day. That’s it: 365 FDR heads. (Sorry, I made it sounds a hell of a lot more morbid than it is.) That’s 36 smackers a year. That’s six trips to fast-food joints (and, c’mon, we all know we should at least cut back our McMeals by at least six each year).
But Green Dimes (you can read more about Green Dimes and similar services in this Newsweek article) is more than a junk-mail prevention service: they’re true conservationists. In association with Trees for the Future, Green Dimes “[sponsors] tree planting on behalf of [its] members.”
So let’s break this down old school:
- Save some trees.
- Plant some trees.
- Spend next to nothing.
- Stop getting junkmail.
Another fantastic service is 41 Pounds, which does almost the same thing as Green Dimes, except half of their profits go to nonprofit organizations. An additional benefit of 41 Pounds is that they promise to keep 80% to 95% of your bulk mail away for 5 years.
Whichever one you go with, go with one: your mailbox will thank you. (Please note: your mailbox is an inanimate object and will not in fact thank you; we’re not all-out looney, okay?)
To learn more about Progressive Wednesday, just click here, here, or here.
Make this your homepage 
Add this to your favorites