Why Waiters Don't Start Unions

I have been reading Down and Out in Paris and London, by George Orwell, and while not his most famous work, by a long shot, it is still amazing. This afternoon, reflecting on class, Presidential elections and the inequality that is rampant down here in Brazil, and becomes more and more common in the richest country in the world (our beloved US and A), I thought I would share a tiny bit of this phenomenal book with you, my cherished reader.

"The moral is, never be sorry for a waiter. Sometimes when you sit in a restaurant, still stuffing yourself half an hour after closing time, you feel that the tired waiter at your side must surely be despising you. But he is not. He is not thinking as he looks at you, 'What an overfed lout'; he is thinking, 'One day, when I have saved enough money, I shall be able to imitate that man.' He is ministering to a kind of pleasure he thoroughly understands and admires. And that is why waiters are seldom Socialists, have no effective trade unions, and will work twelve hours a day--they work fifteen hours, seven days a week, in many cafes. They are snobs, and they find the servile nature of their work congenial."

I worked at the Central Park Boathouse restaurant for a month, and it was one of the worst jobs of my life. Orwell is completely right. I have never felt more servile, and was treated with arrogance by the biggest slaves of all in the restaurant business, the waiters. Of course, compared to the goon of an owner of that hell-hole, they were angels.

women for barack obama

ok, a few days past super tuesday but check out this clip, women for barack obama rally, and listen to samantha power (pulitzer prize winner and barack's foreign policy advisor) inspire the crowd.

This is Leadership

Chris Dodd seems as pissed off as we are. Sign on with your support for Chris Dodd's FISA Hold. Senator Reid, the leader of the Democrats says he will ignore Dodd's concern. And Obama and H. Clinton waffle on the sidelines.

Cornel West, To Be A Leftist Part III

Click here for Part I and Part II

For the People of Which It Stands

There are days when I really do feel proud to be an American. They usually happen when I read about someone like the man in the picture above, Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski. I have been living in Brazil for the last three and a half years, and it truly saddens me to know that the minimum monthly salary here is about $180 a month but a Congressman makes about $6000 a month, and a federal judge about $10,000 a month. The majority of politicians have no idea what it is like to worry about bills, or just having enough to eat. They have chauffeurs, personal trainers, security details, and live in the lap of luxury. And they have the audacity to say that they represent "the people."

The governor of Oregon took and is taking his position to heart. He has led a movement, taken up by some others in Congress, to live on the allocated food stamps amount: $21 a week. DailyKos, another reason I am proud to be American, wrote up some of the lessons learned by a Kulongoski disciple, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan. The highlight of Ryan's week long journal was when he checked in at the airport and the security guard held onto his peanut butter and jelly. He realized that he had almost no money and had lost 4 meals with the confiscation.

Sometimes, the distance between the Third-World and the US is not so distant after all. As the DailyKos blog notes, inflation keeps going up, and the minimum wage has not increased in ten years. At least some politicians are trying to feel the actual pain felt by the richest country's poor and neglected. Hopefully more will follow. It would be nice if a few would do the same in Brazil, but I doubt that will happen any day soon.