Save the Earth—Eat a Conservative White Guy

A new study indicates that Conservative White Males (CWMs) are far more likely to deny climate change than the rest of us. Here are some of the findings from on analysis of Gallup surveys from 2000 to 2010:

• Only 14% of the general public “doesn’t worry about climate change at all,” but 39% of CWMs don’t worry about it
• 32% of adults deny there is a scientific consensus on climate change, yet 59% of CWMs deny the scientific facts.
• 30% of adults don’t believe that recent global temperature increases are primarily caused by human activity, but 60% CWMs feel that way.

Some other reasons why eating CWMs instead of a vegan diet is better for the planet:

• CWMs tend to support deregulation of business, which increase environmental damage, pollution and workplace injuries
• CWMs like to drive gas guzzling trucks and Hummers
• CWMs support an expanded military, which is perhaps the single most polluting sector of the government
• CWMs eat a lot of meat, which uses up to 10 times more water than vegetables and releases considerable amounts of greenhouse gases
• CWMs love expensive plastic toys imported from distant lands with large carbon footprints

Today in Labor History—August 3

August 3, 1821 -- Uriah Stephens, founder of the Knights of Labor, was born in Cape May, New Jersey (1821-1882). (From the Daily Bleed)

August 3, 1886 – Labor activist and song writer Florence Reece was born. She had been active in Harlan County, Kentucky coal strikes and penned the famed labor song "Which Side Are You On?" The song was written in 1931 on an old wall calendar while Sheriff J.H. Blair was searching for her husband and ransacking her home. Blair had led his gang of thugs on a violent rampage, beating and murdering union leaders.

They say in Harlan Co.
There are no neutrals there
You'll either be a Union man
Or a thug for J.H. Blair.

Which side are you on?
Which side are you on?

(From the Daily Bleed)

August 3, 1894 – The Pullman strike was called off by the railway union after US troops intervened. (From the Daily Bleed)

Cavalry used against striking Pullman workers

 August 3, 1913 – Four died in the so-called "Wheatland riots" when police fired into a crowd of California farmworkers trying to organize for better working conditions. Two labor leaders, one of whom was not even present at the massacre, were later convicted of murder for encouraging workers to organize, which forced officials to shoot and kill. Conditions were terrible with no water for the workers, who routinely contracted dysentery, malaria and typhoid fever. When the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) had struck at the Durst hops farms in Wheatland, California, armed county officials fired on a union meeting. An ensuing gun fight left four dead, including the district attorney & sheriff.  (From the Daily Bleed)

August 3, 1949 – United Auto Workers (UAW) Local 893 won a strike at Vought. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 3, 1972 – The British government declared a state of emergency to allow troops to replace striking longshoremen, forcing Britain's 42,000 striking dock workers back to work. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 3, 1981 – U.S. federal air traffic controllers began a nationwide strike after their union, PATCO, rejected the government's final contract offer. Most of the 13,000 strikers ignored orders to go back to work and were fired on August 5 by President Reagan for participating in an illegal work stoppage. Reagan's action – and the inability of the labor movement to respond to the crisis – led to the rapid downhill spiral of unions. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—August 2

August 2, 1867 - Sixty striking miners were wounded by police in Scranton, Pennsylvania. (From Workday Minnesota)

Today in Labor History—August 1

Frank Little, IWW Organizer

August 1, 1917 – IWW organizer Frank Little was lynched in Butte, Montana. Little, a Native American, was kidnapped from his home by six Anaconda Copper Company thugs, dragged by a car and hanged from a railroad trestle. (From Workday Minnesota)

Striking miners display a bomb dropped by anti-union sheriff Don Chafin

August 1, 1921 – Sheriff Sid Hatfield and Ed Chambers were murdered by Baldwin-Feltz private cops their part in the Matewan labor battle in 1920, when two Feltz family thugs were killed by Hatfield and his deputies. They were executed on the Welch County court house steps in front of their wives. This led to the Battle of Blair Mountain, where 20,000 coal miners marched to the anti-union stronghold Logan County to overthrow Sheriff Dan Chaffin, the coal company tyrant who murdered miners with impunity. The Battle of Blair Mountain started in September 1921. Coal company thugs dropped bombs on the miners from planes on September 2. (From the Daily Bleed)

August 1, 1938 - Police opened fire on 200 unarmed trade unionists protesting the unloading of a ship in Hilo Harbor, on the Big Island of Hawaii, in what became known as "the Hilo Massacre." The protest was in support of striking waterfront workers. 50 workers were injured. Police also used tear gas and bayonets. (From Workday Minnesota and the Daily Bleed)