Full Employment: The Recovery’s Missing Ingredient

Jared Bernstein and Dean Baker The Washington Post
The bargaining power of most American workers is at a historical low point. The best way to restore it is to get the economy back to full employment.

106 IDF Ex-Generals, Spy Chiefs Urge New Peace Bid

J.J. Goldberg Jewish Daily Forward
In what appears to be the largest-ever joint protest by senior Israeli security personnel, a group of 106 retired generals, Mossad directors and national police commissioners has signed a letter to PM Netanyahu urging him to “initiate a diplomatic process” based on a regional framework. Retired generals have occasionally made joint statements in the past, but never in such numbers and rarely on political matters that aren’t directly related to army business.

Friday Nite Videos -- Feb 7, 2014

Portside
Portrait of a Haitian Graffiti Artist. What Did You Learn in School Today? Where Have All the Flowers Gone? Woody Guthrie Sez What Songs He Hates.

Jerry: A Portrait of a Graffiti Artist

In January 2014, Nomadic Wax released a new short on the Port-au-Prince-based graffiti artist, Jerry Moise Rosembert to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the Haitian earthquake. 
 

What Did You Learn in School Today?

Pete Seeger sings Tom Paxton's song live on the "Tonight In Person" Show (1964). 
 
I learned that Washington never told a lie.
I learned that soldiers seldom die.
I learned that everybody's free.
And that's what the teacher said to me.
That's what I learned in school today.
That's what I learned in school.
 

Where Have All the Flowers Gone?

Perhaps Pete Seeger's best known song, composed shortly before Pete was cited for contempt of Congress in 1956 (373 to 9) for refusal to cooperate with HUAC. Pete and Arlo Guthrie here perform it live at Wolftrap. Where Have All the Flowers Gone has been performed in at least 25 languages.

Woody Guthrie Sez What Songs He Hates

Woody Guthrie's declaration about songs that tear people down, and songs that give people strength. Studs Terkel with Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Arlo Guthrie, and Fred Hellerman. An excerpt from a 1976 PBS tribute to Woody Guthrie.

Jumpstarting the Vote in North Carolina

Chris Kromm Institute for Southern Studies
Operation Jumpstart plans to carry out a thousand "projects" across North Carolina by Election Day: trainings, forums and other outreach to people and groups needing help to navigate the state's bewildering -- and potentially intimidating -- laws that aim to restrict voting rights.