Creedence Clearwater Revival: Fortunate Son

Some folks are born 
made to wave the flag
Ooh, they're red white and blue

It ain't me, it ain't me
I ain't no senator's son

This Vietnam wartime song (1969) puts a spotlight on the unequal sacrifices hidden by patriotic spouting.
 

Los Lobos: One Time, One Night

A quiet voice is singing something to me
An age old song 'bout the brave in this land here of the free,
One time one night in America

Each Los Lobos verse is a tiny tragic chapter in the story of America. Full lyrics here.

Supreme Court Rules Disadvantaged Workers Should Be Disadvantaged Some More

Harold Meyerson The American Prospect
Even without repealing Abood, today’s court decision is plenty catastrophic. It will put financial limits on unions’ campaigns to organize two of the fastest-growing categories of American workers—those who care for the elderly and the sick, and those who care for small children

Walter Dean Myers, Children's Author, Dies at 76

Felicia R. Lee The New York Times
Walter Dean Myers was lauded for his work, which often centered on young black people struggling in tough environments. Myers, a best-selling children's book author whose crystalline prose often depicted the gritty lives of young people, died on Tuesday in Manhattan.

Is There a Ma Joad for the Piketty Era?

Katie Baker Daily Beast
In the 75 years since novelist John Steinbeck published his masterpiece about the Okie migration, the towering Ma Joad has faded from archetype to anachronism. Ever since Steinbeck published his opus on the plight of the Dust Bowl migrants in 1939, readers have warmed to Ma as a paragon of folksy integrity - "an unforgettably vigorous figure, like Mother Courage without the corruption or rapacity," - and, more recently, praised her as a feminist icon...

Tidbits - July 3, 2014

Portside
Reader Comments - Detroit denied water access; Whither the Socialist Left? Round 2; Dead Young Men: Mississippi, Israel, Palestine; Music Changes the Way You Think; Whole Foods Busts Unions; SCOTUS; Harris v. Quinn; Education - Obama's Failed Approach; Karl Marx Is Making a Comeback; Verify Nuclear Weapons-With Math; Ruby Dee; Friday Nite Videos

Six Groups That Are Reinventing Organized Labor

Josh Israel ThinkProgress
Through workers associations, work centers, and “alt-labor” groups, millions of workers — along with part-time workers, temporary workers, and those who work for employers that have no union — are using new tactics to fight against that inequality of bargaining power. The groups are not competing with traditional unions, but rather working alongside them and in tandem.