Portside

REWIND - A Week of Quotes and Cartoons

SUNDAY

Quote of the Day
January 19, 2014

'Occasionally David Brooks*, who personifies the
oxymoron "conservative thinker" better than anyone
I know, displays such profound ignorance that a
rejoinder is necessary lest his illogic permanently
pollute public debate. Such is the case with his New
York Times column last Friday, arguing that we
should be focusing on the "interrelated social
problems of the poor" rather than on inequality, and
that the two are fundamentally distinct.

'Baloney.'

Robert Reich
blog
January 18, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

Google U
The Strip -  Brian McFadden
New York Times
 

MONDAY

Quote of the Day

'It was controversial, but controversy wasn't
something he shunned; controversy became the
system through which disagreement and debate
could be heard. He was comfortable with that. He
welcomed it. That aspect of his history is never
really discussed.

'... The vested interests don't want us speaking of
Dr. King in radical terms. The great tragedy and
irony of it all is that the public hungers for voices
that are driven more by these moral concerns.'

Singer and activist Harry Belafonte
on Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s
turn against the war in Southeast
Asia and toward  cross-racial,
anti-poverty organizing

Salon
January 20, 2014

Toon of the Day

Looking
Joel Pett
 

TUESDAY

Quote of the Day

'In developed and developing countries alike, we are
increasingly living in a world where the lowest tax
rates, the best health and education and the
opportunity to influence are being given not just to
the rich but also to their children.

'Without a concerted effort to tackle inequality, the
cascade of privilege and of disadvantage will
continue down the generations. We will soon live in
a world where equality of opportunity is just a
dream.'

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Oxfam

January 21, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

Rob Rogers
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
 

WEDNESDAY

Quote of the Day

"I worked for 26 years; I lost my job through no fault
of my own. This is what I get?'

Alnetta McKnight, of Riegelwood, N.C.,
who lost her job as a security guard
in last June and whose jobless
payments have  run out and now,
with her 14-year old son, is living
on close to nothing.

Last July, the state sharply cut
its unemployment program,
reducing the maximum number
of weeks of benefits to 20 from
73 and cutting the maximum
weekly benefit as well.

New York Times
January 22, 2014

Toon of the Day

Wolves
Jeff Danziger
 

THURSDAY

Quote of the Day

'What is ultimately required is an absolute
guarantee of the right to vote and the right to have
that vote counted. That affirmation should be added
to the United States Constitution, in an amendment
along the lines of the one proposed last year by
Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minnesota, and
Congressman Mark Pocan, D-Wisconsin.

'Supported by groups such as FairVote and Color of
Change, the Ellison-Pocan "Right to Vote"
amendment simply declares:

    SECTION 1: Every citizen of the United States,
    who is of legal voting age, shall have the
    fundamental right to vote in any public election
    held in the jurisdiction in which the citizen
    resides.

    SECTION 2: Congress shall have the power to
    enforce and implement this article by appropriate
    legislation.

'These are proper benchmarks. When the right to
vote is guaranteed, when it is constitutionally
established as fundamental, that is a strong place of
beginning for establishing the infrastructure of
genuinely functional and genuinely representative
democracy.'

Journalist John Nichols
The Nation
January 22, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

World Inequality
Stuart Carlson
 

FRIDAY

Quote of the Day

'First of all, jobs and inequality are closely linked if
not identical issues. There's a pretty good although
not ironclad case that soaring inequality helped set
the stage for our economic crisis, and that the
highly unequal distribution of income since the
crisis has perpetuated the slump, especially by
making it hard for families in debt to work their way
out.

'Moreover, there's an even stronger case to be made
that high unemployment - by destroying workers'
bargaining power - has become a major source of
rising inequality and stagnating incomes even for
those lucky enough to have jobs.'

Economist Paul Krugman
New York Times
January 24, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

Trump
Jimmy Margulies
 

SATURDAY

Quote of the Day

'Call it a tale of two sides of the capitalist system:
JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon got $20
million for being CEO in 2013; each Oakland
Raiderette got $1,250 for kicking up her heels in the
same year.

'The Raiderettes are suing; presumably, Dimon is
smiling - all the way to the bank.

'True, the Raiders had another lousy year in 2013,
though I'm not sure how much blame can be put on
the cheerleaders. But as Forbes' Halah Touryalai
wrote about our banker friend: "Despite what was
arguably the bank's worst year under Dimon's reign,
JPM's board is awarding the CEO a 74% raise which
includes over $18 million in restricted stock."

'Or, to quote a Raiderette: "Sis, boom, boooooooo".'

Journalist Paul Whitefield
Los Angeles Times
January 25, 2014
 

Toon of the Day

Don't Ask
Pat Oliphant