I've been very busy and remiss in discussing the March issue of Common Sense2, a progressive ezine based in Pennsylvania. The March issue is, again, filled with interesting articles.
"All About Target" by Brenda Koehler discusses Target's questionable hiring practices and the fact they are building a new store in Berks County without local union labor. An excerpt:
"Target has refused to take any bids from local contractors, either union or non-union, to build its new Muhlenberg Township store, except for the initial site work, which was done by non-union masons. Rumor is that it plans to outsource this labor to people from more depressed regions of the country who will work for less money. Although the last Target in Spring Township was built entirely by Berks County labor, the corporate retailer may now be feeling confident enough to begin shedding its accommodating disguise and revealing its true identity."
The "Unsung Hero" spotlight this month shines on Dorothy Reilly, a tireless advocate for peace and justice. Some of the interview:
"
CS2: How about the positive rewards of activism?
Dorothy: The people you meet. That’s the only thing. I have said this before and I’ll say it again. There’s one thing I toast George Bush for. I really hated living here, and I’ve been here 33 years. I’ve always hated it. I had a few friends here, but I found this place to be very provincial coming from New York City. It was always backward. New ideas were never welcome. So I was not welcome. But since August of ‘02 I have made wonderful friends. They’ll be lifelong friends. With depth. Around here people think their best friends are acquaintances. Because what happens when you meet people in this movement, you start in the middle. You know, like when you meet somebody for the first time. Hi, how are you? Where are you from? But it takes a while to learn someone’s values, whether you click with those values, whether you are really going to be friends. Well, here you start out in the middle of that whole process because you know that your innate values, the things that are totally important to you, you have in common. So you already are friends. Because the most important things you have in common. It’s interesting, though, because you get to be friends very quickly. Some of them are so crazy (laughing) and some of them would say that about me probably."
There is also an updated list of those state legislators supporting our single payer, universal health care bill in Harrisburg. Leslie Welch has an article about the trials and tribulations of having an autistic child. Kathleen Welch talks about "What's Happening In India:"
"All the judgment and persecution that has occurred down through the ages might arguably be attributed to the presumptions that my perspective is right; that I need this perspective as a matter of survival to prevail against my own highly objectionable primordial nature; that your perspective threatens mine, and therefore threatens my survival; and that I’m therefore obliged to fix or kill you to save myself."