Raise it Up

(Today's picture courtesy of the Associated Press: Members of the Tamil Tigers marching in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government has hemmed in 250,000 members of the ethnic separatist group and civilians to the northeastern corner of the island. The Sri Lankan government refuses to allow journalists and aid workers access to the front lines (or it just murders them), and the UN is helping solve the crisis by pointing fingers at everybody).


It can't get any more gloomy in America (we lost, what, 70,000 jobs on Monday?), but people everywhere are rallying against "The Man". "The Man" has always been around, but only Nation of Islam members and Rastafarians really complained about him. Now, "The Man" is like Dick Feld, the infamous Lehman Brothers CEO who was punched in the face in the company gym. And EVERYBODY hates him. You want to talk about uniting America? We think hedge fund bankers will do more for fostering a spirit of bipartisanship in this country than Obama ever could, especially if we lose another 2 million jobs because of this credit-default swap nonsense.
Today's Not A Blog will celebrate people everywhere sticking it to The Man. You should too.



(AP Photo by Haraz N. Ghanbari)

Lilly Ledbetter decided to fight The Man after more than 20 years working for way less money than the other male supervisors at an Alabama Goodyear plant. She took it to court, but the (totally non-partisan) Supreme Court ultimately ruled Lilly only had six months after her first paycheck was issued to sue for discrimination. Read Ruth Bader Ginsburg's minority opinion here. Obama signed a law today remedying THAT problem, even though Lilly is never going to get the money she is owed. Read Gail Collins' editorial here. Sam Dealey argues the Ledbetter Law is bad, because, like, what if every discriminated woman wants to sue for unequal pay? We can't afford that! We would like to further the equal rights debate by noting there are really no good articles on Lilly Ledbetter in today's papers. Clearly, the fight for equal press continues.

We are not exactly Big & Rich fans here at Not A Blog. But the country group's John Rich has a new song called "Shuttin' Detroit Down". We have to say, we're having a Woody Guthrie moment with this one, though we regret to report Cowboy Troy did NOT contribute a rap verse.

"Well, pardon me if I don't shed a tear
'Cause they're selling make believe, and we don't buy that here
'Cause, in the real world, they're shutting Detroit down
While the boss man takes his bonus-paid jets on out of town..."

(The Daily Telegraph: Strike in Lyon)

Paris strikes! The nation is crippled as 3/4 of the French decide to stay home and watch reruns of "Golden Girls" until Sarkozy comes to his senses and creates a stimulus plan.
Maybe now is the time for setting aside the tensions between the French and the Americans. After all, doesn't this sound familiar?

"There is a general feeling here of injustice, that the ordinary man on the street is paying for the greed of those in the financial sector."
Vive la revolution!


We don't like to quote the NY Times Opinion Page twice in one post...but Maureen Dowd says "Off with their heads!" Music to our ears!

To make you smile: An unnamed Virgin passenger completely bitches out Richard Branson on what appears to be an already digested Indian airline tray served to him on the Mumbai to Heathrow flight...It's not tuna fish, it's tuna sea kitten! Or so says PETA... The Economist chronicles PETA's aquatic obsession here....Philisophical thought from ESPN's Page 2 on the lost meaning in Super Bowl ads...Daniel Gross compares bankers to those vomiting dead girls in The Sixth Sense...

Baloney: Is Joaquin Phoenix's new rap career just a Borat-style mockumentary? Maybe. Is it inherently racist, as The Root argues? We guess so, if you also think Spinal Tap was an act of oppression aimed at silencing hair bands everywhere.