Happy International workers day!

Today is May Day or International workers day it is a day to celebrate our rights as employees and protest those corporate CEO's that make millions and do nothing.

Most people living in the United States know little about the International Workers' Day or May Day. For many others there is an assumption that it is a holiday celebrated in state communist countries like Cuba or the former Soviet Union. Most Americans don't realize that May Day has its origins here in this country and is as "American" as baseball and apple pie, and stemmed from the pre-Christian holiday of Beltane, a celebration of rebirth and fertility.

In the late nineteenth century, the working class was in constant struggle to gain the 8-hour work day. Working conditions were severe and it was quite common to work 10 to 16 hour days in unsafe conditions. Death and injury were commonplace at many work places and inspired such books as Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and Jack London's The Iron Heel. As early as the 1860's, working people agitated to shorten the workday without a cut in pay, but it wasn't until the late 1880's that organized labor was able to garner enough strength to declare the 8-hour workday. This proclamation was without consent of employers, yet demanded by many of the working class
On May 1, 1886, more than 300,000 workers in 13,000 businesses across the United States walked off their jobs in the first May Day celebration in history. In Chicago, the epicenter for the 8-hour day agitators, 40,000 went out on strike with the anarchists in the forefront of the public's eye. With their fiery speeches and revolutionary ideology of direct action, anarchists and anarchism became respected and embraced by the working people and despised by the capitalists.

The names of many - Albert Parsons, Johann Most, August Spies and Louis Lingg - became household words in Chicago and throughout the country. Parades, bands and tens of thousands of demonstrators in the streets exemplified the workers' strength and unity, yet didn't become violent as the newspapers and authorities predicted.

More and more workers continued to walk off their jobs until the numbers swelled to nearly 100,000, yet peace prevailed. It was not until two days later, May 3, 1886, that violence broke out at the McCormick Reaper Works between police and strikers.

For six months, armed Pinkerton agents and the police harassed and beat locked-out steelworkers as they picketed. Most of these workers belonged to the "anarchist-dominated" Metal Workers' Union. During a speech near the McCormick plant, some two hundred demonstrators joined the steelworkers on the picket line. Beatings with police clubs escalated into rock throwing by the strikers which the police responded to with gunfire. At least two strikers were killed and an unknown number were wounded.

Truly, history has a lot to teach us about the roots of our radicalism. When we remember that people were shot so we could have the 8-hour day; if we acknowledge that homes with families in them were burned to the ground so we could have Saturday as part of the weekend; when we recall 8-year old victims of industrial accidents who marched in the streets protesting working conditions and child labor only to be beat down by the police and company thugs, we understand that our current condition cannot be taken for granted - people fought for the rights and dignities we enjoy today, and there is still a lot more to fight for. The sacrifices of so many people can not be forgotten or we'll end up fighting for those same gains all over again.
This is why I say we should celbrate May Day.

Introducing Tino , Nates Soccer Coach

Acquired
RSL: Selected in the second round (17th overall) of the 2008 MLS SuperDraft on 1/18/08

After three years at budding national power UC Santa Barbara, rookie Tino Nuñez joins former Gaucho teammates Brennan Tennelle and Kyle Reynish on the Real Salt Lake roster. Nuñez brings a wealth of experience to the Wasatch Front, having been an integral member of Santa Barbara's 2006 NCAA championship team as well as the 2004 squad that fell in the title match. While Nunez will be expected to deliver goals for the squad's Reserve Division team as he continues to develop, what set him apart in the preseason was his ability to hold and distribute the ball with his back to the net, this despite his non-traditional 5'8" "target forward" frame.
SLS boys under 12 have learned a lot from him. Thanks Tino!

Soccer VS Football

It has been a cold spring soccer season but we have enjoyed the games. Nate plays on the SL Scorpions. He is either goal keeper or mid field man. The last game he played forward and he did well assisting in a goal. We bought him a keeper Jersey and since then he has not played the position, I guess that is Murphy's law. The season ends May 9th and try outs start May 21. It is our first year of competition soccer and I must say it is very political and full of serious parents. He has had two coaches this spring from RSL (Real) and the professional players work well with the kids. We asked him what he wanted to do and he said No soccer because he wants to play football.
Football?
I was surprised. First little league football is more expensive--hard to believe but for $700.00 I get two season's of soccer. Football last one season and the rate of injury is higher. We told him it was up to him so I guess we wait and see.

What do you think Should Nate keep playing soccer or become a Football player?

It's a Dell Inspiron

Our upgrade arrived and it is doing well, we have named it Hal-2. So far it runs well and Windows Vista is almost too easy and a little crazy with all it's pop up windows. Sad thing is I don't think any of our old files are going to transfer from the dead dell. We are very happy to be re-connected to family and friends.

Death of an ole friend

We have lost an old friend, Dell. We were fortunate enough to have Dell arrive one christmas 5 years ago. Dell has now gone on to the happy silicon valley of the sky. Unfortunatly this leaves us with a big empty spot.
We can not email, balance the books or update family blogs.
We hope to find a new Dell in the near future thanks to employee discounts and credit. We can not replace the original but it should be a lovely upgrade.
It has been a very pleasant journey and we hope we can transfer our files so our memories are not lost.
Arrangements have been made for burial at the local recycle center
May the force be with you !

ASTHMA WALK

Help me work for cures, clean air and smoke free kids
American Lung Association of -Utah
May 3, 2008
Event Goal:$100,000
Join us at Sugar House Park at 9 a.m.

NO ONE SHOULD LOOSE THE BATTLE WITH ASTHMA HELP US JOIN THE FIGHT!
THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE SUPPORTED US IN THIS EFFORT!

Layne, Myself, Chris and Nate will all walk , it is a fun event and this year it falls on Mom & Dad's 51st Anniversary so we will give in honor of the many years of love they have given to us!
here is my page:
https://www.mrsnv.com/evt/e01/part.jsp?id=1923&acct=0753043216&rid=0

Your donation to the American Lung Association can help make a difference in their research efforts to find a cure for Asthma

Antelope Island ghost hunters

My boys went camping on Antelope Island last weekend with their Scout Troop. They camped with the bison near by and biked the trail around the island while enjoying the beauty of the great Salt Lake.

Did you know the Island is haunted???

This is perhaps one of the strangest tales in all of Utah. The Great Salt Lake covers more than 2300 square miles in the northern region of Utah and is one of the world's saltiest bodies of water. It is also a very shallow lake for its size, plunging to depths of only 27 feet in its deepest parts. While these may be the facts behind the lake... there is also a legend. It is a story of a Salt Lake City gravedigger who was exiled to an island on the lake for his ghoulish crimes. He disappeared on that island without a trace. Although may claim that his ghost still walks today.....
His name was John Baptiste and he was one of the first gravediggers ever employed in Salt Lake City. He was also known to be a hard worker and punctual, always carrying out his appointed duties at the city cemetery. John was a quiet fellow though and had few friends, so most people never paid much attention to him as he went about his work. About three years after Baptiste went to work for the city, a man died in Salt Lake City and was, of course, buried by the

gravedigger in the local cemetery. A short time later, the man's brother came to Utah from the east. He was not familiar with the Mormon religion as his brother had been and wished to have his sibling returned to the east to be buried in the family plot. His wish was granted and the grave was uncovered. The casket was pried open and the corpse inside was discovered to be nude and lying in the coffin face down, as though it had been dumped there. Needless to say, the brother was outraged and city official began an immediate investigation. The investigation focused on John Baptiste and several men were assigned to keep him and the cemetery under surveillance. Soon after another burial, Baptiste was seen pushing a wheelbarrow from a nearby storage shed to a freshly opened grave.

Authorities stopped him and found a pile of clothing hidden in the bushes. The corpse had been removed from the grave, his clothing removed, and was now being moved from the storage shed in the wheelbarrow. Baptiste was arrested and his home was searched. His house was filled with clothing! He had used some of it for drapes and furniture covers and in the cellar, a large vat was placed for boiling the clothing of the dead.

The news spread and local citizens descended on the cemetery to check on their deceased loved ones. Authorities believed that he had stolen clothing from more than 350 corpses! All of the clothing from Baptiste's home was taken to City hall for identification by relatives. They also went to local pawn shops, where they learned the gravedigger had sold large amounts of jewelry for cash.


And what became of Baptiste? He was tried and convicted of grave robbery, was branded with a hot iron and exiled to an island in the Great Salt Lake, northwest of the city. There has been some dispute as to where he was sent... either barren Fremont Island or the larger Antelope Island. Regardless, he was put ashore there, never to return to Salt Lake City again.

But this was not the end.... A few weeks later, lawmen returned to the island to check on the prisoner, only to discover that he had vanished. A search discovered the remains of a fire and a small shelter, but no Baptiste. Some believe that he may have taken his own life and others that he built a raft and escaped, but no matter, he was never heard from again..... or was he?