You have to love the summertime in the Yakima Valley. Hell for hot during the day, and in the 50's to 60's at night. The last few days have been high 90's to low 100's. The dry heat just crackles.

Something that has been rattling around in my psyche a while on the international labor scene. I really enjoy Talking Points Memo and he has added so much to his site that it like being in a candy store. There is now a Labor section/thread and I have been following that off and on. It is not my want to be a labor wonk or any wonk at all. But what I have felt is that the scope of the discussions are too limited. They only take in the US.
The Labor movement to my way of thinking must become international and multinational and global. This is an imperative step that must be taken before people worldwide can be a part of this global economy. A worldwide blue collar middle class can be the cornerstone on which to build a stable and happy work force from which extremism can be shunted to the back alleys as it should be.
There will always be extreme thoughts and points of views. Thoughts and POV's are not by themselves dangerous. It is when extreme actions become connected to these extreme thoughts and POV's that we are all threatened. But it is only by enlarging the middle class on a global scope that the extremist can be minimalized.

Pops funeral was this morning. People talk of closure and I suppose that is what all of us experienced. I am still empty. Still sad. Still trying to get my mind around death and its implications. Closure will take more time.