Maine Hogwash

This isn't the first time a mural about the people who work has caused trouble. Rockefeller Center tore down the mural that Diego Rivera and others had created in NYC in 1933 because the artist declined to obliterate Lenin's face. Ben Shahn organized the artists to oppose this. I wonder what he would say about the plan to remove the murals from the Labor Dept.

Maine's beautiful Dept of Labor mural by artist Judy Taylor was on the Daily Show, Rachel Maddow on MSNBC, in the NYT and the Christian Science Monitor  even before today's rallies (there were two). An educational news conference in front of the mural by the Union of Maine Visual Artists and other artists and art supporters was held at the Dept. of Labor today at noon, while a slew of msm and indy media outlets carried stories about the murals.

Of interest also: there may be a state law saying that the governor doesn't have responsibility for the works of art on display in Maine public buildings. Instead, the State Museum does. I wonder if that's true.

Meanwhile, the whole hogwash continued to flow.

Maine's governor stated not just once but twice yesterday that he would tax the rich -- if only he could find any.

Bangor Daily News coverage here. Several online comments suggested he start looking in Bar Harbor -- where the Obama family went on vacation last summer.

Then there were posts like this one: “I cannot imagine being a company working with the Department of Labor to solve a labor relations issue and being called to a meeting in the Cesar Chavez” room."

Kind of like how people of color feel when they're in a public building and all the portraits are white?

This reminds me of a favorite quote from Cesar Chavez. Asked how he organized he said, first I talk to a person, and then I talk to another person. The questioner said, I know, but how do you organize people. And Chavez said, I told you.

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