Resisting, are you? That's nice. Now learn about Mary Harris "Mother" Jones.

I could be wrong about this, but posting memes on Facebook might fall a bit short of what's needed.

Mother Jones: The Woman, by Elliot J. Gorn (Mother Jones)

Upton Sinclair knew Mother Jones. The author of the best-selling exposé of the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, even made her a character in one of his novels, a lightly fictionalized work called The Coal War, which chronicled the bloody Colorado coal strike of 1913-14: "There broke out a storm of applause which swelled into a tumult as a little woman came forward on the platform. She was wrinkled and old, dressed in black, looking like somebody's grandmother; she was, in truth, the grandmother of hundreds of thousands of miners."

Stories, Sinclair wrote, were Mother Jones' weapons, stories "about strikes she had led and speeches she had made; about interviews with presidents and governors and captains of industry; about jails and convict camps." She berated the miners for their cowardice, telling them if they were afraid to fight, then she would continue on alone. "All over the country she had roamed," Sinclair concluded, "and wherever she went, the flame of protest had leaped up in the hearts of men; her story was a veritable Odyssey of revolt."

When Sinclair wrote these words, Mother Jones was one of the most famous women in America. Articles about her regularly appeared in magazines and newspapers, and for many working Americans, she had achieved legendary, even iconic, status. Yet the woman for whom Mother Jones magazine is named is scarcely known any longer. Some might recognize her name, know something about her activism on behalf of working people, or even recall her famous war cry: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living." But few remember much about Mother Jones, who battled corporate presidents and politicians, who went to jail repeatedly for organizing workers, and who converted tens of thousands of Americans to the labor movement and the left.

As I worked on a recent biography of Mother Jones, however, I came to appreciate her significance for our own times.

Indiana Chamber of Commerce awards its apples.

The weirdest rumor I've heard lately is that State Representative Ed Clere will have a Tea Party challenger in the primary next time around. Seems unlikely, although perhaps someone might ask Dave Matthews, or at least launch another rumor to the effect that Matthews started the first one.

Meanwhile, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce has released its annual "scorecard" for state legislators, finding that "The highest full-time voting record for 2013 was Rep. Ed Clere (R-District 72 of New Albany) at 97%."

2013 Legislative Vote Analysis (29th Edition)

It is informative to examine the components of the chamber's yardstick. As such, and for much needed balance, here's a 2010 article at Mother Jones. It's about the US Chamber of Commerce, but birds of a feather ...

Fact-Checking the US Chamber of Commerce; America's most overblown business lobby, busted, by Josh Harkinson

With a name that evokes Main Street and Little League teams, and with millions of dollars to spend on lobbying, the US Chamber of Commerce has long been a powerful force on Capitol Hill. But as it's taken more extreme positions on a range of hot-button issues, from flirting with climate change denial to fighting health care reform, its reputation as a predictable pro-business group is crumbling.

Last fall, Nike, Apple, and three major utilities quit the Chamber or its board of directors over what one company called its "extreme rhetoric and obstructionist tactics." Companies such as Dow and General Electric distanced themselves from the group as environmental and labor groups piled on with criticism of the Chamber's cozy relationship with special interests ...