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February 5th, 2009:

A Second Look: Shutting Out Solis

Feb 5th, 2009
by Tom.
No comments yet

The Progress Report wrote:

Shutting Out Solis


From: The Progress Report [progress@americanprogressaction.org]
Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2009 9:19 AM
To: tomc2322
Subject: Shutting Out Solis
A ‘PROXY FIGHT FOR EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE’: The right wing strongly opposes EFCA and any attempts to increase participation in unions, arguing that the bill unnecessary, “a threat to one of the fundamentals of democracy,” and an attempt to “Europeanize America.” Last month, Senate Republicans initially attempted to passive-aggressively bury Solis in paperwork, saying that they needed her to clarify her position on the Employee Free Choice Act. As CQ wrote on Jan. 29, “Although the written questionnaires don’t constitute an official hold on Solis’ nomination, the paperwork has the same delaying effect.” The New York Times similarly remarked, “The delay in confirming Ms. Solis isn’t because the Senate needs to know more. It’s a way for Republican senators to score tough-guy points with business constituents who are driven to distraction by the thought of unions.” Since that time, the right wing has gone all out to block her, now claiming that she is facing ethics issues. Earlier this week, the Heritage Foundation called her “The Next Tom Daschle,” and the National Review wrote, “While everyone is looking at Tom Daschle’s tax problems…a new issue has arisen concerning another Obama cabinet nomination, that of Rep. Hilda Solis to be Secretary of Labor.” According to The Hill, Sen. Mike Enzi (R-WY) “has questioned whether Solis had done lobbying work while she was both a House member and an official at a pro-labor group, American Rights at Work” (ARAW). There is no conflict-of-issue problem here. Solis wasn’t paid for her activities with ARAW, and as the Washington Independent pointed out, her role was “well-known and ceremonial.” As one official at a union noted, these excuses to hold up Solis are nothing more than a “clear proxy fight for Employee Free Choice.”

The President should have whomever he wants in his Cabinet.
See here and here.

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A Second Look: Just Foreign Policy News, February 4, 2009

Feb 5th, 2009
by Tom.
No comments yet

Just Foreign Policy wrote:

Just Foreign Policy News, February 4, 2009


From: Just Foreign Policy [info@justforeignpolicy.org]

Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 4:34 PM

To: Tom Chambless

Subject: Just Foreign Policy News, February 4, 2009

5) White House and Pentagon officials said they were still debating the fiscal 2010 defense budget, and whether to add funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in the base budget, Reuters reports. The Obama administration gave the Pentagon a $527 billion limit, excluding war costs, for its base budget, said one official. That compares to $515 billion allocated for fiscal 2009, and does not include spending on nuclear weapons included in the Energy Department budget. The $527 billion sum is about the same as the outgoing Bush administration had projected.

“The Obama administration gave the Pentagon a $527 billion limit, excluding war costs, for its base budget, said one official.”

Excluding war costs. Those costs are an additional $150 billion. That’s $10-12 billion per month.

We want health care, not more war. Fix this please.

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A Second Look: Special Delivery

Feb 5th, 2009
by Tom.
1 comment

AFL-CIO Now blog wrote:

Special Delivery


From: AFL-CIO Now blog [aflcioblognews@aflcio.org]
Sent: Wednesday, February 04, 2009 8:53 AM
To: Tom Chambless
Subject: Special Delivery

In the past year, 1.5 million union members joined the union movement’s Million-Member Mobilization and signed cards and petitions demanding that Congress pass the Employee Free Choice Act. Today, thousands of union members are delivering those petitions to Capitol Hill.

I am a former member of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Local Branch 130. I was active in my union being elected to serve as a delegate to the Pierce County Central Labor Council and I also served as a shop steward.

http://blogs.ft.com/gapperblog/files/typepadimport/eff96afcfe5ff7a7a9121952d4360620.jpg

Solidarity equals power.

To me, nothing is more important than the passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. A long time ago, workers in America had the right to declare union representation by a signature majority, but that right was taken away by the power of the corporations. Today, those same corporations and others are scared to death by this legislation because they know what it all means. They know what is riding on this.

This is where the battle line is drawn. A generation ago this nation which was influenced by the right, the corporations, and under the foul leadership of Ronald Reagan began a journey down the road to destroy the middle class. Reagan set out to provide his corporate buddies with the least educated and cheapest labor force possible. This culminated under the Bush administration – mission accomplished. They knew that in order to guarantee corporate dominance under a free market economy they must beat back a rising middle class who demand government oversight and protections. They must defeat unionization.

A free market economy doesn’t work well with a strong Democracy. Look what happened with the South American country Chile under the dictator Pinochet. The country became a police state in order to enforce free-market ideology. Many labor leaders were murdered. The same happened in other South American countries and is happening in Columbia today. A free-market economy cannot exist inside a strong Democracy because a thriving middle class will demand that the government provide oversight on the greedy and unscrupulous corporations. We are learning that free-market theories and practices that have been creeping into our economy have failed. The reason they have failed is that our right-wing government left them to over watch themselves.

When things start going bad for business, labor costs become low hanging fruit. Labor is the first to take the blow. The truth to most job losses in the U.S. today is the simple fact that business can’t sell their goods due to market and other conditions (China won’t buy them) so the first thing they do is lay off workers to save costs, thereby accelerating the downward spiral. Lay-offs reduce the sales even further which leads to more job loss.

The Employee Free Choice Act will help our nation turn around. It will streamline the unionization process giving America’s middle class a stronger footing through collective bargaining power, thereby helping Democracy grow stronger. We can begin to turn back the tide of corporate dominance by passing this legislation.

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