Merry Christmas

Perhaps you're still digging into the Michael Connell mystery...or maybe you need a break from the Xmas pressure...this video should be a good distraction. Enjoy!

Conspiracy Nut?

I started this post back on December 20th....and held off finishing it in hopes that more information would filter up...

Thus far the corporate media has ignored this story....just as they pretty much ignored the story of how Karl Rove and his minions stole the 2004 election...

I don't consider myself a conspiracy nut, but this caught my eye. For those who haven't followed the story of how the 2004 election was stolen by rigging the computers in Ohio, Michael Connell was a key player in flipping the vote. Stephen Spoonamore, a computer security expert hired by the GOP, blew the whistle on how the Republicans stole the 2004 election, and how they plan to do it again. One name that he singled out was that of his friend Michael Connell.

This is where I stopped writing last week....

And now, we get more from the Raw Story...

If you love good mysteries, this story has it all...was Connell's plane crash an accident, or was it murder?

Bush's Economic Boom!

Hey, the guy finally did something right!

Media About to Have a Cow

So what if Rahm Emanuel called Gov. Blagojevich and suggested Obama would prefer Valerie Jarrett replaced him in the Senate? Is that a crime?

Apparently the AP thinks so.

The question is, how many times can Emanuel and Obama say nothing inappropriate was done, before the media decides to move on?

Union Busting

Here it is, bust the union and then lower the wages of everyone left standing.

The southern Senators helping out these foreign companies are unpatriotic...plain and simple!

Bush's Two For...

The NY Times is reporting that George Bush is considering an "orderly" bankruptcy for the Big 3 auto makers. No bailout..just a big screw you.

And why not? Bush can kill two birds with one stone.... he eliminates the American automakers by letting them fail. That is the first bird....the second bird, is this essentially means the end of the unions as it will be difficult for them to survive the bankruptcy of their employers...

So the elite southern republican...anti working class...anti union...Senators ,will have carried out their mission to destroy the competition for their foreign auto buddies that bankroll their campaigns...it is brilliant.

Rev. Rick Warren

I see the Queen of Soul...Aretha Franklin, and the head of the Saddleback Church, the Rev. Rick Warren are going to be participating in Obama's inauguration.

I'm not sure having Rick Warren connected to this event is a wise move....here is what he said in a recent interview:

"Now, I don't happen to agree with Muslims," Warren said, 'and I don't happen to agree with Jewish people, and I don't even agree with all of the things Catholics believe, but I ... can work with them on doing something like stopping AIDS, because we all believe sex is for marriage only." "

Of course....SEX is for MARRIAGE ONLY....so I wonder how he feels about gays?

Here are his own words on that subject:

"Explaining his views about homosexuality and gay rights, he notes, "I don't think that homosexuality is the worst sin," and, "By the way, my wife and I had dinner at a gay couple's home two weeks ago. So I'm not [a] homophobic guy, okay?" "

So, he has gay friends. But he supported Prop. 8

That gay couple he had dinner with are immoral in his view...and he doesn't want them to marry and enjoy the same rights that he and his partner enjoy...so why is this guy going to have a role in Obama's inauguration?

Someone Got it Right

This is one youtube video everyone should watch...on one side you have cheerleaders for the Reagan/Bush economy...people like Arthur Laffer and Ben Stein...and on the other side you have Peter Schiff....these snips of video are from 18-24 months AGO!!!

This video is simply amazing...how supposedly intelligent people can be so wrong in the face of so much contrary evidence....is mind numbing...at one point the cheerleaders are actually laughing at Schiff....midway through the video I thought about the scene in Titanic...the boat is sinking, smart people know there's a big problem, but the "cheerleaders" are on the deck encouraging the band to play on!

Republic Windows and Doors

So the owners of Republic Windows, close Republic, and form a new company called Echo Windows in Iowa.... they buy a window and door company in Iowa called TRACO. TRACO, apparently, pays their non union workers $9.00 an hour....half what a Republic worker made....

$9.00 and hour....$18,000 a year. This is a below poverty level wage....

Oh,This is Precious!

Bank of America lays off 35,000 workers....but spends another $7 billion on a bank in China.....

Did I tell you they got $15 billion in bailout money too?

What a Week

Wow! I never thought I'd see the day when US Congressmen would tell US manufacturers to lower worker wages to match those paid by foreign owned companies....sounds pretty un-American to me.

But what else is new, right?

Time to Flex Some Muscle

This great article from David Lindorff at Common Dreams sums it up.....it is time for American workers to flex some muscle....

The war on middle class America started with Reagan....and last night we saw Republicans and centrist Democrats thumb their noses at the millions of workers across America that make a middle class living from the auto industry....

Why do they do this? Because they do not FEAR US! It's time to flex some muscle.

What a Mess

It looks like the Republicans are intent on leaving yet another huge mess for Obama to clean up....this has a lot to do with mid term elections two years down the road...

If you read that NY Times article, about half way down the page, Mitch McConnell says " we hate to see this happen to the auto makers, but very few of us had anything to do with making the mess they are in"......I wonder if that means he DID HAVE something to do with making the banking mess....which he supported bailing out....or maybe he's just plain stupid and hates blue collar workers?

Let Them Filibuster

If the Southern Republicans are so intent on kicking middle class, working America in the groin, let them filibuster the auto bail out bill....let them explain to America why they hate blue collar workers so much...let them explain why they put foreign companies ahead of American industry.

Do the Democrats have the balls to let the Republicans filibuster this? I doubt it.

Obama needs to step up....big time.

Will Democrats Do Repubs. Dirty Work....Again?

It looks like that spineless speck of poo called Senator Harry Reid, is about to lead the Democrats in carrying out the Republicans dirty work yet again.

When will these idiot middle of the road Democrats grow a spine?

Workers of the world unite! These guys want everything...leaving us with nothing but the memories.....

Yes We Can!

Maybe you've noticed recently some people talking sense about food and farming in America.

Nicholas Kristof in the NY Times...

Michael Pollan in his letter to the next Farmer in Chief....

And this from the Organic Consumers Association....

And this.....from Food Democracy Now...

It is good to see this, but it is not getting out through the corporate media...the major television networks get too much money from the industrial farms, and their food monopolies, to start telling the American people just how much their food costs, how much it is killing them, and how our industrial farming policies are ruining the environment.

Food...where it comes from, and how it is grown and distributed, is going to be the next big issue...I think it's on the verge of being a major crisis. Let Obama know...let your state legislators know, and your representatives in Congress know, that you want something done...you want change because our lives depend on it.

Republicans Give the Finger to Auto Workers

This is sad...

Apparently the Republicans see a huge difference between bailing out banks, and saving nearly 3 million blue collar jobs. That was obvious from their rhetoric leading up to this vote when they used lies about auto workers pay, and heaped anti union conditions on any bailout loan.

Here's the thing, all the Big 3 auto execs. should be replaced. They have done a terrible job running their companies and marketing their products. They have climbed into bed with big oil, and they cling to that dinosaur, even as it too is dying. The auto workers are extremely productive, make a good product (GM has more cars that get better than 30 miles per gallon than Toyota), and have been a major economic driver of our economy over the last 50 years.

If these moron Senators from the South are willing to throw away an entire industry, and three million good paying jobs, so the UAW can be busted, and the foreign auto makers are the only ones left, so be it....it will be their bad karma come re-election time. But hopefully, smarter people will prevail and this can still be saved.

Workers End Sit In

The workers at Republic Window and Doors have ended their six day sit in after the Bank of America negotiated a new loan that will pay the workers severance pay, and accrued vacation and sick pay.

This is a major victory for working people, and it signals a major change from how labor issues have been dealt with by the Bush administration. Under Republican rule, the US Department of Labor has been anti worker for most of the last 30 years, beginning with Reagan's firing of the PATCO union workers when they refused to return to work back in the early 1980's.

But what a difference Obama makes! The day after the Republic workers started their sit in, Obama made a strong statement in support of the workers. Five days later they are seeing some justice....they don't have their jobs, but they will get the back pay, severance and benefits they have earned.....and George Bush's Department of Labor???? Not a peep out of them during this week long sit in....isn't change wonderful!

Union Busting

Let's call all this talk , about restructuring and reforming the auto industry, and talk about a"car czar", coming from southern Senators and House members what it really is....union hating, union busting, rhetoric. These guys have never liked unions and never liked working people having benefits. They have given millions of dollars in tax breaks to foreign corporations to come into their states, take the profits out of the country, and pay their citizens a non union job wage.

These southern union busters, and their corporate media whores, have perpetuated the lie that a US autoworker makes $78 per hour in wages and benefits. The truth is, it's closer to $50 an hour, and new hires are paid between $12 and $14 an hour plus benefits. Why does it bother them so much that a blue collar worker is making around $50,000 a year and getting health care? Why does it bother them so much that a person who has worked for 40-45 years for a company, created billions in wealth for this country, is having their health care paid for by GM or Ford after they retire? Why aren't they MORE CONCERNED about the incredibly high cost of health care in America?

Don't expect guys like Senators Shelby and Sessions to do anything to lower health care costs. They're too busy doing everything they can to eradicate the middle class.

Obama Gets It

The workers at Republic Windows are staging a sit in.....you see, the Bank of America cut off credit to the company, and the company told the workers they had worked their last day. But the workers said screw that and are now occupying the factory!

And who is speaking up for these 250 blue collar jobs? Our new President!

It isn't like Bank of America doesn't have the money to continue Republics line of credit...many of the banks receiving bailout money have been hording the money. And it isn't like banks haven't helped businesses through slow times....but here we have blue collar workers who are owed pay checks and benefits....and Christmas is coming to Main Street USA. Where is Hank Paulsen and George Bush? Probably off cutting more bailout checks for their Wall Street buddies.

Bush and Repubs. Say "Kiss Off" to Auto Workers...Part II

Yesterday, George Bush said he didn't want to give taxpayer money to businesses that may fail. Say what? I guess it was ok to give the taxpayers money to banks....to the tune of over $1 trillion dollars!

You have to admire the chutzpa of this administration. After seven years of privatizing hundreds of billions of dollars of government services, with very mixed results, Bush hands his rich friends another $1 trillion dollars of "taxpayer" money. When the history of his administration is written, it won't be his foreign policy failures that will get all the attention, nor will it be his domestic spying program.....no...the most destructive thing Bush has done is open wide the doors of government to corporate control...from putting polluters in charge of the EPA, to sleazy bankers in charge of the Treasury, to big pharma calling the shots at the FDA....Georgie boy has given multi national corporations money, and access to power, oversight, and making regulations for their industry.

Will Obama follow suit?

Those Were the Days My Friend

Not too many years ago if you bought a washing machine, it was made in America. If you bought a television, a computer, a toy for your child, a shirt, a lawn mower, or a pair of shoes, it was made in America. You could buy anything you wanted, and it was made in America. Do you remember the old TV ad, "Look for the Union Label"? Try and find a union label on anything at your local Walmart.

Manufacturing creates wealth. A stick is just a piece of wood until the lathe turns it into a table leg on a $1200 table. A computer is a handful of minerals from the ground until it is manufactured and assembled....manufacturing adds value and creates wealth.

Which leads me to this...what wealth is being created when we give money to troubled banks with no strings attached, and little or no oversight?

Meanwhile, up on Capital Hill, the automakers are being forced to jump through hoops to save their dying companies. Did Robert Rubin get grilled about his private jet when we came begging for a bailout of Citi Corp?

There is a total disconnect between Congress and blue collar, working Americans....when it is good paying UNION JOBS on the line....Congress is willing to let those jobs fail, and perhaps never return....

A solution put forward by Micheal Moore, and Dr. Ravi Batra among others, is to take $5 billion dollars and buy up the common shares of GM....nationalize the company....clean house of all management that got them into this mess, and give ownership to the employees. I will write more on this when we see how Congress reacts to the auto industry's latest effort to get "bailed out".