Card Check

This should be posted everywhere for discussion.



Labor supporters of Barack Obama have made "card check" the primary basis for their support for Obama and the Democrats and it know appears attaining even "card check" from Barack Obama and the Democratic Party is in doubt.



What does everyone think of this coming from George McGovern, one of Barack Obama’s most progressive supporters?


Does this portend what is in store from "Progressives for Obama" on other issues?



Do “Progressives for Obama” have anything to contribute concerning this little “whammy” from the Democratic Party?



I wonder how John Edwards responds to McGovern? What about Hillary Clinton? Anyone heard from Barack Obama regarding this Wall Street Journal op/ed piece by George McGovern whose support he has enthusiastically received?


This raises important questions of to what extent lobbyists exert influence over politicians, like George McGovern, even when these politicians are no longer in office.



This op/ed piece by George McGovern should also serve to explain to "Progressives for Obama" that when it comes to working class ideas, policies and solutions to problems there is one heck of a chasm between big-business monopoly interests and the interests of the working class in the Democratic Party.



Like any other pro-labor reforms, card check faces an uphill struggle, even though it has been put forward as the centerpiece of organized labor's reason for endorsement of Barack Obama.



John Sweeney and Andrew Stern along with those who advised us that the closing of the St. Paul Ford Plant was a “done deal” have told us that card check will become reality with a Barack Obama Administration and Democratic Party majorities in the House and Senate… even on the one and only pro-worker policy these people have held out to working people as a reason to “vote Democrat;” this one pro-working class policy is far from a “done deal” should Obama and Democratic majorities be elected in the House and Senate.



This raises the question: Was George McGovern pressured by “team Obama” to come forward with this opposition to card check?



“Blue-dog” Democrats voiced their opposition to card check long ago, something Sweeney and Stern have ignored even as they pump millions of dollars of workers' hard earned money into supporting these reactionary shills.



To think, with all the hard-earned dues of union members being pumped into the campaigns of Obama and Democrats--- including Blue-dog Democrats--- working people will not even be able to leave the voting booth confident they are getting card check as part of the deal in return for their votes; this is shameful.



All these millions of dollars of union members might better be spent organizing a grassroots, rank and file movement against “at will hiring; at will firing” in twenty-eight states, including Minnesota and Michigan.



Better yet, organize such struggles as part of the campaign for national "card check" legislation so even when enacted, "card check" will not be undermined by “at will hiring; at will firing.”



What is most interesting, when I brought forward a resolution on the issue of “at will hiring; at will firing” (in opposition) before the State Convention of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party; Ray Waldron, the President of the Minnesota AFL-CIO, along with his sidekick, Mark Froemke, organized the opposition and even after the resolution was seconded to thunderous applause... Waldron was quick to bring his floor workers into action twisting the arms of "union leaders" not to vote for the resolution I introduced calling on Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party's Legislative Caucus in the Minnesota to rescind “at will hiring; at will firing” legislation.



In Michigan, UAW President--- Ron Gettelfinger, in spite of my request to him, has refused to authorize the UAW's lead lobbyist, Nadine Nosal, to undertake a campaign among Democratic Party legislators and the "labor governor," Jennifer Granholm, in opposition to “at will hiring; at will firing” and rescind, once and for all, this most Draconian legislation that is the major impediment to union organizing.



I bet even George McGovern is opposed to “at will hiring; at will firing.”



Not one single elected Democratic Party state legislator in any state where it exists, has had the courage to challenge “at will hiring; at will firing.”



“At will hiring; at will firing” is the real impediment to union organizing that even “card check” legislation will not be able to overcome.



Not once have we heard one peep from John Sweeney or Andrew Stern concerning “at will hiring; at will firing” for the simple reason that the pro-business, anti-labor Democrats we all know to be lurking in dark corners would come out of the woodwork like termites getting a good dose of Chlordane. These are Democrats The AFL-CIO and Change to Win put in office.



By the way… card check will not apply to some two-million workers employed in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages in the Indian Gaming Industry… this industry enforces its own Draconian version of “at will hiring; at will firing” claiming this state legislation in Michigan and Minnesota as their guide in “labor-management” relations.



I think we should find out what Cynthia McKinney and Cindy Sheehan have to say about all of this.



We need to take a reading of where Barack Obama and all Democrats stand on this entire scenario before Election Day because with the price of gas, there is no use making a trip to the polls on Election Day if we aren’t going to get something for our votes… on the Red Lake Nation Indian reservation here in northern Minnesota people make sure they at least get turkey or a tank of gas for making the trip to the polls because they know they won’t get anything else from their votes… all working people should learn a lesson from Red Lakers.



For anyone who really wants to know what kind of government working people can expect to get from the Democratic Party, just ask Democrats running for public office to do as George McGovern has done with "card check;" state their positions in writing on “at will hiring; at will firing.”



John Sweeney and Andrew Stern are said to be fuming after reading George McGovern's op/ed piece, printed below, in the Wall Street Journal... and justifiably so.



But, at least George McGovern is not going into public office... while Barack Obama and his mixed-bag of Democrats are.



Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Shreck has lobbied hard against "card check," too; this grouping of law firm/lobbyists of choice for big-business which has become a primary component of state-monopoly capitalism and its slavish support for AIPAC is also the major backer and booster of Barack Obama.





http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121815502467222555.html

OPINION


My Party Should Respect Secret Union Ballots

By GEORGE MCGOVERN


August 8, 2008; Page A13

As a congressman, senator and one-time Democratic nominee for the presidency, I've participated in my share of vigorous public debates over issues of great consequence. And the public has been free to accept or reject the decisions I made when they walked into a ballot booth, drew the curtain and cast their vote. I didn't always win, but I always respected the process.

Voting is an immense privilege.

That is why I am concerned about a new development that could deny this freedom to many Americans. As a longtime friend of labor unions, I must raise my voice against pending legislation I see as a disturbing and undemocratic overreach not in the interest of either management or labor.

The legislation is called the Employee Free Choice Act, and I am sad to say it runs counter to ideals that were once at the core of the labor movement. Instead of providing a voice for the unheard, EFCA risks silencing those who would speak.

The key provision of EFCA is a change in the mechanism by which unions are formed and recognized. Instead of a private election with a secret ballot overseen by an impartial federal board, union organizers would simply need to gather signatures from more than 50% of the employees in a workplace or bargaining unit, a system known as "card-check." There are many documented cases where workers have been pressured, harassed, tricked and intimidated into signing cards that have led to mandatory payment of dues.

Under EFCA, workers could lose the freedom to express their will in private, the right to make a decision without anyone peering over their shoulder, free from fear of reprisal.

There's no question that unions have done much good for this country. Their tenacious efforts have benefited millions of workers and helped build a strong middle class. They gave workers a new voice and pushed for laws that protect individuals from unfair treatment. They have been a friend to the Democratic Party, and so I oppose this legislation respectfully and with care.

To my friends supporting EFCA I say this: We cannot be a party that strips working Americans of the right to a secret-ballot election. We are the party that has always defended the rights of the working class. To fail to ensure the right to vote free of intimidation and coercion from all sides would be a betrayal of what we have always championed.

Some of the most respected Democratic members of Congress -- including Reps. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio, George Miller and Pete Stark of California, and Barney Frank of Massachusetts -- have advised that workers in developing countries such as Mexico insist on the secret ballot when voting as to whether or not their workplaces should have a union. We should have no less for employees in our country.

I worry that there has been too little discussion about EFCA's true ramifications, and I think much of the congressional support is based on a desire to give our friends among union leaders what they want. But part of being a good steward of democracy means telling our friends "no" when they press for a course that in the long run may weaken labor and disrupt a tried and trusted method for conducting honest elections.

While it is never pleasant to stand against one's party or one's friends, there are times when such actions are necessary -- as with my early and lonely opposition to the Vietnam War. I hope some of my friends in Congress will re-evaluate their support for this legislation. Because as Americans, we should strive to ensure that all of us enjoy the freedom of expression and freedom from fear that is our ideal and our right.

Mr. McGovern is a former senator from South Dakota and the 1972 Democratic presidential candidate.

Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Agriprocessors of Iowa; The story of kosher meats

In addition to being very sad, this Agriprocessors story is very interesting in many ways because it tells us the real state of life and living conditions for working people across this country..

Many workers sought employment at this plant after quitting their jobs working at Mystic Lake Casino because they found they were being treated better working in Agriprocessors’ hell hole than at the Mystic Lake Casino just outside of the Twin Cities in Minnesota.

SMSC Gaming Enterprise, an empire overseen by the Crook family--- one of the largest employers in Minnesota--- employs over 5,000 casino, hotel and restaurant employees in the smoke-filled Mystic Lake and Little Six Casino operations; all employed at poverty wages and without any rights under state, federal or tribal labor laws.

Workers are forced to sign a statement as the condition of their employment that they understand any union organizing activity is prohibited as a condition of their employment.

Stanley Crooks overseas the operation which is referred to as “a right-to-work-for-less without-any-rights colony.” Does it make any difference if workers are mistreated and abused in a meatpacking plant or in a casino operation?

Across the state of Minnesota more than 30,000 workers are employed under these same Draconian conditions.

Across the United States more than two-million workers are employed in some 400 of these smoke-filled casinos without any rights.

Ironically, the Iowa Labor Commissioner has intentionally ignored the plight of casino workers... just as these Iowa officials have turned their backs for years on those employed in the deplorable conditions at Agriprocessors. Everyone, including the Commissioner of Labor, was well aware of the atrocious working conditions and widespread violation of labor laws by Agriprocessors. Agriprocessors’ management, like casino operators, have bought off state public officials and bureaucrats for years while making campaign contributions to many Iowa politicians, and politicians all across this country… millions of dollars in bribes and campaign contributions, but they can’t pay employees real living wages and treat workers with respect and dignity.

Rubashkin Family Members Large Republican Campaign Contributors
The Federal Elections Commission records show Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin gave…
…$23,750 in federal campaign contributions from the year 2000 onward. That is Sholom Rubashkin only. The rest of his family also donated.

Most donations have gone to Republican candidates or to groups like the Republican Party of Iowa, which received $5,750 from Sholom M. Rubashkin from 2002 through 2004.

The Des Moines Register, which compiled this information, missed Sholom Rubashkin's brother-in-law (Aaron Rubashkin's son-in-law) Rabbi Milton Balkany, who stole $750,00 in federal grant money intended for disabled students and whose heavy donations to various Republican candidates bundled with similar donations from his family and close friends, earned him the moniker "The Brooklyn Bundler."

The Federal Elections Commission shows over $100,000 in campaign contributions from the Balkany family. Family members often "misspell" their first names which makes it appear to the FEC that several people, rather than one person, has contributed. (FEC part 1, part 2.)

The Balkany family's contributions went largely to Republicans.
Surprise; surprise… the casino managements operate the exact same way.

The very sad part of this story is that millions of workers across the United States are being treated like this, or worse… but, we just never hear about these injustices, and we need to ask: Why?

Only once the story is pushed out into the open do we begin to understand what is going on.

Think about this… all of this has been going on for years… just because you never heard of what was happening, the injustices were taking place all the same… all kinds of government bureaucrats and politicians were aware and did nothing but close their eyes as they held out their hands behind their backs accepting campaign contributions and outright bribes.

Perhaps more sad than anything besides the way working people have been abused by Agriprocessors’ management is the fact the leadership of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union has known for years this abuse has been taking place and refused to push the issue with state officials.

But, there is nothing strange about union leaders in this country turning their backs on unorganized workers… in Michigan, the AFL-CIO and Change to Win unions sat on their butts and kept their mouths closed as Michigan’s “labor governor,” Jenifer Granholm, went right ahead and signed one more “Compact” with a bunch of mobsters building the Gun Lake Casino just south of Grand Rapids; not a peep of protest from the so-called “union leaders” who the “Progressives for Obama” tell us will fight for us once he is elected… if this is truly the case, why have these “union leaders” refused to do anything in defense of working people, including their own members, for years?

The Grand Valley Labor News in west Michigan has been shamefully silent concerning this casino “Compact;” a deal, quite literally, made in hell with the sleazy Fertitta family and their Station Casino empire consisting of some of the most worthless scum-bags ever to evolve from the human race.

We can go right across the country and find the exact same kind of systematic and intentional abuse of working people in every state in the nation as what is taking place at Agriprocessors in Iowa or any of the 400 casinos spread out across the country which are part of the Indian Gaming Industry… we all know this; and, the industries aren’t limited to meat processors and casinos.

This is a shameful situation with people at work who create the wealth and I note that Barack Obama has kept his mouth shut about all of this, too. For anyone among the “Progressives for Obama,” from Tom Hayden to Carl Davidson to Katrina vanden Heuvel to Sam Webb, to ignore the facts of working class life as living, breathing human beings in this country are being forced to work under such terrible working conditions in the 21st century is part of the shame.

For some reason people will listen to the politicians recite facts and figures but never insist on knowing how working people are actually being treated at work. The politicians can wax poetic with facts and figures; but, you don’t see these politicians taking the media on tours of Agriprocessors Iowa operation.

The Chairman of the Red Lake Nation, Floyd Jourdain, told me that if working conditions are so bad in Red Lakes’ three casinos, people should go someplace else to work. This is the way these people think of working people. Where are these people going to go find jobs? At Agriprocessors in Iowa? I would bet Agriprocessors’ management tells workers there the same thing; employers have played this game with workers for years.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080805/D92CCKP80.html



Kosher meats firm cited for child labor violations




Aug 5, 5:43 PM (ET)

By HENRY C. JACKSON and AMY LORENTZEN DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - Iowa labor officials said Tuesday that they had uncovered dozens of child labor violations at the nation's biggest supplier of kosher meat.

Officials from the state's Labor Commissioner's Office said their investigation, which spanned several months, uncovered 57 cases of child labor law violations at the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, where nearly 400 workers were arrested this spring in the largest immigration enforcement operation in U.S. history.

The types of violations included minors working in prohibited occupations, exceeding allowable hours for youth to work, failure to obtain work permits, exposure to hazardous chemicals and working with prohibited tools.

"The investigation brings to light egregious violations of virtually every aspect of Iowa's child labor laws," Dave Neil, Iowa Labor Commissioner, said in a statement. "It is my recommendation that the attorney general's office prosecute these violations to the fullest extent of the law."

Juda Engelmayer, an Agriprocessors spokesman, declined to comment.

Federal immigration agents arrested 389 illegal-immigrant workers, mostly Guatemalans, in a May 12 raid at the Agriprocessors plant. Most of the arrested workers pleaded guilty within a week and are serving sentences in federal prisons outside Iowa before being deported.

Allegations of child labor violations were included in an initial affidavit and a search warrant that led to the raid at Agriprocessors, which also operates a plant near Gordon, Neb.

Kerry Koonce, a spokeswoman for Iowa Workforce Development, the agency that oversees the labor commission, said Iowa's child labor investigation into Agriprocessors began before the federal immigration raid and was independent of the raid.
Under Iowa law, it is illegal for children under the age of 18 to work in meatpacking plants.

Koonce said the number of violations is much larger than what is typically found in the state of Iowa.

"Typically, when we have child labor issues it's an issue of one or two individuals," she said. "From our point of view, with this investigation, it's a large-scale violation of the law."

Koonce said the full report was not being made public because it is a part of a criminal investigation but she confirmed that 57 children were involved.

Labor officials say the child labor violations would normally be turned over to the county attorney's office, but in this case will most likely be handed over the Iowa attorney general at the county's request.

The attorney general's office said it could not comment on what penalties are possible, but Koonce said any charges would be filed against the company and would generally include fines.

Several underage workers who said they were employed at the plant have spoken out since the raid about their experiences.

At a meeting with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus last month in Postville, 17-year-old Noel Castillo Ordonez said he had worked long hours at the plant to support his family in Guatemala.

"I needed money for my family, because I could not help them," he said in Spanish.
At the same meeting, 17-year-old Gilda Yolanda Ordonez Lopez openly wept as she described being forced to work shifts as long as 12 hours with no overtime pay.

"They asked me how old I was, and I told them the truth," Lopez said.

Sister Mary McCauley of St. Bridget's Catholic Church in Postville has been working closely with the workers' families. She said she was "heartsick" over the stories of child labor violations that she heard after the raid.

"My first response is it doesn't surprise me because of all that I have heard," she said Tuesday. "Therefore, I am grateful that this was brought to the attention of the proper authority and my hope would be that some sanctions would be taken because I do think that these young children were not treated with respect and they should not have been there in the first place."

State labor officials say they are still investigating some wage violations at the plant.

We need to ask why the reporters from the Associated Press have never asked Barack Obama or John McCain about any of this.



Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

In US, gas prices mean more riders, fewer buses

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080804/ap_on_re_us/mass_transit_gas_prices

This story raises a number of important issues:

1. What this proves is that we have public and government officials creating agencies which have no concept of the needs of working people.

2. If they did have any understanding of people’s needs and really grasped the implications of global warming they would be increasing electric mass transit and upgrading their systems with mass purchases of hybrid buses.

3. To be fair, fares would be drastically reduced and even made free during the primary hours of mass transit use--- thereby encouraging greater use of mass transit, which, in the longer term would amount to a massive collective savings to society, and reduce our collective carbon footprint.

Instead, like everything else under capitalism only the most short-term “solutions” are considered which do not serve working people or our living environment.

The capitalists and their sooth-sayers promoting the neoliberal agenda which includes reducing the wages while dangerously increasing the hours of mass transit workers as fares are increased while reducing services--- of which Al Gore and Maurice Strong are a classic example of the embodiment of both capitalists and capitalist sooth-sayers--- would have us believe changing out light bulbs with Wal-mart profiting is a substitute for: cheap/free public mass transit and a massive increase in mass transit subsidies transferred from cuts to the military budget along with a specially ear-marked tax on oil company profits designated for public mass transit.

By expanding mass transit systems and encouraging increased mass transit use through lower fares, wages of mass transit workers can be increased as their hours are reduced which would result in unemployed workers being hired.

All of this would go a long ways towards reducing our collective carbon footprint as we reduce use of automobiles.

Closing auto and truck plants, like the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, could be revitalized, retooled and given new life under public ownership in creating the necessary components of this public mass transit system.

This article begs the need for consideration of nationalization of the oil and energy industries because left to the control and ownership of those looking out for the interests of the Wall Street coupon clippers who will never understand the concept of producing and operating for the benefit of all of society we will be pushed towards destruction of human society and environmental disaster.

The real question this article begs an answer to is can we survive under capitalism; the time has come for working people to consider the cooperative alternative of socialism.

There is a reason capitalism is the bankers’ system and socialism is the workers’ system and if this article doesn’t convince people of this I don’t know what it will take… perhaps a crisis in health care or a complete collapse of the economy or more imperialist wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan or drastically increasing food prices coupled with sharp increases in unemployment as the corporations continuing investing the wealth created by American workers in areas of cheap resources and labor overseas.

Perhaps dumb donkeys like Jim Oberstar and Al Franken and the Democrats joined by dumb clucks like Norm Coleman will encourage the opening of a few more smoke-filled casinos--- their idea of “good jobs,” for those losing their jobs at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and Northwest Airlines--- Mayors R.T. and Coleman can get together with the Transit Authority and sell the casino operators the unused buses at garage sale prices as they have been doing to shuttle people between casinos on roads maintained at public expense as people are suckered into believing all their economic woes can be resolved by that one pull of the one-armed bandit.

Lots of seniors, to the delight of those looking for solutions to Social Security funding are riding out their twilight years on free buses to smoke-filled casinos as the rest of us are on a thrilling roller coaster ride with capitalism on the skids to oblivion as we experience the twilight of world capitalism; do we really want to find out how thrilling this experience will be?

I have always found it amazing that free bus service can be offered by casinos when it comes to transporting people to take their money; but, workers can’t be transported to work by bus for free to create the real wealth.

I am sure we will be reading about how bus and light-rail fares have to be increased to pay for the new contract with transit workers. I wonder why we never hear that fares are being increased to subsidize corporate profits.

All of this kind of makes one wonder if politicians understand the difference between “fare” and “fair;” maybe the time has come to give the politicians dictionaries instead of our votes.

Upon the first quick read of this article, without thinking, one can easily conclude that public officials have caught a case of mass stupidity in considering fare increases and cuts to mass transit under the circumstances; however, logic, and plain old common sense, tell us that such massive stupidity just isn’t possible--- the real problem is we have people employed by public agencies working under the guise of being public officials who are really sabotaging public mass transit in this country, because, while we pay their wages, they work for corporate interests… kind of like the politicians who appoint them.

Watch for more articles in the corporate dominated main stream media on mass transit as politicians and the public officials they have appointed to the Transit Authority attempt to use negotiations with transit workers to explain away the increase in fares… and reduction of services as if this wouldn’t have happened even if transit workers would agree to work as volunteers.

Yes, you are paying that greedy bus driver you see every day who thinks she/he has the right to be able to feed their family and put a roof over their family’s head--- I don’t know whatever would possess any worker, especially a bus driver who just gets to sit and ride around all day taking in the sights made available by the art’s commission to think they have such rights; never mind what the CEO’s of Exxon/Mobil are raking in or how much politicians are being paid to run our country this way… and, whatever you do don’t bother looking in the Wall Street Journal to see how the Wall Street coupon clippers are faring… and don’t question if all of this is F-A-I-R.

Anyways, not to worry about any of this, Barack Obama will take care of everything.

Transit workers, in defending their livelihoods, are struggling for all of us; we should support them, too.

Something to think about around the dinner table.

Read on…













In US, gas prices mean more riders, fewer buses

By IVAN MORENO, Associated Press Writer

DENVER - High gas prices almost killed the lifeline to the city for a group of mountain commuters.

Park County bus riders recently had to plead with city officials to keep their route running, arguing that a daily 80-mile car trip would hurt riders financially.

"For many of our mountain commuters, it is the only form of transportation that these people have," said Pam Beckhorn, who leads a group dedicated to preserving the route along Highway 285.

Like their counterparts across the country, cash-strapped Colorado officials face a paradox: People are using public transportation more than ever, but higher fuel costs — and lower sales tax revenues — are forcing municipalities to trim routes.

According to a May survey by the American Public Transportation Association, about one in five of the nation's transit agencies have cut service over the past year.

They include Cleveland; Corpus Christi, Texas; and San Diego, which has seen one of the largest increases in bus ridership in the country.

The cutbacks come at a time of increasing interest in public buses and trains: The transportation association says people took 2.6 billion trips on public transportation nationwide in the first three months of 2008 — almost 88 million more than last year.

The highest ridership increases came in light rail and commuter rail. In light rail, Baltimore, Minneapolis, St. Louis and San Francisco all saw double-digit percentage increases over the first quarter of 2007.

Double-digit percentage increases for commuter rail were posted in Oakland, Calif.; Harrisburg, Pa.; and Philadelphia, among others. Seattle's increase was almost 28 percent, APTA said.

Bonnie Arnold, with the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, said the commuter rail system there saw a 46.7 percent more passengers in June than in June 2007.

"It's just been mind-boggling," she said.

Transit authorities are feeling the pinch of higher gas prices on both the expenditure and revenue sides of their budgets. They're paying more to fuel their buses and trains. At the same time, they're taking in fewer sales tax dollars — an income source for many transit agencies — because people are spending more at the pump and less on other items.

The Denver-area's transit system, which serves eight counties with a population of about 2.6 million, is on pace to carry 100 million passengers this year, a record in its 35-year history, said spokesman Scott Reed.

But the system will be about $6 million over budget this year on fuel. It budgeted for $2.62 per gallon but is paying $3.20, Reed said.

Fuel costs also make building materials needed to expand infrastructure more expensive, said Clarence W. Marsella, general manager and CEO of the Regional Transportation District.

"Everything that we do is being undermined by the fuel crisis," Marsella said. "It's really diabolical. The tentacles are everywhere."

Anticipating rising fuel costs, the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority cut 5 percent of its bus lines in December. The district's fuel spending will surpass $20 million this year, compared to $12 million in 2007, said a spokesman.

One option being considered is adding a fuel surcharge to fares. If approved, any changes would be implemented in early October, the spokesman said.

In Corpus Christi, the Regional Transportation Authority is running fewer buses, said spokeswoman Kristi Pena. In New York City, there is talk of subway and bus fare hikes.

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System has reduced service, raised fares and laid off workers, said spokesman Rob Schupp. High fuel costs account for about $2 million of its $6.5 million deficit.

Denver's system is bracing for $5-a-gallon diesel prices in 2009. So the district has to cut or reduce service on its underperforming routes. That led to lobbying for the endangered route along Highway 285 during a recent meeting of the Regional Transportation District.

"You would put a lot of people out of work if you took their bus away from them," said engineer Martin Wirth, one of about 40 people at the meeting fighting to save the route.

Group members wore and gave board members T-shirts that read, "Go Green. Ride The Drive." They pleaded with the board to give them a chance to increase ridership.

In the end, the board voted to keep Route U, despite its $375,000 yearly cost. Supporters posed on a stairway for a celebratory picture.

"We are the little mouse that roared," Beckhorn said.

Here is something else to consider:

http://wearefedup.blogspot.com/

Something to think about: Fewer buses means fewer jobs… on the Iron Range, in the factories and behind the wheel.

Don’t expect many politicians to think in these terms as long as you keep voting for them without insisting on accountability… isn’t it time to start electing class conscious, socialist-minded workers to political office?
.

Alan L. Maki
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

Check out my blog:

Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Democratic Platform Option: "Guaranteed Health Care for All"

The American people are being cheated in the discussion on health care... this is my response to liberal pundit Norman Solomon writing on the Huffington Post:


We need to be very clear on what most people in this country want in the way of health care reform.

Even H.R. 676 has to be tweaked substantially to bring it into line with what people are looking for.

It is unfair to repeatedly leave the socialized health care option out of this entire debate just because the term makes the profit-gouging insurance companies and the greedy doctors of the American Medical Association uneasy.

People want: no-fee, comprehensive, all-inclusive single-payer universal health care that is publicly financed and publicly administered as a step on the way to socialized health care.

The issue of "choice of doctor" is a red-herring which has no place in this discussion; not when more than fifty-million people in this country would be happy just to be able to have access to health care.

Millions of people using emergency rooms, HMO's and all kinds of other health care centers have no choice of doctor already.

I would seek out care from a veterinarian before going to most doctors in this country who are more interested in making money than taking care of people.

Most of the time people don't even trust the doctors they go to because they always wonder if the doctor is pursuing a course of treatment or a course of personal enrichment and profit.

With this government spending trillions of dollars on wars trying to occupy the oil fields of the Middle East there is no reason why anyone in this country should have to pay a penny for health care.

If anyone doubts that the American people favor single-payer universal health care as a step towards socialized health care I would suggest holding a national referendum on the issue.

There is a reason Canadians, in a national CBC poll, chose socialist Tommy Douglas as the "greatest Canadian" after he established the first socialist government in North America; check it out:

http://www.cbc.ca/greatest/top_ten/nominee/douglas-tommy.html

Don't miss Tommy Douglas' story of "Mouseland" either:

http://www.saskndp.com/history/mouseland.php3

The "free market," dog-eat-dog system of capitalism, doesn't work in any other area of human endeavor... it sure as heck can't work in the area of providing health care for everyone.

No money for socialized health care? Try taxing oil company profits.

Alan L. Maki

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/norman-solomon/democratic-platform-optio_b_116102.html

Democratic Platform Option: "Guaranteed Health Care for All"

By: Norman Solomon

Posted July 31, 2008 | 12:45 PM (EST)



"Health care." In media and politics, the phrase has become a cliche that easily slides into rhetoric and wonkery. The tweaking Washington debate runs parallel to the bottom line of corporate health care. While government officials talk, the principle of health care as a human right goes begging.

Routinely, two contexts -- the macro and the personal -- obscure each other. Numbers may represent people, but people are anything but numbers. Paper, computer screens, claim forms and spreadsheets keep flattening humanity into commodity. But, of course, no one you love can ever be understood as a statistic.

What's in place is a profit-driven system of health care with devastating effects on human beings. Even the most illuminating stats tend to become glib, abstracting calibration of damage to lives in the United States, where at any moment 47 million people are uninsured and another 50 million are badly under-insured.

In the presidential race, with "health care" a frequent topic, John McCain offers more capitulation to the insurance industry. Speaking in the usual GOP terms, he calls for "ridding the market of both needless and costly regulations." Under his plan, McCain acknowledged on July 24, "There would be no limits to premiums."

Meanwhile, nationwide efforts are underway to bring grassroots views on health care into the 2008 Democratic Party Platform that will be adopted in late August at the national convention. In the mix is a "Statement in Support of Guaranteed Health Care for All."

Since it was launched by Progressive Democrats of America last week, the statement has already gained signers among convention delegates from more than 30 states. If you'd like to be part of this effort to move the national discourse on health care policy in a more progressive direction:

* Click here -- http://www.demconvention.com/certified-delegates-ec -- and find the names of your area's delegates to the Democratic National Convention.

* Contact those delegates and urge them to sign onto the Statement for Guaranteed Health Care for All. Any delegate can go online and become a signer at:
http://pdamerica.e-actionmax.com/takeaction.asp?aaid=3410

* Pass this information along to others.

The statement urges the convention to adopt a platform plank to "guarantee accessible health care for all" in the United States, to "create a single standard of high quality, comprehensive, and preventive health care for all" -- and to "eliminate financial barriers that prevent families and individuals from obtaining the medically necessary care they need."

Barack Obama's website summarizes his current position with references to "affordable health coverage," "participating insurance companies" and "private insurance" as centerpieces of his health care plan. But private insurance companies are antithetical to truly guaranteeing health care for all with a single standard of care. They're in the business of limiting and denying health care, while maximizing profits.

In contrast, H.R. 676 -- the single-payer bill introduced by Rep. John Conyers that now has 90 co-sponsors in the House -- would guarantee publicly funded, privately delivered health care for everyone in the United States.

Conyers was the first 2008 Democratic National Convention delegate to become a signer of the Guaranteed Health Care for All statement. It notes that "the U.S. conference of Mayors, at its June 2008 national meeting, passed a resolution in support of single-payer health care" and that "35 state AFL-CIO organizations support single-payer health care."

We need health care that's publicly funded and guaranteed for all -- not theoretical "insurance coverage" that in the real world is less solid than Swiss cheese.

Health care. A human right. What a concept.

Norman Solomon, author of "War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death," is a national co-chair of the Healthcare Not Warfare campaign, initiated by Progressive Democrats of America. He is an elected Obama delegate to the Democratic National Convention.

Make the Democratic Platform the American Dream Platform

Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are asking people for input into the 2008 Democratic Party Platform.

I would encourage people to participate in this discussion, dialogue and debate even though we all know these people are not sincere in wanting our input; if they were sincere they would have sought out our input long ago rather than waiting for the last minute; instead, especially the Obama Campaign, has been hard at work trying to smother people's participation at every level of the decision-making process while now hypocritically saying our input is desired... we saw this very concretely here in Minnesota as these party hacks sought to thwart:

1. Any discussion concerning the plight of casino workers in the Indian Gaming Industry. Here in Minnesota some thirty-thousand casino workers are employed in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws; employed at the mercy of a bunch of mobsters who are the real owners of these casinos. Strung out in some 400 casinos across the United States over two-million casino, hotel/motel, restaurant and resort workers are employed under these Draconian conditions as Barack Obama takes campaign contributions from the Indian Gaming Industry, its management firms like Station Casinos owned by the sleazy and notorious Fertitta family together with the industry's legal/lobbying firms, the likes of Brownstein/Hyatt/Farber/Schreck.

2. All efforts aimed at saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, the hydro dam which has powered the operation for free for over eighty years, and most importantly, save two-thousand UAW, SEIU, Teamster and rail workers' jobs. Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party hacks employed by the St. Paul Chamber of Commerce and working at the behest of the Obama Campaign tried to smother any discussion concerning three resolutions brought forward at precinct caucuses. This dirty work was done under the auspices of supporting "free enterprise. Public ownership needs to be considered as the way to save the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant and other closing auto plants. In fact, nationalization of the entire auto industry needs to be considered because the Wall Street coupon clippers have taken the wealth created by American workers and invested this money in plants overseas where labor and natural resources can still be exploited and stolen willy-nilly. No matter what the capitalist sooth-sayers have to say about the "supremacy" of "free markets," capitalism has failed miserably;

3. Any discussion of socialized health care and its first stage--- single-payer universal health care. Minnesotans have insisted they want a no-fee, comprehensive, all-inclusive single-payer universal health care system which is publicly financed and publicly administered... nothing less--- yet, the Democratic Party hacks and those employed by the Obama Campaign have systematically tried to force every phony scheme they could conceive down the throats of Minnesotans in the name of "affordable health care." Anyone who doesn't believe this is what the majority of Minnesotans want only have to place this alongside all other schemes and scams concocted by the insurance industry, HMO's, the American Medical Association, the Hospital Administrators, pharmaceutical companies and self-serving opportunist politicians like John Marty--- put all these alternatives on the ballot on Election Day and see what Minnesotans choose since they like elections so much;

4. All discussion about legislating a real living minimum wage. All discussion was trashed by the party hacks working for Obama during the precinct caucuses. The solution to a living minimum wage is very simple. Create legislation tying the minimum wage to all the cost of living factors monitored by the United States Department of Labor and its Bureau of Labor Statistics. When the cost of living goes up, the minimum wage goes up--- if the cost of living goes down, let the minimum wage go down with it (We want to be fair to business, eh?) When all is said and done about this issue it must be clearly stated in no uncertain terms: Any and every job any employer--- large or small--- requires being done must pay the worker employed to do the job a real living wage; if this isn't acceptable to the bosses, let them do the jobs themselves;

5. Discussion of how to proceed with Social Security. This has never been mentioned. Hands down, the United States' Social Security system is the best existing social program available to the working class anyplace in the world. The only thing required is a full employment economy so Social Security is fully funded (unemployed people don't contribute--- nor do employers contribute anything for unemployed workers); along with greatly increased and expanded benefits to make a great social program even better for working people Social Security stands right along side public education and public libraries as a fantastic social program. Any attempt to privatize Social Security would destroy this excellent public social program;

6. Peace, this should be at the top of this list because the working class suffers from wars more than any other class. Tremendous human and material resources are wasted in preparation for wars and fighting wars as working class youth are expected to be the cannon fodder as the merchants of death and destruction profit.



7. Any discussion surrounding the "greening of America" and creating new "green industries." We have been through these massive government programs subsidizing the Wall Street coupon clippers in the past... from agriculture and forestry to rail and mining and automobile and energy industries. Tax-payers have nothing to show for one-hundred and fifty years of government subsidies of these industries. With these new "green industries" it is time to put an end to this scam. What tax-payers finance, tax-payers must own... including the profits according to the share tax-payers invest. If government is going to subsidize these operations and industries the people must have a say in all decision making from the get-go on wages, terms of employment, hours worked, etc. What is happening surrounding the decision made by the Ford Motor Company to close the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant should be all the proof required that the interest of tax-payers who have subsidized this operation from day one to the workers who have created all the wealth need to be protected.

We need a real progressive agenda which serves to unite working people to bring about real change as an alternative to the neoliberal agenda of state-monopoly capitalism; more commonly referred to as the military-financial-industrial complex.

We need to fight for such a progressive agenda inside and outside of the Democratic Party because we all know working people are going to have to begin putting together a real labor party in this country. We simply can't keep fighting the monopoly business interests which dominate the Democratic Party just like the Republican Party.

Working people need to be careful, and reject those who try to make elections turn on which candidate to support... the real question is what kind of agenda working people will support. The real question is what issues should be our primary focus. Most important, we need to focus on uniting for change around real solutions to long-standing problems which have not been addressed as noted above.

The following very pathetic excuse for a "progressive Democratic platform" is being boosted by "Change to Win;" This group which divided the house of labor even more than it already was divided.

Check it out; it is vague and hollow and means absolutely nothing; just like everything Barack Obama says. Check it out. Then submit real platform resolutions which address the real problems working people are experiencing by bringing forward real solutions.

As the Democratic Party considers what issues to run on in 2008, it is critical that the most urgent issue of our age -- the decline of the American Dream -- be among them.

The Democratic Party platform must be a platform for the American dream. The next President and the next Congress must promote policies that renew the dream, and provide an infrastructure of opportunity so all Americans, through their effort and hard work, can hope to achieve the American dream.

I, the undersigned, urge the Democratic Party to include the following in their party platform for 2008:

1. Workers must have the free choice to form unions at work so they can achieve living wages, affordable health care, and a secure and dignified retirement;

2. Affordable, quality health care must be available for all Americans;

3. A new trade model must provide for rising global prosperity for workers through rigorous enforcement of labor standards;

4. The Social Security system is fundamentally sound and must not be privatized;

5. Immigration reform must be comprehensive, stop the exploitation of workers, and allow undocumented workers a path to legalization;

6. Workplace fairness and the protection of basic legal rights of workers must be restored;

7. We must build a green America.

By endorsing and running on these positions, the Democratic Party can affirm its historic role as the party of working men and women -- and give those men and women real hope of seeing the American Dream restored.

We should use the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights as the basis for all our platform resolutions.

Look through my blog, especially those things posted on the right-hand side in blue and you will find examples of numerous resolutions, all of which have been passed by precinct caucuses and/or county and state conventions here in Minnesota.

I think we are looking at a landslide victory for Barack Obama shaping up. If we, as working people, are going to have any influence in the Obama Administration it will only be from a position of demonstrated strength.

Yes, we must engage in this platform debate.

But, we must also demonstrate that we are serious and that we mean business.

The only thing the business interests who have the dominant position in the Obama Campaign understand is working people in militant struggle fighting for their rights.

From now through the Election we need to be out in the streets raising hell.

Let's show Obama that we understand what it means to unite for real change.

Get your friends and neighbors together, make up some signs saying "We are fed up!" "Stop the robbery at the pumps!" "No more wars for oil!" "Tax oil company profits to pay for health care, education, housing!" "Boycott Mobil/Exxon/Esso!" Whoops, looks like I forgot about a platform resolution. Well, write it up and get this platform resolution in.

Simply bringing forward platform resolutions is no substitute for working people taking their concerns out into the streets and to the public square.

Without grassroots and rank-and-file activity behind these platform resolutions... as good as many of these resolutions will be, we know these resolutions will be filed in the circular file.

Barack Obama was a community organizer--- as such, he understands better than most people what is meant by "out of sight; out of mind."

Keep our problems within the confines of the very undemocratic Democratic Party structure designed for party hacks to maintain control through manipulation; and, without taking our demands into the streets and into the public squares, Obama is never going to have our problems placed in his mind. We need to make our presence known by becoming very visible to him.

Exxon/Mobil has biggest quarterly profit ever at $11.68 Billion... Are we fed up with the robbery at the pumps?

I hope this will be circulated far and wide… if you know any of the “Progressives for Obama” pass this on to them for their comment and consideration.





Can a movement be built around “We are fed up!”?



We are fed up! Stop the robbery at the pumps!



If progressives can’t build a grassroots movement around stopping the robbery at the pumps now taking place, I question whether or not “progressives” have the ability to build any kind of grassroots movements in this country anymore.



The outfit called “Progressives for Obama,” from Tom Hayden and Carl Davidson to Katrina vanden Heuvel and Emanuel Wallerstein to Bill Fletcher---and, well, look at this list…



Initiators:

Barbara Ehrenreich

BIll Fletcher, Jr.

Danny Glover

Tom Hayden


Signers:

Sean Ahern
United Federation of Teachers

Jean Alonso
Dorchester-Roxbury Labor Committee

Fran Ansley
University of Tennessee

David E. Apter
Yale University

Barbara Aguirre
AFL-CIO

Rosalyn Baxandall
American Studies SUNY Old Westbury

Daniel Bourke
National Lawyer Guild

E. Richard Brown
Public Health, UCLA

Paul Buhle
Writer and Historian

Anna Burger
Secretary-Treasurer, SEIU

Paul Burke
Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Malcolm Burnstein
Progressive Caucus, California Democratic Party

Duane Campbell
Sacramento Progressive Alliance

Jim Campbell
CC-DS, Nat'l Co-chair

Jeff Chang
Author, 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop'

Frank Christopher
Crosskeys Media

Steve Cobble
Progressive Democrats of America

Barry Cohen
NJ Institute of Technology

Carl Davidson
SolidarityEconomy.Net

Laurie Davidson
SEIU, NYC

John Delloro
Dolores Huerta Labor Institute

Ariel Dorfman
Chilean Playwright

Peter Dreier
Occidental College

Thorne Dreyer
MDS Austin, Texas

Terry DuBose
VetSpeak.org

Andrea Dupree
Lighthouse Writers Workshop

Carolyn Eisenberg
Hofstra University

Eddie Eitches
President, AFGE Local 476

Daniel Ellsberg
Writer, Military Analyst

Jane English
Plymouth UCC Board of Social Action

Diane Fager
Public School Administrator

Margaret 'Julie' Finch
Progressive Democrats of America

Mickey Flacks
Housing Advocate

Richard Flacks
Santa Barbara County Action Network

Jane Fonda
Writer, Actor

Rev. John C. Forney
Progressive Christians Uniting

Aviva Futorian
Long Term Prisoner Policy Project

Christine George
Researcher and Unversity Teacher

António Geraldo Dias
INDEG/ISCTE

The Rev. John-Mark Gilhousen
Progressive Democrats of Oregon

Todd Gitlin
Columbia University

Danny Goldberg
Gold Village Entertainment

Jorge Gonzalez
Cuba Journal

Thomas Good
Next Left Notes, Editor

Van Gosse
Franklin & Marshall College

Ellen Gurzinsky
Funders for Lesbian and Gay Issues

Paul Haggis
Producer

Nancy Hall
City Life/ Vida Urban

David Hamilton
MDS, Austin Texas

Lionel Heredia
Freedom Media

Jim Hightower
Radio Commentator

Adam Hochschild
Author, 'Breaking the Chains'

Sharron Howard
Lafayette Area Peace Coalition

George Hunsinger
Princeton Theological Seminary

David Jacobs
Americans for Democratic Action

Steven Jacobs
Rabbi, Progressive Faith Foundation

Harold Jacobs
SUNY New Paltz

Michael James
Heartland Cafe, 49th Ward Democrats

Zenobia Johnson-Black
Nat'l Org of African-Americans in Housing

Earl Katz
Public Interest Pictures

Marilyn Katz
Founder, Chicagoans Against War on Iraq

Stephen R. Keister M.D.
Physicians for National Health Care

Georgia Kelly
Praxis Peace Institute

Robin D.G. Kelly
Historian

Anne Lowry Klonsky
Education Writer, Chicago

Fred Klonsky
President, Park Ridge Education Association, IEA, NEA

Susan Klonsky
Education Writer

Michael Larkin
South Kingstown Peace and Justice Action Group

William Mandel
Journalist and Activist

Amy Manuel
Denton for Barack

Eric Mar
SF Board of Education

Jay Mazur
Working Families Party

John McAuliff
Fund for Reconciliation and Development

Joe Moore
49th Ward Alderman, Chicago

Ruth Needleman
Labor Studies, University of Indiana

Max Palevsky
Philanthropist

Robert Pardun
Writer & Producer

Patricia Paredes
Texas Campus Compact

Frances Fox Piven
Author, 'Poor Peoples Movements,' CUNY

Matilda Phillips
Progressive Democrats North Carolina

Brian Redondo
Asia-American Activist

Christine R Riddiough
Americans for Democratic Action

Constancia Dinky Romilly, RN
Civil Rights Activist

Mark Rudd
Writer, Organizer

Jay Schaffner
Local 802 American Federation of Musicians

Stanley & Betty Sheinbaum
Publisher

Jennifer Amdur Spitz
Amdur Spitz & Associates

Don St.Clair
GreenDemocraticAlliance.org

Andy Stern
President, SEIU

William Strickland
UMass, Amherst

Dan Swinney
Center for Labor and Community Research

Harry Targ
CC-DS, Purdue University

Jonathan Tasini
National Writers Union

John Trinkl
San Francsico for Democracy

Flo A Weber
Progressive Democrats of Los Angeles

Immanuel Wallerstein
Yale University

Paula Weinstein
Producer

Cornel West
Author, 'Race Matters'

Mildred Williamson
CC-DS

Betty Willhoite
Living Wage Advocate

John K Wilson
Obamapolitics.com

Tim Wise
Author, Anti-Racism Educator



All of these “Progressives for Obama” continue to say that what we need is “grassroots organizations” and “movement building” to influence and keep pressure on Obama to force him to do what is right by the American people. We know Obama understands and appreciates mass movements because his mentor was Frank Marshall Davis… the journalist, poet and member of the Communist Party USA. Check out this excellent video:

http://www.hawaii.edu/uhwo/clear/HonoluluRecord1/Frankvideo.html

Two books by Frank Marshall Davis are well worth reading; I assume Barack Obama has read them both:

"Livin' the Blues"

"The Writings of Frank Marshall Davis"

Both books are available from your local socialist institution, more commonly known as the Public Library.

Plus, we know Barack Obama was a community organizer; so, we know Barack Obama will not only appreciate, but understand, the power of such a grassroots campaign with people marching and picketing across this country at Exxon/Mobil/Esso gas stations and convenience stores saying: We are fed up! Stop the robbery at the pumps! Tax oil company profits to pay for education, housing and health care! No more wars for oil company profits!

With obscene profits like Exxon/Mobil has reported this corporation can't even pay those employed in its gas stations and convenience stores real living wages... now, this is downright criminal.

Now, look at this list of “Progressives for Obama.” These people have the resources and the influence to roll out such a grassroots movement for change… if they can’t spark this kind of movement, they sure can’t be believed they are going to influence Obama and the Wall Street coupon clippers backing him. Make no mistake, Barack Obama is the candidate of choice for state monopoly capitalism in this country… his handlers are the foremost proponents of neoliberalism. Progressives will not get such a candidate’s attention to act on our concerns by whispering in his ear.



These people have control over tremendous movement resources… there is no way anyone can tell me that if this most impressive group of writers, newspaper and magazine publishers, union officials, philosophers, historians, ideologists, university professors, radio commentators, and activists from a variety of movements and organizations can’t come together around organizing a nationwide boycott of Exxon/Mobil--- a boycott which would include an educational campaign about the nature of imperialism and exploitation; more important, a grassroots action campaign aimed at demonstrating to Barack Obama and the Democratic Party that we mean business by flexing our collective, united progressive muscle for change as we bring Exxon/Mobil to its knees… if we can’t do this then there is something drastically wrong with “progressivism” in the United States.



Here we have the biggest rip-off in world history taking place, combined with massive seething public anger and we have this body of progressives coming together in support of Barack Obama while acknowledging that Obama is neither progressive or liberal and it will take grassroots organization to convince an Obama Administration to do what is right by the American people instead of going along with his “handlers” and the big-business interests backing him to the hilt and we keep hearing from Carl Davidson and Katrina vanden Heuvel that they are all for “grassroots movement building.”



A war for oil is being fought in Iraq… Exxon/Mobil is poised to reap the spoils of this war… its profits should be taxed to the hilt to pay for socialized health care, or, at least single-payer universal health care.



I don’t think anyone would mind if on each and every sign carried in front of an Exxon/Mobil/Esso gas station convenience store saying, “We are fed up! Join our boycott of Exxon/Mobil/Esso” would be this: “We are fed up! A united grassroots campaign for change initiated by: Progressives for Obama.”



You see, I do not think Tom Hayden and some of these other “progressives” are sincere. I think they have ulterior motives. I think they are intentionally trying to stymie real grassroots campaigns for change even as they repeatedly claim “movement building” as their intent. It would be easy as heck for this impressive group of “Progressives for Obama” to initiate a campaign: We are fed up!



If this headline: Exxon Mobil has biggest profit ever at $11.68B isn’t enough to spark a grassroots movement--- “We are fed up!”--- I don’t know what it will take. Perhaps Carl Davidson or Tom Hayden or Robert Borosage could provide us with an articulate explanation as to why they aren’t rolling out such a campaign. This campaign could be kicked off around the country on Labor Day… it is not like it takes a great deal of thought to pick up some heavy black markers and poster boards and walk in front of Exxon/Mobil/Esso gas stations and convenience stores. It is not like it takes book after book being written to explain to people that there is a robbery at the pumps taking place. I think most Americans will get the drift of what is going on, and why.





http://apnews.myway.com//article/20080731/D928R1GOG.html


Exxon Mobil has biggest profit ever at $11.68B


Jul 31, 8:28 AM (ET)

By JOHN PORRETTO

HOUSTON (AP) - Exxon Mobil reported second-quarter earnings of $11.68 billion Thursday, the biggest quarterly profit ever by any U.S. corporation, but the results fell well short of Wall Street expectations and shares fell in premarket trading.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company said its net income for the April-June period came to $2.22 a share, up from $10.26 billion, or $1.83 a share, a year ago.

Revenue rose 40 percent to $138.1 billion from $98.4 billion in the year-earlier quarter.

Excluding an aftertax charge of $290 million related to an Exxon Valdez court settlement, earnings amounted to $11.97 billion, or $2.27 per share.

Analyst on average expected Exxon Mobil to earn $2.52 a share on revenue of $144 billion, according to a survey by Thomson Financial. The estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Exxon shares fell more than 2 percent, or $1.88, to $82.50 in premarket trading.





http://apnews.myway.com/article/20080731/D928Q9PO0.html


Big prices for oil, record 2Q profits at Shell


Jul 31, 7:37 AM (ET)

By TOBY STERLING AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) - Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB) reported a 33 percent jump in second-quarter profits Thursday, its biggest quarter ever at $11.6 billion thanks to high oil prices and the weak dollar.

The company earned $8.67 billion in the same quarter last year.

Shell said its selling price per barrel of oil was around $112, up from $64 a year earlier. That pushed earnings at its main exploration and production arm up 90 percent to $5.88 billion, despite a 1.1 percent fall in production to 3.05 million barrels of oil and equivalents per day.

Chief Executive Jeroen van der Veer dismissed calls in Britain for a windfall tax on oil companies.

Britain's BP PLC (BP) reported this week that its profits jumped 28 percent to $9.47 billion in the quarter.

"If we do less investment there will be less supply for consumers" which would drive prices higher, Van der Veer said.

"The world needs energy."

He said the company was reinvesting profits and now expects capital spending of between $35 billion and $36 billion this year, up from the last previous estimate of $24 billion to $25 billion. That figure includes the company's $5.8 billion bid for Canada's Duvernay Oil Corp., launched earlier this month.

He said Shell was benefited from a strong operating performance as well as high energy prices, but said refining margins had weakened.

Refining profits rose 16 percent to $4.54 billion, but Shell said at the current cost of supplies - which strips out the impact of oil prices - refining earnings would have fallen by 63 percent to $1.08 billion, mostly due to weaker margins in the United States.

The company's net sales were $131 billion in the quarter, up from $84.9 billion.

The strong quarterly results had been widely expected and shares rose 1.2 percent to 23.63 euros ($36.77).

Petercam analyst Alexandre Weinberg repeated his "buy" recommendation, saying the company has been undervalued since 2004 when it was forced to restate its proven oil reserves in a major accounting scandal.

"Though the sentiment toward the majors (major oil companies) has weakened in the past weeks due to the oil price decline, we believe that Royal Dutch Shell will continue to generate massive cash flows," he wrote in a note on the earnings.

"The following 18 months should see significant production capacity increase," he said, citing a large project on Sakhalin island in Russia expected to begin production at the end of the year.

"The company still trades at a discount to its peers and we deem this unjustified."

There are some problems ahead for Shell, however.

In Nigeria's oil-rich delta region, the company had nearly 200,000 barrels per day of oil shut down during the quarter due to attacks by armed militias. The militias seek a share of oil profits now controlled by the national government.

Shell has been investing in deep-sea oil platforms in Nigeria to minimize the risk, but in June, its Bonga platform 75 miles from the coast was shut down briefly after an attack there.

"We had always right or wrongly thought that being that far away, an attack would be relatively unlikely," Van der Veer said.

"We will think through how we can better protect our facilities, I don't think we should publicize what we (plan to) do."





Alan L. Maki

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net


Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk

http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

I have said it for years...

"Eisenhower was president,
Senator Joe was king;
Long as you didn't say nothing,
you could say anything."
From the song: Julius and Ethel,
Bob Dylan, 1983

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were murdered by this dirty rotten government and now the scoundrel, as he approaches death, who lied to save his own neck and that of his wife admits that he has lied and the courts of this country are still covering up the facts from the American people and the world.

Two little boys, robbed of their parents; two innocent people murdered. For what? So Joe McCarthy and J. Edgar Hoover could fan the flames of anti-Semitism, anti-communism, bigotry and hate and plunge the world into a Cold War that robbed humanity of untold resources which could have been used to rid us of the scourge of poverty and disease; plunged us into war after imperialist war and left the U.S. corporations as the masters over us and the rest of the world... to carry out this campaign of hate and war... two innocent human beings were sent to their deaths in the electric chair by that worthless piece of scum, J. Edgar Hoover, and a system of INJUSTICE wrapped in the American flag that is second to no bestial regime on the face of this planet has been created; a virtual monster of political repression.

An entire corporate controlled apparatus from the media to the courts to police and intelligence agencies participated in the murder of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg... their one and only crime being members of the Communist Party USA and having the unfortunate circumstance of being related to a greedy little sleezeball; how pathetic that any human being would lie to send his own sister to the electric chair to save his own neck.

How shameful that a scum-bag like J. Edgar Hoover together with the entire FBI would engage in this dirty, dirty, deed... and then, to top it all off, every single sleezeball who passed themselves off as Presidents continued to allow J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI to intimidate and TERRORIZE the entire nation and the world for over fifty years.

How many people lost their jobs, their families, and had their lives ruined and made a living hell as J. Edgar Hoover and Joe McCarthy continued to perpetuate their dirty deeds when they should have been put in the electric chair themselves for framing the Rosenbergs... this was outright cold-blooded murder with political motivation... it was an execution from which this Nation has yet to recover.

And, to top it off, the FBI is still up to the same old dirty deeds and the cowards in the United States Congress refuse to end this stifling and smothering of democracy because 90% of these people passing themselves off as Congressmen and Senators are just as perverted as J. Edgar Hoover was... an outright pervert running the FBI for years in the name of "keeping America free of communists" whose only crime has been to speak out against the injustices of capitalism and the crimes of U.S. imperialism.

The entire world knew the Rosenbergs were the victims of a vicious political frame-up.

Reading this is just sickening... it is enough to cause any caring. loving, and concerned human being to vomit in disgust.


Here are the shameful and disgusting facts...


Reuters didn't even have the courage to publish pictures of the Rosenbergs...















This is how the ruling class protects the dirty deeds of its own kind.

From Reuters...



http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2232850020080722?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&sp=true

Key evidence in Rosenberg trial to remain secret

Tue Jul 22, 2008 5:54pm EDT


By Edith Honan

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Testimony that could help clear executed American communist Ethel Rosenberg of charges she helped pass atomic secrets to the Soviet Union in the 1950s will remain secret, a judge ruled on Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected a petition from the National Security Archive seeking the release of grand jury testimony by Ethel's brother, David Greenglass. Greenglass was a key prosecution witness in the famed 1951 spy trial that ended in the 1953 execution of Ethel and her husband, Julius Rosenberg.

The case, which has been described by Rosenberg supporters as a frame-up amid anti-communist McCarthyism hysteria and Cold War fear, hinged on Greenglass and his wife, Ruth Greenglass, fellow communists who became prosecution witnesses.

David Greenglass, 86, admitted in interviews for a book published in 2000 that he gave false testimony under pressure from prosecutors. But unlike most of the other surviving witnesses who testified, he has asked that his grand jury testimony not be made public.

Hellerstein said the public's right to know was outweighed by the tradition of grand jury secrecy following arguments in a hearing held Tuesday in Manhattan federal court.

"He may be a scoundrel, he may be a hypocrite, he may be a liar," said Hellerstein. But he added, "It's no easy task to compare the value of accountability with grand jury secrecy."

Hellerstein reserved a ruling on whether the transcript would be released following Greenglass' death.

Greenglass' lawyer, Daniel Arshack, said in a letter to the court that Greenglass' objection was based on an expectation of privacy.

As a rule, grand jury proceedings are secret. In June, the government agreed to release transcripts in the Rosenberg case, so long as each of the original 46 witnesses who testified was dead or had given consent.

Greenglass, who confessed to helping Julius and served 10 years in prison, testified at the 1951 trial that Ethel, a secretary, had aided the conspiracy by typing notes that included top secret information on the U.S. Manhattan project to develop the atomic bomb.

In interviews, Greenglass has said that he had fabricated that detail in order to protect his wife, Ruth Greenglass, who was also implicated in the conspiracy, from being prosecuted, said David Vladeck, the attorney representing the National Security Archive.

Ruth Greenglass died earlier this year at 83.

Other witnesses testified that Ethel Rosenberg had not been present when national secrets were discussed, Vladeck said.

"He has, in our view, forfeited any reasonable right to privacy" by speaking publicly about the case, Vladeck told the court, referring to Greenglass.

It was not discussed in the proceedings whether Ethel Rosenberg would be eligible for a posthumous pardon if evidence came to light clearing her.

(editing by Christine Kearney and Cynthia Osterman)


These are the despicable prosecutors responsible for this cold-blooded political murder... including the perverted scumbag, Roy Cohn, who became Joe McCarthy's right-hand man...




This is the pathetic, perverted piece of crap that was personally responsible for the frame-up and execution of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg...




J. Edgar Hoover

And the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation today is no better... they probably found this scumbag in J. Edgar Hoover's closet...








The FBI is celebrating one-hundred years of its existence... during that time it has conducted the Palmer Raids, harassed and intimidated trade union organizers, peace activists and communists to no end, framed Tom Mooney and the Rosenbergs, initiated the dirty COINTELPRO operation, tried to railroad Angela Davis to the gas chamber, and left a trail of lives and families ruined...

... the time has come to close down this disgraceful agency and padlock the doors.

One cannot help but ask this question: Can a government which allows an agency like the FBI to carry out these dirty deeds and continue to exist be any better?

The FBI... One hundred years of political repression... this is the legacy of the Federal Bureau of Investigation... millions of dollars spent to frame and execute two innocent human beings... a loving husband and wife, a mother and father.


America, this is the dirty work of the FBI...









Through it all shines the love and courage of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.

By the way... piece by piece as this frame-up against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg has unraveled... piece by piece their innocence becomes more clear... when everything is out in the open we will find that both Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were completely innocent of any wrong-doing.

The unfortunate thing is that all the perpetrators of this ghastly frame-up and political murder have been allowed die natural deaths after committing this dirty and heinous deed.


Just so nobody can say this blog is biased... This is written by a person who has personally experienced a life-time of harassment by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Department of INjustice.

Alan L. Maki

Al Franken... Minnesotans now have a chance to dump the Dumb Donkey

With the entrance of Priscilla Lord Faris into the MNDFL U.S. Senate Primary, Minnesotans not only have a chance to dump another dumb donkey, they have a chance to demand some real accountability from politicians.

Chances are, not many of those who have already endorsed Al Franken are going to be jumping ship... although, if they were smart, they would.

This opens up a whole new opportunity for grassroots activism centered on the issues of concern to progressives. This is an opportunity to get Minnesota back to at least the liberalism of Paul Wellstone in support of many progressive issues.

Priscilla Lord Faris isn't going to get us to a political level of a Floyd Olson, Elmer Benson or John Bernard; but, if grassroots activists and rank and file trade unionists demand something from Priscilla Lord Faris in exchange for their votes we sure can start to rebuild on the firm progressive foundations of Olson, Benson and Bernard.

Priscilla Lord Faris really doesn't have much choice other than to work with us if she wants our votes; and, she is going to need our votes to win the Primary on Tuesday, September 9.

Priscilla Lord Faris can only win if she brings forward real solutions to the problems working people are experiencing. If Priscilla Lord Faris doesn't do this she won't win in the Primary on September 9, and can't win in the General Election, because no one is going to turn out to vote for her... although her very principled stand in opposition to the war in Iraq is more than enough for me to vote for her.

Priscilla Lord Faris' stand in opposition to the war in Iraq is light-years ahead of any other politician in Minnesota... and most in the Nation.

So far, for the most part, Priscilla Lord Faris has only pitched the same meaningless messages we get from Obama; she is going to have to do better; she can do better. To win the Primary Election, Priscilla Lord Faris, is not only going to have to properly frame the issues, she is going to have to bring forward real solutions to the problems working people are experiencing where they work, in their communities and she is going to have to be as tough as her dad, Judge Miles Lord, on the corporations, especially when it comes to environmental issues.

Will Priscilla Lord Faris take on United States Steel and the peat mining boon-doggle in the Big Bog? Will she stand up and oppose the sulfide mining operations and the land-give-aways being pushed by Jim Oberstar and Amy Klobuchar in the Arrowhead?

Will Priscilla Lord Faris push for a minimum wage that is a real living wage based upon the calculations of the United States Department of Labor and the Bureau of Labor Statistics for what a real living income is based upon the actual cost of living factors?

In fact, Priscilla Lord Faris has a great opportunity to show the Obama campaign what it will take to defeat big-business as you win an election.

If Priscilla Lord Faris fails to take up real solutions to the problems of working people like socialized health care; or, at least, the first step on the road to socialized health care--- single-payer universal health care--- by supporting House Resolution 676 (HR 676), chances are she can't defeat this Dumb Donkey the Summit Hill Club and Cadillac Liberals have brought forward in the form of Al Franken.

This would be a good time to get a commitment from a politician about saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant, also.

Priscilla Lord Faris will have to confront the corrupt Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party machine if she intends to win, too; and this is good news for Minnesotans.

Already Brian Melendez and Andrew O'Leary along with their AIPAC funded entourage of Palestinian hating warmongers are trying to harass and strong-arm members of the Minnesota DFL State Central Committee into maintaining an allegiance to the Dumb Donkey--- Al Franken.

Melendez' and O'Leary's strong-arm tactics aren't sitting well with many people and using this kind of approach to politics is losing more friends than winning new ones which is not good this close to an election.

Look at this guy... do you really want him representing you in the United States Senate? Between the President, the House and the Senate, Washington D.C. is already a three-ring circus.

My advice to Minnesotans is: Don't rush to support Priscilla Lord Faris until we get a commitment from her that she will support H.R. 676... we need to start getting something for out votes because otherwise we don't get much from these Dumb Donkeys other than what the sparrows leave behind.

We shouldn't have to make a choice between a Dumb Donkey and a Dumb Cluck:







Let's find out if we have a real alternative in Priscilla Lord Faris...



At least she is intelligent.

See and hear her for yourself:

http://priscillalordfarisforsenate.com/almanac.html

Priscilla Lord Faris is the very first MN DFL politician to come forward, bucking the worthless DFL party hacks, demonstrating a complete understanding of what this war in Iraq is all about--- oil--- and for once we have a politician demonstrating an empathy for the suffering people in Iraq as well as the American families suffering deaths of loved ones, along with understanding that this war is wasting our precious resources that could be going to socially useful programs... reason enough, in my opinion, to vote for Priscilla Lord Faris in the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party Primary Election on Tuesday, September 9... mark your calendars... this is a chance to send a real message to the politicians.

I would suggest working people should start communicating with Priscilla Lord Faris on the issues of real importance.

Here is her e-mail address:

priscilla@priscillalordfarisforsenate.com

Contrary to the lies of the political pundits, most of whom are employed by the corporations, progressive politics is winning politics in Minnesota.

Now Minnesotans really have something to discuss around the dinner table.

Alan L. Maki