And WHAT DO YOU KNOW, ANOTHER DISAPPOINTED GROUP of Americans!!
"Stalled agenda irks labor leaders; Unions see little action from Democrats in D.C." by Susan Milligan, Globe Staff | October 12, 2009
WASHINGTON - With Democrats in control of Congress and the White House, organized labor had hoped to be celebrating a long list of legislative successes this year. Instead, labor’s agenda has been pushed down on the priority list by the very lawmakers they helped elect, leaving some union backers frustrated.
Maybe they should get a march going (but will the pro-corporate, agenda-pushing newspaper give it the same treatment?).
Labor is eager to win passage of a “card check’’ bill, a measure that would make it easier for workers to form unions, but the White House and Congress took up a Wall Street bailout plan first.
WHAT MORE DO YOU NEED TO KNOW, labor?
Need your head dunked in a toilet?
In the health care debate, labor is seeking to avoid a tax on expensive health care benefits. But President Obama, who slammed the idea during the campaign, this summer indicated he might be open to such an idea.
The Obama administration is also encouraging creation of some charter schools, a long-time concern of teachers’ unions, who fear money will be diverted from other public schools. And an increase in the minimum wage, which supporters pushed in the last Congress, when Republican George W. Bush was in the White House, hasn’t even been introduced in this Congress.
Amazing how the Democrats just FORGET ABOUT YOU and TAKE YOU FOR GRANTED, 'eh, labor -- until ELECTION TIME ROLLS around!!!
“It’s beyond belief to me,’’ said Robert Haynes, president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO. While Obama and Congress inherited “a big mess’’ from Bush, Haynes said, “there aren’t any excuses anymore. If you can’t deliver health care, and you can’t deliver jobs, and if you can’t deliver [card check legislation], and you can’t figure out how to take care of the working people of this great city and country, you don’t deserve to stay in office.’’
The poor economy and the attention demanded by such issues as health care, Afghanistan, climate change, and the pending closure of the Guantanamo Bay prison have put labor unions’ concerns far down on the list in Washington, analysts and lawmakers say.
So what else is new, really?
Many labor union leaders say they still have faith that Obama will push for their legislative wish list, especially the so-called card check bill to allow workers to organize unions without a secret ballot, once he gets a health care bill signed. And while unions are anxious about provisions in the health care bill that might affect union members, leaders say the larger goal of getting closer to universal health care is most important.
This is why I have ZERO RESPECT for the LABOR MOVEMENT!
The White House is reassuring. “We’ve been able to make tremendous progress on issues important to the labor community,’’ said White House spokesman Bill Burton. “We have a good partnership, and we’re going to continue to work hard on issues important to the labor community.’’
Still, some labor advocates within Congress are venting their frustration.
“Labor is the core of the Democratic party. Labor has always delivered for the Democratic party. But the Democratic party doesn’t always deliver for labor,’’ said Representative Dennis Kucinich, Democrat of Ohio. Obama “still has time,’’ Kucinich said, but he added that he thinks Democrats need to step up and help workers to merit the campaign help unions can provide.
Oh my Lord, the Globe FINALLY FOUND DENNIS KUCINICH!!!
Not on the war or anything, but....
Only a small portion - 12.4 percent - of the workforce is unionized, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Excluding public employment, the percentage is even lower; just 7.4 percent of private-sector workers belong to a union.
Yeah, and the public sector ones are the real looters!!! Just take a look at Massachusetts and their double-dipping retirements and nest-feathering pension deals.
Union organizing is especially tough during a recession, said Vanderbilt University labor specialist Dan Cornfield, since people are more focused on getting and keeping a job than on securing workplace organizing rights.
So the recession benefits business, 'eh?
But despite their low numbers, unions still corral their members to provide Democrats with crucial election help: phone banks, canvassing, and get-out-the-vote drives.
FOOLS!!!!!
Union-sponsored political action committees are still heavy campaign contributors. In the 2007-2008 election cycle, PACs representing labor unions doled out $66.4 million to federal candidates, with 92 percent of it going to Democrats. Less than a year into the 2010 election cycle, the PACs have given almost $16 million to federal candidates, with 93 percent going to elect Democrats....
Of course, CORPORATIONS OUTSPEND UNIONS 10-to-1, but that doesn't matter to the labor-bashing, pro-corporate paper.
Btw, labor, THAT is WHY you are getting stiffed by the DemocraPs; because THEY TAKE IN JUST AS MUCH CORPORATE DOUGH as Repuglicans!!!!
“A lot of folks on the left . . . thought that it would be this complete revolution in American society, and things just don’t work that way,’’ said Glen Spencer, executive director of the workforce freedom initiative at the US Chamber of Commerce....
National labor leaders want to take advantage of the rare political advantage of having such Democratic dominance in Washington. But they say they are willing to be patient. 
Seriously, HOW MUCH LONGER YOU GOING TO WAIT?
You guys are DAMN FOOLS!!!!!
"the nature of modern European politics, where even the most ardent conservatives can still embrace social welfare policies that would seem leftist to Americans."
That REALLY MAKES YOU WONDER about how "liberal" AmeriKa is, huh?
How in the world did we get SO MANY DEMOCRAPS in office lately, unless it was an ANTI-INCUMBENT feeling because ONCE IN OFFICE we DESPISE LIBERAL PROGRAMS!
Related: The Return of the Republican Congress
And for an irked labor, they don't really sound too mad, huh?
“The administration has been dealt a really tough economic hand. They’re doing the best they can,’’ said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
Then quit complaining about charters.
Anna Burger, secretary-treasurer of the Service Employees International Union, said the health care bill was also important to the union, and she understood that Obama needed to get it finished first. Other leaders said that Obama has put strong union advocates in key jobs at the Department of Labor. “On balance, he’s been a very pro-labor president ,’’ said Chuck Loveless, director of legislation at the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.
(Blog editor just sitting and snorting on that one)
But if Obama and Congress do not deliver for labor, lawmakers may lose the campaign help they will need next year, when Democrats face serious electoral challenges, Kucinich and Spencer each said.
Where is that salt shaker, because liberals, working people, etc, you guys don't matter! When will you ever learn?
Representative Marcy Kaptur, Democrat of Ohio, acknowledged the labor strides Obama has made but said it was not yet enough. “The president could do much more to give visibility to the cause of working men and women in this country, and their plight,’’ Kaptur said.
Another good Democrat!
--more--"
And I OPPOSE ELECTION-RIGGING and FRAUD wherever it is found!
BATON ROUGE, La. - An internal review by ACORN’s board of directors found that $5 million was embezzled from the community organization, far more than a previously reported sum of $1 million, according to documents from the Louisiana attorney general’s office.
The new amount was reported in a subpoena released Monday from an investigation by Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, the Times-Picayune reported yesterday. It is unclear if the money was taken from state, federal, or private funds, according to the subpoena.
Bertha Lewis, chief executive officer of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, said the new embezzlement allegation is “completely false.’’ She said she would comment further after she and ACORN attorneys have a chance to review the subpoena.
Caldwell issued subpoenas in August seeking documents related to Wade Rathke, then the president of ACORN International, and his brother, Dale Rathke, who kept the group’s books. Those subpoenas targeted possible violations of state employee tax law, obstruction of justice, and violations of the Employee Retirement Security Act....
“Current high-ranking members of ACORN have publicly acknowledged that embezzlement did in fact occur, but the exact amount of the embezzlement was unknown until it was recently acknowledged in a board of directors meeting on Oct. 17, 2008, by Bertha Lewis and Liz Wolf that an internal review had determined that the amount embezzled was $5 million,’’ the new subpoena says.
Don't you love liars, no matter which side of the aisle?
--more--"
Stolen Elections: 2000
Stolen Elections: 2004
Stolen Elections: 2006
Election Fraud 2008
How Hillary Clinton Stole New Hampshire
No, I'm not a Republican hack at all, I am FOR FAIRNESS and HONEST ELECTIONS!
