Now the rich Federal Conservative Tory MP Gerald  Keddy, who represents the riding of South Shore-St.Margaret’s, had been asked by a reporter whether he was employing migrant workers on the Christmas tree farm he runs with his family . Keddy said he didn’t, but that he wouldn’t criticize others for doing so because local people won’t do the work.  “Nova Scotians won’t do it — all those no-good bastards sitting on the sidewalk in Halifax that can’t get work,” The Federal Conservative Tory MP Gerald Keddy has apologized for saying unemployed Haligonians are “no-good bastards” because they won’t work on Christmas tree farms.  “These comments were insensitive”. `I would like to offer a sincere apology for remarks I made regarding the unemployed in Halifax,” “In no way did I mean to offend those who have lost their job due to the global recession, nor did I mean to suggest that anyone who is unemployed is not actively looking for employment.”

 But what did he now mean?

We are all sorry he got elected in the first place too//

Special unit will investigate possible police misconduct The Cape Breton Post SYDNEY — Nova Scotia Justice Minister Ross Landry says the province will set up an independent unit to investigate serious incidents of possible police misconduct. Landry said up to seven investigators will be employed by the unit, which will bring greater accountability and transparency to investigations involving police. Nova Scotia is consulting police agencies, interested groups and the other Atlantic provinces to develop a model for the unit, the Nova Scotia Department of Justice said Tuesday. Bob Purcell, a department official, said the unit which could be in place by spring 2010 will investigate incidents in which a person has been killed or injured by police. The investigative unit may also be responsible for probing similar incidents involving sheriffs or corrections officers in custody situations, although that has not yet been decided, said Purcell, executive director of the Department of Justice’s public safety and security division. The justice minister’s announcement received a guarded welcome Tuesday from a spokesman for the Wagmatcook First Nation band council, which has been demanding the long-awaited release of a report into the RCMP shooting death of a resident almost a year ago. Brian Arbuthnot, band director of operations, said he has not seen any details about how the investigative unit will operate but said it sounds like a positive step. John Simon died in a Baddeck hospital about three hours after being shot by an RCMP officer at a home on the reserve on Dec. 2. Last month, officials from the band council held a press conference in Halifax to air their concerns about delays in the release of a Halifax Regional Police investigative report on the death. Arbuthnot said an independent unit could possibly complete investigations and issue reports more quickly, but he noted on the other hand, there are many factors to consider in any shooting death.  The public prosecutor’s office also plays a role, he noted. “I don’t want to sound too pessimistic about it. I think it makes sense to do it but I guess they say the proof is in the pudding and let’s see where it goes from here.” Chief Myles Burke of the Cape Breton Regional Police Service said right now, police departments in Nova Scotia dealing with a serious incident involving one of their own typically call on other departments to do an investigation. “While I will say it worked, some of the challenges it has for the chiefs are you still have that question for the public dealing with accountability and independence,” said Burke, who has conducted such investigations. “And there is a very significant cost to the municipal units in relation to these investigations. They are very expensive and they are time-consuming.” The Nova Scotia Chiefs of Police Association supports the path the province is taking and Burke said personally supports it. Burke said the issue of whether investigations would proceed more quickly is questionable considering that investigators must sometimes wait for lab reports   http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=305804&sc=145

and does that inlude the bad RCMP?

AND WHAT NEXT CAN WE EXPECT?

From Investor’s Business Daily:

The Day Global Warming Stood Still

11/20/2009

Climate Change: As scientists confirm the earth has not warmed at all in the past decade, others wonder how this could be and what it means for Copenhagen. Maybe Al Gore can Photoshop something before December.

It will be a very cold winter of discontent for the warm-mongers. The climate show-and-tell in Copenhagen next month will be nothing more than a meaningless carbon-emitting jaunt, unable to decide just whom to blame or how to divvy up the profitable spoils of climate change hysteria.

The collapse of the talks coupled with the decision by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to put off the Kerry-Boxer cap-and-trade bill, the Senate’s version of Waxman-Markey, until the spring thaw has led Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe, the leading Republican on the Environment and Public Works Committee, to declare victory over Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., and the triumph of observable fact over junk science.

“I proudly declare 2009 as the ‘Year of the Skeptic,’ the year in which scientists who question the so-called global warming consensus are being heard,” Inhofe said to Boxer in a Senate speech. “Until this year, any scientist, reporter or politician who dared raise even the slightest suspicion about the science behind global warming was dismissed and repeatedly mocked.”

Inhofe added: “Today I have been vindicated.”

The Ada (Oklahoma) Evening News quotes Inhofe: “So when Barbara Boxer, John Kerry and all the left get up there and say, ‘Yes. We’re going to pass a global warming bill,’ I will be able to stand up and say, ‘No, it’s over. Get a life. You lost. I won,’” Inhofe said.

Now we have the German publication Der Spiegel, which is rapidly becoming the house organ for climate hysteria, weighing in again with the sad news that the earth does not have a fever so we really don’t have to throw out the baby with the rising bath water.

In an article titled, “Climatologists Baffled By Global Warming Time-Out,” author Gerald Traufetter leads off with the observation: “Climatologists are baffled as to why average global temperatures have stopped rising over the last 10 years.” They better figure it out, Der Spiegel warns, because “billions of euros are at stake in the negotiations.”

We are told in sad tones that “not much is happening with global warming at the moment” and that “it even looks as though global warming could come to a standstill this year.” But how can it be that the earth isn’t following all those computer models? Is the earth goddess Gaia herself a climate change “denier”?

The article gloomily notes that a few weeks ago Britain’s Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research pointed out that the earth had in fact only warmed 0.07 degree Celsius from 1999 to 2008 and not by the 0.2 degree Celsius predicted by the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

An even more inconvenient truth, according to the British experts, is that when their figures are adjusted for two naturally occurring climate phenomena, El Nino and La Nina, the resulting temperature trend is reduced to 0.0 degree Celsius. No, that’s not a typo.

As if that weren’t enough, it seems hackers broke into the computer network run by the Hadley Climate Research Unit, removing 61 megabytes of e-mails and data.

While we don’t condone theft, the hacked data and e-mails have spilled onto the Web and reveal something startling: The scientists at Hadley, one of the world’s leading climate change study centers, aren’t scientifically objective at all.

Indeed, in e-mails, they boast of twisting scientific data to suit their views and to “hide” the truth. At one point, a scientist actually gloats over the death of global warming skeptic John L. Daly, saying, “In an odd way, this is cheering news.”

If true, this is massive scientific fraud.

To add to the warm-mongers’ woes, patron saint Al Gore, the man who claimed to have invented the Internet, might also have claimed the discovery of Photoshop. Dr. Roy Spencer, of the University of Alabama at Huntsville, formerly with NASA, has taken a look at the pictures used to illustrate Gore’s new book, “Our Choice: A Plan To Solve the Climate Crisis.”

Gore Photoshopped NASA imagery of the earth for the fold-out cover photo, adding four hurricanes at once, including one spinning in the wrong direction next to Florida and, in a physical impossibility, one on the equator next to Peru. Somewhere in the process, the island of Cuba was deleted.

http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article.aspx?id=513195

THEN ADD THIS:

Hacked E Mails Show Blatant Climate Change Fraud

KEITH JOHNSON
The Wall Street Journal
November 22, 2009

The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents — posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center — that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.

The correspondence between dozens of climate-change researchers, including many in the U.S., illustrates bitter feelings among those who believe human activities cause global warming toward rivals who argue that the link between humans and climate change remains uncertain.

Some emails also refer to efforts by scientists who believe man is causing global warming to exclude contrary views from important scientific publications.

“This is horrible,” said Pat Michaels, a climate scientist at the Cato Institute in Washington who is mentioned negatively in the emails. “This is what everyone feared. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for anyone who does not view global warming as an end-of-the-world issue to publish papers. This isn’t questionable practice, this is unethical.”

In all, more than 1,000 emails and more than 2,000 other documents were stolen Thursday from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University in the U.K. The identity of the hackers isn’t certain, but the files were posted on a Russian file-sharing server late Thursday, and university officials confirmed over the weekend that their computer had been attacked and said the documents appeared to be genuine.

“The selective publication of some stolen emails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way,” the university said.

Most climate scientists today argue that the earth’s temperature is rising, and nearly all of those agree that human activity is likely to be a prime or at least significant cause. But a vocal minority dispute one or both of those views.

A partial review of the hacked material suggests there was an effort at East Anglia, which houses an important center of global climate research, to shut out dissenters and their points of view.

In the emails, which date to 1996, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. repeatedly take issue with climate research at odds with their own findings. In some cases, they discuss ways to rebut what they call “disinformation” using new articles in scientific journals or popular Web sites.

The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with.

The IPCC couldn’t be reached for comment Sunday.

Read the rest of this article HERE.

Obama’s response?

***Warning….photograph included may be found to be upsetting to some.**

Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

Tuesday,  November 24, 2009

By Rowan Scarborough

March 31, 2004: Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as the charred and mutilated bodies of U.S. contractors hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq.

========================================

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And for their trouble, three of the SEALs, members of the Navy’s elite commando unit, are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral’s mast — and requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named “Objective Amber,” told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

Matthew McCabe, a Special Operations Petty Officer Second Class (SO-2), is facing three charges: dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee, making a false official statement, and assault.

Petty Officer Jonathan Keefe, SO-2, is facing charges of dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Petty Officer Julio Huertas, SO-1, faces those same charges and an additional charge of impediment of an investigation.

The three SEALs will be arraigned separately on Dec. 7. Another three SEALs — two officers and an enlisted sailor — have been identified by investigators as witnesses but have not been charged.

FoxNews.com obtained the official handwritten statement from one of the three witnesses given on Sept. 3, hours after Abed was captured and still being held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia. He was later taken to a cell in the U.S.-operated Green Zone in Baghdad.

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

“I gave the detainee a glance over and then left,” the SEAL wrote. “I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health.”

Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of U.S. Central Command, confirmed Tuesday to FoxNews.com that three SEALs have been charged in connection with the capture of a detainee. She said their court martial is scheduled for January.

United States Central Command declined to discuss the detainee, but a legal source told FoxNews.com that the detainee was turned over to Iraqi authorities, to whom he made the abuse complaints. He was then returned to American custody. The SEAL leader reported the charge up the chain of command, and an investigation ensued.

The source said intelligence briefings provided to the SEALs stated that “Objective Amber” planned the 2004 Fallujah ambush, and “they had been tracking this guy for some time.”

The Fallujah atrocity came to symbolize the brutality of the enemy in Iraq and the degree to which a homegrown insurgency was extending its grip over Iraq.

The four Blackwater agents were transporting supplies for a catering company when they were ambushed and killed by gunfire and grenades. Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph.

Intelligence sources identified Abed as the ringleader, but he had evaded capture until September.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,576646,00.html

End note:

So  TERRORISTS  killed four Blackwater agents by gunfire and grenades.  Then the Insurgents burned the bodies and dragged them through the city. They hanged two of the bodies on a bridge over the Euphrates River for the world press to photograph. 

Their ringleader is captured by the Navy Seals and complains about a “bloody lip”????

Note: The ringleader was turned over to Iraqi authorities where he supposedly told them about the bloody lip, then he was returned to US custody?

Who’s to say he didn’t get the bloody lip from the Iraqi authorities?

A BLOODY LIP?  YOU HAVE GOT TO BE JOKING!

Kind of in the fashion of a “chain of evidence” we see in criminal labs……Were “before” and “after” pictures, documented with date and time done before he left US Custody?

Imagine what the families of those Blackwater agents would have done to him……

Talk about making the American military look weaker and weaker.  Let them DO THEIR JOB.

I foresee two possible outcomes here:

1.  The military will NOT want to engage the enemy for fear of being brought up and tried for what Obama/Holder feel are criminal actions.

2.  There won’t be any “capture” or witnesses or evidence. 

SUPPORT OUR TROOPS!

Will mercenaries appear on our war front hired by private contractors? Will it come to this? 

Another amendment “in the wings” introduced 6/25/09.

H.R. 3047: Balancing Act of 2009 – Family Leave Insurance Act of 2009

Sponsor: Rep Woolsey, Lynn C. [CA-6] (introduced 6/25/2009)      Cosponsors (34)

Latest Major Action: 8/3/2009 Referred to House subcommittee. Status: Referred to the Subcommittee on Military Personnel.

SUMMARY AS OF:
6/25/2009–Introduced.

Balancing Act of 2009 - Family Leave Insurance Act of 2009 – Amends the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 to direct the Secretary of Labor to establish a Family and Medical Insurance Program, which may involve contracts with state programs, under which, for specified reasons, an eligible employee of a covered employer shall be entitled to family and medical leave insurance benefits for a total of 12 workweeks of leave during any 12-month program. 

Requires the Director of the Office of Personnel Management to establish a similar Civil Service Family and Medical Leave Insurance Program for federal employees.

Creates in the Treasury the Family and Medical Leave Insurance Fund.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose a family and medical leave premium on employees and employers.

Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2009 – Amends the FMLA to increase the number of employers to which it applies by reducing from 50 to 25 employees the threshold number triggering application of the Act. 

Entitles eligible employees and federal employees to take specified additional leave for parental involvement and family wellness.

Domestic Violence Leave Act – Entitles eligible employees, including federal employees, to leave to address domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking.

Includes within the purview of FMLA same-sex spouses and domestic partners and their children.

**Healthy Families Act – Requires certain employers to provide paid sick time to their employees, including time to address domestic violence, sexual assault, or stalking. **

Prohibits such employers from discriminating against employees for their legitimate use of paid sick time.

Directs the Commissioner of Labor Statistics to compile specified information relating to use of paid sick time

Family and Medical Leave Enhancement Act of 2009 [sic] – Amends the FMLA to increase the number of employers to which it applies by reducing from 50 to 25 employees the threshold number triggering application of the Act.

Entitles eligible employees and federal employees to take specified additional leave for parental involvement and family wellness.

Education Begins at Home Act of 2009 – Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to enable states, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, territories and possessions to establish or expand quality programs of early childhood home visitation, including to families with English language learners.

Directs the Secretary of Defense (DOD) to make competitive grants to support and expand efforts to deliver services through high quality programs of early childhood home visitation to eligible families with a member in the military.

Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990 to authorize additional funds for expanding child care activities for young children under age three.

Authorizes the Secretary to allot funds to eligible states, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations for the federal share of access to affordable health benefits coverage for eligible child care providers.

Establishes: (1) the Child Care Provider Development and Retention Grant Program; and (2) the Child Care Provider Scholarship Program.

Healthy Early Education Workforce Grant Program Act – Requires a state receiving certain funds to expend them for the federal share of the cost of providing access to affordable health benefits coverage for eligible child care providers and, at state discretion, their spouses, domestic partners, and dependents.

Child Care Facilities Financing Act of 2009 – Authorizes the Secretary to make competitive technical and financial assistance grants to Department of the Treasury-certified community development financial institutions and other specified organizations for the acquisition, construction, or renovation of child care facilities.

Directs the Secretary to establish a program to award competitive grants to assist states in providing incentive funds to encourage the establishment and operation of employer-operated child care programs.

Universal Prekindergarten Act – Directs the Secretary to make grants to state agencies to develop high-quality full-day, full-year universal prekindergarten programs for all children three, four, and five years old.

Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to require the school breakfast program to provide free breakfasts to school children without regard to family income. 

Amends the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act to deem a child who is eligible for reduced price lunches for any school year also eligible for free lunches for that school year.  

Repeals the limitation on reimbursement in ten states (thus allowing them full reimbursement) for afterschool meals served to at-risk school children.

Afterschool Education Enhancement Act – Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 with respect to requirements for state applications for 21st century community learning center grants. Repeals the restriction in such applications to students attending schools: (1) eligible for certain schoolwide programs; (2) serving a high percentage of students from low-income families; or (3) in need of academic improvement.

Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to require that certain employees working at less than full-time under participation, vesting, and accrual rules governing pension plans be treated as meeting full-time year-of-service criteria. Qualifies such workers for group health plans. Extends ERISA coverage to certain individuals whose services are leased or contracted for.

United States Business Telework Act – Directs the Secretary of Labor to conduct a pilot program in up to five states to raise awareness about telework among employers and to encourage them to offer telework options to employees.

 http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR03047:@@@L&summ2=m&

End note:

The Democrats in Congress are trying to pass the Health Family Act under the auspices of controlling the H1N1 virus.

BUT, if it passes, amendments can be added at the last moment (say 3 a.m.) to change it/amend it to include the above bill.

***Did YOU notice that in the Title HEALTH FAMILY ACT is included in the text of this bill?

First Obama tells America not to “jump to conclusions” about the “terrible tragedy” at Ft. Hood.  U.S Army personnel  13 murdered, 30+ wounded at the hands of an Islamic terrorist are viewed by Obama  as a “terrible tragedy.”

Then, AG Eric Holder announces that the murderers of the 9-11 victims (over 2,000) will be brought to the United States for trial, just blocks from the “pit” where the World Trade Towers once stood, and is giving these murderers the rights of a US Citizen on trial.

Now this:

November 22, 2009

In 1983, 241 United States Marines were murdered by a suicide bombing in which a Bush-era Federal court ruled that Iran was complicit. The court ordered Iran to pay the families of the murdered service members $2.65 billion. The Boston Globe reports that the Obama Justice Department has, in an effort to appease Iran, intervened to quash the judgment; in other words, Barack Obama has sided openly with terrorists who murder U.S. Marines.

We reported previously that the Obama State Department (Hillary Clinton) has cut off funding for Freedom House and other organizations that report on human rights violations in Iran and other countries. Now the President of the United States and his Justice Department (Eric Holder) have made themselves, at least morally if not legally, willful accessories after the fact to terroristic violence against the Armed Forces of the United States.

As reported by the Boston Globe

After a federal judge ruled in 2007 that Iran was liable for $2.65 billion in damages to be shared by 150 families seeking restitution, they believed they were on the cusp of victory.But now, the Obama administration is going to court to try to block payments from Iranian assets that the families’ lawyers want seized, contending that it would jeopardize sensitive negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program and establish a potentially damaging precedent.In a little-noticed filing in federal court, the Justice Department is arguing that giving the money to the victims “can have significant, detrimental impact on our foreign relations, as well as the reciprocal treatment of the United States and its extensive overseas property holdings.’’…the US District Court in Washington found that Iran’s Ministry of Information and Security helped plan and facilitate the Oct. 23, 1983, attack.

 

What about rule of law, Eric Holder? Didn’t you swear to uphold the law when you took office? That is what you tell us all the time when you say your duty requires you to prosecute CIA personnel for alleged mistreatment of terrorists, although your duty apparently does not require you to investigate Barack Obama for illegal Internet gambling. The truth, Eric Holder, is that your “duty” seems to consist of selective enforcement of laws to meet the needs of Barack Obama. Eric Holder is the same individual who was involved in the pardon of alleged tax evader and Clinton donor Marc Rich.

The law, as interpreted by a Federal court, says that Iran is liable for its role in the murder of 241 United States Marines. Eric Holder and Barack Obama, however, wish to deny justice to the Marines’ families so they can appease the butchers of Tehran.

Read the entire article HERE.

=================================

End note:

Does Obama really despise America? 

Read:

The Man Who Despises America

By Mark Hyman

November 11, 2009

Or does Obama truly believe the Islamic faith has power (favor) over our Christian nation?

This video was compiled by jefflhead
September 27, 2009

Inspiring images & messages about America, & a tribute to the US military from 911 through current events. Set to “O, America” by Celtic Woman.

For those wondering about the crowd size on the March on Washington by the Teaparty, watch from 3:00 to 3:22 on this video. 

http://www.the912project.com

From Freepress:  http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2393300/posts

Is the SEIU getting tax dollars to lobby in Michigan?
Washington Examiner ^ | 11/23/09 | Mark Hemingway

Posted on Tuesday, November 24, 2009 6:53:55 AM by Man50D

Detroit News columnist Daniel Hewes has this eye-popping story: Nestled between this week’s state tax credits for auto suppliers, a furniture maker and a few high-tech companies is this gem: A $2 million credit to a for-profit affiliate of the Service Employees International Union to build a “Member Action Center.”

The “shared organization” would “provide administrative services for the SEIU and other local labor organizations,” says the Michigan Economic Development Corp. Despite cost disadvantages here over rival sites, the project would invest $3 million and create 224 new jobs — in Redford Township.

That, by sheer coincidence, is the home of House Speaker Andy Dillon. He’s the Democrat pushing a one-health-care-plan-for-all-state-employees that parts of the SEIU (among the most politically active unions in the nation right now) and other public-employee unions steadfastly oppose.

Which means the SEIU’s new center and the hundreds of employees (theoretically) working there would become constituents of a speaker pushing the kind of reform that organized labor is working the Capitol to kill, not withstanding Michigan’s “lost decade.”

This was all done by the Michigan Economic Development Corp.’s Michigan Economic Growth Authority board — which as Hewes notes, is composed almost entirely of gubernatorial appointees. Naturally, the Michigan Economic Development Corp. appears to be in bed with the SEIU: A link from the MEDC site to the SEIU Michigan Council urges members to write their legislators to “set the record straight on state employee benefits” and touts a friendly study by Charles Ballard, a Michigan State professor with close ties to the Granholm administration [Michigan's Democratic governor].

And in case you need more evidence that this move is politically suspect:

When, I asked a ranking official inside the office of Gov. Jennifer Granholm, is the last time the MEDC offered a state tax credit to a labor union or to an affiliate of one? The response: “I don’t think we’ve ever done that.”

Another article classified as a MUST READ!!!!: 

SEIU and the Law of Intended Consequences

by Liberty Chick

http://biggovernment.com/2009/11/24/seiu-and-the-law-of-intended-consequences/

End note: Emboldened and italicized words mine for focal points.

The SEIU wants healthcare to pass but doesn’t want its own “Cadillac health plans” to be taxed.  Good enough for thee but not for me?

Reason?  Within the Senate Healtcare massive bill are the inherent words to force unionization of doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers.

Even home health care aides (including mothers taking care of their handicapped/ill children) will have to pay union dues even though they are not part of the SEIU union.

Will America have to capitulate to the “Purple Shirts” should this Obamacare nightmare pass?

The approval rating of this Obamacare nightmare bill is only at 35%……..

The disappoval of this bill is around 56%.

The vote for the Cloture of the Senate Obamacare bill approved…..

Are the Senate Democrats that dumb, scared or spineless?

Are the threats from Organizing for America, the SEIU, Moveon.org, etc. more intimidating? (Those opposing this bill will have these “units” backing their opponents in the next election).

The Conservatives in America will insure the Democrats are not re-elected.

Either way the Democrats will lose in 2010.

Everyone is watching Congress.

What these forceful organizations (Unions, Moveon.org, OFA) don’t realize is that the TeaParty people WILL back a Democrat that supports and upholds the Constitution of the United States.

“Say what you mean, and mean what you say”……….By ACTIONS….not just WORDS!

“Africa is poised to experience a surge in civil wars, causing nearly 400,000 additional battle deaths by 2030 – all as a direct result of rising temperatures. This bold prediction is one of the most alarming results yet to emerge from attempts to discover how climate change will affect patterns of human conflict. It is already proving controversial”

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18185-african-conflicts-spurred-by-warming.html?DCMP=OTC-rss&nsref=online-news

CNN-IBN ( CNN-India Broadcast News) is an English language Indian TV news channel lauched in 2005. The network is a partnership between Global Broadcast News (GBN) and Turner International (Turner) in India. Rajdeep Sardesai is the Editor-in-Chief of the network.

One may comment:  What debate?!

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE VIDEO ON-LINE
if unavailable, click here

Source:  CNN-IBN TV interviews: “Debate – Sai Baba a Godsend?”

——————————————————————————-

See Topics posted at ‘Call For Media and Government Investigation’:  Sathya Sai Baba Birthday 2009

Sathya Sai Baba 84th Birthday Celebrations. Will 21st Century India Tolerate The Shame That Is Puttaparthi?

Golden Throne of India’s Sathya Sai Baba. He says he will Rule the world soon

Sathya Sai Baba Birthday. Brian Steel Examines Birthdate Issue

For earlier birthday events at Puttaparthi:

Sai Baba’s Birthday. Vast, Costly Pomp and Ceremony

Sai Baba’s Imperial 83rd Birthday Celebrations Photo, Puttaparthi, India

————————————————-

Barry Pittard’s comments in regard to the Public Petition) -:

Petition For Official Investigation Into Sathya Sai Baba Cult

                           ————————————————————————

Public Petition For Official Investigations of Sathya Sai Baba and His Worldwide Organization

There is a Spanish version available:

PETICIÓN PÚBLICA PARA ”INVESTIGACIONES OFICIALES DE SATHYA SAI BABA Y SU ORGANIZACIÓN A NIVEL MUNDIAL

It's Crisis Time!

CORPORATE POWER AND OWNERSHIP IN CONTEMPORARY CAPITALISM

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

I would like to announce the recent publication of my new book:

Corporate Power and Ownership in Contemporary Capitalism:
The Politics of Resistance and Domination (London: Routledge, 2009)

For more information see URL: http://www.routledge.com/9780415467889

Blurb:
Despite the influence corporations wield over all aspects of everyday life, there has been a remarkable absence of critical inquiry into the social constitution of this power. In analysing the complex relationship between corporate power and the widespread phenomenon of share ownership, this book seeks to map and define the nature of resistance and domination in contemporary capitalism.

Drawing on a Marxist-informed framework, this book reconnects the social constitution of corporate power and changing forms of shareholder activism. In contrast to other texts that deal with corporate governance, this study examines a diverse and comprehensive set of themes, from socially responsible investing to labour-led shareholder activism and its limitations. Through this ambitious and critical study, author Susanne Soederberg demonstrates how the corporate governance doctrine represents an inherent feature of neoliberal rule, effectively disembedding and depoliticising relations of domination and resistance from the wider power and paradoxes of capitalism.

Examining corporate governance and shareholder activism in a number of different contexts that include the United States and the global South, this important book will be of interest to students and scholars of international political economy, international relations and development studies. It will also be of relevance to a wider range of disciplines including finance, economics, and business and management studies.

“Soederberg should be thanked for revealing the elephant in the room – that corporations, along with their governance, power, ownership and management, are profoundly political, yet undemocratic. Through careful analysis, wide-ranging research and elegant writing she deconstructs comforting myths and shows us the true and unsettling politics and impacts of corporations in the world today. A must read – and also a good read – for anyone seeking true understanding of current economic, social and environmental upheavals.” — Joel Bakan, Professor of Law, University of British Columbia, Canada, and author/filmmaker of The Corporation

“In a capitalism deep into its second major crisis in 75 years, Soederberg’s book is very welcome. It critically examines the real (as opposed to the ideologically glossed) mechanisms enabling the crisis-producing decisions of corporate boards of directors. She performs a valuable deconstruction of the mythologies of mainstream ‘corporate governance’ literature.” — Richard D. Wolff, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts and the New School University, New York

“This book presents a much-needed and powerful critique of the ‘corporate governance doctrine’ that was promoted both by the US state and by dominant capitalist interests in many societies to underpin the priority given to ’shareholder value’, to take advantage of workers’ pension funds, and to direct labour and social movement challenges to corporate decisions into what Soederberg appropriately calls the ‘marketization of resistance’. As empirically rich as it is theoretically strong, this is another important contribution by one of the most creative political economy scholars writing today.’ — Leo Panitch, Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science, York University, Toronto

Cheers,
Susanne
Susanne Soederberg, DPhil
Canada Research Chair (Global Political Economy)
Associate Professor in Global Development Studies and Political Studies
Mackintosh-Corry, Room A-406
Queen’s University
Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 Canada
Tel: 613.533.6000 x 78391
Fax: 613.533.2986
Email: soederberg@queensu.ca
Homepage: http://www.queensu.ca/devs/faculty/ProfileSoederberg.html

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Historical Materialism

HISTORICAL MATERIALISM CONFERENCE 2009: PRE-REGISTRATION AND ABSTRACTS

Pre-registration for the HM Conference will close at midnight
tomorrow: http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/

Registration on the door will be possible on a first-come-first-served
basis.

The abstracts for the papers are now online: http://mercury.soas.ac.uk/hm/

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

MySpace Profile: http://www.myspace.com/glennrikowski

Is Another Crisis!

BEYOND THE CRISIS

http://www.iippe.org

INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE FOR PROMOTING POLITICAL ECONOMY (IIPPE)

and

GREEK SCIENTIFIC ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL ECONOMY

FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY

RETHYMNON, CRETE, SEPTEMBER 10-12, 2010

“BEYOND THE CRISIS”

Pre-amble: Following its three previous highly successful international research workshops for students in Crete, Naples and Ankara, the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) is now holding its FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE IN POLITICAL ECONOMY, co-organised with the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy, and open to application from all engaged in political economy. Summaries of papers for consideration for inclusion (maximum 1000 words) should be submitted by 31st of March 2010 to iippe@soas.ac.uk with subject heading IIPPE CONFERENCE 2010. Full papers are required to be made available by 30 June 2010 for pre-circulation to Conference participants. It will be possible to attend the Conference without submitting a paper but numbers will be limited. There will be some funding available for those who are unable to rely upon institutional support for participation, with special provision for research students.

Themes: Following the global crisis, the prospects of, and need for, progressive political economy are stronger than for many decades. Orthodox economics is in disarray, but with only a smattering of its own practitioners accepting this, generally by demanding more realism and the incorporation of a few more or less arbitrary behavioural principles. After the collapse of the post-war boom, the recession and slowdown that followed gave birth to extreme forms of monetarism followed by a mild reaction in terms of reliance upon market and institutional imperfections and weakened Keynesianism. The prospects for a radical rethink within orthodoxy and of tolerance to heterodoxy remain bleak. But it is still crucial to sustain critical commentary on orthodoxy’s continuing principles and innovations as a new generation of students and researchers are caught between conforming to its reduced and flawed content and the economic realities of the world around them. Political economy has begun to prosper in the wake of the crisis, not least with the rising popularity of Minsky for example. It is imperative that the strengths and weaknesses of the diverse, often insightful, analyses of the nature, causes and consequences of the financial crisis be debated and fully engaged across competing paradigms and emphases. Nor is the crisis confined to economic effects and causes alone. Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to address the nature of, and prospects for, neo-liberalism, the shifting character of the “new world order”, US hegemony and the rise of China, and the economic and the social and cultural restructuring that have both preceded and will follow upon the crisis. This offers opportunities to engage with activists in understanding the impact and incidence of the crisis and in formulating alternatives and strategies in response to it.

The Conference welcomes proposals for papers that address one or more of these issues or any other issue within political economy. IIPPE working groups are entitled to organise a panel. But we also welcome proposals for panels independently of working groups on well-defined themes, with three or four contributions and contributors specified in advance. These must be submitted, ideally with paper summaries by March 31st, 2010, although earlier submissions have greater chance of acceptance as the Conference programme is filled out.

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

 

Ontario stands firm on street racing law Toronto Star  A judge overturned the stunt-driving conviction of Jane Raham, 62, of Oakville who accelerated past a truck to get out of its blind spot. A second Ontario judge has ruled that the province’s stunt driving legislation is unconstitutional, but provincial police say they will continue to lay charges under the so-called street racing law.A street-racing charge automatically leads to a conviction, which can carry a minimum fine of $2,000, an immediate driver suspension and vehicle impoundment, as well as a maximum jail sentence of six months.Justice Peter West, a provincial court judge in Newmarket, found that an accused driver’s Charter rights are “clearly infringed” by the potential jail time because the law doesn’t permit the person to put forward a defence. More than 15,000 drivers have been charged under the stunt driving laws since they were introduced in 2007, Ont. street-racing law constitutional, says AG CTV.ca

Judge tosses stunt-driving charge as unconstitutional National Post

EVEN COPS DO NOT THINK SPEEDING IS A SERIOUS CRIME…

Feb. 10 2009 4:35:51 PM  The Canadian Press  TORONTO — It appears no one is exempt from Ontario’s street racing law — including the police. A provincial police officer in an unmarked vehicle was stopped on Highway 403 on Jan. 31 for driving 65 km/h over the limit. Det.-Const. Heidi Fischer was charged after an investigation determined she was “not within the lawful execution of her duties at the time.” Because she was charged with exceeding the speed limit by more than 50 km/h, her driver’s licence was suspended for seven days — and her police vehicle was also impounded for a week..

ALL THESE HARSHER POLICE DEMANDS ARE MAKING CANADA  A  POLICE STATE

It is not the rapists, drunk drivers that mostly  fill the courts calendars, docks it is mostly the revenue generating traffic tickets.. if the government wants to get tough on crime, as it purports, it should go after the real criminals. Drunk, impaired drivers too.  After all speeding is not the major cause of vehicular accidents, what you did not know that yet? and the police Chief himself did not tell you? What is then the cause of major car accidents? Drunk driving, road rage, impaired driving, distracted while driving…. and what the revenue generating traffic division has not gone after all this mostly instead yet too? and why Not? The Cops becoming judge and jury, now taking the law into their own hands  even when they still say “ In most cases, our cops are the best to judge if stunt driving is really stunt driving. Or, is it simply speeding. If that is the case, they should charge accordingly or face more legal challenges.” And them the cops still being continually soft on drunk drivers is cause too many cops do  drink alcohol now too?  http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/speeding-is-not-the-major-cause-of-car-accidents-still/

http://picasaweb.google.com/anonconformer/Thenonconformer# OR http://www.mininova.org/tor/3176107

And do see  also the other posts here about bad cops, alcohol and speeding.. 

http://postedat.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/the-unfortunate-facts-of-life/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/06/15/bullies-free-speech/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/02/drink-alcohol-and-die/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/01/02/alcohol/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/03/19/third-police-vehicle-impounded-under-hypocrtical-speeding-legislation/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/02/08/drunk-driving-arrests-jump/

http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/07/16/a-blatant-tax-on-the-motorist-speed-cameras/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2008/09/16/call-it-what-you-want-but-it-is-not-about-safety/

http://thenonconformer.multiply.com/journal/item/1/No_cop_is_above_the_law

http://postedat.wordpress.com/2008/12/26/paradoxically-despite-all-the-dangers-warnings/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/19/pretentious-incompetent-in-real-life/

http://thenonconformer.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/speeding-is-not-the-major-cause-of-car-accidents-still/

Talk about back-handed stealth deals.  Obama wants to “win” at any cost?

While Americans are focused on the Obamacare bill, this is happening behind the scenes.

ALL credit for the following post goes to: http://www.theobamafile.com/ObamaLatest.htm

Obama Offers Taliban 25% Of Afghanistan
ThreatsWatch.org is reporting that the MEMRI Blog highlights an article from the Saudi al-Watan in Arabic that, according to an Afghan source, the United States is talking to the Taliban seeking to trade control of five provinces in exchange for the cessation of attacks on US bases.  MEMRI summarizes:
   

   
Kunar province borders the Khyber Pass region where the majority of US and NATO supplies pass en route from Pakistan.  And the remaining four provinces constitute fully the southern 25% of Afghanistan’s territory.

This, if true, is a disturbing development.

I have tried to come up with scenarios of why someone would lie about it in a leak.  What would be to gain?  Who would gain, and what would they gain?  Without sleeping on it, the options for such appear narrow at best.

What does seem logical is that an Afghan privy to the negotiations could have become (rightly) spooked that they might just pull it off, and leaked word in hopes that it might so anger American public opinion that the entire endeavor might be scrapped.  That’s the most logical explanation for motivation I see at the moment.

It would also fit in consistently with Ambassador Eikenberry’s leaked cables recently railing against a “surge” in forces in Afghanistan.  He wouldn’t voice such without thinking he has his hands on something else.  Could this be it?  The surrender of 25% of Afghan territory in exchange for some form of ceasefire?

These negotiations might explain Obama’s delay in responding to Gen. McChrystal’s request for reinforcements.

==============================

End note:

Does Obama think he is “King of the World?”  WHO is he to give away the sovereign land of the Afghani people to the terrorists/Taliban?

WHY does he think he has this right?

Quit dithering Obama and send the troops! 

The War on Terrorism INCLUDES the Taliban.  Obama wants “human rights” yet is working a deal with those that behead and shoot women? The Taliban enabled Osama Bin Laden to get into the Afghan/Pakistan territory.

Treachery and Marxism through the Gamaliel Foundation.  It is TIME to expose this group for what they stand for and what they enforce through activism in the “Name of God and the Church.”

The Treachery Of America’s Church Leaders

By Katherine Thomas

The Gamaliel Foundation and its affiliates are one of America’s fifth column agencies that seek to destroy America from within by aiding, abetting and comforting the enemy – the elite Global Socialists – as chronicled in The Treachery of America’s Fifth Columns.

This foundation is a dangerous, leftist, ACORN-like community organization that has settled in 19 states (CA, CT, GA, HI, IA, IL, IN, MD, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, VA, WI, WV), Great Britain, and South Africa. Because their modus operandi is to move incrementally within local church communities via stealth and deception, there has been negligible national coverage of their activities.

The Chicago-based Gamaliel Foundation required Obama to hijack and exploit church membership into a larger left leaning political force, as pointed out by Stanley Kurtz in “What We Know About Obama.” Obama ‘cut his teeth’ as a Gamaliel community organizer in Chicago. He is celebrated and thanked on their website for organizing HOPE for America and the world.

The book Rules For Radicals by Saul Alinsky is recommended reading for Gamaliel Foundation followers. Although Gamaliel works within the Christian church community, organizing mentor Saul Alinsky dedicates his book to Lucifer and praises the POLITICAL PARADISE OF COMMUNISM. Where is our society heading with spiritual leaders embracing the principles of Marxism and Lucifer?

The true agenda of this group was discovered by connecting the dots within my own community. Last fall, I had an unexpected encounter with our Catholic priest who had a problem with the politics of the Right to Life group.

That incident led to the discovery that this priest was the leader of a Michigan-based Gamaliel Foundation affiliate named JONAH (Joint Organizing Network for Action and Hope). The JONAH group includes Baptist, Catholic, Congregational, Lutheran, Episcopal, and Methodist leaders. They claim and appear to be nonpartisan in their small community projects, but show their true partisan colors at election time. Last year, JONAH members were soliciting target areas in our city to get new voter registrations last fall – Obama votes only, of course!

Last fall, JONAH members were actively engaged with the labor union thugs at a local city meeting aimed at protesting prevailing wages that a company new to the area was offering to pay. Protesting prevailing wages is a trademark of ACORN groups. With over 10,000 persons out of work in my local county, what kind of ‘church’ leaders would want to cause any trouble for a company offering jobs to their out of work flock?

The Gamaliel Foundation vision statement confirms their Marxist worldview:

1. Collective transformation of our society is necessary to bring about justice locally, nationally, and globally.

2. The sacred community is valued over individualism.

3. There should be shared, sustained abundance for all.

(The entire Foundation Political Platform available here - )

History has proven that social injustice and suffering are trademarks of societies that have experimented with radical Marxist transformation. There is nothing sacred about the supreme state or community that crushes individual freedom in the name of some “greater good.” The “haves” are forced through taxation to abundantly enrich the globalists and their non-working flock, the “have-nots.” Only an ill educated society would follow the incompetent, ignorant elites engaged in such a doomed mission.

The Gamaliel Foundation website states:

“We have a vision for our country that is based on radical hope, inclusive community, and shared abundance for all. We believe that we are called to participate in the democratic process, in shaping a future that works for all of us. The transformation of the soul of our country, our democracy, is both a political and spiritual project. It requires a body of people willing to live, to act, and to project a new way of being. Our faith is a path to a new way of being: spiritually and politically.”

A future of suffering for hard-working Americans is all that I can envision with a radical Marxist transformation of America.

The Gamaliel Foundation follows the same totalitarian path as the elite D.C. socialist tyrants in charge of our country. Their issues include total amnesty for illegal immigrants, universal access to affordable ‘quality’ healthcare for all, and FAIR share housing for all. I call this an ACORN-like agenda that encourages a radical hijacking of the church for leftist political purposes. Alinsky would be proud!

Many of the Gamaliel affiliates have chosen innocent sounding names. In Michigan, they use biblical names (Jonah, Ezekial, Moses, and Isaac); and you will be marked as ‘unholy’ for criticizing their Marxist agenda that is promoted under the guise of church doctrine. I am sure that the freedom-loving flock would leave and/or skip tithing if they truly knew their church leader were a community organizer a la Obama style or ACORN style!

Last Sunday, I told my priest that I am praying to the ‘Man on the Cross’ that my leader gets back on track or else removes himself from OUR church. He never asked OUR permission to grace OUR spiritual home with Marxist politics.

What happened to the strict separation of church and state policy? Apparently, the Marxist elites now believe it is fully acceptable to have church members politicking on holy grounds, so long as it promotes their agenda.

Why are our church leaders mindlessly following the lead of international Marxists and helping to exploit the good will of church members for profit of the Marxist movement against American freedom? Are YOUR church leaders involved with these people?

These radicals hide, lie, cheat, misinform, and deceive because their Alinsky Manifesto dictates that it is only the ends that count, not the means. Why are church leaders lining up to march their congregations into political bondage?

Who are the Gamaliel Foundation funders? There are no surprises here either.

According to their 2007 tax return files, the money comes from several leftist sources, including the Open Society Institute of George Soros, Arca Foundation, Bauman Family Foundation, Marguerite Casey Foundation, Ford Foundation, Four Freedoms Fund (Racial Justice Collaborative), W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Surdna Foundation, Tides Foundation, Peter B. Lewis, and others (Discover the Networks). These leftist organizations love spreading their tax-exempt monies with stealth to promote the One World Order under Totalitarianism.

Last fall, some of the Gamaliel community organizers were overheard in a café talking about how they were anticipating the Obama stimulus package to pass. They wanted 100,000 more Gamaliel Foundation community organizers ‘ready to go’ – to march through more of our churches. Can you imagine our next election process with so many new parasites crawling throughout our society, partaking in their ‘non-partisan’ plans?

Let’s recap what this group is really about:

• Their Internet homepage claims they are non-partisan, but their activities, agenda, and funding only prove that they are very partisan.
• This foundation takes advantage of the churches to further an agenda that is anti-religion, as highlighted by their ACORN-like activities.
• Their goals are similar to ACORN, except they work in churches instead of neighborhoods.
• They accept money from George Soros and other well-known leftist cronies to promote Marxism with stealth and deception.
• I call this a silent Marxist revolution aiming to destroy our freedoms by gaining control of another power center.

Wouldn’t you agree that these unscrupulous religious leaders have been seduced from morality and their spiritual duties? As one who embraces the hope of freedom for our world, I am speechless!

In her article “Revolution You Can Believe In,” author Melanie Phillips says these snake-oil salesmen “have substantially achieved their aim of subverting western morality and changing the face of British society.” Their society is a cesspool. The churches stand empty, and Sharia law is being embraced in the void. There has been scant coverage of this ’spiritual’ group operating under the veil of churches, to expand Marxism in the U.S., Great Britain, and South Africa. Phillips warns us that we still have time to save America’s churches from these deceptive Marxists, if we wake up and act now.

Please help expose this dangerous group of religious community organizers before our churches look like those in the UK. The religion of terror and tyranny is not equal to the true Christian religion of peace and freedom and we cannot afford to treat it as such.

The discovery of their ACORN-like activities in my community was serendipitous because the Gamaliel Foundation members move locally with little if any scrutiny. They want control of another power center of our society, the church.

Conquering the masses will be easy if this foundation successfully infiltrates America’s churches. Preservation of the church is worth fighting for because they are an important part of our country’s social fabric, our heart and soul.

http://www.rightsidenews.com/200909186486/culture-wars/the-treachery-of-americas-church-leaders.html

Stanley Kurtz’s investigation into Obama’s “Stealth” background:

Senator Stealth
How to advance radical causes when no one’s looking
By Stanley Kurtz
Posted: Tuesday, September 2, 2008

http://www.eppc.org/publications/pubid.3521/pub_detail.asp

The International Leadership Assembly of Gamaliel Foundation

Mission

With our member congregations as the driving force, the Gamaliel National Leadership Assembly will strengthen our nation by bringing forth a national faith based movement for racial and economic justice. The Gamaliel NLA will propel our regional and national agendas by reinforcing powerful leaders and local organizations.

Leaders and organizers from the Gamaliel Network will assemble annually to:

Deepen our political analysis so that we truthfully examine the causes and results of racial and economic justice.  

Develop tools and strategies in order to act powerfully in the public arena on issue campaigns that move us toward accomplishing our vision.

Be accountable for building powerful regional organizations.

Develop relationships across the network that bind us together as a people with a shared vision. We embrace this calling to do God’s work.

http://www.gamaliel.org/NLA/NLApurpose.htm

An eye-opening speech given in 2001:

KEYNOTE ADDRESS DELIVERED TO THE GAMALIEL FOUNDATION’S NATIONAL LEADESHIP ASSEMBLY, DETROIT, MICHIGAN, USA – 07 DECEMBER 2001 BY MS. SOPHIA DE BUYN

http://www.gamaliel.org/NLA/NLADeBruyn.htm

My recent posts about the evils of Gamaliel Foundation:

http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2009/11/09/with-floodlights-on-is-this-the-next-national-scandal/
 
 
http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/obamas-connections-to-gamaliel-and-acorn-revolution-you-can-believe-in/
 
 
http://romanticpoet.wordpress.com/2009/10/12/barack-obama-and-the-gamaliel-foundation-community-action-utilizing-faith-and-saul-alinsky-training/

Andy Stern made 22 visits to the White House between January and June 2009.  How many more has he made since then?

Michelle Malkin posts the Concessions:

The Demcare bribe list

Via Houston Chronicle, Goodies for labor tucked away in health bill:

While higher-profile aspects of health care reform drew attention, pro-union legislators slipped a variety of big benefits for labor into the proposed legislation. Quietly tucked among the proposals’ thousands of pages, these provisions have avoided much scrutiny.

One provision epitomizes the nature of this ploy. According to research firms, unions are woefully short of funds to pay their retirees’ anticipated insurance claims. Thus, under the House resolution, union leaders who have mismanaged these plans for their members could receive up to $10 billion in taxpayer-funded bailout money, innocuously referred to as a “reinsurance program.”

Unfortunately, this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg.

Under the proposed public option, Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius would wield tremendous discretionary authority to regulate participating health care workers. She and various federal panels, where the unions would have guaranteed seats, would take the lead in recommending health care policy. Thus, labor would have considerable influence over decisions affecting most doctors, nurses and patients.

The House resolution establishes a scenario that would effectively exclude non-union employers from eligibility to work on program-funded contracts. It also requires participating health care providers to pay wages and benefits that have been collectively bargained or that union-friendly appointees determine are competitive. This is plainly a move toward coerced unionization. With guaranteed seats at the table, unions are poised to control many newly formed oversight posts and/or committees, formed in connection with new employer mandates and cooperative health care associations.

Yet another provision would establish lucrative state training partnerships that contain little or no opportunities for non-union employee organizations. Provisions in Senate proposals would exempt union-negotiated health care plans from taxes on “Cadillac” health plans.

These features all encourage more unionization. The unions know that under Canada’s nationalized system, union membership among all health care workers is 61 percent, compared to just 11 percent in the U.S.

Increasing membership similarly in this country would swell labor’s coffers with as much as another $2 billion in dues.

In fact, Senate proposals include language that could force home health workers into unions. Disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former California Gov. Gray Davis used this approach to repay political debts to the SEIU in their states. They reclassified state-reimbursed home health contractors as state employees, thus forcing them to pay union dues. Again and again, it is apparent that these union-friendly proposals have nothing do with improving our health care system.

From Mark Mix:

In the heated debates on health-care reform, not enough attention is being paid to the huge financial windfalls ObamaCare will dole out to unions—or to the provisions in the various bills in Congress that will help bring about the forced unionization of the health-care industry.

Tucked away in thousands of pages of complex new rules, regulations and mandates are special privileges and giveaways that could have devastating consequences for the health-care sector and the American economy at large.

The Senate version opens the door to implement forced unionization schemes pursued by former Govs. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois in 2005 and Gray Davis of California in 1999. Both men repaid tremendous political debts to Andy Stern and his Service Employees International Union (SEIU) by reclassifying state-reimbursed in-home health-care (and child-care) contractors as state employees—and forcing them to pay union dues.

Following this playbook, the Senate bill creates a “personal care attendants workforce advisory panel” that will likely impose union affiliation to qualify for a newly created “community living assistance services and support (class)” reimbursement plan.

The current House version of ObamaCare (H.R. 3200) goes much further. Section 225(A) grants Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius tremendous discretionary authority to regulate health-care workers “under the public health insurance option.” Monopoly bargaining and compulsory union dues may quickly become a required standard resulting in potentially hundreds of thousands of doctors and nurses across the country being forced into unions.

Ms. Sebelius will be taking her marching orders from the numerous union officials who are guaranteed seats on the various federal panels (such as the personal care panel mentioned above) charged with recommending health-care policies. Big Labor will play a central role in directing federal health-care policy affecting hundreds of thousands of doctors, surgeons and nurses.

Andy Stern and Anna Burger (behind his left shoulder)

Second meeting on Healthcare at White House

==============================================
 

End note:

This healthcare bill tucks away the fact that doctors, nurses, aides even home health aides may be forced into unionization.

The SEIU is where Obama claims he doesn’t make any decisions “without SEIU”……

The “Purple Shirts” want more power.  Are we as Americans going to give it to them?

ACORN>SEIU local 100>Wade Rathke>Obama.  Is ACORN morphing into the SEIU?

Forced unionization of healthcare workers = $2 BILLION dollars in union dues to the SEIU coffers.

SEIU>Andy Stern>Anna Burger (part of White House)>partners with ACFTU in CHINA( communist union of Chinese government).

Anyone else see a problem with this?

WHY aren’t the other unions in the United States screaming about Andy Stern’s attempted power grab?

Spivak

THE QUESTION OF SUBALTERNITY

A two-day seminar with Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak at CENDEAC (Murcia, South Eastern Spain)  

1st and 2nd December // 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak: The Question of Subalternity

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak will lead an intensive seminar at CENDEAC on the 1st and 2nd December 2009. It will be a unique opportunity to engage with Spivak’s thought, through a detailed analysis of some of her most influential texts. 

The seminar will discuss the history and usefulness of the elusive concept of the subaltern based on questions emerging from three texts by Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak available in Spanish translation: “Can the subaltern speak?”, “Subaltern Studies: deconstructing historiography” and “Displacement and the Discourse of Woman”. The two sessions will be entitled: “The Subaltern: Use and Abuse” and “Women, Subalternity, and Strategic Essentialism”.

Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, is University Professor in the Humanities at Columbia University and holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Toronto and London and Oberlin College. She has published, Of Grammatology (translation with critical introduction of Jacques Derrida, De la grammatologie, 1976); Thinking Academic Freedom in Gendered Post-Coloniality (1993); In Other Worlds (1987); Outside in the Teaching Machine (1993); A Critique of Postcolonial Reason (1999); Death of a Discipline(2003), Other Asias (2007). And the forthcoming An Aesthetic Education in an Age of Globalization. She has also translated from Bengali, Mahasweta Devi: Imaginary Maps (1994); Breast Stories (1997), Old Women (1999); Chotti Munda and His Arrow (2002) and Ramproshad Sen’s (eighteenth century Bengali mystic): Song for Kali (2000). The texts “Translation As Culture” (2005), “Translating into English” (2005), and “Rethinking Comparativism” (2009) reflect her concern for the task of the translator.  “Righting Wrongs” (2001), and “Ethics and Politics in Tagore, Coetzee, and Certain Scenes of Teaching” (2004) give a sense of her dedication to supplementing vanguardism. “Can the Subaltern Speak?” (1983) has become a controversial classic.

Information and enrolment:

Attendance is free unless a certificate is required, in which case fees will be 30€ standard, 15€ for the unemployed, full-time students and OAPs, and free to Friends of CENDEAC. 

Language of the Seminar: English with simultaneous translation into Spanish. 

CENDEAC is accessible for wheelchair users and people with diminished mobility. Whenever possible, we will strive to provide on request a transcript of papers for users with impaired hearing. Auditorium Capacity: 140 people

For more information, including assistance with travel and accommodation, please visit our website: http://www.cendeac.net or contact yhernandez[at]cendeac.net

CENDEAC
Pabellón 5
Antiguo Cuartel de Artillería
C/ Madre Elisea Oliver Molina, s/n
30002-Murcia (España)
Tel.: +34 868 914 769
Fax: +34 868 914 149

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

 

THIS TIME THE OFFENSE IS WORSE, ALLOWING HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES OF OTHERS BY TORTURE, AND COVER-UPS, LYING TO THE CANADIAN CITIZENS, AND THE WORLD NOW TOO. TARNISHING OUR CANADIAN REPUTATION, CREDIBILITY, IMAGE ON THE WORLD STAGE AS WELL.

German Students Strike

GERMAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS ON STRIKE

Links to German student protests that are ongoing:

http://www.euronews.net/2009/11/17/german-university-strike-spreads/

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,4901195,00.html

Thanks to Patrick Ainley for sending me these links.

Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

Not bad. Not bad at all.

Heh™

—

Radical Politics

RADICAL THINKERS AUDIO

 

AUDIO NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE OCT 23 NEW SCHOOL EVENT:

Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière

On the importance of critical theory to social movements today

Radical Thinkers

To celebrate the release of a new set of titles in the acclaimed Radical Thinkers series, as well as publication of their own key texts, three of Verso’s most respected and influential writers met October 23 in New York to discuss the future of radical thought.

LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE TALK HERE:  http://versobooks.com/verso_info/butler-critchley-ranciere.shtml

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk

RADICAL THINKERS AUDIO

AUDIO NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE OCT 23 NEW SCHOOL EVENT

Radical Thinkers
Judith Butler, Simon Critchley and Jacques Rancière
On the importance of critical theory to social movements today
To celebrate the release of a new set of titles in the acclaimed Radical Thinkers series, as well as publication of their own key texts, three of Verso’s most respected and influential writers met October 23 in New York to discuss the future of radical thought.

*** LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE TALK HERE: http://versobooks.com/versoinfo/butler-critchley-ranciere.shtml
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JUDITH BUTLER is Maxine Elliot Professor of Rhetoric and Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley. Her many books include ‘Giving an Account of Oneself’, ‘Precarious Life’ and, most recently ‘Frames of War: When is Life Grievable?’ (Verso, 2009):

“Judith Butler is the most creative and courageous social theorist writing today.  Frames of War is an intellectual masterpiece that weds an new understanding of being immersed in history, to a novel Left politics that focuses on State violence, war and resistance.” —CORNEL WEST

UK/Rest of World BUY FRAMES OF WAR HERE: http://www.amazon.com/Frames-War-When-Life-Grievable/dp/1844673332/ref=sr_1_ 1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258662716&sr=1-1
US BUY FRAMES OF WAR HERE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Frames-War-When-Life-Grievable/dp/1844673332/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258662785&sr=1-1

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SIMON CRITCHLEY is Professor and Chair of Philosophy at the New School for Social Research and at the University of Essex, UK. Among his numerous books are The Book of Dead Philosophers, Infinitely Demanding and Ethics —Politics—Subjectivit y, which has just been released as part of Verso’s Radical Thinkers IV.

“[Infinitely Demanding] is remarkable in terms of its clarity, emotion, and energy. Critchely puts forward a theory of fundamental anarchism backed up by a vigorous ethical commitment. Reading and discussing this essay is utterly essential.” —ALAIN BADIOU

UK/Rest of World BUY INFINITELY DEMANDING HERE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Infinitely-Demanding-Commitment-Politics-Resistance/dp/1844672964/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258662881&sr=1-1

US BUY INFINITELY DEMANDING HERE:  http://www.amazon.com/Infinitely-Demanding-Commitment-Politics-Resistance/dp/1844672964/ref=sr_1 1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258662921&sr=1-1

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JACQUES RANCIÈRE is a professor of philosophy at the University of Paris-VIII. His many books include On the Shores of Politics (part of Verso’s Radical Thinkers II), The Politics of Aesthetics, Night of Labor, The Future of the Image and Hatred of Democracy. The Emancipated Spectator is new from Verso.

“Rancière’s writings offer one of the few conceptualizations of how we are to continue to resist.”—SLAVOJ ŽIŽEK

“His art lies in the rigor of his argument—it’s careful, precise unfolding—and at the same time not treating his reader, whether university professor or unemployed actress, as an imbecile.” —KRISTIN ROSS

UK/Rest of World BUY EMANCIPATED SPECTATOR HERE: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Emancipated-Spectator-Jacques-Rancière/dp/184467343X/ref=sr_1 1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258663001&sr=1-1

US BUY EMANCIPATED SPECTATOR HERE: http://www.amazon.com/Emancipated-Spectator-Jacques-Rancière/dp/184467343X/ref=sr_1 1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258663027&sr=1-1

Posted here by Glenn Rikowski

The Flow of Ideas: http://www.flowideas.co.uk