Question of the Day

post from Talking Points Memo on 11 March 2009 01:01:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

With Michael Steele apparently swirling down the bowl, who should the next chairman of the Republican National Committee be?Send us your entries. For my part, I'm nominating Norm Coleman.[...]

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Alan Grayson: Is there any way to save the system
other than showering taxpayer money on banks

post from Crooks and Liars on 11 March 2009 01:00:21 PM. © Crooks and Liars

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I love Alan Grayson. Blue America endorsed him when nobody thought he had a chance in hell to get elected. And he's taking the Hill by storm. If you want to understand the dynamic gripping Capitol Hill right now, it basically boils down to one question. Is there anything that can be done other than throw billions of dollars at banks? This is a Financial Services Committee hearing on how to fix the whole system (or in Washington-ese 'systemic risk').

Congressman Alan Grayson asks a number of financial services association directors this question, and most of them fumble around and filibuster the question. Until we find an answer, though, it's billions and billions of taxpayer money thrown at bank CEOs. Don't you just love that?

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"Secret Ballot" Or Opportunity for Intimidation

post from Daily Kos on 11 March 2009 01:00:05 PM. © Daily Kos

The army of anti-worker corporate groups hiring armies of lobbyists and pouring $200 million into defeating the Employee Free Choice Act have devoted most of their time and money to hammering home a single talking point: The bill will eliminate the sacrosanct "secret ballot" now enjoyed by workers deciding whether to join unions.

There are two answers to the $200 million avalanche of mdisinformation and dire implication the Chamber of Commerce, WalMart, and their ilk are throwing out:

First, it is important to understand that the Employee Free Choice Act does not eliminate any method by which workers can elect to join a union. The two current forms -- majority sign-up and scheduled NLRB election -- will continue to exist. The Employee Free Choice Act simply gives workers, rather than employers, the choice which to use. As David Waldman wrote yesterday:

If I want into a union and feel like saying so, get the hell out of my way, boss. Nobody asked you. It shouldn't be up to you how I get to express that any more than you get to decide how I invite people out for beers after work.

"Hey, you can't just invite Joe out for beers. You've got to have a federally supervised secret ballot election on whether or not you can ask him."

But that answer isn't good enough for some liberals concerned by the corporate campaign against Employee Free Choice. If it's not enough for you that under this law, workers get to choose how they want to vote for a union, there are some things you should know about what the "secret ballot" in the workplace entails.

As labor scholar Gordon Lafer writes:

When employees want to form a union, they have to go through a process that looks more like the discredited practices of rogue regimes abroad than like anything we would call American.

For an election to be "free and fair," both sides must have equal access to media and the voters. But not under labor law. Anti-union managers are free to campaign to every employee, every day, throughout the day; but pro-union employees can campaign only on break time. Furthermore, management can post anti-union propaganda on bulletin boards and walls — while prohibiting pro-union employees from doing the same. By law, employers can force workers to attend mass anti-union propaganda events. Not only are pro-union employees not given equal time, but they can be forced to attend on condition that they not ask any questions. Recent data show that workers are forced to attend between five and 10 such one-sided meetings. If, during the 2004 presidential campaign, the Democrats could have forced every voter in America to watch Fahrenheit 9/11 (or if the Republicans could have forced everyone to watch the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth video), with no opportunity for response from the other side, none of us would have called this "democracy."

What does this mean in practice? American Rights at Work has a timeline of one anti-union campaign:

July 16, 2007Employees begin meeting to discuss forming a union to improve compensation and address the safety concerns from working with serious psychiatric patients.August 2-3Supervisors interrogate employees to determine who is behind the union effort.August 2Company fires two union supporters.August 3With a majority of employees signing union authorization cards, the Service Employees International Union petitions the NLRB to hold an election, which the agency scheduled for September.August 6Company fires third union supporter.August 7Company fires fourth union supporter.August 7Company calls the police to stop a union representative who was legally handing out information to employees on a public road.August 10A supervisor swerves his car within feet of an employee legally handing out union information and threatens to call the police if they don’t stop.

Right now, 30% of employers illegally fire workers during union organization drives; 23% of workers in majority sign-up elections, the kind the EFCA would allow, "report management coercion to oppose the union"; and 46% report similar coercion in what WalMart and their allies would like you to call "secret ballot" elections.

Does this sound like democracy? Like a process we should give employers the continued ability to enforce on workers? Because there's your "secret ballot."

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That Explains It

post from Talking Points Memo on 11 March 2009 12:59:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Vitter: I was just having a "conversation" with that airport employee.[...]

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Presented By: JELD-WEN Sees Green Homes, Less
Annual Home Maintenance and Finished Basements as Top 2009 Trends

post from Talking Points Memo on 11 March 2009 12:59:00 PM. © Talking Points Memo

Window and Door Manufacturer JELD-WEN Unveils Its Latest Home Trends That Show Homeowners Are Taking a Practical Approach to Improving Their Living Spaces This Year >> Read moreAds by Pheedo[...]

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Myanmar: Chapeau Blog Awards for Burma

post from Ashin Mettacara on 11 March 2009 12:57:00 PM. © Ashin Mettacara

By Muchacho Enfermo Ashinmettacara.org, the blog of Buddhist monk Ashin Mettacara has reached the finalists of the Chapeau Blog Awards (http://www.chapeaublogawards.com/finalists.php) in the News category. Ashin?s blog has already won many awards[...]

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Coleman Campaign posted donor credit cards online

post from DemConWatch on 11 March 2009 12:49:53 PM. © DemConWatch

I'm assuming none of you gave money to Normie... but if you did you may want to cancel your card.

Norm Coleman’s Senate campaign said Wednesday that the private information of its supporters has probably been breached and is encouraging them to cancel their credit cards.
Coleman backers began receiving e-mails Tuesday night from an e-mail address at wikileaks.org stating that it possessed personal information about them and was preparing to post it online.
The same address stated in an e-mail early Wednesday morning that “we have discovered that all on-line Coleman contributors had their full credit card details released onto the Internet on 28 of [January], 2009, by Coleman's staff.”
Coleman’s campaign followed with an e-mail Wednesday morning that said the campaign became worried that its firewalls had been breached in January. - The Hill

The file available on wikileaks doesn't contain credit card numbers but it has a lot of information that I'm sure these people wouldn't be too happy about getting out.

Time to pack it in Norm.

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Later Today on Daily Kos -- Ashley Judd Live Q
and A

Today on Daily Kos
A quick reminder: Ashley Judd, a staunch campaigner for many progressive causes, has joined with the Sierra Club to help put an end to Mountaintop Removal. Join her on Daily Kos at 5PM Eastern for a live Q&A on the topic. Come by and ask your questions about what can be done to see this practice ended once and for all.

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Phantom Problems: Earmarks

When it comes to earmarks, I agree with Mark Schmidt: they are a phantom problem. While they are[...]

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Gov. Sanford And Ideological Glare-Blindness

There are times for ideological fights, this the Dog believes with his entire heart. The issue is when to pick these fights. There is an argument that it is the best time when things are in crisis. The thinking on this, such as it is, is that when things[...]

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