Alabama Right News

Friday, October 29, 2010

In the last piece of major economic news to be released before the crucial 2010 midterm elections, the Bureau of Economic Analysis says that the US economy grew at the glacial pace of 2.0% in the quarter between July 1 and September 30:

Real gross domestic product -- the output of goods and services produced by labor and propertylocated in the United States -- increased at an annual rate of 2.0 percent in the third quarter of 2010,(that is, from the second quarter to the third quarter), according to the "advance" estimate released bythe Bureau of Economic Analysis. In the second quarter, real GDP increased 1.7 percent.

The Bureau emphasized that the third-quarter advance estimate released today is based on source data that are incomplete or subject to further revision by the source agency (see the box on page 3).The "second" estimate for the third quarter, based on more complete data, will be released on November 23, 2010.

The increase in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected positive contributions frompersonal consumption expenditures (PCE), private inventory investment, nonresidential fixedinvestment, federal government spending, and exports that were partly offset by a negative contributionfrom residential fixed investment. Imports, which are a subtraction in the calculation of GDP, increased.

The small acceleration in real GDP in the third quarter primarily reflected a sharp deceleration inimports and accelerations in private inventory investment and in PCE that were partly offset by adownturn in residential fixed investment and decelerations in nonresidential fixed investment and inexports.

…

Real federal government consumption expenditures and gross investment increased 8.8 percentin the third quarter, compared with an increase of 9.1 percent in the second. National defense increased8.5 percent, compared with an increase of 7.4 percent. Nondefense increased 9.6 percent, comparedwith an increase of 12.8 percent. Real state and local government consumption expenditures and gross investment decreased 0.2 percent, in contrast to an increase of 0.6 percent.

…

Real nonresidential fixed investment increased 9.7 percent in the third quarter, compared with anincrease of 17.2 percent in the second. Nonresidential structures increased 3.9 percent, in contrast to adecrease of 0.5 percent. Equipment and software increased 12.0 percent, compared with an increase of24.8 percent. Real residential fixed investment decreased 29.1 percent, in contrast to an increase of 25.7percent.

Though the 2.0% figure is mostly in line with analyst estimates, it still indicates that the economy is not growing robustly enough to stimulate job creation or change the Fed's mind about the need for quantitative easing—a monetary policy move that risks inflation and further erodes the dollar in foreign exchange markets.

Two key pieces of data in today's release:

Residential investment, one of the best leading indicators of expected growth, fell by an eye-popping 29% and federal expenditures increased by nearly 9%. This means that government spending is the primary reason for the GDP growth. The private sector is still struggling and is not likely to liven up anytime soon. Meanwhile, the federal government continues to spend at nearly a double-digit pace, using money that must be borrowed and increasing the federal debt.

This pace is absolutely unsustainable.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ibleedcrimsonred/OvJu/~3/QD4gxZLffGk/gdp-grew-20-in-3rd-quarter-federal.html

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Union ‘Card Check’ Smokescreen for Lame Duck Pension Bailout

Big Labor is pouring money into two Democratic U.S. Senate races, attempting to secure a union pension bailout during a lame duck session of Congress.

Connie Hair at CNSNews.com

EXCERPTS:

Claims of holding on to Senate majorities for passage of the card check legislation is a ruse, according to Brett McMahon, spokesman for the Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade organization.

"Unlike a vote for elected office, a vote to certify a union may affect your life for the remainder of your working days," McMahon said. "Isn't it just logical that the decision should be made on all information available?"

The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation represented the Dana employees and compiled a video of employees' statements of the types of intimidation and threats used to coerce employees into signing the authorization card.

Legislation from Sen. Bob Casey (D-Penn.) is all geared up and ready to go. The Casey bill would put a new line item into the budget, creating a new government fund to perpetuate a permanent avenue for the bailout of private union pensions.

FULL STORY

Perhaps government is more like a zombie than a parasite. Especially given that about $1 billion in taxpayer money goes to 250,000 deceased individuals (according to a review of reports by the Government Accountability Office, inspectors general, and Congress itself). How, might you ask? According to Sen. Tom Coburn's,...

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BeltwayConfidential/~3/hclYbMRm894/happy-halloween-1-billion-in-taxpayer-money-goes-to-the-undead-106280743.html

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Judge: McDonald’s Must Pay Employee for Weight Gain

SAO PAULO (AP) — A Brazilian court ruled this week that McDonald's must pay a former franchise manager $17,500 because he gained 65 pounds (30 kilograms) while working there for a dozen years.

The 32-year-old man said he felt forced to sample the food each day to ensure quality standards remained high, because McDonald's hired "mystery clients" to randomly visit restaurants and report on the food, service and cleanliness.

The man also said the company offered free lunches to employees, adding to his caloric intake while on the job. His identity was not released.

The ruling was signed Tuesday by Judge Joao Ghisleni Filho in Porto Alegre.

Ghisleni said McDonald's could appeal the case, and the Brazilian headquarters of the chain said in an e-mailed statement Thursday it was weighing its legal options.

McDonald's also noted that it offers healthier food choices.

"The chain offers a large variety of options and balanced menus to cater (to) the daily dietary needs of its employees," the company said in the statement.

McDonald's headquarters is in Oak Brook, Illinois.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/judge-mcdonalds-must-pay-employee-for-weight-gain/

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BREAKING: Significant Election Complaint Filed in Nevada

Attached is a Nevada Election Task Force complaint filed late today in Nevada by Babette Rutherford, a Nevada voter.

The complaint alleges scores of union tactics designed to undermine the integrity of the voting process and intimidate voters.

Specifically, the complaint notes that union officials are busing in union workers, leading them to the polls, deterring or preventing the union member from going to unobserved polling locations set up in Las Vegas, etc.

"The union personnel strategically position themselves at various points around the boundaries of the polling location to ensure that one or more of them are able to monitor their members' activities at all times."

The complaint is highly detailed and filled with eye witness accounts of union officials intimidating casino employees and directly overseeing how the union employees are attempting to vote.

Read the complaint here.

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/10/28/breaking-significant-election-complaint-filed-in-nevada/

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America’s First Black President Tries to Push Out Another Black Politician

First they came for David Patterson, Governor of New York. Barack Obama and the Democrats ganged up on him and forced him to not seek re-election.

Now they've come for Kendrick Meeks, or at least Bill Clinton, America's first black President, has come for Kendrick Meeks, but at the behest of America's second black President.

It started with a story in the Politico.

Bill Clinton sought to persuade Rep. Kendrick Meek to drop out of the race for Senate during a trip to Florida last week — and nearly succeeded.

Meek agreed — twice — to drop out and endorse Gov. Charlie Crist's independent bid in a last-ditch effort to stop Marco Rubio, the Republican nominee who stands on the cusp of national stardom.

Specifically, "Clinton spokesman Matt McKenna confirmed to Politico" that Clinton's top aide, Doug Band, brought up the subject with Meeks. Meeks sounded amenable. They then brought Clinton in.

Kendrick Meeks denied it to CNN.

Clinton confirmed it then backed away from it then confirmed it again. But Clinton said the White House was not involved.

Charlie Crist, who has had to heated private conversations with Kendrick Meeks in the past week, says the White House was involved.

Some Democrats "with knowledge of the plan" confirm the White House knew.

Had this been the Republicans ganging up on a black man to drive him from office, we'd hear all sorts of cries of racism.

But there are three really important points to make here. They are major points:

1. The only group the Democrats have left that will turn out in sizable numbers is the black voting block. This, the second time the White House has colluded to drive a black man out of a statewide election, does not help turn those voters out.

2. Bill Clinton has worked very hard to patch things up with black voters after the 2008 Democratic primary and now here he is trying to force a black man out of the race. So much for rehabilitation.

3. And this is the most important point: This clearly shows the White House is only interested in the short game. Alex Sink needs black voters to turn out for her to push her over the line. Florida is picking up congressional seats and a Democratic Governor would help tremendously. But the Democrats were willing to sacrifice black voter turnout to get a Senate seat for maybe six years instead of a Governor's mansion that would impact congressional races for at least a decade.

Bonus take away point: Kendrick Meeks has run the classiest campaign by any Democrat in 2010.

http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/10/29/americas-first-black-president-tries-to-push-out-another-black-politician/

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Why Are Casino Bosses Teaming With Union Bosses in Funding an Anti-Tea Party Group?

Casinos have contributed hundreds of thousands to Senator Harry Reid over the years. Regardless of your political views, it is understandable. Unfortunately, that's how the game is played. In addition, given Reid's long ties to the casino industry in Nevada (Reid was Nevada gaming commissioner from 1977 to1981), he has undoubtedly built a few relationships and loyalties up and down the Vegas strip. A back scratch here, a donation there. Welcome to politics.

The one piece of the puzzle that seems to be missing, though, is why would gaming companies like MGM Resorts International and Harrah's get into partnership with the SEIU and other unions to help fund an tea party group?

The Patriot Majority PAC was, according to its website, founded in October of 2009. Its sole mission, according to the WaPo, is to make sure the House and Senate stay Tea Party free.

"Americans need to confront the dangerous ideas of the tea party movement head on, without any fear, before they gain any additional traction in the legislative process or the 2010 elections," said Varoga, who managed former Iowa governor Tom Vilsack's 2008 presidential run.

The idea behind Patriot Majority PAC is to pick 12 to 15 races where tea party-affiliated candidates are running then launch a barrage of television and radio ads (as well as online targeting) to keep them from winning. The funding, according to Varoga, will come entirely from individuals and thanks to a ruling in U.S. District Court last week the group will be able to expressly advocate for the defeat of candidates.

Okay. Their mission is to destroy tea party candidates. Got it.

The blog Creekside Chat has done an excellent job dissecting Patriot Majority and it's clear that this group has no other agenda than to seek and destroy tea party candidates (like Sharon Angle).

However, the really puzzling part is why would MGM Resorts International, Harrah's, as well as the San Pablo Lytton Casino (owned by a 200-300 member Indian tribe in California) jump into bed with the SEIU and a smorgasboard of other unions to smear candidates, as opposed to maintaining autonomy in their expenditures?

With the passions running so high across the country, have the casinos made a calculated risk that the gains of being affiliated with a group whose sole purpose is to seek and destroy tea party candidates is worth the potential loss of business from an angry public? Or, is there another agenda being played out?

Another interesting link that is not readily apparent is why the biggest (and, arguably, the most powerful) union player in Vegas is missing from the Patriot Majority's laundry list of unions and other donors (see below). That is Local 226 of Unite-HERE.

Contribution Organization

$400,000 - SEIU Committee on Political Education (COPE)

$300,000 - American Federation of Teachers (AFT)

$250,000 - MGM Resorts International

$250,000 - VOTEVETS.ORG Action Fund

$175,000 - Guy David Gundlach

$125,000 - Guy David Gundlach

$100,000 - AAJ PAC

$75,000 - Clean Energy

$75,000 - Harrah's Operating Company

$60,000 - Carpenters Legislative Improvement Committee, United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners

$50,000 - MGM Mirage

$50,000 - San Pablo Lytton Casino (San Pablo, CA)

$20,000 - Laborers' International Union of North America (LIUNA) PAC

$10,000 - R&S Investment Properties

$5,000 - American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees P.E.O.P.L.E

$5,000 - CULAC The PAC of Credit Union National Association

$5,000 - International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) PAC

$5,000 - NEA Fund for Children & Public Education

$5,000 - American Postal Workers Union PAC

$5,000 - Sheet Metal Workers International PAC

$5,000 - Sheet Metal Workers International PAC

$5,000 - UFCW Active Ballot Club

As it is clear that the above casino companies oppose Sharon Angle and the tea parties, the question of "who" they're standing with and "why" is very curious. There are several scenarios (and probably more) that are possible:

Might the unions have convinced the casinos that their "partnership" in Patriot Majority would be rewarded with union convention business?
Perhaps there will be friendlier negotiations the next time their contracts come up for renewal? [Although, that is arguable, as most of these unions do not have large represented units of workers in the named casinos.]
Lastly, given the bad blood that exists between the SEIU and Unite-HERE (parent of Local 226), is it possible that the SEIU and the casinos have cut a deal to allow the SEIU access to the turf that belongs to Local 226 in Vegas or elsewhere (where Unite-HERE would ordinarily have jurisdiction)?

The third option (that there might be a back-room deal cut for the SEIU to 'raid' Unite-HERE's turf) in entirely possible since it was only last year that the SEIU partnered with the AFL-CIO (which Unite-HERE is part of now) to form the Gaming Workers Council. However, in establishing the GWC, Unite-HERE was not part of it.

But conspicuous in its absence was Unite Here, the international union of casino and hotel workers with robust locals in those two cities, including the Culinary Union here. By its own count, the union represents nearly half of all workers in the American gaming industry. In Las Vegas, the Culinary represents 60,000 workers up and down the Strip and downtown.

It may be some time before we find out why the real casinos jumped in with the Patriot Majority. However, we do know the group's only agenda is to hurt the tea party movement. Therefore, even if the casinos are BFF with Harry Reid, the risk of losing business by alienating the millions of Tea Party activists seems to be more than just business. We'll just have to wait and see.

[Check out Creekside Chat's in depth post on the Patriot Majority. ]

__________________

"I bring reason to your ears, and, in language as plain as ABC, hold up truth to your eyes." Thomas Paine, December 23, 1776

http://www.redstate.com/laborunionreport/2010/10/29/why-are-casino-bosses-teaming-with-union-bosses-in-funding-an-anti-tea-party-group/

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Frances Fox Piven: Obama Has Done Good things "Under the Radar"

Frances Fox Piven is a prominent U.S. sociologist, writer and socialist activist and is an honorary chair of the Democratic Socialists of America.

Fox Piven was a DSAer since the organization's founding in 1982. By 1985 she was listed as a member of the Feminist Commission of the organization.

In 1994 she was listed amongst over 100 activists who were builders of Barack Obama's New Party. Piven is also listed as an endorser of Progressives for Obama.

But much earlier, at the Second Annual Socialist Scholars Conference , held September 9-11, 1966 at the Hotel Commodore, New York, the husband/wife team, Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven unveiled their strategy to bring about the agenda they so longed for. This strategy is now known as the Cloward-Piven Strategy. In a nutshell, the strategy is designed to crash the U.S. economy and bring on socialist revolution by deliberately overloading state welfare rolls to the point of bankruptcy. You can read an in-depth discussion of this anti-American strategy in my June 2011 post, here.

As I pointed out in September this year, Piven has advocated the use of violence as a political tool as late as November, 2004 when she spoke at the University of Wisconsin, stating: "Unless you have good reason for breaking the window [i.e. using violence], probably you shouldn't do that. Unless it's you know, a big part of your strategy."

On September 20, 2010, she spoke alongside Tariq Ali at the booklaunch for his new book entitled "The Obama Syndrome: Surrender at Home, War Abroad". Ali is a board member of Movement for a Democratic Society which has close ties with the newly revived Students for a Democratic Society. The organization seeks to create a more egalitarian society in both the political and economic spheres. The booklaunch was organized and hosted by the Brecht Forum.

A short excerpt from Piven's comments at the book launch is below.

Full video from the event is at the C-Span website, however copied below is a key excerpt of the transcript of Piven's comments at the event:

"Obama has done some good things as president. Most of us don't notice those things because he has done them under the radar. They don't get public attention. He's used executive orders for example, to fund the enforcement of workplace safety inspections by the Labor Department, or to fund environmental protection enforcement. His stimulus bill... you know, and the sort of cloud of emergency. The stimulus bill was in fact redistributive. It took, for example, the TANF program which was the program that sort of symbolized the elimination of welfare in the United States, and it gave 5 billion dollars to TANF on condition that the states spend money on TANF; let people get welfare, and of course it put money in food stamps and unemployment insurance as well. He has made appointments. Usually below the radar screen to the Federal bureaucracy, that the Bush Administration decimated. I mean they're a bunch of hacks, in the Justice Department, in the voting rights division, wherever you looked, they put in their cronies. And the Obama Administration, concerned as they are with merit education and so forth, they began to restaff Federal bureaucracy. That's good, compared to what was." (31:45 - 33:50 minutes)

A little later on she comments,

"The Obama Administration has done some good things compared to the administrations that we've had for a very long time." (35:50 - 36:10 minutes)

Obama has an ally in the form of the radical, violence-advocating Frances Fox Piven. She made it clear at the September 20 event that she believes Obama has done many good things, but that many of these things have been done "under the radar". Without skipping a beat, acknowledges that the stimulus bill was redistributive.

Most noteworthy however, is her ominous comment that the President "has made appointments; usually below the radar screen to the Federal bureaucracy". Piven takes heart at what she refers to as the Obama Administration's restaffing of Federal bureaucracy. Perhaps Piven is referring to Socialist heroes elected to the Federal bureaucracy such as former STORM leader Van Jones, Netroots Nation-linked Cass Sunstein, and former Congressional Progressive Caucus member, Hilda Solis.

No wonder she's happy.

http://newzeal.blogspot.com/2010/10/frances-fox-piven-obama-has-done-good.html

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