Autoworkers and the $73 and hour myth (Updated: Michael Moore, Pat Buchanan and the Rick Berman ties)

the claim that workers are getting $70 an hour in compensation is just "not true."
The catch phrase that is used to make people hate unions


image by David Horsey- Seattle Post Intelligencer

The corporate war against unions and American workers in general has taken an awful turn, in 'if you repeat it people will believe it is true fashion' the stooges against us are creating more anti-union sentiment with making us think that only unionized autoworkers are making far too much money as opposed to the rest of us here in the U.S.

Alas their fear of the possible passage of the Employee Free Choice Act is making them slam the unions as hard as possible, getting catch phrases like "73 dollars an hour" to become a household phrase, but you my dear reader are much smarter than those who believe this to be true. Finally the numbers have been scrutinized and the sensationalistic numbers have been brought to our attention, the average union autoworker makes around $28 an hour as of 2007 and the new contract signed in early 2008 will limit the top wage of many non-core new hires to roughly $14 an hour with a lower degree of benefit costs also. That's a whole lot less than what a Toyota worker makes here in the US, but it was done to create American jobs.

The average UAW autoworker at the 'Big 3' makes roughly a little less than $60,000 a year and the average non-union autoworker in the U.S. makes roughly $52,000 and considering that most of the nonunion plants are in lower cost of living areas, I would say that both are quite competitive with one another. Basically no one is getting rich who is a general worker at any U.S. auto manufacturing plant. The anti-union forces along with the corporate right are spinning this to create more anti-union sentiment in our country. They fixate on a number that sounds outlandish and just keep repeating it until you say "greedy union worker", when in fact with the way the world is changing even the nonunion manufacturers here will be cutting back and need help eventually as it is very hard to compete globally when places such as Mexico have a minimum wage of $2 an hour, Bangladesh is only $0.06, and Vietnam is $64 an month.

So the choice is your, keep listening to their horseshit, keep hating your fellow American workers, keep letting them get away with outsourcing all of our industry or open your eyes and let them know that you know they are misinforming us. Remember "unions force jobs overseas" or at least that's what they want you to believe.

Yes these are bad times, really bad times, but don't take it out on the American workers, not the union ones or the nonunion ones, we are all hurting, don't let them get away with driving a bigger wedge between all of us, the collapse of GM, Ford and Chrysler will cost us 3 million U.S. jobs, add that to the 50,000+ Citibank workers, and all the others who have recently been laid off and you can see now we as the American working class need to rely on each other now more than ever.

Debunking the $73/hour Myth

Here's the scoop on the pay at the 'Big 3', from the pages of The New Republic

Why Are We Bailing Out Auto Workers Who Make $70 An Hour?
by Jonathan Cohn
Debunking the myth of the $70-per-hour autoworker.

If you've been following the auto industry's crisis, then you've probably read or heard a lot about overpaid American autoworkers--in particular, the fact that the average hourly employee of the Big Three makes $70 per hour.

That's an awful lot of money. Seventy dollars an hour in wages works out to almost $150,000 a year in gross income, if you assume a forty-hour work week. Is it any wonder the Big Three are in trouble? And with auto workers making so much, why should taxpayers--many of whom make far less--finance a plan to bail them out?

Well, here's one reason: The figure is wildly misleading.

Let's start with the fact that it's not $70 per hour in wages. According to Kristin Dziczek of the Center for Automative Research--who was my primary source for the figures you are about to read--average wages for workers at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors were just $28 per hour as of 2007. That works out to a little less than $60,000 a year in gross income--hardly outrageous, particularly when you consider the physical demands of automobile assembly work and the skills most workers must acquire over the course of their careers.

More important, and contrary to what you may have heard, the wages aren't that much bigger than what Honda, Toyota, and other foreign manufacturers pay employees in their U.S. factories. While we can't be sure precisely how much those workers make, because the companies don't make the information public, the best estimates suggests the corresponding 2007 figure for these "transplants"--as the foreign-owned factories are known--was somewhere between $20 and $26 per hour, and most likely around $24 or $25. That would put average worker's annual salary at $52,000 a year.

So the "wage gap," per se, has been a lot smaller than you've heard. And this is no accident. If the transplants paid their employees far less than what the Big Three pay their unionized workers, the United Auto Workers would have a much better shot of organizing the transplants' factories. Those factories remain non-unionized and management very much wants to keep it that way.

But then what's the source of that $70 hourly figure? It didn't come out of thin air. Analysts came up with it by including the cost of all employer-provided benefits--namely, health insurance and pensions--and then dividing by the number of workers. The result, they found, was that benefits for Big Three cost about $42 per hour, per employee. Add that to the wages--again, $28 per hour--and you get the $70 figure. Voila.

Except ... notice something weird about this calculation? It's not as if each active worker is getting health benefits and pensions worth $42 per hour. That would come to nearly twice his or her wages. (Talk about gold-plated coverage!) Instead, each active worker is getting benefits equal only to a fraction of that--probably around $10 per hour, according to estimates from the International Motor Vehicle Program. The number only gets to $70 an hour if you include the cost of benefits for retirees--in other words, the cost of benefits for other people. One of the few people to grasp this was Portfolio.com's Felix Salmon. As he noted yesterday, the claim that workers are getting $70 an hour in compensation is just "not true."

Of course, the cost of benefits for those retirees--you may have heard people refer to them as "legacy costs"--do represent an extra cost burden that only the Big Three shoulder. And, yes, it makes it difficult for the Big Three to compete with foreign-owned automakers that don't have to pay the same costs. But don't forget why those costs are so high. While the transplants don't offer the same kind of benefits that the Big Three do, the main reason for their present cost advantage is that they just don't have many retirees.

The first foreign-owned plants didn't start up here until the 1980s; many of the existing ones came well after that. As of a year ago, Toyota's entire U.S. operation had less than 1,000 retirees. Compare that to a company like General Motors, which has been around for more than a century and which supports literally hundreds of thousands of former workers and spouses. As you might expect, many of these have the sorts of advanced medical problems you expect from people to develop in old age. And, it should go without saying, those conditions cost a ton of money to treat.

To be sure, we've known about these demographics for a while. Management and labor in Detroit should have figured out a solution it long ago. But while the Big Three were late in addressing this problem, they did address it eventually.

Notice how, in this article, I've constantly referred to 2007 figures? There's a good reason. In 2007, the Big Three signed a breakthrough contract with the United Auto Workers (UAW) designed, once and for all, to eliminate the compensation gap between domestic and foreign automakers in the U.S.

The agreement sought to do so, first, by creating a private trust for financing future retiree benefits--effectively removing that burden from the companies' books. The auto companies agreed to deposit start-up money in the fund; after that, however, it would be up to the unions to manage the money. And it was widely understood that, given the realities of investment returns and health care economics, over time retiree health benefits would likely become less generous.

In addition, management and labor agreed to change health benefits for all workers, active or retired, so that the coverage looked more like the policies most people have today, complete with co-payments and deductibles. The new UAW agreement also changed the salary structure, by creating a two-tiered wage system. Under this new arrangement, the salary scale for newly hired workers would be lower than the salary scale for existing workers.

One can debate the propriety and wisdom of these steps; two-tiered wage structures, in particular, raise various ethical concerns. But one thing is certain: It was a radical change that promised to make Detroit far more competitive. If carried out as planned, by 2010--the final year of this existing contract--total compensation for the average UAW worker would actually be less than total compensation for the average non-unionized worker at a transplant factory. The only problem is that it will be several years before these gains show up on the bottom line--years the industry probably won't have if it doesn't get financial assistance from the government.

Make no mistake: The argument over a proposed rescue package is complicated, in no small part because over the years both management and labor made some truly awful decisions while postponing the inevitable reckoning with economic reality. And even if the government does provide money, it's a tough call whether restructuring should proceed with or without a formal bankruptcy filing. Either way, yet more downsizing is inevitable.

But the next time you hear somebody say the unions have to make serious salary and benefit concessions, keep in mind that they already have--enough to keep the companies competitive, if only they can survive this crisis.

Jonathan Cohn is a senior editor at The New Republic.

My apologies to my readers for the lapse of writing on my behalf, I needed some time after the election to rest, work has been very satisfying also and I have been trying to have more free time with my family. Fear not I have a lot to say and a ton of ammunition on really bad shit happening against workers in today's America, I even have about 4 stories in the sandbox that need final editing to go forward and get published, but I need some time to focus and get the facts correct and intact.

More child labor in our backyard, more unscrupulous employers rejecting us in favor of undocumented workers with little or no rights and even a touch of good news, a story on more clothing made in the USA.

Update #1:
Michael Moore, Moore on the $73 Myth and the anti-union ties to it, just like I wrote and spoke about last Thursday at the NYC Central Labor Council meeting


Michael Moore on the arrogance of the Big 3
this is from CNN on Nov.19th.


It's more like $41 for the entire package
Another update on the myth from Media Matters (11/22/08), in a story entitled "Media figures falsely assert or suggest autoworkers make $70/hour without noting figure includes benefits paid to current retirees" (In part, entire article at link above):

In a November 18 post on his American Prospect blog criticizing Sorkin's reporting, economist Dean Baker wrote that the $70 figure Sorkin used is distorted by conflating "legacy" costs -- medical benefits and pensions paid to retirees -- with current labor costs:

The New York Times told readers that GM's autoworkers are paid $70 an hour (including health care and pension). This is not true. The base pay is about $28 an hour. If health care cost per worker average $12,000 per year, that adds in another $6 an hour. If the pension payment takes up 25 percent of base pay (an extremely high pension), that gets you another $7 an hour, bringing the total to $41 an hour. That's decent pay, but still a long way from $70 an hour.

How does the NYT get from $41 to $70? Well the trick is to add in GM's legacy costs, the pension and health care costs for retired workers. These legacy costs are a serious expense for GM, but this is not money being paid to current workers. The person on the line in 2008 is not benefiting from these legacy costs.

Rick Berman, the US Chamber Of Commerce and their agenda against the Employee Free Choice Act

I called this one last week, I spoke in front of my fellow New york City Central Labor delegates and noted that the $73 an hour myth was perpetrated by anti-union forces seeking to discredit unions. Here's the payoff, Rick Berman, the corporate lobbyist and spin doctoring lawyer, who's past efforts were defending animal torture by trying to make PETA look bad, defending cigarette companies, trying to lower the legal drinking age and higher the breath test levels for the alcohol companies and trying to defend the fish industry against claims of mercury levels that are dangerous. He is also the creator of The Center For Union Facts, a biased attack site against unions which is funded by McDonalds, Smithfield Pork and others who I cannot name due to court papers being locked.

One of Mr.Berman's front groups, the business-backed Employee Freedom Action Committee has been showing commercials which attack unions. Are we gonna let this corporate shill distort the facts? Here's the scoop from The Hill in a story by By Ian Swanson entitled "Business group blames unions for carmakers’ woes" (full story at link):

Unions are to blame for the Big Three automakers’ problems, according to a television ad meant to stoke public opposition to organized labor’s number one legislative priority.

“Steel, auto, airlines. What do these industries all have in common?” asks the ad sponsored by the business-backed Employee Freedom Action Committee, which was active in several hotly contested Senate races this year. “Hundreds of thousands of lost jobs and union bosses that helped put them out of business.”

The advertisement urges people to fight the Employee Free Choice Act, which unions hope will be taken up quickly by the Democratic Congress and President-elect Barack Obama. The bill would eliminate the requirement for workers to cast secret ballots in deciding whether to organize, making it easier to form unions.

Business groups are paying for the ad to run on CNN and the Fox cable news network Monday through Wednesday, according to the group’s spokesman, Tim Miller. He said the ad buy was “fairly substantial” but declined to specify a figure. A similar ad ran in Mississippi and New Hampshire in conjunction with Senate races in those states, where business groups worked to tie Democrats to the Employee Free Choice Act.

“If Americans like what the unions did to Detroit’s economy, they’ll love what the unions will do to the country,” said Richard Berman, the business group’s executive director.

“The unions have played a significant role in nearly bankrupting the Big Three automakers with untenable inefficiencies which have put tens of thousands out of work,” Bergman said. He said the union bill, known as “card-check legislation,” would do the same to millions of jobs across the country.

Alan Reuther, legislative director for the United Autoworkers, blasted the ad and Bergman’s comments. He said the auto industry’s problems rest on a series of bad trade and healthcare policies, and that the credit crunch is to blame for the current crisis.

Reuther also said major concessions offered by unions in their 2005 and 2007 contracts will result in the elimination of the cost-gap between union and non-union plants. “We feel that we’ve stepped up to the plate,” he said.

He also pointed to a 2007 report by two auto industry consulting firms that found nine of the 10 most-efficient auto plants in North America have workers organized by the United Autoworkers or the Canadian Autoworkers.

It's called Propaganda
"Propaganda should be popular, not intellectually pleasing. It is not the task of propaganda to discover intellectual truths."

You know who said that? Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler's Propaganda Minister in Nazi Germany, he got the people to focus and hate other people, this cycle is repeated over and over throughout history, Goebbels also quips

“The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly - it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over”

We have seen this recently in the term "terrorism", which was used against President-Elect Barack Obama by Sarah Palin in a failing campaign.

Now these groups against workers want to use the manifestation of "greedy" union workers, those guys and gals who are making a whopping "$73 an hour", it's all propaganda and many of us are eating it up.

Even Pat Buchanan doesn't blame the autoworkers

from "PJB: Who Killed Detroit?" (11/21/08):

Who killed the U.S. auto industry?

To hear the media tell it, arrogant corporate chiefs failed to foresee the demand for small, fuel-efficient cars and made gas-guzzling road-hog SUVs no one wanted, while the clever, far-sighted Japanese, Germans and Koreans prepared and built for the future.

I dissent. What killed Detroit was Washington, the government of the United States, politicians, journalists and muckrakers who have long harbored a deep animus against the manufacturing class that ran the smokestack industries that won World War II.

He continues (full article in link above):

It then clamped fuel efficiency standards on the entire U.S. car fleet.

Next, Washington imposed a corporate tax rate of 35 percent, raking off another 15 percent of autoworkers’ wages in Social Security payroll taxes

State governments imposed income and sales taxes, and local governments property taxes to subsidize services and schools.

The United Auto Workers struck repeatedly to win the highest wages and most generous benefits on earth — vacations, holidays, work breaks, health care, pensions — for workers and their families, and retirees.

Now there is nothing wrong with making U.S. plants the cleanest and safest on earth or having U.S. autoworkers the highest-paid wage earners.

That is the dream, what we all wanted for America.

And under the 14th Amendment, GM, Ford and Chrysler had to obey the same U.S. laws and pay at the same tax rates. Outside the United States, however, there was and is no equality of standards or taxes.

Thus when America was thrust into the Global Economy, GM and Ford had to compete with cars made overseas in factories in postwar Japan and Germany, then Korea, where health and safety standards were much lower, wages were a fraction of those paid U.S. workers, and taxes were and are often forgiven on exports to the United States.

All three nations built “export-driven” economies.

The Beetle and early Japanese imports were made in factories where wages were far beneath U.S. wages and working conditions would have gotten U.S. auto executives sent to prison.

The competition was manifestly unfair, like forcing Secretariat to carry 100 pounds in his saddlebags in the Derby.

Japan, China and South Korea do not believe in free trade as we understand it. To us, they are our “trading partners.” To them, the relationship is not like that of Evans & Novak or Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. It is not even like the Redskins and Cowboys. For the Cowboys only want to defeat the Redskins. They do not want to put their franchise out of business and end the competition — as the Japanese did to our TV industry by dumping Sonys here until they killed it.

While we think the Global Economy is about what is best for the consumer, they think about what is best for the nation.

Like Alexander Hamilton, they understand that manufacturing is the key to national power. And they manipulate currencies, grant tax rebates to their exporters and thieve our technology to win. Last year, as trade expert Bill Hawkins writes, South Korea exported 700,000 cars to us, while importing 5,000 cars from us.

That’s Asia’s idea of free trade.

How has this Global Economy profited or prospered America?

In the 1950s, we made all our own toys, clothes, shoes, bikes, furniture, motorcycles, cars, cameras, telephones, TVs, etc. You name it. We made it.

Are we better off now that these things are made by foreigners? Are we better off now that we have ceased to be self-sufficient? Are we better off now that the real wages of our workers and median income of our families no longer grow as they once did? Are we better off now that manufacturing, for the first time in U.S. history, employs fewer workers than government?

We no longer build commercial ships. We have but one airplane company, and it outsources. China produces our computers. And if GM goes Chapter 11, America will soon be out of the auto business.

Our politicians and pundits may not understand what is going on. Historians will have no problem explaining the decline and fall of the Americans.

Mr. Buchanan points towards over-government and unfair trade. I was happy to see his views, I'm so sick and tired of reading the propaganda that is today's mainstream, the likes of the US Chamber and Rick Berman who claim more unfair trade is a good thing for America make me sick. One commenter on the above article, Kurt2208, states:

Free trade agreements work fine with countries like Germany, England, japan and Canada which have close to the same standard of living. They do not work with third world and communist countries. As the traiter Dubya leaves office he is pushing another trade agreement with Columbia. I believe he should be tried and convicted of treason and shot!!!

Hope that last line doesn't get him in trouble. They might even call him a 'terrorist". We toss $700,000,000 billion on the banking industry that got us in this mess and when it comes to unionized workers the talking points start. Do you know what the US Chamber of Commerce and Mr.Berman had to say about the banking bailout? Nothing.

Now they blame the workers. Fucking amazing.

GM sent me an E-Mail on the crisis
I own a Chevy Impala

Despite what you may be hearing, we are not asking Congress for a bailout but rather a loan that will be repaid.

The U.S. economy is at a crossroads due to the worldwide credit crisis, and all Americans are feeling the effects of the worst economic downturn in 75 years. Despite our successful efforts to restructure, reduce costs and enhance liquidity, U.S. auto sales rely on access to credit, which is all but frozen through traditional channels.

The consequences of the domestic auto industry collapsing would far exceed the $25 billion loan needed to bridge the current crisis. According to a recent study by the Center for Automotive Research:

• One in 10 American jobs depends on U.S. automakers
• Nearly 3 million jobs are at immediate risk
• U.S. personal income could be reduced by $150 billion
• The tax revenue lost over 3 years would be more than $156 billion

Discussions are now underway in Washington, D.C., concerning loans to support U.S. carmakers. I am asking for your support in this vital effort by contacting your state representatives.

Please take a few minutes to go to www.gmfactsandfiction.com, where we have made it easy for you to contact your U.S. senators and representatives. Just click on the "I'm a Concerned American" link under the "Mobilize Now" section, and enter your name and ZIP code to send a personalized e-mail stating your support for the U.S. automotive industry.

Update #2♦:
Spotted a new blog by the autoworkers who are trapped in this mess, it's called Joe The Autoworker, go stop bye and show some support for our fellow American workers

Dan Rather explaind the corporate media ownership

A video of Dan Rather speaking at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, brought to you by the folks over LinkTV:

Former CBS Anchorman, Dan Rather, speaks to an audience about how corporate broadcasters have compromised journalistic integrity by satisfying stockholders, instead of public interests.
More at LinkTV

Video Link

I'm As Mad As Hell #1 - "The Part That Big Media Left Out !!!"

Almost a year since I penned this.

We have come a long way from when I wrote this on Union Review last year, but the fight has intensified, I hope that people are learning from all of our sites that we as workers must get together and fight for a better tomorrow, so here's my article which has been parked here on the front page since this site began in Janurary 2008, which was originally posted on Union Review. The information is eben more important today then it was last year.

Reposted from 10/27/07

Why is it that when someone who becomes a hero, the fact that he is a proud union member is not mentioned in the mainstream media? Could it be that the media on a whole is quite a bit anti-union?

I'm not just talking about the likes of Rupert Murdoch, I am talking about the main 6 companies that own almost everything you see and read, the six that have to bargain directly with unions and would like nothing more than for people to believe that the working mans plight is hopeless and we must bargain from the scraps left for us. And yes my friends, they want total control of the internet . Well I've gone a bit off point, the point is that when Wesley Autrey, a member and shop steward of LIUNA Local 79, became New Yorks subway hero on Jan. 3rd. 2007, by putting his life at risk to save another, there was absolutely no mention that he was a union member in any of the big media outlets. I only came to learn that through my diligence in serching out news on the internet. And that my friends is a total shame .

NYPost "Autrey, 50, a construction worker who achieved nationwide fame for his death-defying rescue of a Boston man who had fallen off the subway platform" NYTimes "Mr. Autrey, a 50-year-old construction worker, said he knew something was different when he showed up for work later on Tuesday. His boss, he said, bought him lunch — a ham-and-cheese hero — and later told him to take yesterday off." USAToday "I just tried to do the right thing," said the 50-year-old Harlem construction worker." NBC "Wesley Autrey, a Navy veteran and construction worker, was standing nearby on the platform with his children when he saw Hollowpeter fall. Autrey jumped down to the track area and lay on top of Hollowpeter as a train passed about "2 inches" from his head."

What comes to mind that is if this was me, the first thing i would say if asked what my job was would be my union . Now this isn't the only instance whereby I have come to this conclusion , when speaking with an official with OPEIU on the crisis in downtown NYC regarding HIP's removing 186 union jobs from downtown , good paying jobs they were obligated to keep there when they used "Empire State Development Corp.'s WTC Job Creation and Retention Program", none of the big papers here in New York would carry the story , the Times (which has this so-called worker friendly stance said it was too small an issue) refused as did all the others , the only paper that would run the story was New York Newsday. I consider it very newsworthy, and refuse to buy any other paper. Not to mention the fact that Newsday is the only paper here in New York which reports on employee misclassification and tax evasion by nonunion contractors .

Media ownership

the tie to net neutrality

"A Federal Communications Commissioner said that the censoring of political speech during a recent Pearl Jam performance illustrates the need for network neutrality." Link

FROM : SaveTheInternet

What is Network Neutrality? Network Neutrality — or "Net Neutrality" for short — is the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Put simply, Net Neutrality means no discrimination. Net Neutrality prevents Internet providers from speeding up or slowing down Web

content based on its source, ownership or destination.

Ok that means hypothetically, that without "Net Neutrality", if Disney, who is partnered with Verizon , has a "Union" issue and someone posts an article on UnionReview about it, Verizon is within their rights to throttle our sites basic internet bandwidth to the degree that it would be frustrating if not impossible to view it. Think this isn't a possibility, think again .

FROM: SFGate.com

"If you missed the incident, Verizon Wireless initially refused to transmit text messages over its cellular network from Naral Pro-Choice America, a pro-choice group, to its members. Naral uses text-messaging to update its supporters on pro-choice policy and the message would have only gone to people who had signed up to receive them. But several days later, Verizon did an about-face and agreed to send the messages. Nonetheless, according to news reports, Verizon did not retreat from its position that it is entitled to decide what messages to transmit. This is censorship of the first magnitude."

As a matter of fact , those that oppose Net Neutrality have garnered the talents of "spin-doctor' Rick Berman, former lobbyist for big tobacco and current creator of Center For Union Facts, whose main focus is to tarnish unions through truths, half-truths and out right propaganda.

Basically his site Hands Off The Internet is a giant scare tactic to those in the world that believe everything they read. Basically if you read through Berman's web sites you can easily understand this joke.

Q: How can you tell that Rick Berman is lying? A: He opens his mouth

FROM : SaveTheInternet

What else are the phone and cable companies not telling the truth about?

AT&T and others have funded a massive misinformation campaign, filled with deceptive advertising and "Astroturf" groups like Hands Off the Internet and NetCompetition.org. Learn how to tell apart the myths from the realities in our report, Network Neutrality: Fact vs. Fiction.

Well this was installment #1 of my "Mad as Hell", stay tuned as I once again someday sift through all the misinformation and spin-doctoring and get another story here.

Here's the 2nd. installment from UnionReview.com: Mad As Hell#2 - Australia dumps corporate government in favor of labor and what's important here

Myth Of Liberal Media

Battle in Seattle is the film Big Hollywood does not want you to see, starts tonight!

50,000 union members led the charge
Even after receiving great reviews, no big movie corporation would distribute this film. An independent studio, Redwood Palms Pictures, picked up the film and is working hard to get it seen broadly.

I recall the Main Stream painting the protesters as a bunch of lunatics, while according to my recollection there were well look at where we are now thanks to the WTO's war on the majority of the worlds population.

DEMAND Showings in you area

I would like to thank Donna from Teamsters Local 237 here in New York for getting me this info, I desperately would like to see this film, you can help by demanding that it be shown in you area

Trailer



From the Who controls the world:

When 50,000 union members led the charge on a rainy November 30, 1999 in Seattle to speak truth to the power of the world’s biggest corporations, history was made. A devastating plan to expand the WTO’s power and the reign of corporate globalization over our lives was derailed.

Common Sense on Media notes:

Families can talk about the many social, political, and economic topics that the film raises, from concerns about corporate control of the media to the environmental ramifications of modern industry. Families can also discuss whether a film like this is made to provide answers or provoke questions. Do you think the filmmakers are playing favorites in their arguments and scenes? Is it OK for movies based on real-life events to have a particular bias toward one "side" or the other?

Battle in Seattle opens in select cities on September 19. If the opening theaters are packed for the film’s first two weeks, it will get a national distribution - turning on a new generation to the joy, fun and power of the Seattle Spirit through the pleasures of a great film. You can show Hollywood that there is a real interest in films that celebrate the fighting spirit of working people.

Here's what Union City, The Metro DC Labor Council has to say:

“MOVIES CAN CHANGE THE WORLD”: “I’m not sure that a single movie can change the world, but movies can change the world,” actor-turned-director Stuart Townsend tells Union City. His new film Battle in Seattle, a drama about the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization, opens tonight in Washington. The film, which stars Woody Harrelson, Charlize Theron, Ray Liotta, Andre Benjamin and Michelle Rodriguez, is being independently produced and distributed. “I wanted to make a film that will inspire people,” Townsend told Union City in a recent phone interview from California. “This film is not about politics, it’s about people; people who want good jobs, a clean environment and a economic system that puts people above profits. It’s about a moment when ordinary people stood up to the powers that be, and won. Seattle was a rare victory; it’s not often that the little guy wins, and for a whole week the world was watching.” Townsend’s pleased that the DC Labor FilmFest has included the local Battle screenings in this year’s line-up, noting that his effort is designed “to show Hollywood that there is a real interest in films that celebrate the fighting spirit of working people.” Click here for the full interview with Townsend.

Here's some classic footage

Battle in Seattle showtimes for New York, NY - Trailer ‎1hr 38min‎ - ‎Rated R‎ - ‎Action/Adventure/Drama‎ - 8 reviews:
	Lincoln Plaza Cinemas - 30 Lincoln Plaza, New York, NY - Map 11:05am 1:05 3:10 5:30 7:50 10:05pm Angelika Film Center - 18 West Houston, New York, NY - Map 11:00am 1:15 3:30 5:45 8:00 10:35pm

You can read more at Who Controls The World

Freedom of the press? Fear

Montag scares Mildred and her visitors when he begins to lecture them about their ignorance of the world outside of television and fun parks. His emotional outburst not only frightens them, but it also makes them suspicious enough to report him to the fire chief for having books. - Summary by BookRags on a chapter in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

Where are we headed?

This is truly disturbing, at both conventions the people who are supposed to have access to the great events of our time, the news reporters are now being locked up.

Last week in a report on "the money trail", an ABC reporter/producer, Asa Eslocker, who was following and filming lobbyists and Senators was arrested, actually thrown into the street while there was traffic, You can read up on the story at ABC: "ABC Reporter Arrested in Denver Taking Pictures of Senators, Big Donors"

Police in Denver arrested an ABC News producer today as he and a camera crew were attempting to take pictures on a public sidewalk of Democratic senators and VIP donors leaving a private meeting at the Brown Palace Hotel.

Asa Eslocker was investigating the role of lobbyists and top donors at the DNC.

Police on the scene refused to tell ABC lawyers the charges against the producer, Asa Eslocker, who works with the ABC News investigative unit.

Now I have received news that at the RNC, according to Democracy Now!:

Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and producers Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar have all been released from police custody in St. Paul following their illegal arrest by Minneapolis Police on Monday afternoon.

All three were violently manhandled by law enforcement officers. Abdel Kouddous was slammed against a wall and the ground, leaving his arms scraped and bloodied. He sustained other injuries to his chest and back. Salazar’s violent arrest by baton-weilding officers, during which she was slammed to the ground while yelling, “I’m Press! Press!,” resulted in her nose bleeding, as well as causing facial pain. Goodman’s arm was violently yanked by police as she was arrested.

Both cases show a frightening trend of squelching out the freedom of our press.

Where are we headed?
A great piece of literature posted at the Information Clearing House, titled "The Land of the Silent and the Home of the Fearful", ends it's story with this quip:

If you want to see where we're headed here in America, check out the workplace. There, we Americans have, through years of collective cowardice and unwillingness to stand together in organized labor unions, allowed our constitutional freedoms to be almost completely erased. Today, an American workplace is more akin to a police state than to a democratic society. Say what you're thinking on the job, and you're liable to lose it. Wear a shirt that says something the boss disagrees with, and you either remove that shirt or you are unemployed. Even that final refuge of free speech, the bumper sticker, can get workers in trouble if the wrong one shows up in the company parking lot. That loss of will and of freedom has in no small way contributed to the loss of jobs and the decline in living standards of American workers.

It's time for all of us to put a stop to this creeping usurpation of our liberties.

The anxious woman who asked her question came up to me after the meeting and said proudly that she would not be afraid, and would start signing on to protest letter-writing and emailing campaigns.

We need lots more like her.

If you get a chance read the entire article by Dave Lindorff, it's a great read, it goes quite well with the video on the upper right hand side of this site.

Big thanks to The Man Common blog for the Lindorff article

Midnight strike looms for Con Edison workers, keep up to date with the newsfeed

Updated again->:Con Edison, Union Continue Early A.M. Negotiations

"As someone who has dealt with incompetence and lies of the top management at Con Ed, I can only imagine what these hard working people who do the real work on the streets are going through," "A strike could lead to a potentially dangerous situation. It took nine days to restore power even with these trained professionals working around the clock. We might still be in the dark if they weren't there."- Queens Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr.

Following up on Sunday's story:"Con-Ed to workers: Take your 0.5%, give us a 2-tier and shut up"

From NY1 (7/1/08):

	Midnight Strike Deadline Looms For Con Ed
July 01, 2008

Consolidated Edison and the union representing 9,000 of its workers headed back to the bargaining table today with a midnight strike deadline looming ahead.

The utility and Local 1-2 have been in a "cooling off" period for the last 72-hours, after round-the-clock negotiations this weekend yielded little progress.

Workers say they are prepared to walk off the job at midnight if a new agreement cannot be reached. A spokesperson says wages, health care costs, and pensions remain the sticking points.

Con Ed said supervisors are ready to step in to keep the system running without any disruptions in service. The utility says half of its management rose through the ranks and is familiar with the system.

Yet, Queens Councilman Peter Vallone, Jr. said he is worried that a strike could have a large impact.

"As someone who has dealt with incompetence and lies of the top management at Con Ed, I can only imagine what these hard working people who do the real work on the streets are going through," Vallone said in a statement. "A strike could lead to a potentially dangerous situation. It took nine days to restore power even with these trained professionals working around the clock. We might still be in the dark if they weren't there."

A strike would involve electric, gas and steam workers in every borough but Staten Island.

Just for shits and giggles, lets take a looksie

How bout Con Ed's CEO? In 2007 the CEO of Consolidated Edison,Kevin Burke, 57, made a total of $5.5 Million, 24% more than he made in 2006, that would only stand to increase if he brings wages down on this contract, take a look at American Axle CEO’s reward for slashing wages—$8.5 million bonus

Keep up to date with the NewsFeed below

Con-Ed to workers: Take your 0.5%, give us a 2-tier and shut up

UPDATED (7/1/08)->: Midnight strike looms for Con Edison workers, keep up to date with the newsfeed

On June 13th. 9000 members of The Utility Workers local 1-2 (UWUA1-2), when faced with the idea of no raise in their upcoming contract(note: the last expired this morning), voted overwhelmingly to strike if their memberships needs were not addressed by the "Privately owned" Consolidated Edison.

In talks with a high ranking official of Local 1-2, the latest offer by Con Ed included a two-tier system where new workers would see a serious lack of benefits, almost no raise and as expected in todays day and age, raises in co-payments of health care. While the Governor has negotiated a 72 hour "cooling off period" whereby negotiations will continue Tuesday at 9AM, and the workers will remain on the job at least until 11:59 p.m. Tuesday night, there is the great possibility of a strike as of Wednesday.

According to Stephen Greenhouse and Ken Belson's article in Fridays NY Times, "Union Says It and Con Edison Are Far Apart on Contract", (6/27/08):

The union is opposed to company proposals to phase out a defined-benefit pension plan and to deduct workers’ compensation awards from employee pensions.

“If they continue to press the issue, we will walk,” promised Joe Flaherty, a spokesman for the union, which represents Con Edison workers everywhere but on Staten Island. “It seems to us that they want to force us out.”

Mr. Flaherty said his union was asking for wage increases because of rising prices for fuel, food and other basics. He noted that many cable splicers, meter readers, engineers and others must drive to work because they often travel among several locations.

Mr. Flaherty said that unlike previous negotiations, when only a handful of details remained unresolved so close to the contract’s expiration, this time the two sides had yet to agree on a host of significant issues.

“I’ve never seen it at this stage, when there’s absolutely nothing resolved,” he said. “I would say their position is stonewalling.”

A spokesman for Con Edison, Michael S. Clendenin, declined to respond to the union’s claims, saying: “We don’t negotiate in the press.”

That sounds a lot like the 2-tier system that I warned you about, and has made the auto-industry in the United States a working poor job.

If I worked for Con Ed, i would gladly go on strike, but I await the Main Stream Media's response that will ignore the facts and make it a "Unions fuck the people of New York" front page story like the NY Post editorial which attacked the striking Broadway Stagehands back in November 2007. (see "NY Post spin-doctoring and the IATSE Stagehands" (11/20/07) and "Remember if there is a strike, BLAME AMTRAK, not the union workers!" (1/17/08) )

Be prepared reader, Crain's and some other publications are already trying to make it a construction worker Vs. utility worker fight, meanwhile my source has assured me that they have gotten countless calls of support from other union officials, including many in the Building and Construction trades. They see the writing on the wall, and know that the greater fight is for a better future for New York's workers against this private utility monster.

Privatization Vs. American Workers, what GHI and HIP workers should expect
"One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately." -Counterhegemonic at Independent Media Center

Talk about avoidance of a real news story, I have been following the misdeeds of HIP for quite some time, since I learned how the company fleeced our tax money to build downtown after 9/11 and promised to keep good paying jobs in the city and then moved those jobs out of the area, in fact 1 1/2 hours away by train to Long Island, in the article "HIP replaces 186 Downtown, NY jobs, breaking a massive promise", and how the privatization of both HIP and GHI will devastate New Yorker's who rely on their medical coverage in the article by "Building Bridges"

Heres a great article I found at NYC Independent Media Center entitled "Con Edison Workers and the Real Face of Privatization" (6/28/08):

Administrative workers at the currently non-profit health insurance companies GHI & HIP face the very real prospect of having their employer become a for-profit company. The exact meaning of this may seem murky. Nearly every study of privatization, particularly privatization in the healthcare industry, has demonstrated that spending on administration increases. Bad news for subscribers who need healthcare but seemingly great news for workers in search of fat paychecks, right?

Well, the more than 9,000 workers currently employed by Con Edison would beg to differ. Contract talks between their now privately held employer and the Utility Workers Union of America Local 1-2 have reached an impasse. The utility's stingy management has offered a 0.5% per -year wage increase and the union has threatened to walk off the job. As usual, the employer has appealed for mediation and "productive discussion" despite the fact that their wage offer is nearly 3% below the annual rate of inflation.

Con Ed supplies and maintains most of New York City's electric, gas and steam service. Since the company was de-regulated in 1998 there have been a series of high profile disasters. In 2005, stray voltage killed a woman who was walking her dog after she stepped on an electrified plate. 2007's disaster was even larger as an 83 year-old steam pipe burst in Midtown resulting in the death of one person and 40 injuries. Finally, the company is largely blamed for a massive blackout in Queens in 2006 for which they offered "inconvenienced" customers a $100 rebate check and a "brief apology."

Con Ed is the largest for-profit utility company in the country. Most urban utilities are either run by state-owned companies or tightly regulated non-profits. Con Ed has also spun out an energy subsidiary called Con Ed Energy which nationally markets electricity produced in NYC plants. This practice is held to be a root cause of a persistent wave of blackouts nation-wide.

So, in NYC a massive for-profit company is charged with servicing an infrastructure which is essentially crumbling under the weight of its own age. There has been no substantial effort post-1970s fiscal crisis to upgrade the urban infrastructure. This is perfectly fine with Con Ed executives as it ensures a steady line of funding for patchwork projects.

Now, however, even this is not enough. Now the company intends to squeeze every last penny out of both NYC citizens and its own workers paychecks. One can only hope that the Utility Workers Union is serious about its strike threat. Pulling the workforce off the job for a protracted amount of time may help New Yorkers see that vital city functions such as the operation of utilities cannot be run privately. The only motivation is profit - whether it come from soaring customer bills, work contracts from our city budget or from the wallets of workers.

Mark this as a little lesson for GHI & HIP workers and other folks facing possible privatization. The promised returns to you are just thinly veiled mirages. Lurking behind the seduction is a grim future where management is preparing to grind every last penny out of your pocket. The less protection you have the easier this will be.

By Counterhegemonic http://counterhegemonic.blogspot.com/

This is the third and last in my tirade against the Main Stream, you can view some of my favorites below:

• Now Big Media can hurt workers better - Freepress (12/19/07)
• I'm As Mad As Hell #1 - "The Part That Big Media Left Out !!! - Union Review (10/27/07)
• Video: Bill Moyers addresses conference for media reform: labor, health care, middle-class, tying it all together - (6/7/08)
• Iraq Veterans Against War, one Long Island mans account, and the bigger issue of propaganda and censorship in the war - (5/7/08)
• Stop union buster Rupert Murdoch from owning more NY media! - (4/24/08)
• Carpenters video release: Globalization, who's next? A must see for all US construction workers (4/7/08)
• KS: State passes bill that will encourage more illegal immigration and punishes unions who try to help the workers (4/2/08)
  
• Slavery: Alive and well in USA Pt.2, Indian pipefitters abused in H2B Visa scam, main stream media picks up story full year after facts are released (3/13/08)
• Anti-Union blogging, adding more misinformation for the masses (1/26/08)
• Center For Union Facts ? Anti-Union Lobby At It's Worst - Union Review (9/17/07)
• Offshoring and H1B Visa abuse, the 1-2 punch to knockout US tech workers (2/26/08)
• The state of the media in the USA today - via Broadcast Union News reposting an article from IBEW Local 1212 website (2/25/08)

The Employee Free Choice Act

Oh, just so I don't forget, those powers that control the media also don't want you to sign the petition that will be delivered to the next president of the United States with 1,000,000 American signatures on it, since I got your attention, give a minute of you time and sign the petition for the Employee free Choice Act. It's getting blatantly obvious that the corporations and the law firms that profit on our misery are terrified of the labor movement and will do everything in their power to curb this legislation. I recently wrote about how with guns and threats towards their employees, and the corporate controlled NLRB, who's last chairman, Robert Battista has joined up with America's largest union-avoidance law firm, how the current system does not work.

Click the image on the left to sign your name to the petition, do it for the 58 million American's who desperately want to be union, but are terrified of the bosses reprisals in the wait between signing the cards and the election.

Video: Bill Moyers addresses conference for media reform: labor, health care, middle-class, tying it all together

"...and I see a link between that process and the stock market frenzy which scorns long-term investments, genuine savings, in favor of quick turnovers and speculative bubbles, whose inevitable bursting leaves insiders with stuffed pockets and millions of small shareholders, stock holders, employees and home owners, out of luck, out of work, and out of hope." -Bill Moyers

From YouTube:

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers address the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers, press coverage, and info, visit: http://www.freepress.net/conference

Watch Video

At around 30+ minutes in, he clearly ties everything together.

Heres the part I felt like typing:

What do we need to know? We need to know that we are in trouble.

Napoleon told his secretary in the thick of battle that if the news on the front is good, don't wake me, if it's bad wake me immediately.

My friends, you don't need to be a reporter with your eyes open to see the news from the front is bad, but I as a reporter see it all the time.

I report the assault on nature, evidence in coal mining that tears the tops off mountains and dumps them into rivers. Sacrificing the health and lives of those in the valleys, for short term profit.

..and I see a link between that process and the stock market frenzy which scorns long-term investments, genuine savings, in favor of quick turnovers and speculative bubbles, whose inevitable bursting leaves insiders with stuffed pockets and millions of small shareholders, stock holders, employees and home owners, out of luck, out of work, and out of hope.

...and then I see a connection between those disasters and the repeal of regulations designed to prevent that type of human and economic damage.

Who pushed for the removal of that fire wall? The political marionettes in Washington, who danced to the speculators tune and were rewarded with campaign contributions and lucrative lobbying jobs when they have delivered the goods. Even honorable opponents of the practice get trapped in the web of a system that can effectively limit politics to those who can afford to spend millions of dollars in their race for office, and know that their careers depend on pleasing their donors, while deserting their voters.

Then I draw a line to the statistics that show real wages lagging behind prices, the compensation of corporate barons soaring to heights unequaled anywhere among other industrialized democracies. The greatest income inequality since the roaring 20's. The relentless cheese pairing of Federal funds devoted to Public Schools to retraining workers whose jobs have exported and to programs of health care, all of which natch away the ladder, which American's of scant means, but willing hands and hearts, could work and save their way up to some middle-class security.

...and I connect those numbers to campaigns to campaigns by our triumphant reactionaries against labor unions and higher minimum wage and to their success in reframing the tax codes so as to strip them of their progressive character, laying the burdens of the social contract on the shrinking middle-class, awash in credit card debt as workers struggle with the rising cost of health care, affordable housing, and college tuitions for their children.

While huge inheritances go untouched, tax shelters abroad are legalized and the rich get richer, and with each increase in their wealth, are able to buy themselves more influence over those who make and execute the laws.

Edward R Murrow told his generation of journalists, no one can eliminate their prejudices, just recognize them.

Here is my bias, extremes of wealth and poverty cannot be reconciled with a truly just society, capitalism breeds great inequality that is destructive, unless tempered by an intuition for equality, which is the heart of democracy.

When the state becomes the guardian of power and privilege to the neglect of justice to the people have neither power nor privilege, you can no longer claim to have a representative government.

Video: Bill Moyers addresses conference for media reform: labor, health care, middle-class, tying it all together

"...and I see a link between that process and the stock market frenzy which scorns long-term investments, genuine savings, in favor of quick turnovers and speculative bubbles, whose inevitable bursting leaves insiders with stuffed pockets and millions of small shareholders, stock holders, employees and home owners, out of luck, out of work, and out of hope." -Bill Moyers

From YouTube:

Legendary journalist Bill Moyers address the National Conference for Media Reform in Minneapolis, June 7, 2008. Presented by FreePress.net. For more speakers, press coverage, and info, visit: http://www.freepress.net/conference

Watch Video

At around 30+ minutes in, he clearly ties everything together.

Heres the part I felt like typing:

What do we need to know? We need to know that we are in trouble.

Napoleon told his secretary in the thick of battle that if the news on the front is good, don't wake me, if it's bad wake me immediately.

My friends, you don't need to be a reporter with your eyes open to see the news from the front is bad, but I as a reporter see it all the time.

I report the assault on nature, evidence in coal mining that tears the tops off mountains and dumps them into rivers. Sacrificing the health and lives of those in the valleys, for short term profit.

..and I see a link between that process and the stock market frenzy which scorns long-term investments, genuine savings, in favor of quick turnovers and speculative bubbles, whose inevitable bursting leaves insiders with stuffed pockets and millions of small shareholders, stock holders, employees and home owners, out of luck, out of work, and out of hope.

...and then I see a connection between those disasters and the repeal of regulations designed to prevent that type of human and economic damage.

Who pushed for the removal of that fire wall? The political marionettes in Washington, who danced to the speculators tune and were rewarded with campaign contributions and lucrative lobbying jobs when they have delivered the goods. Even honorable opponents of the practice get trapped in the web of a system that can effectively limit politics to those who can afford to spend millions of dollars in their race for office, and know that their careers depend on pleasing their donors, while deserting their voters.

Then I draw a line to the statistics that show real wages lagging behind prices, the compensation of corporate barons soaring to heights unequaled anywhere among other industrialized democracies. The greatest income inequality since the roaring 20's. The relentless cheese pairing of Federal funds devoted to Public Schools to retraining workers whose jobs have exported and to programs of health care, all of which natch away the ladder, which American's of scant means, but willing hands and hearts, could work and save their way up to some middle-class security.

...and I connect those numbers to campaigns to campaigns by our triumphant reactionaries against labor unions and higher minimum wage and to their success in reframing the tax codes so as to strip them of their progressive character, laying the burdens of the social contract on the shrinking middle-class, awash in credit card debt as workers struggle with the rising cost of health care, affordable housing, and college tuitions for their children.

While huge inheritances go untouched, tax shelters abroad are legalized and the rich get richer, and with each increase in their wealth, are able to buy themselves more influence over those who make and execute the laws.

Edward R Murrow told his generation of journalists, no one can eliminate their prejudices, just recognize them.

Here is my bias, extremes of wealth and poverty cannot be reconciled with a truly just society, capitalism breeds great inequality that is destructive, unless tempered by an intuition for equality, which is the heart of democracy.

When the state becomes the guardian of power and privilege to the neglect of justice to the people have neither power nor privilege, you can no longer claim to have a representative government.

Consumer's Union and Free Press need donations, send em' some help

From the E-Mailbox

Consumers Union

Will you help us raise $15,000 by May 30th to make toys and products safer? Donate Today! Dear Joseph, The clock is ticking! Congress must quickly finish its work before lawmakers turn their attention to the elections--and that means they must finalize a strong product safety reform bill. But President Bush just announced his opposition to many of the best provisions. With only a short time left to craft a final bill, he wants to make sure it does as little as possible. That's why we are asking you to pitch in now with a contribution to the Action Fund. The recalls continue unabated--nearly 10 million products all told in the first four months of this year, and 1.3 million toys due to lead. Bush opposes a requirement that all manufacturers test children's products before they reach our shelves. He also opposes a public web site that would give you more timely information about unsafe products. Consumers Union and the CU Action Fund are pulling out all the stops. In the past few days: Consumers Union released a new report on the nearly 10 million dangerous products recalled since the holidays; you sent thousands of messages to members of the key committee that must finalize this bill; and some of you attended a rally at the Capitol in Washington. You may not live in D.C., where we held the rally, or in the district of a conference committee member, but you can still help us get a strong bill passed with a donation right now! Click here to help us reach our $15,000 goal by Friday, May 30th with a secure online gift. Your contribution to the CU Action Fund will help us use every tool we have to battle industry opponents and the President and help lawmakers give you the strongest product safety bill. Will you please help ensure that we have the resources we need to do this crucial work? With your support, we can continue to ramp up activity on Not In My Cart and other critical campaigns, and give you the power to choose safe products all year long. Thank you so much for your generous contribution. Sincerely, Kathy Mitchell Consumers Union Action Fund 506 W. 14th Street Austin, Texas 78701 P.S. Your donation to the Consumers Union Action Fund is not tax-deductible because it will enable us to do the lobbying work needed to win.

FreePress

Dear Joseph, Expose the Pentagon Pundits -- Help Place This Ad Now! The media still refuse to cover the outrageous Pentagon propaganda scandal. We need your help to place this ad in Washington news outlets by Friday so we can force all 535 members of Congress, their staff and other D.C. influentials to hear this message: We won't let the Pentagon -- and its Big Media enablers -- get away with manipulating and deceiving the public. Help Stop Propaganda: Place the Ad Congress and the media must know we're not backing down. The shocking -- and very likely illegal -- campaign that turned "independent" military analysts into on-air Pentagon propagandists and Iraq war apologists must be investigated. And Big Media's shameful failure to cover the story -- and hold itself accountable for its own complicity -- must end. Your contribution today will help the Free Press Action Fund achieve both goals. We need to raise $10,000 in the next 24 hours to run this ad and publicly turn up the heat on Congress to act. Put This Ad on Congress' Doorstep You and other Free Press supporters have already helped mobilize hundreds of thousands of Americans to express their outrage over this propaganda scandal and media cover-up. Your contribution today will help us put even more pressure where it counts most: on Congress and Big Media. Expose the Pentagon, Call Out Big Media, and End Fake News Support Free Press Action Fund's "Propaganda Pundit" ad-buy right now. Gratefully, Timothy Karr Campaign Director Free Press Action Fund www.freepress.net P.S. Thanks to you, Free Press is leading the charge to hold the Pentagon and Big Media accountable for the "Propaganda Pundit" scandal. Our next step is to run a powerful ad to put Congress and the media on notice. Contribute now and send the message: We're not backing down

Consumer's Union and Free Press need donations, send em' some help

From the E-Mailbox

Consumers Union

Will you help us raise $15,000 by May 30th to make toys and products safer? Donate Today! Dear Joseph, The clock is ticking! Congress must quickly finish its work before lawmakers turn their attention to the elections--and that means they must finalize a strong product safety reform bill. But President Bush just announced his opposition to many of the best provisions. With only a short time left to craft a final bill, he wants to make sure it does as little as possible. That's why we are asking you to pitch in now with a contribution to the Action Fund. The recalls continue unabated--nearly 10 million products all told in the first four months of this year, and 1.3 million toys due to lead. Bush opposes a requirement that all manufacturers test children's products before they reach our shelves. He also opposes a public web site that would give you more timely information about unsafe products. Consumers Union and the CU Action Fund are pulling out all the stops. In the past few days: Consumers Union released a new report on the nearly 10 million dangerous products recalled since the holidays; you sent thousands of messages to members of the key committee that must finalize this bill; and some of you attended a rally at the Capitol in Washington. You may not live in D.C., where we held the rally, or in the district of a conference committee member, but you can still help us get a strong bill passed with a donation right now! Click here to help us reach our $15,000 goal by Friday, May 30th with a secure online gift. Your contribution to the CU Action Fund will help us use every tool we have to battle industry opponents and the President and help lawmakers give you the strongest product safety bill. Will you please help ensure that we have the resources we need to do this crucial work? With your support, we can continue to ramp up activity on Not In My Cart and other critical campaigns, and give you the power to choose safe products all year long. Thank you so much for your generous contribution. Sincerely, Kathy Mitchell Consumers Union Action Fund 506 W. 14th Street Austin, Texas 78701 P.S. Your donation to the Consumers Union Action Fund is not tax-deductible because it will enable us to do the lobbying work needed to win.

FreePress

Dear Joseph, Expose the Pentagon Pundits -- Help Place This Ad Now! The media still refuse to cover the outrageous Pentagon propaganda scandal. We need your help to place this ad in Washington news outlets by Friday so we can force all 535 members of Congress, their staff and other D.C. influentials to hear this message: We won't let the Pentagon -- and its Big Media enablers -- get away with manipulating and deceiving the public. Help Stop Propaganda: Place the Ad Congress and the media must know we're not backing down. The shocking -- and very likely illegal -- campaign that turned "independent" military analysts into on-air Pentagon propagandists and Iraq war apologists must be investigated. And Big Media's shameful failure to cover the story -- and hold itself accountable for its own complicity -- must end. Your contribution today will help the Free Press Action Fund achieve both goals. We need to raise $10,000 in the next 24 hours to run this ad and publicly turn up the heat on Congress to act. Put This Ad on Congress' Doorstep You and other Free Press supporters have already helped mobilize hundreds of thousands of Americans to express their outrage over this propaganda scandal and media cover-up. Your contribution today will help us put even more pressure where it counts most: on Congress and Big Media. Expose the Pentagon, Call Out Big Media, and End Fake News Support Free Press Action Fund's "Propaganda Pundit" ad-buy right now. Gratefully, Timothy Karr Campaign Director Free Press Action Fund www.freepress.net P.S. Thanks to you, Free Press is leading the charge to hold the Pentagon and Big Media accountable for the "Propaganda Pundit" scandal. Our next step is to run a powerful ad to put Congress and the media on notice. Contribute now and send the message: We're not backing down

Iraq Veterans Against War, one Long Island mans account, and the bigger issue of propaganda and censorship in the war

A censored war, censored veterans, media black out of Pentagon propaganda "experts" on their payroll and the upcoming war with Iran. What is the facts? will we ever know?

We start our story with Joe Everybody, Kristofer Goldsmith,who starts his on Sept. 11 2001, with rage in his heart, he signed up to protect America

Goldsmith saw the World Trade Center towers collapse on September 11, 2001. He enlisted in the Army and went to Iraq in 2005. In Sadr City, he witnessed abuse of Iraqi civilians. He was assigned to take pictures of Iraqis found in a shallow grave, ostensibly for intelligence purposes, but they were only used as trophies by those who received them. After repeated commendations, he was expecting to return to civilian life and college when President Bush announced the “surge,” and the military adopted its stop-loss policy, essentially making Goldsmith a prisoner of war. He tried to kill himself rather than return to Iraq, but survived. He was diagnosed with depression, anxiety, and PTSD, but then was discharged for misconduct as a malingerer. He now delivers pizzas and struggles to overcome his persisting symptoms with treatment through the VA.

This video was played at the "Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan conference (3/13/08-3/16/08)", where dozens of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars gathered in Silver Spring, Maryland and offered harrowing testimony about atrocities they had witnessed or participated in directly.

The BBC predicted that the event, organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, "could be dominating the headlines around the world this week(*March---Joe)", and while it was truly broadcast internationally, here in the States it was almost completely blacked out.

Even with the bullshit media blitzing of supporting our troops, when it came down to actually listening to the over 1000 member group of veterans and getting their message out, The New York Times claimed that they had "not been aware of the group or its meeting,"

According to FAIR - Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (4/8/08) :

The Times’ D.C. bureau editor’s claim to have not heard of the hearings is remarkable, given that the AP newswire carried a story on the hearings, and IVAW has confirmed to FAIR that the D.C. bureau had been sent three separate rounds of different IVAW press releases. In addition, at least 150 Times staffers were sent press releases about Winter Soldier by the Institute for Public Accuracy, a group that encourages inclusion of overlooked facts and progressive perspectives in media coverage. Given that media organizations operating on a small fraction of the Times' budget were aware of and able to find the resources to cover these hearings, the Times’ D.C. bureau’s plea to ignorance about the hearings is all the more disappointing.

Blackouts are only the beginning, and the New York Times actually came forward to explain that the Pentagon had strategically placed "war experts into the media" to say all is going well in Iraq. They seem to have been placed there in an effort to sell the American public the Iraq war. From Source Watch:

"Internal Pentagon documents repeatedly refer to the military analysts as 'message force multipliers' or 'surrogates' who could be counted on to deliver administration 'themes and messages' to millions of Americans 'in the form of their own opinions.' ... Don Meyer, an aide to Ms. Clarke, said a strategic decision was made in 2002 to make the analysts the main focus of the public relations push to construct a case for war." Clarke and her senior aide, Brent T. Krueger, eventually signed up more than 75 retired military officers, who appeared on television and radio news shows as military analysts, and/or penned newspaper op/ed columns. The Pentagon held weekly meetings with the military analysts, which continued as of April 2008, when David Barstow reported on the program in the New York Times.

So, if you don't read the Times, you know nothing of what I'm speaking about, do you? It has also been blacked out by the national media outlets, an illegal media propaganda campaign completely blacked out. Isn't this the type of thing we fought Hitler for?

From PR Watch.org (5/6/08) :

Here is the official Pentagon website with the 8,000 pages of documents, the most interesting and revealing of them previously secret and only available to the Pentagon and the New York Times:

http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/milanalysts/

More than two weeks after the New York Times reported on the Penatgon's military analyst program to sell controversial policies such as the invasion of Iraq, the broadcast television news outlets implicated in the program are hoping to tough out the scandal by refusing to report it. Recently Media Matters of America (MMA) reported that, according to a search of the Nexis database, "the three major broadcast networks -- ABC, CBS, and NBC -- have still not mentioned the report at all."

The Pew Excellence in Journalism project has a chart showing that " there was virtually no mainstream media follow up to The Times’ expose" with the only national TV coverage being the introduction segment and live debate featuring CMD's John Stauber on the PBS NewsHour.

Congresswoman Rosa L. DeLauro and three dozen colleagues have sent a letter to the Department of Defense Inspector General calling for an investigation of this "propaganda campaign aimed at deliberately misleading the American public."

Last month. one of the propaganda team came forward and saw a vision, in April one of the Pentagon’s propaganda team of military analysts exposed by David Barstow in the NYT, a Ret. Gen. Thomas McInerney, speaking on FOX News, openly called for the US to begin committing “tit-for-tat” terrorist attacks by proxy inside Iran.

Craziness you may say, apparently Iran seems to believe it to be a fact, according to the Tahran Times, Iran's leading international daily, in an article entitled "Iran busts CIA terror network" (5/18/08) :

n a coordinated operation on May 7, Iranian intelligence agents arrested the terrorist network’s members, who were identified in Fars, Khuzestan, Gilan, West Azerbaijan, and Tehran provinces, the Intelligence Ministry announcement said.

The group’s plans were devised in the U.S., according to the announcement, which added that they had planned to carry out a number of acts such as bombing scientific, educational, and religious centers, shooting people, and making public places in various cities insecure.

One of the terrorists was killed in the operation, but the rest are in detention, the Intelligence Ministry said, adding that the group’s main objective was to create fear among the people.

The United States Central Intelligence Agency comprehensively supported the terrorist group by arming it, training its members, and sponsoring its inhumane activities in Iran, the Intelligence Ministry stated.

The terrorists had maps, films, pictures, and sketches of important and sensitive sites in various cities in their possession when they were arrested.

The Los Angeles Times says there is no proof to Iraq's claims in its article "IRAN: Tehran accuses West of waging war on its turf" (5/16/08), while Bush and Israel have agreed that there needs to be "tangible action in Iran." (Yahoo News 5/16)

What's really going on in Iraq, Iran and in the United Stated media? I don't know if this generation will ever know.



Censorship is the bane of our society, to get some Journalistic integrity and/or some type of opposing view, check the links below and familiarize yourself with the sites.

• U.S. Sergeant Refuses to Go to Iraq: "This Occupation is Unconstitutional and Illegal" - AlterNet (5/16/08)
• Why Are Winter Soldiers Not News? - FAIR (3/19/08)
• Pentagon Propagandist General Calls for US to Sponsor Terrorism Against Iran - Crooks and Liars (5/15/08)
• The Common Man News
• Dahr Jamail's MidEast Dispatch
• Iraq Vets Will Detail U.S. Atrocities in Winter Soldier Hearings - AlterNet (3/11/08)
• Iraq Veterans Against War
• UTNE Reader
• Mother Jones

And if you really want to support our troops, check out

• IAVA - The Iraq an Afghanistan Veterans of America
• The Wounded Warriors Project
  

While we are on the political take, may I place this great cartoon for all of my readers to enjoy