Day: May 14, 2008

American Axel UpDate #5

Take that as a good sign. The strike by 3,600 American Axle workers will end soon, even if a tough ratification fight lies ahead.

Gettelfinger is being frank with his members so the tough terms of the deal ultimately seem more palatable.

The strike, which enters its 12th week today, will end soon because it must. The stakes are simply too high to allow it to fester longer. Too high for American Axle. Too high for its chief customer, General Motors Corp., which has ponied up $200 million to help close a deal. Too high for the workers. Too high for the union.

Say what?  It must end?  That is not something that is unacceptable……it should only end when the workers have a deal that they all can sign off on.

A New Strike For GM?

The UAW local that represents workers at a General Motors Corp. stamping plant near Mansfield, Ohio, have threatened to go on strike at 10 a.m. Thursday, GM spokesman Dan Flores said Tuesday.

The workers at UAW Local 549 in Ontario, Ohio, have been working under threat of a strike for several weeks, while a local contract is negotiated.

The four other UAW locals that issued strike threat notices at the same time as Mansfield have now either reached tentative contract agreements or gone on strike.

The strikes are often said to be related to the UAW’s strike against American Axle & Manufacturing, which is now in its 12th week. On Tuesday, the company said an agreement is close, but held up by a few outstanding issues.

GM is having a bad year with the unions…about damn time!  Without the workers GM has zip!  The more that the automaker is attacked, the more and the sooner they could come to an agreement.

Bush Veto Is Agreeable

President Bush promises to veto the five-year, $300 billion farm bill before Congress this week. The House and Senate have given him plenty of reasons to do so. The bill is so wrongheaded it’s the equivalent of beating swords into plowshares at the outbreak of a war that closely follows a bumper crop.

The bill enjoys broad support in both the House and Senate, where even free-market conservatives hypocritically vote to spare growers of food and fiber from the uncertainties of supply and demand. The bill would pay generous subsidies to farmers no matter how much or little they harvested.

U.S. crop subsidies hurt developing countries two ways at once. They discourage domestic food production and contribute to the high cost of imports. Result: more poverty, hunger and all the attendant social ills, not to mention riots and unrest. It reflects poorly on a Congress that could inflict such harm so blithely, with so little lost sleep.

Not only would the bill do nothing to ease global hunger, it does much to aggravate the crisis. The bill reported out by the conference committee rejects a needed increase in the McGovern-Dole International Food for Education and Child Nutrition Program; instead, it would cut money from the program. Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. (no relation to former Sen. George McGovern), predicted that some poor countries would have to cease offering food to children as an incentive to go to school.

The final version of the bill retains the prohibition against buying food abroad, where it would be nearer to famine-stricken populations. This increases the cost and carbon footprint of food transportation and delays receipt of emergency supplies.

I would agree on the veto from Bush. This bill has enough earmarks to choke a horse. I do see where this bill will do that much to eliminate the hunger of the US and the world.  I know moist who know me are taking aback…that I would say anything good about the Prez….but on this bill, for now, I will agree on his action.

More On The FLDS Controversy

I have a problem with this whole situation.  Polygamy is a crime…..but where does the state get off taking children from their mothers, no matter what age they are?

Louisa Jessop’s children were among the more than 400 who were taken from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound raided early last month by Texas law enforcement and CPS officials. She says she’s 22 and has presented authorities with a driver’s license and birth certificate to prove it. But CPS spokesman Chris Van Deusen told NBC that the department has classified her as a “disputed minor,” the term used for FLDS women whose age has not been established to the department’s satisfaction. Until her age is established, they are treating her as if she is a minor.

“They said I looked like I was under 18,” she said.

And so Louisa Jessop is stuck. She’s been told she can leave, but she has to leave her newborn son and her other two children in foster care. Or she can stay with her newborn son, but can no longer be with her other children.

These children committed no crime and the mother’s have done nothing that would lead to them losing their children.

Oil Reserve Delivers To Stop

Jittery about a political backlash over gasoline costs as prices set yet another record Tuesday, Congress voted to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in defiance of President Bush.

The action was expected to have a modest effect on pump prices, saving motorists an estimated 2 to 5 cents a gallon, backers said. But its overwhelming support, including from Bush’s usual GOP allies, underscored the potentcy of fuel costs as a campaign issue this year.

The measure is likely to be one of the few Congress approves this year in response to public angst at the pump as Democrats and Republicans agreed on little else Tuesday to bring down prices.

“Stopping the fill of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve has been tried before, and there is no evidence that it will affect the price of oil or gasoline in a meaningful way,” White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said Tuesday. But he said Bush would not veto it.

Senators approved the measure by a veto-proof majority of 97 to 1. The two Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Barack Obama of Illinois and Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, returned to the Capitol from the campaign trail to vote for the measure. Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive GOP nominee, supported the measure but was absent for the vote.

Watch the price of oil to see if this will have an effect.  Unbelievable, the Senate can work together on issues!

Clinton Wins West Virginia

And this was a surprise to whom? My God, this was predicted after Indiana…..

Hillary Clinton celebrated a blowout victory over Barack Obama in the Democratic primary in West Virginia last night, as enthusiastic supporters sought to help deflect mounting pressures for her to exit the race.

“I am more determined than ever to carry on this campaign until everyone has had a chance to make their voices heard,” Clinton said after early results showed her carrying the state by a 2-to-1 margin. She gave no hint that she was ready to withdraw from a contest that growing numbers of longtime allies say now appears out of reach.

My question is what is Clinton trying to secure for herself by this continuation of the campaign. Is it for the better of the people? Or is it for the legacy of the Clintons?

Personally, I have always called the Clintons a self-serving bunch of ……….they would say and do anything to keep their persona out there in front of the voter. This long campaign is just a continuation of the Clintons plan….they do not want to lose the leadership of the Party…but I think that day is fast approaching…..and the nDem Party will once again be a party of the people not the special inbterest party it has become in the past years.

Will Water Rationing Become A National Program?

Drought has crippled some spots in the US. Georgia, Central Alabama, California are among some of the troubled spots, but not all. Northern Calif. has implemented a water rationing policy. Could this soon be the way of the future in most of the states?

Water rationing went into effect Tuesday for East Bay residents after water managers unanimously passed a drought management program aimed at preserving the system’s deteriorating water supply.

Residents of single-family homes throughout much of Alameda and Contra Costa counties are required to immediately reduce water use by 19 percent; golf courses face 30 percent cuts; refineries and manufacturers must trim 5 percent.

Tuesday’s action by the East Bay Municipal Utility District set out reduction goals, prohibited water uses and declared a water-shortage emergency across the district’s system, which serves 1.3 million residents between Oakland and Danville and Crockett and Castro Valley.

But questions swirl about the plan’s enforcement, how the targets are calculated and how it will affect water rates – both for those who already conserve, and for those who use large amounts of water.