Day: July 25, 2008

Obama In Europe

On Thursday evening in a glittering Berlin, Mr. Obama delivered a tone poem to American and European ideals and shared history.

But he was vague on crucial issues of trade, defense and foreign policy that currently divide Washington from Europe and are likely to continue to do so even if he becomes president — issues ranging from Russia, Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan to new refueling tankers and chlorinated chickens, the focus of an 11-year European ban on American poultry imports.

Europeans admire Mr. Obama’s political skills, and welcome his apparent readiness to respect opposing points of view. For many here, that raises the prospect of a sharp break with the policies of the Bush administration, especially in its first term, when the United States chose to ignore the Geneva Conventions at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, rejected the Kyoto accord on global warming and invaded Iraq, starting a war that some of America’s European allies opposed.

This from the NT Times and all I can say is huh?  Vague policies?  he is a politician–that is what they do.  But on the other hand, vagueness travels both ways–McCain is more vague than Obama–but both are masters at obfuscation.

McCain On Taxes

Asked to defend his admittedly paltry gas plan in April, he touted the “psychological boost” of shaving a few cents off the gallon. Asked last month to explain the purpose of an offshore drilling plan that does not even purport to alter the current energy supply, McCain argued that while it “may take some years” to kick in, drilling promises a beneficial “psychological impact.” And back in January, McCain downplayed talk of a recession by putting America on the couch. “A lot of this is psychological,” he told voters at a town hall event, “because I believe the fundamentals of our economy are still strong.”

So when former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas), McCain’s then-chief economic adviser, chastised Americans for whining about a “mental recession,” he was actually channeling McCain’s psychological view of our economic problems. The media lapped up the gaffe but missed the point.

Gramm was not “off message.” McCain’s economic platform rests on the premise that the nation’s economic challenges are minor and primarily psychological. How else can you explain his policies? McCain has not even proposed a short-term stimulus. His tax cuts ignore middle-class workers — about 100 million households, including 37 million seniors, would get no relief. Only 1 million seniors see rebates under his proposal, which brazenly prioritizes wealthy households over elderly Americans living on fixed incomes.

Then there’s that McCain penchant for scheduling economic help a few years down the road. (Although perhaps the psychological boost is instantaneous.) The only plank of McCain’s tax agenda that is not tailored for the superrich — boosting the exemption for dependents — would not even start until 2010. And it would not take full effect until 2016, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, which recently issued a 39-page report on both candidates’ tax plans.

And McCain’s tax plan is so regressive that some liken it to a third term for President Bush. But that’s just not fair to Bush.

Bush’s signature tax cuts were skewed toward the richest Americans; roughly 31 percent of the money went to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. Yet under McCain’s two proposed tax cuts, a staggering 58 percent of the benefits go to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. That finding is from a report by James Kvaal and Robert Gordon, policy experts at the Center for American Progress, about the “Bush-McCain-Norquist Tax Agenda.” Tax activist Grover Norquist, a Republican insider, has crowed that McCain adopted his organization’s “entire agenda” of slashing the corporate tax rate, vetoing all tax hikes, extending the Bush tax cuts and abolishing the alternative minimum tax.

this piece was written by Politicos Ari Melber

Longshoremen Strike Again

Continuing disruptive labor actions by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach are entering their third week and are now rolling to the Port of Oakland, the Pacific Maritime Association said.

Some terminals are reporting extreme productivity falloffs in the servicing of vessels over the last two weeks at the Southern California ports, the busiest container ports in the nation. Rather than heed the call to resume normal productivity levels in the ports, however, the Union leaders are expanding their actions against the ports to the Bay Area. Productivity levels in Oakland are off this week at an average of over 15% with falloff in some terminals over the last four days of as much as 40%. There is growing frustration that the ILWU is engaging in these deliberate job actions undermining productivity and the contract negotiations. Despite the slowdown tactics, the PMA has exercised extraordinary patience and continues to negotiate in good faith hoping to avoid disruption at the ports.

Over the last two weeks, more than a third of the vessels in southern California have had productivity drops of over 20%. More than one in ten have had productivity fall over 30%. This has resulted in disruption of schedules, with some vessels forced to sail leaving cargo and empty containers on the docks in order to maintain schedules.

Today In Labor History

25 July

New York garment workers win closed shop and firing of scabs after 7-month strike – 1890

The Teamsters and Service Employees unions break from the AFL-CIO during the federation’s 50th convention to begin the Change to Win coalition, ultimately comprised of seven unions. They say they want more emphasis on organizing and less on electoral politics – 2005

SAG’s Internal Rift

An insurgent faction within the Screen Actors Guild has launched a campaign to wrest control of the powerful union from leaders they blame for stalemated contract talks with major Hollywood studios.

A bloc of SAG members calling itself Unite for Strength unveiled a slate of 31 candidates on Wednesday seeking to gain a majority on the national governing board in elections scheduled for Sept. 18.

The emergence of a serious challenge to SAG’s ruling coalition, a Hollywood-based group of moderates known as Membership First, likely means that the 3 1/2-week-old standoff between the union and studios will drag on for at least two more months.

Candidates running on the Unite for Strength slate include two stars from TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy” spinoff “Private Practice” — Kate Walsh and Amy Brenneman — as well as Doug Savant from “Desperate Housewives” and “Chicago Hope” veteran Adam Arkin.

They accuse the current leadership of mishandling labor talks and straining relations with SAG’s smaller sister union, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, through SAG’s failed campaign to scuttle a contract negotiated separately between AFTRA and the studios.

Obama Gets Cash, Clinton Gets Snub

Several of Hillary Clinton’s large-sum donors have now hopped onto Barack Obama’s armored truck — not just by giving merely the $2,300 individual maximum to the Illinois senator’s presidential campaign.

Instead, they’re shelling over far more to a special Democratic account that’ll be able to spend unlimited sums to help Obama in the fall, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis by Dan Morain.

However, it wasn’t a two-way street last month. Obama’s donors gave Clinton a mere $105,000 in June, despite a plea from Obama that his high-roller donors help retire her $22 million in campaign debts.

In June, Clinton donors gave $1.53 million to the Obama Victory Fund, established by Obama and the Democratic Party to raise money far in excess of the $2,300 that individuals can give to a presidential candidate. By law, the fund can receive high five-figure checks and divvy them up among various other Obama-related committees.

And another thing, why were the Clinton’s not used to try and counter the lame attacks by McCain during Obama’s overseas visit?

Biofuels Are The Answer

A group of the world’s biggest agribusiness companies announced it will use lobbyists on Capitol Hill and national ads to build the case for fuels such as ethanol and biodiesel, even as grain prices climb worldwide.

The biofuels industry has blossomed under federal mandates requiring the United States to increase alternative fuel usage by 2009. The mandates are under attack from groups who blame the new industry for rising food prices that have sparked riots and hoarding in several countries.

The newly formed Alliance for Abundant Food and Energy, formed by Monsanto, Archer Daniels Midland, Deere and DuPont, said producing more fuel without hurting food supply can be done by increasing agricultural productivity, an increase that would benefit the companies.

Although biofuels are help driving the coming economic bad times, I say let them do what they want–make lots of money–while the people stew in the approaching poverty. (sarcasm intended).

Brain Cancer–Again?

Dr. Ronald Herberman, director of the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, told his own faculty to limit their time on cell phones because of a possible risk of brain cancer.

His warning pointed to nonpublished research, which suggests that everyone, but especially children, should limit “long-term cell phone use to possible adverse health effects including cancer.”

Children are particularly at risk because their brains are still developing, Herberman said.

The American Cancer Society said that Herberman’s warning was too strong, given the lack of scientific evidence, and that if there is a risk, it is very small.