Day: August 9, 2008

Edwards Statement

I was not gonna touch this because every little mind has wrapped around it and there is a wealth of opinions on Edwards’ character. Personally, do not care where he parked his car. That is between him and his family. Unfortunately, the media needs this scandal to justify their reporting on BS and the ignoring of the real issues of the election.

This is John Edwards statement to the country and his supporters.
August 8, 2008

Chapel Hill, North Carolina

In 2006, I made a serious error in judgment and conducted myself in a way that was disloyal to my family and to my core beliefs. I recognized my mistake and I told my wife that I had a liaison with another woman, and I asked for her forgiveness. Although I was honest in every painful detail with my family, I did not tell the public. When a supermarket tabloid told a version of the story, I used the fact that the story contained many falsities to deny it. But being 99% honest is no longer enough.

I was and am ashamed of my conduct and choices, and I had hoped that it would never become public. With my family, I took responsibility for my actions in 2006 and today I take full responsibility publicly. But that misconduct took place for a short period in 2006. It ended then. I am and have been willing to take any test necessary to establish the fact that I am not the father of any baby, and I am truly hopeful that a test will be done so this fact can be definitively established. I only know that the apparent father has said publicly that he is the father of the baby. I also have not been engaged in any activity of any description that requested, agreed to or supported payments of any kind to the woman or to the apparent father of the baby.

It is inadequate to say to the people who believed in me that I am sorry, as it is inadequate to say to the people who love me that I am sorry. In the course of several campaigns, I started to believe that I was special and became increasingly egocentric and narcissistic. If you want to beat me up – feel free. You cannot beat me up more than I have already beaten up myself. I have been stripped bare and will now work with everything I have to help my family and others who need my help.

I have given a complete interview on this matter and having done so, will have nothing more to say.

Again I do not care–but for those that have to have this type of crap –knock yourself out!

Efforts Against Electoral College Manipulation

Green Party leaders said today that the outcome of the 2008 presidential election may be affected by the antidemocratic apportionment of Electoral College votes, with the popular vote misrepresented by the winner-take-all system of assigning votes to electors.

“We’re in danger of seeing the 2008 election stolen again, as in 2000 and 2004,” said Clyde Shabazz, Green candidate for the US House in Michigan (13th District) (http://www.migreens.org). “In Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004, we witnessed the obstruction and manipulation of votes by election officials and possible tampering with computer voting machines. But equally insidious is the malapportionment of Electoral College votes, which disenfranchises whole sections of the voting public.”

A civil action to protect the voting rights of presidential electors and the voters they represent was filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia (1:08-cv-01294) on January 28, 2008, by Asa Gordon, chair of the DC Statehood Green Party’s Electoral College Task Force and executive director of the Douglass Institute of Government (http://members.aol.com/digasa/dig.htm).
The civil action seeks enforcement of the ‘Mal-Apportionment Penalty’ provided in Section 2 of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution, which mandates a reduction of a state’s presidential electors and congressional representatives if “the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States… is denied… or in any way abridged.”
The civil action was filed on July 28, 2008, to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the adoption of the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Since the debacle of the 2000 presidential election, the Green Party in partnership with the Douglass Institute of Government has led the way in educating Americans about their constitutional “right to vote” under the provisions of 14th Amendment, Section 2.

Verizon UpDate #4

Verizon Communications Inc’s two major unions set a new Sunday midnight deadline to complete negotiations over a labor contract for 65,000 workers, saying they may strike if a deal is not reached by then.

The workers’ contract had been due to expire on August 3, but the unions agreed last Saturday to extend the deadline after their bargainers reported significant progress in talks with Verizon.

“Since Saturday’s agreement to “stop the clock,” progress at the bargaining table has been uneven, particularly on outsourcing, subcontracting and union recognition issues,” the Communications Workers of America said in a statement.

Other issues in contention include health care costs for current and retired workers, and wage increases to adjust for rapidly rising food and gas prices, said the CWA, which has 50,000 members covered in the previous contract.

The majority of CWA members and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which has 15,000 workers, have authorized a strike if negotiations fail. Their members are employees in Verizon’s telecom unit.

The unit, which has about 103,000 workers, covers residential and small business telephone, broadband Internet and video services.

Productivity Masks A Deeper Threat

Americans are working hard, productivity data released on Friday showed, but the data might well be a leading indicator of economic distress.

Nonfarm productivity increased at an annual rate of 2.2% in the second quarter, which less than the 2.7% gain expected by economists polled by Thomson Financial, but still a strong showing.

The 2.2% increase reflected a 1.7% jump in output and a 0.5% decline in hours worked

Unit labor costs rose 1.3% as expected, down from the 2.5% increase in unit labor costs in the prior quarter. Wyss was pleased to see that there was not a lot of evidence of any pressure on labor costs.

Over the last four quarters productivity is up 2.8%, and unit labor costs are up 1.5%. That means the cost to employers of their workers trails that of consumer price inflation signifcantly. The Consumer Price Index for June was up 5.0% from the level the previous year. (See “U.S. Inflation Heats Up.”)

But in the manufacturing sector, productivity fell at a 1.4% annual pace in the second quarter, as output dropped faster than hours worked. Unit labor costs for manufacturers rose 6.1% in the quarter, the largest increase seen since the fourth quarter of 2006.

Financial markets did not show much direct reaction to the data. The yield on the 10-year government bond edged up to 3.95% from 3.93% late on Friday. More interesting was the dollar, which has been surging in recent weeks, though that may be more a reflection of expected slack in Europe’s economy than enthusiasm about America’s.

All in all, the economy looks good only if you have massive amounts of cash to play with in the markets.

Today In Labor History

09 August

Fire destroys 547 buildings in the heart of Boston’s business & commercial district, killing nine firefighters and five civilians – 1872

Knights of Labor strike New York Central Railroad, ultimately to be defeated by scabbing – 1890

United Papermakers & Paperworkers merge with Int’l Brotherhood of Pulp, Sulphite & Paper Mill Workers of the US & Canada to become United Paperworkers International Union. It later (1999) merged with OCAW to become PACE, which in turn merged (2005) with the Steelworkers – 1972

Some 73,000 CWA-represented telephone workers at NYC-based Bell Atlantic begin what was to be a 58-hour walkout. The contract strike covered 13 states and Washington, D.C. – 1998

Al-Sadr Vows To End Attacks

Anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr will end all his movement’s attacks on U.S. troops if the United States agrees to a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, his chief spokesman said Friday.

The spokesman, Salah al-Obaidi, said Sadr’s paramilitary cells have already been ordered to stop fighting as U.S. and Iraqi officials negotiate an agreement over the presence of American forces in Iraq. He said the cells will be disbanded as soon as the United States agrees to a deadline for leaving the country.

Sadr’s aides said that the movement’s new religious program will be called al-Mumahidoon, meaning “those who pave the way.” The name refers to the belief of Sadr’s followers that they are preparing for the return to earth of Imam Mahdi, a 9th-century saint revered by Shiites.

The naming of the new movement follows Sadr’s declaration in June that he would permanently disarm the Mahdi Army, once the most feared militia in the country, and restrict fighting to members of specialized paramilitary cells assigned to attack U.S. troops. His decision to order a cease-fire last year is widely considered to be one of the main reasons security has improved in Iraq.

Obaidi said the Mahdi Army will not be dissolved but will simply readjust its focus away from fighting. He said he could not comment on the specialized fighting cells.

It remains unclear whether all of Sadr’s followers will abide by the permanent cease-fire, but his supporters are working widely to publicize the announcement. Across Baghdad, posters have appeared explaining the orders to disarm.

The news just keeps getting better out of Iraq.  But none of it is good news for the McCain plan to stay for an extended time.