Guess Who?

Worked as a staffer at the U.S. House of Representatives from 1988 until 2007.


Made an anti Muslim film about Jihad.


A devoted Catholic,  a member of the Choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.


Had a 6 year affair with a married man. 


Plays the French Horn.


Her husband is 23 years older than she is.

Described as a "helicopter spouse"

Also described as "an amalgamation of Nancy Reagan and Laura Bush"

Toned down her appearance in recent months.


WHO IS SHE?

IF LOOKS COLD KILL....

CALLISTA GINGRICH!

THIS IS HER ANTI MUSLIM FILM

* NOTE THE TIE IN THE BEGINNING TO CITIZENS UNITED?

THIS IS A DISGUSTING CLIP, BUT WE HEAR CALLISTA G. SPEAK AT THE 1:20 MARK

ONLY JUST BEGUN?

GAWD SHE IS SO CREEPY!!!

Sublet Whitewash: Apple and Walmart

This seems to be a trend w mega corporations these days- sublet out portions of the work of mfg. or the warehouse. Demand low pricing of them, but wash their hands of any shady or otherwise illegal practices:

WALMART:

WALMART SUBLETS THEIR MAJOR WAREHOUSE/SHIPPING TO A COMPANY IN LA. THE COMPANY HIRES "TEMPS", WHO REMAIN TEMPS FOREVER. THE TEMPS GET PAID PIECEWORK, RATHER THAN HOURLY WAGES, TRACKING THAT INFO BECOMES DIFFICULT, AND ERRORS ERR ON THE SIDE OF THE EMPLOYER. EMPLOYEES MAY HAV DOEN TIME WHERE THEY ARE REQUIRED TO REMAIN ON THE PREMISES, BUT FOR NO PAY.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE BY CLICKING HERE

• The workers, who are classified as temporary workers, receive low wages, which their suits says are sometimes below the minimum wage, no health insurance, no holidays, and no vacations.

•  If there is no truck to be loaded or unloaded, they must stay at work but don’t get paid. Sometimes, they are at work for as long as 16 hours.

• During the summer, it’s not unusual for temperatures to rise above 100 degrees inside the warehouse.

• Some of the workers in September filed a federal lawsuit charging Schneider and its staffing company Rogers Premier Warehousing with failure to pay workers the minimum wage and overtime.

They also filed complaints with the California labor commission, which resulted in Rogers being fined $600,000 for among other things not providing their workers with sufficient information on their wage statements so that the workers could calculate whether they received all the wages that they were due.

• Workers charged a Walmart subcontractor with firing them for trying to recover stolen wages and for cooperating with a state investigation of wage theft and unsafe working conditions at the distribution center.

Reyes is one of about 70 workers at the distribution center who recently were told that they would lose their jobs at the end of February. “We’ve been fighting to keep our jobs,” said Eric Reyes, who works at a Walmart distribution center operated by Schneider Logistics in Mira Loma, California. 

•.Lawyers for the workers who filed the wage theft suit will ask the judge to order the warehouse operator to stop the planned job terminations.

• In a related matter, Warehouse Workers United sent a second letter of complaint to Walmart CEO Mike Dunn informing him of the mistreatment of workers by Walmart subcontractors and urging Walmart “to adopt a Responsible Contractor Policy to ensure that its contractors live up to the letter and the spirit of Walmart’s Statement of Ethics.”

CLICK HERE TO READ ANOTHER ARTICLE

LABOR TAKES AIM AT WALMART:

When she began as a cashier in 1988, Goebel saw Walmart as the small town’s most attractive workplace, one that she associated with the market-inspired humanitarianism of its founder, Sam Walton. More recently, Goebel’s satisfaction with her job has soured. In 2005 her daughter, a young mother who was a cashier at the same store, went to the doctor with troubling symptoms. The doctor diagnosed ovarian cysts and insisted she get a hysterectomy. In the fall of 2006, she approached Goebel and said she had ovarian cancer. “I asked her, ‘Why did you not have the hysterectomy when they first suggested it to you?’” Goebel recalls. “And she looked directly at me and said, ‘I was afraid if I took the time off they’d fire me.’” Goebel’s daughter died in 2007 at 37.

“I don’t hold Walmart culpable for my daughter having cancer,” says Goebel. “But she was living in this horrible fear of losing her job, and had she gone and gotten the surgery when the doctor suggested, it would have bought her years more with her kids.”

While coping with the consequences of Walmart’s well-documented practice of firing employees with medical issues, Goebel also began to notice that her manager was slashing wages while increasingly demanding that the workers perform task volumes she calls “not humanly possible.

APPLE COMPUTER HAS A DIFFERENT KIND OF WHITEWASH GOING ON:

CHINESE SWEAT SHOPS. 12 HOUR SHIFTS. CHILD LABOR. SUICIDES. 

WALMART HAS SUNK TOO LOW, AND APPLE HAS NO "i Excuse" FOR SUCH BEHAVIOR.
SETING UP NETS TO CATCH SUIIDE JUMPERS, GROSS LABOR VIOLATIONS SHOULD NOT BE A PART OF WHAT SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES DO.
APPLE COMPUTER GOT AN HONORABLE MENTION IN OBAMA'S SOTU ADDRESS:
"It means we should support everyone who's willing to work and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.

After all, innovation is what America has always been about."

WALMART'S INFRACTION HAPPENS ON US SOIL, SO MAYBE THERE IS HOPE THAT THE SUB CONTRACTOR WILL HAVE TO MAKE RIGHT, AND WORKERS TELLING THE TRUTH WILL NOT LOSE THEIR JOBS. BUT SWEATSHOPS IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES? THE ONLY SOLUTION I CAN SEE IS AN "i Boycott" of buyers refusing to buy the products. Putting up nets to catch jumpers, and awking employees to sign a pledge that they will not commit suicide does not cut it. 

Cease & Desist

Newt Gingrich's campaign has been given a Cease & Desist order from the band "The Heavy", saying he does not have permission to use their song, and they do not support his candidacy.

Lyric excerpts from the song:

Lyrics to How You Like Me Now :

Now there was a time
When you loved me so
I could have been wrong
But now you needed to know
See, I've been a bad, bad, bad, bad man
And I'm in deep, Yes I am
I found a brand new love for this man
And I can't wait till you see
I can't wait

So how you like me now
How you like me now

Remember the time
When I eat you up
You know that I wasn't lyin'
that you can't give up
So if I was to cheat
on you baby would you see right through me
If I sing a sad, sad, sad, sad song
would you give it to me

How you like me now

Does that make you love me baby
Does that make you want me baby


How you like me now (end)

Although we agree Newt is a  a bad, bad, bad, bad man

and some of us do see right through him,

his is a  a sad, sad, sad, sad song

it neither makes me love or want him (ewwww).

Other potential theme songs for Newt:

Lynard Skynard's - Don't ask me no questions, and I won't tell you no lies

Liar Liar- The Castaways is more like it...

You have a theme song recommendation for the Gingrich campaign?

Click here to read a previous blog post about other republicans who have been told by bands to stop using their songs.

• Tom Petty- Michelle Bachmann used An American Girl

• Tom Petty- George W. Bush for using "I Won't Back Down"?

• Don Henley (Eagles)- “The Boys of Summer” and “All She Wants to Do Is Dance”—in web campaign videos for Charles DeVore, sucessfully sued him.

• Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA (Saint) Ronald Reagan

• Jackson Browne sued John McCain, the Republican National Committee and the Ohio Republican Party for the use of his 1977 song “Running on Empty” in a campaign ad without asking permission. 

• During his 2010 bid for U.S. Senate, Republican Rand Paul used two songs by the band Rush to pump up crowds and add background music to a promotional video. This prompted Rush's lawyer to write to Paul's team, claiming the politician never asked permission to use the tunes.

• In 2008, Heart's "Barracuda" played at the Republican National Convention in tribute to then-Vice-President nominee Sarah Palin, whose high-school nickname had been Sarah Barracuda. Heart wanted nothing to do with Palin, sending a stern email to the campaign stating that, "Sarah Palin's views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song 'Barracuda' no longer be used to promote her image.”

Citizens United Theme song?

This is some high quality snark!

Meet the Vagilutionaries

Vagilutionaries are people not corporations. Photo by Rob Sydor

YES, THE VAGILUTIONARIES~ A SPINOFF AFFINITY GROUP FROM THE LOCAL OCCUPY EUGENE CONTINGENT..

THEY ADDED A NICE VISUAL TOUCH TO THE OTHERWISE BLEAK, AND SARDINE CAN LOOKING FEDERAL BUILDING. THEY HAD GATHERED ON A COLD AND RAINY DAY, TO PROTEST THE 2ND ANNIVERSARY OF CITIZENS UNITED. THE CITY HAS AN ORDINANCE ON THE BOOKS, MAKING IT LEGAL FOR WOMEN TO BE TOPLESS IN PUBLIC.

ALTHOUGH WHEN THE VAGILUTIONARIES PROTESTED IN FRONT OF A ANTI-OCCUPY CITY COUNSELOR'S HOUSE- WITH BARE CHESTS SPELLING "TRUTH", I KID YOU NOT-- THEY WERE CALLED "TERRORISTS".

MAYBE THE GONG IS FREAKING PEOPLE OUT?

THE FIRST PROTEST AT THE COUNCILORS HOUSE  WAS CHRISTMAS NIGHT, WHERE 20 PEOPLE, SOME WEARING TENTS, SET UP CAMP IN HIS YARD. SOME BANGED ON HIS FRONT DOOR AND RANG HIS DOORBELL, REPEATEDLY. 5 WERE ARRESTED.

IT WAS  COUNCILMAN POLLING'S  IDEA TO BRING INDUSTRIAL FLOODLIGHTS W LOUD GAS GENERATORS TO THE  OCCUPY CAMP, MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO SLEEP. SOME OF THE OCCUPIER'S FELT THEY WANTED TO REPAY THE FAVOR, LETTING HIM KNOW WHAT DISRUPTED SLEEP WAS LIKE.

SINCE THEN, THE CITY PAID $13,000 TO INSTALL A FANCY/DECORATIVE WROUGHT IRON FENCE, AND SECURITY SYSTEM, PLUS OVERTIME POLICE PATROLS FOR THE CITY COUNCIL GUY.

SOMEONE SHOULD RUN FOR CITY COUNCIL ON THE PLATFORM OF WANTING A FREE WROUGHT IRON FENCE.

(A $4,400 VALUE!)

THE SECURITY PEOPLE AT THE FEDERAL BUILDING MUST HAVE HAD THEIR PANTIES IN A KNOT. HALF NAKED NINJA WOMEN PARADING AROUND IN FRONT OF THE FEDERAL COURTHOUSE!

THE WHOLE IDEA IS TITILLATING... DON'T YOU THINK?

MITCH DANIELS- GOP'S GO TO GUY

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

EPIC FAIL!
WHO IS IN CHARGE OF CHOOSING THE "BEST OF" GOP PEOPLE?
MORE LIKE AN IN HOUSE SABOTEUR!

SOTU WHAT ARE WE MISSING?

I WISH THEY WOULD OMIT THE SOTU APPLAUSE.
PLUS LESS CLAPPING TIME WOULD SHORTEN THE LENGTH, OVERALL.
THE 2012 SOTU ADDRESS HAD 81 OUTBURSTS OF APPLAUSE.

THE ONLY TIME I EVER APPRECIATED THE APPLAUSE IN THIS SPEECH WAS THIS COMMENT:

Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal.

APPLAUSE

But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better.

MUTED APPLAUSE

THERE WAS SOME DOUBLE TALK ABOUT ENERGY

Our experience with shale gas, our experience with natural gas, shows us that the payoffs on these public investments don't always come right away. Some technologies don't pan out; some companies fail. But I will not walk away from the promise of clean energy. 

ARE WE TALKING ABOUT FRACKING?

I will not cede the wind or solar or battery industry to China or Germany because we refuse to make the same commitment here. We've subsidized oil companies for a century. That's long enough.

WIND AND SOLAR ARE CLEAN, BUT IN PAST SPEECHES, NUCLEAR AND COAL WERE DEEMED

CLEAN ALTERNATIVE ENERGY.

And I'm proud to announce that the Department of Defense, working with us, the world's largest consumer of energy, will make one of the largest commitments to clean energy in history, with the Navy purchasing enough capacity to power a quarter of a million homes a year.

I'M NOT APPLAUDING UNTIL I KNOW SPECIFICALLY WHAT "CLEAN ENERGY" THEY WOULD BE USING.

Imagine what we could accomplish if we followed their example. (ARMED FORCES TEAMWORK).

HOUSE SPEAKER JOHN BOEHNER ALREADY PUBLICLY DECLARED THE SOTU ADDRESS "PATHETIC". DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH WAITING FOR GOP TEAMWORK.

It means we should support everyone who's willing to work and every risk-taker and entrepreneur who aspires to become the next Steve Jobs.

After all, innovation is what America has always been about.

AS MUCH AS STEVE JOBS WAS AN INNOVATOR, THE FORTUNES OF APPLE ARE MADE ON THE BACKS OF MFG SWEATSHOPS IN CHINA. SWEATSHOPS WITH CONDITIONS SO BAD, THEY HAD A PROBLEM WITH SUICIDES. SORRY TO BRING UP THE DARK UNDERBELLY OF APPLE, BUT THIS KIND OF TELLING HALF THE STORY IS WHY SOTU ADDRESSES ARE HARD TO TAKE.

http://www.wired.com/magazine/2011/02/ff_joelinchina/all/1

OBAMA DELIVERS A GREAT SPEECH. BUT LINES LIKE THIS ONE:

But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

MUST SPUR US TO ASK, SO WHAT HAS CHANGED?
ARE THERE NEW POLICIES IN PLACE?
LAST TIME I CHECKED, THE DOOR IS STILL OPEN FOR MORE OF THE SAME.

From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax

THIS IS A DIFFERENT MANIFESTATION OF TAXING THE RICH. WE ALL KNOW HOW THE GOP FEELS ABOUT THAT!

People cannot afford losing $40 out of each paycheck this year. There are plenty of ways to get this done. So let's agree right here, right now: No side issues. No drama. Pass the payroll tax cut without delay. Let's get it done.


* NOTE- POTENTIAL ADD ONS TO THIS MEASURE INCLUDE THESE ITEMS:
The House’s version of the payroll tax bill would demand that unemployed workers without a high school diploma show they are working toward one before they qualify for additional jobless benefits. It would also allow states to require drug tests for unemployment recipients. 

THIS PAYROLL TAX CUT IS MONEY NOW NOT ADDED TO SOCIAL SECURITY FUNDS, FURTHER DESTABILIZING SOCIAL SECURITY.

Join me in a national commitment to train 2 million Americans with skills that will lead directly to a job.

And I want to cut through the maze of confusing training programs so that from now on people like Jackie have one program, one website, and one place to go for all the information and help that they need. It is time to turn our unemployment system into a re- employment system that puts people to work.

So tonight, I am proposing that every state, every state, requires that all students stay in high school until they graduate or turn 18.

SAYING THESE THINGS, AND COMMITMENTS TO IMPROVE EDUCATION AND UNEMPLOYMENT PROGRAMS, DOES NOT MAKE THEM SO.

HOW DOES A STATE  REQUIRE STUDENTS TO STAY IN SCHOOL? WHO WILL FUND IT?

AN UNFUNDED MANDATE PASSED OFF TO STATES TO ENFORCE IS ABOUT AS EMPTY A PROMISE CAN BE. MAY AS WELL ADD RAINBOWS AND WINNING LOTTERY TICKETS WITH LARGE SUMS FOR ALL!

SOME OF IT SOUNDS GOOD, SOME OF IT IS NOT REALLY EXPLAINED OR DEFINED, ESPECIALLY HOW IT WOULD BE FUNDED, BUT SHOULD WE REALISTICALLY EXPECT TO SEE THESE THINGS COME TO FRUITION ANYTIME SOON?

OVERALL, OBAMA'S SOTU ADDRESS WAS DUBBED A LAUNDRY LISTOF ITEMS THAT REQUIRE CONGRESSIONAL ACTION. 

THE MOST CONGRESSIONAL ACTION WE'VE SEEN TO DATE, IS INFIGHTING.

OBAMA HEADS OFF ON THE REELECTION CAMPAIGN TRAIL TODAY.

NEW FEATURE: EDITORIAL RANTS

OUR LOCAL PAPER HAS AN EDITORIAL COLUMN THAT ALLOWS 1 POST PER MONTH, NOT TO EXCEED 250 WORDS. THERE ARE SOME GREAT IDEAS LAUNCHED THERE, AND OTHERS THAT ARE EITHER SO MISINFORMED OR BAD, YOU WONDER IF THEY ARE PRINTED JUST TO ANTAGONIZE OR SPUR RESPONSES.
IN ANY CASE, I'LL BE USING SOME AS A SPRINGBOARD FOR CONVERSATION.

Proposal raises lots of questions

The Kansas legislative proposal to guarantee “the inalienable rights of every person, starting with fertilization of the human egg” raises questions for me:

How would the gestational status of the entire population of women of reproductive age be monitored? Would massive invasive screening programs be needed to identify every newly fertilized egg so that the rights and protections of personhood can be guaranteed?

Would child abuse laws be applied to protect the fertilized egg? Given the research showing fetal damage from tobacco smoke and alcohol, use of such toxic substances by pregnant women could be deemed child abuse. Would pregnant women who abuse their fertilized eggs be arrested and perhaps incarcerated to prevent them from abusing their fertilized eggs?

If the fertilized egg becomes a tax deduction within its family unit, how much would that reduce government tax revenue?

Would declaring fertilized eggs persons have effects on programs such as welfare payments based on number of children? Are we prepared to increase welfare payments from the moment a pregnancy is documented rather than wait until birth?

What effect would declaring fertilized eggs persons (thereby adding eight or nine months to a person’s age) have on qualifying for age-based rights and benefits such as voting, driver’s licenses and Social Security?

The answers to those questions, and others, would provide insight into the social and fiscal costs of the proposed legislation.

I wonder if Kansas legislators have prepared an impact statement to inform their citizenry of the costs.

DORIS M. WILLIAMS

Eugene

BRILLIANT DORIS!

I'M SURE THE IDEAS SHE FLOATS ARE UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES OF THESE "FERTILIZED EGG IS A PERSON" LAWS BEING PROPOSED.

TAX DEDUCTION

WELFARE $

DEFINING A BIRTH DATE

HOW ABOUT THIS CONCEPT TO PONDER....
IF A FETUS IN UTERO=A PERSON
THAN HOW CAN A CORPORATION BE
A PERSON???

MAYBE INSURANCE COMPANIES WILL TAKE ADVANTAGE, AND CHARGE ADDITIONAL INSURANCE RATES FOR THIS STOWAWAY FREELOADER IN UTERO?

DISCUSS........

NOT FOR SALE

KILL THE MESSENGER!

GINGRICH PITCHED A HISSY FIT @ LAST NIGHT'S GOP DEBATE, BECAUSE THE FIRST QUESTION WAS ABOUT HIS 2ND EX WIFE'S ACCUSATION THAT HE WANTED AN OPEN MARRIAGE.

THE REALITY OF  HIS PAST IS SO SORDID, IT'S A WONDER HE DID NOT ASK FOR CLARIFICATION.... WHICH EX WIFE, OR WHAT AFFAIR WITH WHOM- THERE HAVE BEEN SO MANY, IT'S GETTING HARD TO KEEP TRACK OF THEM ALL!

WHAT DAWNED ON ME WAS ALL THE WORDS NEWT USED TO LASH OUT AT THE "ELITE MEDIA", AS A POOR VICTIM, SQUARELY FIT AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF NEWT HIMSELF!

"as close to despicable as anything I can imagine"


"appalling"


"destructive, vicious, negative nature"


"take trash like that (him/his history?) and use it, to open a presidential debate"


"don't try to blame somebody else"

NEWT IS "TIRED OF THE ELITE MEDIA PROTECTING BARACK OBAMA BY ATTACKING THE PUBLIC"


EVEN MORE PERPLEXING, IS THE AUDIENCE APPLAUSE, SOME GIVING A STANDING OVATION
TO NEWT'S PASS-THE-BUCK, KILL THE MESSENGER RESPONSE.


MR GINGRICH, IN 1999, WHEN YOU WERE MARRIED AND HAVING AN AFFAIR, YOUR EX WIFE SAID YOU ASKED HER TO ENTER INTO AN OPEN MARRIAGE....


ANSWER THE QUESTION- YES OR NO


AFTER GINGRICH PITCHED HIS FIT ABOUT THE BIG BAD MEDIA ELITE, HE GOT AROUND TO A DENIAL.

PERRY'S OUT

 NO MORE EATING CORN DOGS @ COUNTY FAIRS FOR RICK PERRY. WHO KNOWS, MAYBE THAT WAS HIS FATAL FLAW--- HE SHOULD HAVE EATEN MORE & TALKED LESS! BUT NOW THAT THE LOSER RETREATS FROM ANY MORE PUBLICLY HUMILIATING "OOPS" MOMENTS, HE HAD TO DO ONE MORE STUPID THING & ENDORSE GINGRICH.
PERRY OPINED:
"I believe Newt is a conservative visionary who can transform our country. We've had our differences, which campaigns will inevitably have, and Newt is not perfect, but who among us is?" 

ON THE VERY SAME DAY HE DUBS NEWT A "CONSERVATIVE VISIONARY", NEWT'S 2ND EX WIFE MARIANNE GINGRICH, IS DOING AN ABC INTERVIEW, THAT AIRS TONIGHT.
 NEWT WANTED ON OPEN MARRIAGE SO HE COULD REMAIN MARRIED, AND DO CALLISTA. THE EX SAID NO, THAT'S NOT A MARRIAGE.
TIMING IS EVERYTHING! THE REAL NEWT &
HIS SLIMY SO CALLED FAMILY VALUES WILL BE EXPOSED (PARDON THE PUN), BEFORE THE S. CAROLINA PRIMARY ELECTION.

GINGRICH'S CAMPAIGN SAID HE'S NOT TALKING ABOUT THE PAST

OF COURSE HE'S NOT, BECAUSE HIS PAST IS PRETTY UGLY.

• After extensive investigation and negotiation by the House Ethics Committee, Gingrich was sanctioned $300,000 by a 395–28 House vote. It was the first time in history a speaker was disciplined for ethical wrongdoing.

• Facing a rebellion in the Republican caucus, he announced on November 5, 1998, that he would not only stand down as Speaker, but would leave the House as well.^[

Gingrich made this announcement only a day after being elected to an 11th term from his district. Commenting on his departure, Gingrich said, "I'm willing to lead but I'm not willing to preside over people who are cannibals. My only fear would be that if I tried to stay, it would just overshadow whoever my successor is."

• HE'S A 1% ER

After leaving Congress in 1999, Gingrich started a number of for-profit companies: Between 2001 and 2010, the companies he and his wife owned in full or part had revenues of almost $100 million.

According to financial disclosure forms released in July 2011, Gingrich and his wife had a net worth of at least $6.7 million in 2010, compared to a maximum net worth of $2.4 million in 2006. Most of the increase in his net worth was because of payments to him from his for-profit companies.

• According to L. H. Carter, Gingrich's campaign treasurer, Gingrich said of Battley: "She's not young enough or pretty enough to be the wife of the President. And besides, she has cancer."

• In 1981, six months after the divorce from Battley was final, Gingrich wed Marianne Ginther. In the mid-1990s, Gingrich began an affair with House of Representatives staffer Callista Bisek, who is 23 years his junior. They continued their affair during the Lewinsky scandal, when Gingrich became a leader of the investigation of President Clinton for perjury and obstruction of justice in connection with Clinton's alleged affairs.


• WIKI QUOTES- GLAD THEY ARE BACK ONLINE!


SO TO RECAP- PERRY OUT - HE CAN RESUME HIS PASSION:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has presided over more executions than any governor in US history, at 235 ... and counting.

Gingrich finished in fourth place in  Iowa 

Gingrich finished in fifth place in the New Hampshire 

I FOR ONE AM RELIEVED PERRY IS OUT, AND WILL ALSO SIGH A SIGH OF RELIEF WHEN GINGRICH & SANTORUM  ARE OFF THE BALLOT AS WELL.

GINGRICH KEEPS TRYING TO PORTRAY HIMSELF AS A "CONSERVATIVE VISIONARY", BUT REALITY KEEPS KICKING HIS ASS.

Photo Fun

10 years no justice

PHOTO FROM A LOCAL PEACE VIGIL SHUTTING DOWN GITMO

 WAS PRESIDENT OBAMA'S VERY FIRST EXECUTIVE ORDER. 

President Barack Obama failed three years ago to close the infamous Guantanamo Bay prison, and with Wednesday marking the 10th anniversary of its creation, debate is raging over whether a law he signed will ensure it will stay open for decades to come, jailing even United States citizens.

STUDENT NON DISCRIMINATION ACT

Call Your Senators At 202-224-3121
Help Stop LGBT Bullying

Al's Student Non-Discrimination Act would ban discrimination and harassment in public schools based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and require schools to protect LGBT students when they are threatened.

JUST PAY THEM

WSJ REPORTS: "Unions representing the workers at the Nike’s PT Nikomas plant on the island of Java said employees sewing Nike shoes together were regularly forced to do an hour of overtime per day, off the clock, to meet production targets. Unions complained that the workers did a total of close to 600,000 unpaid overtime hours over the last two years. After close to a year of negotiations, the company has agreed to pay for the overtime.

One of Nike’s many contractors in Indonesia that churns out the company’s iconic swooshed shoes has agreed to pay workers a total of $1 million (or around $222 each) after complaints they were regularly shortchanged on pay.

 While $1 million is just a drop in the bucket for Nike, which sponsors some sports stars for tens of millions of dollars, the number of workers with the complaint — 4,500 — was also just a drop in the bucket. There are more than 160,000 people making Nike products in Indonesia alone and more than 700,000 in emerging markets around the globe.

“The decisive actions taken by PT Nikomas Gemilang IY plant clearly demonstrate how seriously they are taking the allegations of workplace misconduct,” Nike said in a statement.  ”Nike commends the factory on their action plan and efforts to correct inadequacies in current policies designed to protect the rights of workers. Nike will continue to monitor and support their efforts to remediate the situation.”

In the three months ended in Nov. 30, Nike’s profit edged up close to 3% from a year earlier to $469 million as its revenue jumped 18% to $5.73 billion."

NIKE COMMENDS THE FACTORY, 

PAYING FOR PREVIOUSLY UNPAID FORCED OVERTIME.

 $222 FOR THE EXPLOITED WORKERS

 $5.73 BILLION FOR NIKE

PROTECTING THE RIGHTS OF WORKERS IN SWEATSHOPS