Oh joy. Now the Kochs are pushing phony science.

The poor widdle Koch brothers. Now people are making fun of them for backing a phony science group, the American Foundation on Science and Health (ACSH). It claims opponents of GMOs are causing blindness around the world (really). It claims e-cigarettes are safe and fracking will lead to energy independence, even as energy companies that frack are pushing to export more liquid natural gas to Russia.

As much as the Koch brothers try to protect their secrecy privacy, people keep insisting on prying into their business. Just the other day the Center for Media and Democracy reported the Kochs' political spending is even more enormous than we thought. It turns out David Koch secretly writes millions of dollars in personal checks to stink tanks that spew propaganda against unions, public education, environmental protection, voting rights and consumer safety.

Now CMD is at it again, making fun of the Kochs for bankrolling the American Foundation on Science and Health. The Kochs profit from petroleum products like ammonia fertilizers and other agribusiness-related operations, so of course they'll pay for a propaganda machine that tells us GMO food is safe. Writes CMD:

ACSH has also published claims about GMOs that make outrageous statements like "opposition to agricultural progress . . . causes blindness and death worldwide." ACSH has also made patently false and easily disprovable claims such as, "[T]here are no alternative technologies available to plant breeders with which new improved varieties can be created to overcome the current limitations of global agriculture to produce sufficient food, feed, fuel, and fiber on available land."

Then there's this on liquid natural gas:

ACSH has published reports calling fracking "a safe and efficient path to energy independence," despite the hazardous chemical cocktail used in hydraulic fracturing, which spoils millions of gallons of fresh drinking water each year. ACSH's spin also ignores the growing amount of "natural gas" fracked in the U.S. that is exported to foreign countries ... Now, the New York Times and other outlets are writing about the strong push by energy companies like Exxon for large quantities of liquid natural gas from fracking to be exported to Russia and elsewhere rather than kept for domestic use.

And surprise! ACSH now says e-cigarettes are safe -- perhaps because it's getting money from e-cigarette makers. The phony science group says "electronic cigarettes should be made as accessible as cigarettes. Electronic cigarettes should be sold widely and lightly regulated..."

No one likes them but their fellow plutocrats. All because they're spending so much money to turn the United States into a feudal serfdom.

Today's Teamster News 07.05.14

Teamsters
Liberal’s Martinez meets Teamsters’ President  Leader & Times   ...Local union representative and state delegate Tony Martinez, Liberal, Kans., who is with Union Pacific Railroad, recently travelled to Las Vegas for the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees Convention to elect a president of the railroad division...
City settles 2-year contract with Teamsters union representing Community Maintenance Department workers  The Herald News   ...Teamsters Local Union 251, which represents Community Maintenance Department employees, has settled a two-year contract with the city that nets workers a 5 percent wage increase...
Trade
4th of July fireworks brought to you by China  Politico   ...The industry’s shift to Chinese production came about shortly after the United States and China reestablished trade ties in 1979. By the early 1990s, the country was generating more than $60 million in annual sales from pyrotechnic exports to the United States. By 2013, the United States was importing $213 million worth of fireworks — virtually all from China...
Let’s Just Pretend We Didn’t Offshore Manufacturing  Public Citizen   ...Under the proposal, U.S. firms that have offshored their production abroad – like Apple – would become “factoryless goods” manufacturers.  The foreign factories that actually manufacture the goods – like the notorious iPhone-producing Foxconn factories in China – would no longer be manufacturers, but “service” providers for the rebranded “manufacturing” firms like Apple...
Who is Foreign Aid For? Foreigners or U.S. Corporations?  Mish's Global Economic Analysis   ...The United States will withhold the Millennium Challenge Compact aid deal, approximately $277 million in aid, unless El Salvador purchases genetically-modified seeds from biotech giant, Monsanto...
War on Workers
Paying Employees to Stay, Not to Go  New York Times   ...In-N-Out Burger, the chain based in California, pays all its employees at least $10.50 an hour, while Shake Shack, the trendy, lines-out-the-door burger emporium, has minimum pay of $9.50. Moo Cluck Moo, a fledgling company with two hamburger joints in Michigan, starts everyone at $15. These companies’ founders were intent on paying their workers more than the going rate partly because they wanted to do the right thing, they said, and partly because they thought this would help their companies thrive long term...
The Recovery Turns Five, Part 2  Economic Policy Institute   ...The unemployment rate is between 1.2 and 1.7 times as high now as it was seven years ago for all age, education, occupation, industry, gender, and racial and ethnic groups. ..
58% of Jobs Created in 2014 Pay Over $24 an Hour  The Big Picture   ...More than half the jobs created in 2014 so far pay more than $24.45 an hour...
EPIC Challenges Facebook's Manipulation of Users, Files FTC Complaint  EPIC   ...EPIC has filed a formal complaint to the Federal Trade Commission concerning Facebook's manipulation of users' News Feeds for psychological research...
CIA employee’s quest to release information ‘destroyed my entire career’  Washington Post   ...He was confronted by supervisors and accused of mishandling classified information while assembling his FOIA request. His house was raided by the FBI and his family’s computers seized. Stripped of his job and his security clearance, Scudder said he agreed to retire last year after being told that if he refused, he risked losing much of his pension...

Today's Teamster News 05.26.13

Millions march against GM crops  The Guardian   ...Organisers say that two million people marched in protest against seed giant Monsanto in hundreds of rallies across the US and in more than 50 other countries on Saturday. "March Against Monsanto" protesters say they wanted to call attention to the dangers posed by genetically modified food...
France seizes a million doses of fake Chinese aspirin  Raw Story   ...French customs officers have seized 1.2 million doses of counterfeit aspirin from China, the biggest haul of fake medicines ever in France and the EU, the economy ministry announced Saturday...

Stockholm riots spread west on sixth night  The Local   ...Nearly a week of unrest, which spread briefly Friday night to the medium-sized city of Örebro 160 kilometres west of Stockholm, have put Sweden's reputation as an oasis of peace and harmony at risk...
Unrest may spread across Europe, warns Red Cross chief  The Independent   ...Rocketing unemployment and poverty in some areas of Europe could lead to rising civil unrest, unless governments take measures to address the humanitarian consequences of austerity measures, the secretary-general of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) has warned...
Sequester guts wildfire prevention, sets up bigger blazes  Grist ...the sequester took a 7.5 percent bite out of the Forest Service’s budget, nearly half of which is spent fighting wildfires. That means there will be 500 fewer pairs of boots on the ground and 200,000 fewer acres treated to prevent fires; the agency’s next proposed budget cuts preventative spending by a further 24 percent...
Why are our Bridges Falling? The Economics of the Infrastructure Deficit  Economonitor   ...We are not spending enough to stay even with our infrastructure deficit. Our bridges, roads, dams, electric grid, sewers, and water treatment plants are wearing out faster than we are replacing them. And that is happening, in large part, because of our misguided obsession with the federal fiscal deficit...
Banner Week for Politicians Trying to Keep Poor People Hungry and Sick  Gawker  ...Louisiana Senator David Vitter, sad little boy and lover of prostitutes, proposed an amendment to the long-delayed farm bill that would make certain ex-cons ineligible from food stamps for life...
The Corporate Dictatorship of PBS and NPR  Truthout   ...“Citizen Koch” is a documentary about money and politics, focusing heavily on the uprising that took place in Wisconsin in 2011 and 2012 ... the documentary was originally supposed to air on PBS stations nationwide, but its funding was abruptly cut off when, it appears, David Koch was offended...
Koch Media’s Megaphone and the IRS “Scandal”  Wall Street  ...For decades, billionaires Charles and David Koch had secretly owned shares giving them 50 percent ownership of the Cato Institute – a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization subsidized by the taxpayer – while pushing a deregulatory agenda for big business. Today, Cato is functioning as a megaphone to spin the current flap over the IRS to advance its agenda...
How exactly would Mike Bloomberg “fucking destroy” the taxi industry?  Quartz   ...New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg told the head of a taxicab fleet that he plans to “fucking destroy” the city’s taxi industry when he leaves office on January 1...
Fear of art sale sparked by Detroit emergency manager asking for appraisal  Reuters   ...As part of his efforts to solve Detroit's financial crisis, the city's emergency manager Kevyn Orr has asked for an appraisal of the collection at the Detroit Institute of Arts, sparking fears in artistic and philanthropic circles that he means to auction off the city's artistic jewels...
Wisconsin jobs agency names 4th CFO in 2 years  Associated Press   ...Gov. Walker and the Republican-controlled Legislature created WEDC in 2011 to help the governor meet his campaign promise to create 250,000 private-sector jobs. But the agency has been beset by problems, including persistent turnover...

Today's Teamster News 05.16.13

Upcoming Trans-Pacific Partnership Looks Like Corporate Takeover  Huffington Post   ...TPP's negotiations are being held in secret with details kept secret even from our Congress. But giant corporations are in the loop... 
Blame Citizens United for the IRS scandal Salon   ...The real outrage is why these political groups have tax-exempt status in the first place...

Unions mobilize as labor board faces paralysis in Obama’s second term The Hill ...Labor is mounting an all-out push to fill the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) as the agency faces the prospect of being sidelined for the rest of President Obama’s second term...

Obama Student Loan Policy Reaping $51 Billion Profit  Huffington Post   ...The Obama administration is forecast to turn a record $51 billion profit this year from student loan borrowers, a sum greater than the earnings of the nation's most profitable companies and roughly equal to the combined net income of the four largest U.S. banks by assets...
U.S. Senate Passes Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) with Buy America Amendment Included. manufacture this ...The Merkley/Brown amendment #866 included in the legislation would ensure that American-made iron, steel, and manufactured goods are used in projects financed by a new Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Authority (WIFIA) program whenever they are available and competitively priced...
U.S. tax dollars promote Monsanto's GMO crops overseas: report  Reuters   ...U.S. taxpayers are footing the bill for overseas lobbying that promotes controversial biotech crops developed by U.S.-based Monsanto Co and other seed makers, a report issued on Tuesday said...

The reason France has gone into double-dip recession  The Guardian     ...This isn't a uniquely French problem – EU nations of various political hues are in trouble because of a fixation on austerity...
Texas Fertilizer Explosion Victims in No Mood to Pay Property Taxes  ABC News   ...After a fertilizer plant explosion destroyed part of a small city last month, the leaders of West, Texas, find themselves in the difficult financial position of having to collect property taxes from residents whose homes were destroyed...
Missouri legislation could weaken public labor unions  St. Louis Post-Dispatch   ...The Missouri Legislature is sending a bill to Gov. Jay Nixon that would make public employee unions ask their members each year if they want to continue being members...
Michigan bill would impose fines on unions for illegal picketing  Lansing State Journal   ... Individuals and labor unions could face steep fines for engaging in illegal pickets if the Michigan Legislature takes up a bill that a Republican lawmaker recently reintroduced...
$483M tax windfall brightens Michigan's budget picture  Detroit Free Press   ...The state of Michigan will have more than $640 million in unanticipated revenues to work with as it finalizes the 2013-14 budget, John Nixon, the state budget director, said after yesterday’s revenue estimating conference at the state Capitol. But the bulk of that money will be “one-time money” that the state can’t build into ongoing budgets...
Health advocates oppose NC Senate smoking bill  Associated Press   ...Health advocates say a North Carolina Senate bill would repeal hundreds of local and community college rules restricting smoking outdoors...
Defense furloughs clobber Arizona employees  Arizona Republic   ...Thousands of civilian defense employees across Arizona will face sharp reductions in work and pay through the rest of the fiscal year as the Department of Defense implements furloughs…
New Jersey Property Taxes Rise to Record as Growth Slows  Bloomberg News   ...New Jersey’s average residential property-tax bill rose 1.6 percent to a record $7,885 last year as most towns abided by Governor Chris Christie’s 2 percent cap on the levies, slowing the growth rate, according to state data...
Why are women so absent from Georgia leadership?   Atlanta Journal-Constitution   ...None of Georgia’s eight statewide constitutional offices, from governor through agriculture commissioner, is held by a woman. None of the five members of the state Public Service Commission, elected statewide to regulate utilities, is a woman. Likewise, none of Georgia’s 16 seats in Congress — 14 in the House and two in the Senate — is held by a woman. For those keeping score at home, that’s zero for 29...
Illinois passes law to make Busch divest beer distributorship  Chicago Tribune   ...A bill that will require Anheuser-Busch to sell its minority stake in Chicago's City Beverage has passed the Illinois Senate. Anheuser and the Illinois Liquor Control Commission have been involved in a string of litigation on this issue since the commission blocked the world's largest brewer from acquiring City Beverage in 2010...
Pa. Dems line up to run vs. hobbled Corbett  Politico   ...Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett may be the most vulnerable incumbent governor in the country — and Keystone State Democrats are lining up to challenge him...
U.S. DOT Allowing Unsafe Mexico-Domiciled Truck Companies to Participate in NAFTA Pilot Program Threatening Safety of Motorists  IBT   ...The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency within the U.S. Department of Transportation charged with overseeing the cross-border long-haul Pilot Program on North American Free Trade Agreement Trucking Provisions, has not taken definitive action to bar participation of unsafe Mexico-domiciled motor carriers...
Teamster Taxi Operator Shares His Experiences at Unity Conference  Teamsters Local 117   …Local 117 is on the forefront of a new effort by the Teamsters Union to organize thousands of taxicab operators across the country...