Today's Teamster News 03.20.11

Volunteers ramping up recall efforts  Channel 3000   ...Throughout the state, groups are working to recall senators...
Wisconsin's coalition against corporate power  The Guardian   ...Stirred to action, a new popular movement is determined to roll back the rightwing assault on collective bargaining rights...
Indiana House negotiations aren't really over  Louisville Courier-Journal   ...The problem for Republicans is this: They can’t pass that agenda without Democrats present. Period...
FedEx: Faces Civil DoJ Probe Alongside UPS Over Consultants  Wall Street Journal   ...FedEx Corp (FDX) said Friday that it was the subject of a Department of Justice civil investigation into alleged anticompetitive behavior in the parcel-delivery market...
An Advocate Who Scares Republicans  New York Times   ...if protecting financial consumers — and helping the millions of Americans struggling to hold onto their homes — isn’t worth fighting for, then what is?
Nearly 20% of Florida homes are vacant  CNN Money   ...That's a rise of more than 63% over the past 10 years...
Who Is Bankrolling A Lawsuit To End The Ban On Foreign Money In U.S. Elections?  ThinkProgress   ...the case is being litigated by two high-dollar attorneys from a firm whose clients include some of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of the Citizens United decision — including Koch Industries and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce...

The rich play the tune, Wisco gov dances

As protesters demand democracy throughout the Middle East, one wonders if that's what's about to happen in Wisconsin.

Gov. Scott Walker is trying to jam through his insane, union-busting budget (did we mention it includes a 9 percent pay cut for pretty much all government employees?). There's a "listening session" today -- Sunday! -- on the heinous proposal. Walker wants the budget to pass early next week, and outraged Wisconsinites are planning rallies and vigils. 

Reports Crooks and Liars in a post titled "Dictatorship in Wisconsin?"

...Walker, elected with millions from the US Chamber of Commerce via the Wisconsin Republican Governors' Association, is about to declare martial law on public workers in his state. This is not an exaggeration...

By including (his proposal to strip government employees of nearly all their bargaining rights) in the budget, he bypassed all hearings or opportunity for public comment, and is pushing the Wisconsin legislature to vote on it as early as next week.

Crooks and Liars notes that the Republican Governors' Association spent more than $5 million to elect Walker. The RGA is funded by billionaire Rupert Murdoch, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Koch Industries, Swift  Boat financier Bob Perry and Target (possibly as bad an employer as Wal-Mart), among others. You will not be at all surprised to learn that the Koch brothers are among Walker's top five campaign donors and that Wal-Mart also contributed.

Writes Crooks and Liars,

...that money was spent with the goal of breaking unions, promoting corporate profits, and creating a permanent underclass to serve their wealthy overlords.

Writes the peerless Bob Herbert today,

It doesn’t really matter what ordinary people want. The wealthy call the tune, and the politicians dance.

So what we get in this democracy of ours are astounding and increasingly obscene tax breaks and other windfall benefits for the wealthiest, while the bought-and-paid-for politicians hack away at essential public services and the social safety net, saying we can’t afford them...

It’s a perversion of democracy, indeed, when individuals like the Kochs have so much clout while the many millions of ordinary Americans have so little. What the Kochs want is coming to pass. Extend the tax cuts for the rich? No problem. Cut services to the poor, the sick, the young and the disabled? Check. Can we get you anything else, gentlemen?

Go to those rallies and vigils, people.

Today's Teamster News 02.07.11

Governors Chop Spending  Wall Street Journal   ...Governors around the U.S. are proposing to balance their states' budgets with a long list of cuts and almost no new taxes, reflecting a goal by politicians from both parties to erase deficits chiefly by shrinking government...
Labor Fumes over Democrats' Charlotte Pick  Politico   ...They picked the least unionized state in the entire country...
Obama Reaches for Corporate Support  Wall Street Journal   ...President Barack Obama will ask some of his toughest business critics at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce on Monday to back his economic agenda...
Companies Fight Back on Executive Pay  Wall Street Journal   ...Some companies are ... denouncing proxy-advisory firms that tell shareholders how to vote...
Another year of mystery for SF's high-speed rail path  nbcbayarea.com  ...The High-Speed Rail Authority announced that it will keep plans for the region under wraps until 2012...
NW Ohio Train Jumps Tracks, Massive Ethanol Fire Forces Evacuations  Indiana's News Center   ...A huge fireball that could be seen for up to 15 miles erupted following a train derailed in Hancock County, Ohio early Sunday morning...
NLRB Cools Legal Threat Vs. States Over Card Check  Investor's Business Daily   ...The National Labor Relations Board has backed off from threats to sue four states to stop them from enforcing new anti-card check state constitutional amendments...Say yes to the Keystone pipeline  (Opinion)  Washington Post   ...Washington Post   ...Oil sands crude is nasty, and the sooner the world stops burning it, the better. But that's actually not much of a reason to kill the pipeline...

Must-see video about the U.S. Chamber

Brother Fred Crow from Ohio sends this terrific two-part video about how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce secretly raises money from multinationals -- including foreign companies -- and uses it to spread lies in national elections.

Watch the viedo here.