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08/20/10 E Messenger The Electronic Newsletter of the Florida AFL-CIO http://www.flaflcio.org From the Political Desk Updates from Phyllis Garrett about how union members can get involved with our Florida state wide campaigns. To find out more email pgarrett@flaflcio.org Sink Campaign: The Sink Campaign has announced their choice for Lieutenant Governor at an event in Palm Beach. Welcome Rod Smith, our favorite Labor Attorney to the campaign. They will be hosting a Primary Watch Party in Tampa this coming Tuesday night, with a location still to be determined. On Sunday, August 22, Alex Sink and Kendrick Meek will be hosting a GOTV Rally at the West Tampa Convention Center. They are also talking with me about which Labor Day Picnics and events to participate in around the state and when the final decisions are made the information will be coming out to the event organizers. If you have any questions, need more information or would like to RSVP to any of the events please contact Phyllis Garrett at 850-566-9281 or pgarrett@flaflcio.org Meek Campaign: Is winding up for the Primary with GET OUT THE VOTE events in Jacksonville, Gainesville, Eatonville, West Palm Beach, and Miami on Saturday and Monday. On Sunday, August 22, Alex Sink and Kendrick Meek will be hosting a GOTV Rally at the West Tampa Convention Center. The Meek campaign is hosting a Primary Watch Party at the Westin Diplomat in Hollywood. RSVP’s are required to attend this event. If you have any questions, need more information or would like to RSVP to any of the events please contact Pablo DeLeon at 954-494-8726 or email him at Pablo.deleon@federationmembers.org Ausley Campaign: Loranne Ausley will be in Washington DC this week meeting with the Political Department of the AFL-CIO and some individual International unions and the. The AFL-CIO and the WESTLUND INSTITUTE are hosting a Reception for Loranne, 5:00-6:30 on Wednesday, AUGUST 25TH ,at AFL-CIO HEADQUARTERS, 815 16TH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON DC. Scott Maddox Campaign: Scott is looking forward to starting visits to CLC’s to meet with Presidents and delegates. I am working with his staffers now trying to pin down his availability in areas of the state. More information to come, watch for announcements from your CLC’s regarding his visits.. OIL SPILL NEWS Oil Plume Is Not Breaking Down Fast, Study Says
By Justin Gillis and John Collins Rudolf
New York Times
New research confirms the existence of a huge plume of dispersed oil deep in the Gulf of Mexico and suggests that it has not broken down rapidly, raising the possibility that it might pose a threat to wildlife for months or even years. Florida Weighs Billing BP More Than $1 Billion to Plug Fund Gap
By Jim Snyder
Bloomberg Businessweek
Florida may send BP Plc a claim for more than $1 billion to close a budget gap after the largest U.S. oil spill as neighboring Gulf Coast states weigh their options. Two congressmen on Thursday questioned why the Obama administration made a major announcement about what happened to the oil in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this month without the science to back it up . Massachusetts Democratic Rep. Ed Markey demanded that NOAA surrender the data and algorithms behind its increasingly controversial estimate, so that independent scientists could assess the credibility of its conclusion that the vast majority of the oil BP spilled in the Gulf is gone, BusinessBP oil spill: US scientist retracts assurances over success of cleanup
August 19, 2010 10:10 pm http://www.imanka.com/bp-oil-spill-us-scientist-retracts-assurances-over-success-of-cleanup.html
Bill Lehr, a senior scientist at the NOAA, appeared before Congress to repudiate an earlier report he wrote, which suggested the majority of the oil had been captured. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
A senior government scientist admitted for the first time today that three-quarters of the oil that gushed into the ocean from BP’s broken well was still in the Gulf of Mexico, repudiating his own earlier assurances that the worst of the spill was over. FROM THE FLORIDA INDEPENDENT http://floridaindependent.com/ The Florida Independent is a new online news source for real investigative journalism that is working to shine a light on state government and politics and fill in the gaps left by the mainstream media. While Tuesday’s Republican primary outcome is probably still in doubt, one thing is clear: Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum will be outspent by his self-funded opponent, former health care executive Rick Scott. Scott and his 527 group have spent almost $40 million on his campaign, while the McCollum campaign has spent about $10 million. Lacking Scott’s self-funding, McCollum has relied on a 527 group associated with him, Florida First Initiative, mostly to run television ads against Scott. The group had raised over $3.8 million, as of Thursday. (Statewide airtime runs at approximately $1 million a week.) While Scott has his own 527, Let’s Get to Work, its funding largely consists of $11 million from one donor — a trust in the name of Rick Scott’s wife. More from AFL-CIO Now! From the blog at www.aflcio.org/blog. Corporations Create More Jobs Overseas than in United States by Tula Connell, Aug 19, 2010 | |
Been looking all over the place for the millions of jobs the United States has lost in recent years. Finally found some of them today: They went overseas! Unfortunately, new data out from the Commerce Dept. is no surprise. The Daily Labor Report (subscription required) summarizes Commerce’s new findings: In 2008, the first year of the recession, U.S. nonbank multinational corporations reduced employment domestically by 2.1 percent, while expanding jobs at foreign operations by 1.1 percent, the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis said Aug. 18. The number of workers involved is not trivial: Parent companies cut a total of 445,500 jobs in 2008, while foreign affiliates added 111,700 jobs. Multinational parent companies employed 21.1 million full- and part-time workers at the end of 2008, or approximately one out of every five private-sector workers in the United States, while 10.1 million employees worked at majority-owned foreign affiliates. Corporations that are moaning about being unable to help out with the unemployment crisis in this nation–in which more than 26 million of America’s workers are unemployed or underemployed–can sure find ways to create jobs overseas. From the Huffington Post Dozens of media outlets ran stories on Tuesday about the fact that industry titan News Corp -- the parent company of Fox News and the Wall Street Journal, among many other media properties -- had donated $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. Notably, though, Fox News itself apparently chose not to run a single story on the contribution. "While many news organizations reported Tuesday on the $1 million gift, a late-afternoon search of Fox News' Web site produced no mention of it," the New York Times reported. Media Matters also noted, "Fox News has not mentioned the contribution, according to searches of the TVEyes and Nexis databases." From Alternet http://www.alternet.org/ Fox News’ Van Susteren Hosts Three-Day Infomercial On Palin Without Disclosing Her Husband’s Ties To HerPosted by Alex Seitz-Wald on @ 6:47 am Article printed from speakeasy: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy URL to article: http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/08/20/fox-news’-van-susteren-hosts-three-day-infomercial-on-palin-without-disclosing-her-husband’s-ties-to-her/ This post originally appeared on Think Progress. Last night, Fox News aired the final part of its three-day special on oil drilling in Alaska, in which host Greta Van Susteren got the “inside story” from former governor Sarah Palin and her husband Todd. The special, shot on location, featured airplane flights over the tundra, boat rides in Valdez harbor, and interviews with the Palins on their dock. As Media Matters noted, the special “basically boil[ed] down to a three-day infomercial of Palin touting her positions on ANWR and her record of ‘play[ing] hardball’ with oil companies as governor.” http://blogs.alternet.org/speakeasy/2010/08/20/fox-news%E2%80%99-van-susteren-hosts-three-day-infomercial-on-palin-without-disclosing-her-husband%E2%80%99s-ties-to-her/ From Paul Krugman Noble Laureate, Working Family Advocate and America’s Smartest Economist Appeasing the Bond GodsAs I look at what passes for responsible economic policy these days, there’s an analogy that keeps passing through my mind. I know it’s over the top, but here it is anyway: the policy elite — central bankers, finance ministers, politicians who pose as defenders of fiscal virtue — are acting like the priests of some ancient cult, demanding that we engage in human sacrifices to appease the anger of invisible gods. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss From David Sirota (one of the E Messenger’s favorite columnists) David Sirota is the bestselling author of the books “Hostile Takeover” (2006) and “The Uprising” (2008). He is a fellow at the Campaign for America's Future. Find his blog at OpenLeft.com or e-mail him at ds@davidsirota.com. Insanity Is Deja Vu All Over Again
By David Sirota, 8/20/10
Creators Syndicate
Out of all the famous quotations, few better describe this eerily familiar time than those attributed to George Santayana and Yogi Berra. The former, a philosopher, warned that "those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." The latter, a baseball player, stumbled into prophecy by declaring, "It's deja vu all over again."
As movies give us bad remakes of already bad productions (hello, "Predators"), television resuscitates ancient clowns (howdy, Dee Snider) and music revives pure schlock (I'm looking at you, Devo), we are now surrounded by the obvious mistakes of yesteryear. And it might be funny -- it might be downright hilarious -- if only this cycle didn't infect the deadly serious stuff.
To read the full newspaper column, go to:
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/08/repeating_our_mistakes_insanit.html STATE NEWS Elections/Voting Corporate Money in Florida Politics
By Bill Newton
FCAN blog
Steve Bousquet writes today that McCollum taps corporate money to fight self-financed millionaire Scott - St. Petersburg Times.
Florida Primary Elections Test Voter Ethics
By Daniel Tilson
The Examiner
Floridians have one week left in which to fully shake off the seductive influence of the Politics of Bribery and take a stand.
2012 presidential primary may again trouble Fla. Democrats
News Service of Florida
Palm Beach Post
Florida could have trouble abiding by proposed rules for the 2012 Democratic presidential primaries, state party Chairwoman Karen Thurman has warned the Democratic National Committee.
Sluggish ticket sales move Palin event to smaller theater
Staff Report
Florida Times-Union
Slow ticket sales have bumped Sarah Palin's appearance next week in Jacksonville to a smaller venue.
Federal Meek sees doubt as encouragement in Fla. Sen. race
The Associated Press
Miami Herald
Some people knock Kendrick Meek by saying he inherited his congressional seat from his mother, Carrie Meek, who held it for 10 years before him.
Fla. Sen. candidate Greene has altruistic message
The Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Democrat Jeff Greene often says he's running for Senate so that his infant son will be able to have the same opportunities he had to succeed.
Crist donors not flocking to Rubio
By Scott Powers
Orlando Sentinel
Despite party anger over Gov. Charlie Crist's decision to leave the GOP and launch an independent run for the U.S. Senate, few early Crist donors have crossed over and contributed to Republican candidate Marco Rubio, records show.
Senate hopeful Rubio takes campaign to seniors
The Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
Senate hopeful Marco Rubio is taking his campaign to seniors.
Congressional candidate David Rivera fights off old attacks
By Scott Hiaasen, Patricia Mazzei and Carrie Wells
Miami Herald
As he seeks to jump from the Legislature to Congress, Republican state Rep. David Rivera is fighting off a nasty attack from his GOP rivals — an allegation that he was accused of domestic violence in the 1990s.
State-Wide Alex Sink introduces running mate Rod Smith
By Amy Sherman
St. Petersburg Times/Miami Herald Tallahassee Bureau
Related: Sink takes lead in governor's race, poll says
Related editorial: Smith adds appeal to Sink ticket
Democrat Alex Sink's first opportunity to showcase running mate Rod Smith was both a cheerleading session for the party ticket and target practice on the bickering Republicans.
Smith: We have an opportunity to change Florida
By Nathan Crabbe
Gainesville Sun
After expressing ambivalence about running for lieutenant governor, Gainesville attorney Rod Smith said Thursday he entered the race in part because of a message from a son-in-law bound for Iraq.
Scott, McCollum's education plans nothing new or fresh, critics say
By Brandon Larrabee
Florida Times-Union
In the wake of one of the most bruising political fights over education in years and amid an equally sharp fight for the Republican nomination for the governor's mansion, both Bill McCollum and Rick Scott agree at least on the broad strokes of how to overhaul Florida's public schools.
My Sister Worked for Rick Scott's Hospital and Here is Her Story
By Geniusofdespair
Eye on Miami
Sis, a nurse for about 30 years, worked at Columbia University Hospital -- one of Rick Scott's Hospitals -- more than a decade ago as a Case Manager.
The Florida AG Fight is the Best Campaign You're Not Watching
By Benjamin Kirby
The Spencerian
If someone has done this, I haven't seen it, but it's a cool idea: poll the level of interest in the Florida elections by race for office. Scott, McCollum's education plans nothing new or fresh, critics say
By Brandon Larrabee
Florida Times-Union
In the wake of one of the most bruising political fights over education in years and amid an equally sharp fight for the Republican nomination for the governor's mansion, both Bill McCollum and Rick Scott agree at least on the broad strokes of how to overhaul Florida's public schools.
Constitutional Amendments High court parsing the ballot
By Mark Lane
Daytona Beach News-Journal
The Florida Supreme Court is deciding how long November's ballot will be. And it may be in the mood for trimming.
The Legislature/State Government Fla. judge resumes hearing in Sansom criminal case
The Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A judge is hearing more evidence on a motion to dismiss corruption charges against former House Speaker Ray Sansom.
Florida lawmakers cold to another special session on oil
By Matt Dixon
Florida Times-Union
When it comes to the idea of a potential second special session of the Florida Legislature on the Gulf oil spill, most area lawmakers are reading from the same sheet of music.
Crist gets PSC list of candidates
By Mary Ellen Klas
Miami Herald/St. Petersburg Times Tallahassee Bureau
Gov. Charlie Crist received his final slate of candidates for appointment to the Public Service Commission on Thursday, the last piece in the legislative effort to replace all but one of the commissioners who rejected the billion dollar rate increases sought by the state's largest electric companies.
Education
Florida's failing schools consider desperate measures until they make the grade
By Rebecca Catalanello and Tom Marshall
St. Petersburg Times
Related editorial: Turning around a failed school
Kevin Gordon knew he had no time to waste.
State places two Broward schools on critical list
By Marc Freeman
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Two Broward County schools have landed on the state's list of the lowest-performing campuses, while Palm Beach County schools avoided the bottom category assigned by the state Department of Education on Thursday.
Health Care Health reform puts health insurance agents in the crosshairs
By Stacey Singer
Palm Beach Post
Jupiter-based insurance agent Neil Primack says he works hard to help people find health insurance policies that work for them.
Faced with rising health costs, large employers plan to shift burden to workers
By Mike Lillis
The Hill
Faced with skyrocketing healthcare costs and new insurance rules under healthcare reform, more of the nation's biggest businesses are planning to hike premiums and cost-sharing measures on their employees next year, according to a survey of those companies released Wednesday.
Community Health Centers Plan for Expansion Due to Federal Health Law
By Gina Presson
Public News Service Florida
Community Health Centers are often referred to as the "family doctors."
Health care, immigration — baby, do we have issues!
By Scott Maxwell
Orlando Sentinel
Today's column is all about babies — those who are fighting to keep them alive, those who are leading a political charge to take away their rights and a budget cut that could put thousands of them at risk.
Setting Jackson on healthy course
Editorial
Miami Herald
What a colossal mess! That first sentence in the Miami-Dade Grand Jury report on what's wrong with Jackson Health System summed up the community's frustration with Miami-Dade's ailing safety net hospital.
Energy Energy group urges PSC to put off nuclear charges
By Bruce Ritchie
FloridaEnvironments.com
An environmental group is calling again on the Florida Public Service Commission to reject requests by utilities to charge customers now for proposed nuclear power plants.
Rail – CSX Back in the News – Told You So Dispute could slow down Orlando commuter rail
The Associated Press
Tampa Tribune
A dispute over insurance between the state of Florida and Amtrak is delaying one of the most critical steps in creating the SunRail commuter train in Orlando.
Aug 19, 2010 10:51 pmIn a letter to legislators Thursday, Sen. Paula Dockery sent her colleagues a great big "I told you so,'' about their rush to approve the CSX/Sunrail deal. They failed to first clear up issues Amtrak had with the Florida Department...
Read more: http://sayfiereview.com/blog-ticker.php?f_id=c2008072513074547#ixzz0x9wMmt2o
Aug 19, 2010 9:50 pmIn a letter to legislators Thursday, Sen. Paula Dockery sent her colleagues a great big "I told you so,'' about their rush to approve the CSX/Sunrail deal. They failed to first clear up issues Amtrak had with the Florida Department...
Read more: http://sayfiereview.com/blog-ticker.php?f_id=c2008072513074547#ixzz0x9wPNniO
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