Free Democratic Trade Unions ~ Yes ! Essential to Democracy !

Free Democratic Trade Unions...

By : Anonymous

12.4% of the work force in America is union and all I hear is that unions are the cause of the United States of America’s companies for going broke or moving to Mexico NAFTA or other off shore countries. Let’s see if all or not all public workers are union Teachers, police, fire, and other types of Government jobs are Union, what does that leave about 11% 12% that are other trade union workers such as lazy ass plumbers, electricians, roofers, pilots, engineers aviation, and even some lazy ass farm worker unions. Yet the whole world is crashing and most of the workers of world are non-union.You always claim its lazy ass auto workers and tire workers that destroyed the US of A’s economy.You’re telling me that if everyone was not union and had lower pay they would have saved the USA from all these terrible problems caused by Banks and other financial institutions and upper Management corporations and their Greed. Oh! By the way Banks and other financial institutions and upper Management CEO aren’t they non-union, and they are the main cause of this financial meltdown in America that destroyed everyone’s 401k most likely yours too, not the auto workers not the unions.My question is why, is it ok for a company to make as much profit for CEO’S and others, yet it is wrong for workers to make as much profit as possible too? So if banding together to get what we can is bad because it hurts companies, then the banding of the colonies hurt the companies of England and the King (CEO). This must be a bad and terrible thing using your logic. I guess only evil men band together whether it be for creating a country, company, or union. Those men must have been out for personal gain or profit evil greedy men.Is it bad if a person tries to get profit or gain through the stocks?Is it bad if persons (workers) band together to get profit or gain?Everyone knows trickle down does not work, why because each person does not want to give or pass down any profit or gain they receive, to those that may be below them even if you make very little income.Whenever Goodyear came to the workers and asked, we need this or that done because it will save the company and workers jobs. The union always tried to do the right thing most of the time, at what point did Goodyear ever say good job to the workers anywhere and here is profit for you, were going to trickling it down. Never without a fight did this happen and don’t tell me the union sets wages they only set a temporary bottom that wages can go. Goodyear or any company could pay more to its employee’s but for some reason the rule is always pay them sub-minimum wages why is that?Money it seems to me is used to have power over others. The last depression caused more unionizing of labor ( that's history). The banding of all workers is again starting to take hold. The greed of Wall Street has once again set this in motion, so I thank all of you in the high world of finance you soon may have nothing. Too much greed killed your golden goose.

"Thanks Buddy" ! ~ for this one, I wish, I knew who wrote this ? They were reading my mind !

The Great Bear Hunt ! Or "Rip & The Bear"!

"Rip & The Bear" !

By : "Dad" Don Jones

I rarely write about my family. Having said that, I`m going to write about my youngest son affectionately called "Rip" ! Rip is the last of the good guys, a real treasure. I say that with all sincerity and much love. His word is is his bond. He says what he does, and does what he says. In today`s world that is almost unheard of. I do not say these things in idle time phrase`s. I do not say them, because he is my son. I say it because it is true. Having said these praise`s, I now move on to the real reason for today's blog. Rip is a great wild game hunter. at one time, when I was younger, he and I would travel to South Dakota to pheasant hunt, we had a great time ! Every year in early autumn, Rip travels to Colorado to hunt large game. Elk, mule dear and bear ! He has been very successful in his hunts thus far. One year he killed a huge, almost royal elk. He has traveled to a island in the pacific to hunt rare large game and killed a large mule dear. Then one year he got the "Bear Fever" he wanted to bag a bear. he bought his bear tag for a couple of years, but alas no bear ! So, one summer he went to Colorado and stayed a month and tracked bear, to learn their habitats and habits. He took still cameras and placed them in strategic areas where he would find bear signs. He really got some great pictures. He was learning the way of the bear and he did. Then this past season in Colorado, he went hunting again, without going into great detail, which he would be glad to do for you, I will just tell you he killed a monster bear ! This bear weighed in at 551 lbs. 7 ft. 1 inch. from nose to tail ! A huge Brown Bear specimen. He is having this bear mounted in a full life-size mount.To say that my son was elated would be an understatement. He called me from atop of one of those mountains to tell me. He thought this bear would go in the Boone/Crockett book of world records. It did not. His friend Mark, lives in Henry County, today an official from the (Tennessee Wildlife Resource Agency) was coming to Paris Tennessee to a place called Hulmes Sporting goods, for the specific purpose of logging in official weights and measures of wild game, Mark picked up the skull and jaw bone of this bear and took it to Hulmes to be measured officially. I`m sad to report that this bear was 3/16 of an inch short of the record book. Rip, was disappointed, but not as badly as you might think, He had missed going into the record book by 3/16 of an inch. There will be other seasons and other game. He loves the hunt and the outdoors so much. He is a hunter and conservationist. As I said earlier, he is a rare and extraordinary man !

The pictures at top are (1.)Rip and the Bear (2.)Pete, Russell,"The Bear" Rip and Mark, his friend`s (3.) Cary, The Bear & Rip, Cary is referred too, as his second Dad !

Union Matters...We Do Not Learn from our Past Mistakes

The New York Times Magazine
June 26, 1938
BEHIND THE CONFLICT IN “BLOODY HARLAN”

The Background of Mountains and Hill Folk Against Which a Dramatic Trial is Being Held
By: F. Raymond Daniell

Technically and legally the coal operators, corporations and peace officers of Harlan County on trial here at London are charged with a criminal conspiracy to nullify the Wagner Act. Actually, however, it is the political and economic system of that rich soft-coal field which is at the bar. For in Harlan County, as nowhere else in the county, except possibly on the cotton plantations of the Deep South, the visitor encounters feudalism and paternalism which survive despite all efforts to break them down. For years the county has been known as “bloody Harlan.” It is feud country, and last year there were sixty murders within its precincts. But Harlan has no monopoly on violence and bloodshed; its designation is due rather to the fact that much of the bloodshed has been directly connected with the struggle between miners and operators and with union organizations. Because of the national interest in that warfare its troubles have received more attention than other outbursts in the feud belt. Within Harlan County, which lies in the southeastern corner of Kentucky on the Virginia border, are some 70,000 inhabitants. From 16,000 to 18,000 men work in the mines and produce from 14,000,000 to 18,000,000 tons of coal, worth $45,000,000 each year. This is more than a third of Kentucky’s total bituminous production and, while only a drop in the national total, it is of sufficiently high quality and is produced so cheaply under existing labor conditions that it is a strong competitor with the product of other fields. It is that fact, more than the hope of swelling its treasury with several thousand new members, each paying dues of $1.50 a month, which is responsible for the determined effort now being made by the United Mine Workers to organize the Harlan miners. Unless this effort succeeds, the union fears it will lose its recognition in neighboring coal fields, where operators are complaining that they cannot maintain union standards unless Harlan County’s operators are brought into line. Prior to 1911 Harlan County was a quiet rural community of small mountain farms. The chief industry was agriculture and logging, with a little moon shining. Even then it was known that beneath the ridges lying between Pine and Black Mountains, along the forks of the Cumberland River, there was wealth in the form of soft coal such as was needed for the manufacture of steel. There was no way, however, of getting it out to the Great Lakes. Then the railroad came. Overnight the characteristics of the countryside changed. Here and there the beautiful green hills were defaced by the winding conveyors over which the minded coal is carried from the drift mouth or mine opening in the hillside to the tipple, where it is broken and sorted and sized alongside the railroad tracks. Great piles of black waste and excavated earth began making their appearance on the hillsides, and from neighboring counties there came a swarm of farm boys and men, lured by the hope of high pay. There were no towns, no houses for the miners, except those the coal operators built, and thus there came into being the company town and the company store. As the coal industry grew in Harlan County, local capitalists got in on the ground floor. Among them was R. W. Creech, a patriarchal old gentleman with mustaches which spread a full eight inches on either side of his nose. He had been a lumberman before the railroad came, floating his logs down the river. To him his employees are like children, to be cared for and kept in order. He is one of the defendants in the conspiracy trial. Others among the defendants flocked into Harlan County in the early days of the industry. Among them were many who went there to escape labor troubles in other fields. They brought with them a bitterness against Unions that has never died.The camps they built for their laborers had moral standards on a par with the standards of the environment. Red liquor was drunk in Homeric quantities and fights were common. The county disclaimed responsibility for policing the mine camps, and there grew up the practice of hiring a special policeman and having him deputized by the Sheriff to lend the authority of law to his six-shooter. Even now the mining camps of Harlan County are no week-end resorts for sissies. The industry of the peace officers in rounding up drunks on Saturday night is prodigious. The fine, usually amounting to $19.50, is often paid by the company employing the prisoner and then deducted from his pay. In the four years ended last Jan. 1, the records show that 14,000 persons went to the lock-up at one time or another-a profitable guadrennium for the jailer, who is allowed 75 cents a day for feeding each prisoner. A good manager can do it for considerably less.
For years the operators had everything their own way. But Harlan’s position in the coal business and the number of unorganized miners there were not over-looked by the Unions. There were repeated efforts to Unionize the district, and for years the Unionized miners and the operators have been engaged in a bitter feud, with not all the violence directed at the miners. Back in 1931, when the United Mine Workers made an abortive effort to organize the Harlan field, there was competition for members among several rival unions, including one said to have been dominated by Communists and members of the I.W.W. In this period there was an epidemic of burglary of company stores and thefts of dynamite and copper from the companies, which was blamed on union members and organizers. The company put Sheriff’s deputies on their payrolls, and the killing of such deputies in a battle with strikers led to the “reign of terror” which union men say has been set up against them. With the passage of the NRA, the Guffey Act and, finally, the Wagner Act, outsiders came in to organize the miners, and agents of the Federal Government stepped in. The world of the Harlan County coal barons began to topple. The United Mine Workers have succeeded in negotiating contracts with ten of the forty-two mines operating in Harlan County, and today the union has a office in the town of Harlan, and its field workers travel about without molestation as long as they stay off non-union company property. Although only about a fourth of the county’s population works in the mines, nearly everybody in the county is dependent, directly or indirectly, on them. Only about 12,000 live in free, incorporated towns, and even there the influence of the coal operators is strong. The other 58,000 live in company towns, occupy company houses, walk on company streets, shop in company stores, go to company churches and send their children to company schools. Illness is treated by company doctors and justice is often administered by company magistrates, who hold court on company property. One of the big companies, until recently, had its own private jail. The company towns range in size from little settlements of 100 or 200 houses, to cities like Lynch, owned by a subsidiary of United States Steel, where more than 9,000 miners and their families live under rules and conditions laid down by a board of directors instead of a Common Council. Here the streets are surfaced, the houses painted, and, though plumbing is almost rare as elsewhere in the county, living conditions appear reasonably good. There is a private police force and a private fire department, a smart-looking new motion-picture theatre and a department store which might be a branch of a New York or Chicago store. Lynch, where a higher proportion of workers of alien stock are employed than elsewhere, has the only Roman Catholic Church in the county. In contrast to this tree-shaded little city, with its neat lawns and flower gardens, are the more typical towns of the smaller, locally owned companies. There the muddy, rutted streets swarm with pigs, raised to supplement the family larder when the cold weather comes. The dilapidated houses, standing in pools of stagnant water, and the vacant faces of the inhabitants present a depressing picture to the visitor from outside. Yet shiny new automobiles, in improvised garages underneath the houses, washing machines on the back porch and electric refrigerators in the living room are as common as in the camps where housing conditions are better. In the middle of the county is the town of Harlan, a rather shabby county seat of wood and brick buildings, hemmed in, almost squeezed, by the surrounding mountains. It is one of the three incorporated towns in the county, the others being Cumberland and Evarts. Harlan’s Chamber of Commerce claims for the town a population of about 7,000, and Harlan is the shopping center for all the people in the county who have managed to scrape together enough cash to trade away from the company store. Even here, however, mine operators or their kinsfolk control most of the mercantile establishments in the town. A man can’t even buy a headache remedy without patronizing the operators, for they own the drug stores, too. Many of the county’s people are mountain folk, quick to anger and quick to shoot. Men think no more of toting a gun than Englishmen do of carrying an umbrella. For a time, until the quaint inconsistency was corrected a few years ago, the Kentucky statutes provided a stiffer penalty for the man who merely fired at someone than for the man who wounded his enemy. Outside a little church in Harlan on Sunday night the writer saw two boys, not more than 12 or 13, with businesslike .38-caliber revolvers in their overall pockets.The people tend to resent intrusion in their affairs by “furriners,” much as they would resent a stranger “messin’ around” their women folk. During an inspection tour of the mines the writer ordered a photographer to take a picture of a “Tobacco Road” family – a mother sitting beside her cabin with a nursing baby and an old miner resting on the back stoop and was about to ask the woman’s permission when the local photographer intervened. “Ask the man, not the woman,” he said. “He might shoot if you ask her.” And then on our tour of the company towns our driver stopped suddenly in the road at High Splint and began backing up. At first the reason was not apparent. Then a boulder, the size of a cabbage, rolled down the road in front of the car. Four boys stopped playing ball and retreated to the sidelines. From between two houses there came a man, his shirt torn and bloody, wielding an axe handle. Retreating before him was a man with a rock which must have weighed ten pounds. He threw it and the man with the axe handle had at him. When it was over the stone-thrower was unconscious in the road and the club-wielder was leaning against a fence, blood pouring from a crack in his skull. No one interfered or seemed especially interested.The feud tradition is a strong factor in Harlan’s way of life. For generations it has been the custom, when a man is killed by a member of a rival clan, for all the victim’s family to go gunning for the killer and his kinsfolk. Honor is not considered avenged until the mortality score is even. Interference by the law and the courts is bitterly resented.
Relations between miners and operators have a similar directness. In the company towns, the homes of the operators generally are alongside the three and four room dwellings of the miners, who pay between $1.50 and $2.50 a month per room. It still is a common thing for the children of the operator to go to the same company school as the children of the common laborers until they have reached high-school age. As a matter of fact, it is said with some justification that mine children in company towns get more schooling than the children of incorporated towns. The county provides only seven months’ salary for the teacher, but the company town usually pays the teacher for keeping school open another two months. The schools are built by the company, but the teacher is appointed by the Superintendent of Schools.The owners of the mines dress in khaki work clothes, go in and out of the mines and sit in an office, usually on the ground floor of the commissary, unguarded by secretaries. Any worker is free to come in with his problems whether they be financial, domestic, or legal, and he usually can count on receiving help if he has kept clear of the United Mine Workers.The mines pay off every two weeks in cash, and when times are good the miners of Harlan County make relatively good money, receiving from the open-shop mines a little above the union scale, but working longer hours than union men and having no means of checking company figures on the amount of coal they dig. Most of the financial transactions between the miner and the store are carried out by means of scrip issued to the employees against credit they have established by their labor under-ground. This scrip is non-transferable, and, generally speaking, can be spent only in the company store, where prices are slightly higher than in the cash chain stores downtown. Everything from the finest quality meats and canned goods to the latest in overstuffed furniture can be bought there. Many of the commissaries sell liquor, which is legal in Harlan County. Credit is available in almost unlimited amounts to regular employees of the mines, whether the mines are running or not. When they do run, the operator knows his men will dig coal and he will sell it, deducting the amount he has advanced from the pay due the miners. Most of the company stores now have about an average of $20,000 outstanding in over-drafts of miners, but they are not worried. In one camp this correspondent was permitted to inspect the ledger in which the miners’ accounts are kept. One entry showed that one of the miners, after all the credit advanced to him had been deducted from his earnings for a month, came out exactly even with the company. Closer inspection showed that he was paying a lower rate of rent than the other miners. When the treasurer of the company was asked about this, he explained that the amount this man had earned last month was a little less than the credit that had been advance him so the company cut his rent by a few cents to make it come out even. In Harlan a miner who “keeps shet” of union activities need not worry about keeping a roof over his head, nor need he concern himself much with where the next meal-or, for that matter, the next drink-is coming from, for the paternalistic employer provides a kind of social security. Harlan’s leading citizens are anxious that this side of the picture be presented. Such are the setting and the background for the drama in the court room here in London which the whole county has been watching. Harlan today sees what may be the climax in the struggle between two sharply differing ways and philosophies of life.
Talk to the operators of the mines and you will hear that they want to protect their miners from being forced to join a union which they do not want and which, they say, for all the dues collected, cannot give them anything they do not now receive without the necessity of paying dues. You will also understand that the operators want to run their mines without outside interference.
Talk to the union leaders and you will hear that they are fighting paternalism of the operators. They charge that the one thing a miner may not do on company property is think for himself or speak out in public. They are fighting, they will tell you, to free the miners from an archaic system in which liberty has no place.

Editorial : Today, things have changed a little. But, not as much they should, we are still fighting the same old archaic system of those who do not wish for the workers to have a voice in their work place. Today we are trying to get the "Employee`s Free Choice Act" passed, and the Republican Senate are doing all they can to disrupt and defeat this basic right bill. As the title of this blog says, it seems we do not learn from our past mistakes ! With freedom to Join free democratic trade unions, perhaps Harlan and the United Mine Workers of the past can lead the way. Remenber this was written in 1938, one year before I was born. Workers need the "Employee`s free Choice Act" Passed !

Social Security ~ Don`t Mess With Success...

Social Security, Medicare Under Attack (Sen. Bernie Sanders)

February 23rd, 2009

Social Security and Medicare are likely to come under new attack at a “fiscal responsibility summit meeting” on Monday at the White House. The huge and growing national debt is a major problem which must be addressed, but there are ways of doing that without cutting Social Security benefits or decimating Medicare. During the last decade the wealthiest people in our country have become wealthier while working people have struggled desperately to keep their heads above water. It would be a betrayal of the needs of the middle class of this country if we lowered Social Security benefits or raised the retirement age for Social Security eligibility.The truth is that there is no crisis in Social Security. Social Security will remain solvent until 2041, according to projections by the system’s trustees. I am unalterably opposed to raising the retirement age or lowering benefits. I will propose legislation to strengthen Social Security by lifting the cap on contributions that now allows upper-income wage earners avoid payments. It is absurd that billionaires are contributing the same amount into Social Security as those who earn $105,000 a year.
There is a financial crisis in Medicare, but it is directly related to the disintegration of our entire health care system – the most costly and wasteful in the world. The way to address that crisis is to join the rest of the industrialized world and create a national health care program guaranteeing health care for all.

Common Sense Died Yesterday...

An Obituary printed in the London Times -

Interesting and sadly rather true "Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; Why the early bird gets the worm; Life isn't always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason...

He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights. I Want It Now. Someone Else Is To Blame. I'm A Victim. Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone.

Editorial : How sad ! Thanks to, Bro. Mike Stanley for this one.

Managers Overpaid, Not Workers !

Managers, Not Workers, Overpaid in Manufacturing Jobs
by James Parks, Feb 17, 2009

Some pundits and lawmakers—Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) comes to mind—falsely claim that union workers are overpaid and are to blame for the decline of U.S. manufacturing. But a new report, released last week by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), busts that myth and shows the convenient conventional wisdom to be wrong. EPI economist Josh Bivens lays out the facts in Squandering the Blue-Collar Advantage, which show that U.S. manufacturing’s blue-collar workforce, far from destroying U.S. competitiveness, is actually one of the key elements making a positive contribution to competitiveness—a contribution being undermined by a variety of other factors. Click here to read the entire report. Says Bivens: If the story of U.S. manufacturing began and ended with its blue-collar workers, the outcome would be far different from what we’re seeing today. In hourly pay and productivity, U.S. manufacturing workers give their companies a significant competitive edge—one that is being drained away by other negative forces. Bivens identifies three key factors undermining U.S. competitiveness: The overvalued U.S. dollar, which artificially drives up the price of U.S. goods abroad and drives down the cost of foreign-produced goods here. Over the past 10 years, this imbalance alone has created a 10 percent to 16 percent cost disadvantage for U.S. goods, compared with the previous decade.
The high cost of U.S. health care is another significant factor. Reducing these costs to the same level as our comparable trading partners could create a 4.6 percent cost advantage. U.S. managers—not workers—are overpaid. Bringing white-collar wages in line with those in comparable countries could result in a 6.4 percent cost advantage for U.S. manufacturers. Bivens adds: If we want to restore the strength of U.S. manufacturing in our economy and in the world, we have to address the real anti-competitive factors that are dragging it down. In this effort, the wages and productivity of the unionized blue-collar workforce are an important asset.

Editorial : Poor ole Bob Corker(R)TN, he just does`nt get it ! Or Does He ? Hey Bob, still have illegal aliens working for you ? Bob, are you listening ?

Buy American ! Help Yourself !

Senator John McCain wanted to be President of America. Now he tried to strip

” Buy American “out of the Stimulus Package that passed the US Senate. McCain sponsored an Amendment that would take the Buy American paragraph out of the Stimulus Package. What in the world is he thinking? Thank goodness the American people did not vote him into the White House. McCain and 29 other Republicans and 1 Independent voted for the Amendment to strip the Buy American out of the Stimulus Package. Below are the US Senators that voted to strip Buy American out of the package. All Democrat US Senators voted against stripping Buy American out of the Stimulus Package. How did your US Senator Vote. Those listed below Voted No to "Buy America"

Alexander ( R ) TN Barrasso ( R ) WY Bennett ( R ) UT

Bond ( R ) MO Bunning ( R ) KY Chambliss ( R ) GA

Coburn ( R ) OK Cochran ( R ) MS Corker ( R ) TN

Cornyn ( R) TX Crapo ( R ) ID DeMint ( R ) SC

Ensign ( R ) WY Enzi ( R ) WY Hatch ( R ) UT

Inhofe ( R ) OK Isakson ( R ) GA Johanns ( R ) NE

Kyl ( R ) AZ Lugar ( R ) IN Martinez ( R ) FL

McCain ( R ) AZ McConnell ( R ) KY Murkowski ( R ) AK

Risch ( R ) KS Roberts ( R ) KS Sessions ( R ) AL

Shelby ( R ) AL Thune ( R ) SD Wicker ( R ) MS

Lieberman ( ID ) CT

Editorial : Good ole Lamar Alexander and Bob Corker (R`s)Tennessee, are`nt we proud of Them ? Sure we are ! Both Tennessee Senators voted against Buy America ! Shame on You both. lest we forget our turncoat Lieberman.

U.S.A.`s Biggest Export is JOBS !

New Report: 30 Million Service Jobs May Be Shipped Overseas
by James Parks, Jan 23, 2009

Recent telecommunications advances, especially the Internet, could theoretically put more than 30 million U.S. jobs at risk of being exported overseas. Services previously needed to be performed domestically theoretically can be done anywhere in the world through the Internet, four U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) analysts say in an article appearing in the agency’s Monthly Labor Review (subscription required).The 160 occupations considered capable of being performed in other countries account for some 30.3 million workers, one-fifth of total U.S. employment and cover a wide array of job functions, pay rates and educational levels. More than half of the vulnerable jobs in the BLS study are professional and related occupations, including computer and mathematical science occupations and architecture and engineering jobs, and many office and administrative support occupations also are considered susceptible. Since 2000, corporations have shipped more than 525,000 white-collar overseas, according to the AFL-CIO Department for Professional Employees (DPE). Some estimates say up to 14 million middle-class jobs could be exported out of our nation in the next 10 years. Accountants, software engineers, X-ray technicians, all are losing their jobs as corporations look for low-wage workers in countries such as India and China. Meanwhile, the jobs being created in the United States often are low-wage jobs that don’t offer health coverage or ensure retirement security. Nearly one-quarter of the nation’s workers labor in jobs that generally pay less than the $8.85 hourly wage the U.S. government says it takes to keep a family of four out of poverty. Sixty percent of such workers are women, and many are people of color. Among the occupations most susceptible to being sent overseas, the BLS analysts say, are those that produce information and do not require “face-to-face” contact. Among the most vulnerable are office and administrative support jobs, with relatively low education or training requirements, including telephone operators, payroll and timekeeping clerks, and word processors and typists. Another 11 of the highest ranked jobs are professional and related occupations, which generally possess higher educational requirements. They include pharmacists, computer programmers, biochemists and biophysicists, architectural and civil drafters, financial analysts, paralegals and legal assistants.Among the occupations least likely to be shipped overseas are financial managers, food scientists and technologists, front-line retail sales managers, and training and development specialists.

Unions Save Lives in More Than One Way !

This Miracle Brought to You by America's Unions

They're calling it a miracle--the successful landing of a US Airways jet in the Hudson and subsequent rescue of all 155 passengers. They're detailing the heroism of all involved, starting with the pilot and including cabin crew, ferry crews, and first responders. What they're not telling you is that just about every single one of these heros is a union member.
There's the pilot: What might have been a catastrophe in New York — one that evoked the feel if not the scale of the Sept. 11 attack — was averted by a pilot's quick thinking and deft maneuvers, On board, the pilot, Chesley B. Sullenberger III, 57, unable to get back to La Guardia, had made a command decision to avoid densely populated areas and try for the Hudson, When all were out, the pilot walked up and down the aisle twice to make sure the plane was empty, officials said. Sullenberger is a former national committee member and the former safety chairman for the Airline Pilots Association and now represented by US Airline Pilots Association. He--and his union--have fought to ensure pilots get the kind of safety training to pull off what he did yesterday. Then there are the flight attendants: One passenger, Elizabeth McHugh, 64, of Charlotte, seated on the aisle near the rear, said flight attendants shouted more instructions: feet flat on the floor, heads down, cover your heads. They are members of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA. Yesterday's accident should remind all of us that flight attendants are first and foremost safety professionals--they should not be treated like cocktail waitresses. There are the air traffic controllers: The pilot radioed air traffic controllers on Long Island that his plane had sustained a "double bird strike." They're represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. Someday, they'll rename National Airport for the work these men and women do to keep us safe in the air.
There are the ferry crews: As the first ferry nudged up alongside, witnesses said, some passengers were able to leap onto the decks. Others were helped aboard by ferry crews.
They're represented by the Seafarers International Union. They provide safety training to their members so they're prepared for events like yesterday's accident.
There are the cops and firemen: Helicopters brought wet-suited police divers, who dropped into the water to help with the rescues. They're represented by the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association and the Uniformed Firefighters Association and Uniformed Fire Officers Association (IAFF locals).They're the men and women who performed so heroically on 9/11--and they've been fighting to make sure first responders get the equipment to do this kind of thing.
Bob Corker and Richard Shelby like to claim that union labor is a failed business model.
But I haven't heard much about Bob Corker and Richard Shelby saving 155 people's lives.
Update: Sullenberger's union membership corrected, UFOA added.

CEO Tom Kilgore Needs Another Raise !

TVA`S Disasters !

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The nation's largest public utility said Monday tests showed slightly elevated levels of contaminants in the Tennessee River downstream from an Alabama coal-waste spill, but the samples still met federal standards for safe drinking water. Results of tests performed by a private laboratory for the Tennessee Valley Authority showed the levels of more than a dozen substances were a bit higher downstream than upstream from the spill at the Widows Creek power plant, located in extreme northeast Alabama. The tests of water found elevated levels of metals including aluminum, arsenic and magnesium, but the amounts were still below the levels allowed by federal environmental regulations."So far there's nothing to be concerned about," said Jessica Stone, a spokeswoman for the Knoxville, Tenn.,-based utility. Officials in the town of Stevenson, located downstream from the Widows Creek plant, were still testing groundwater but said they were pleased with the initial tests of the river, which provides the city of nearly 1,800 with drinking water. "It's something to be concerned about ... but right now I don't think it's too big of an event," said city utilities manager Brent Blackmon. State regulators said as much as 10,000 gallons of waste spilled from a pond that is used mainly to hold water and gypsum, which is used in scrubbers that reduce emissions of sulfur dioxide emitted by burning coal. Gypsum contains calcium sulfate, and the tests showed elevated sulfate levels in the river downstream from the spill. The utility said damage from the Widows Creek spill appeared far less severe than from a spill that dumped about 1 billion gallons of coal ash at one of its plants at Kingston, Tenn., last month.TVA, which has 9 million customers in seven Southeastern states, has similar ponds in several locations.

Editorial : I know, we can give CEO Tom Kilgore another 1/2 $ million Dollar raise, that will cure the problem ! Is the Board of Director`s NUTS ! It seems to this writer, that not only is Mr. Kilgore not qualified for a raise, but he is not qualified for the job !

Union Busters Make > MONEY ! They Sell Out to GREED !

Berman Exposed’—the Facts Behind the Smoke and Mirrors
by Seth Michaels, Jan 14, 2009

Did you hear that mercury in fish isn’t dangerous, that earning a minimum wage is bad for workers and that Mothers Against Drunk Driving is a menace to society? If you have, chances are you’ve heard that from mega-lobbyist Richard Berman. Now, a new website is shining a light on the man and the money behind many, many myths. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) has launched “Berman Exposed,” a great new website detailing Berman’s background and just how he winds up in the middle of so many controversial issues. Berman is an award-winning spinner of distraction, disinformation and outright falsehood. We’ve written frequently about Berman, because he’s an influential political mercenary, the guy the biggest corporations hire when they want to keep their fingerprints off a misleading and nasty public relations campaign. He hides behind self-created organizations with deliberately misleading names like “Center for Union Facts” and “Center for Consumer Freedom.” Through these front groups and the op-eds and advertisements placed under their rubric, Berman is an industry unto himself—and a driving force behind some of the misleadingly named front groups leading the charge against the Employee Free Choice Act. When Big Business wants to hide its agenda, Berman is there to take the call—and the big check. Yet it seems the press must have Berman on speed dial, too. It’s all too rare that a news story on the Employee Free Choice Act doesn’t give the first quote to Berman or another corporate hack. He’s cited as an “expert source” instead of what he is—a bought and paid for shill. “Berman Exposed” is a useful corrective to the corporate-funded disinformation campaigns that are distorting our public debate. Thanks, CREW, for shining a light on the creepier corners of how Big Business tries to mask its influence on public policy.

Editorial :“Union busting is a field populated by bullies and built on deceit. A campaign against a union is an assault on individuals and a war on the truth. As such, it is a war without honor. The only way to bust a union is to lie, distort, manipulate, threaten, and always, always attack.

David R. Radtke`s..Letter About My Dad !

Sen`s. Richard Shelby, Bob Corker & Mitch McConnell Hate My Dad
Home > Media Center > Point of View
By David R. Radtke

David R. Radtke is a partner in the Michigan law firm of Klimist, McKnight, Sale, McClow & Canzano and a member of the AFL-CIO Lawyers Coordinating Committee. I have a confession. My father is an autoworker. I know that some people will recoil in disgust upon learning that fact, but it gets worsehe's a retired UAW autoworker and he and my mother live on a pension and have retiree health care benefits that supplement Medicare. In other words, he is public enemy #1 to Sens. Richard Shelby, Bob Corker and Jim DeMint. According to these senators, my dad and his cadre of active and retired UAW-represented autoworkers are responsible for this country's economic downturn. In the color-coded chart of America's enemies, they are right below Al Qaeda and moving up fast. My dad is despised by the right and the left. Right-wing Republican senators rail against my dad on the Senate floor because he's lazy, overpaid and coddled. For some on the left, their view of class consciousness compels them to speak out against anyone who has middle-class existence without the rigors of a college degree. My dad also is detested by the rich and the poor. Rich people don't like my dad because if workers earn good wages and benefits, it somehow diminishes their own affluence. Many poor people don't like my dad because they have dead-end, low-wage jobs, nonunion jobs with no benefits. It's America's version of class warfare, where you hate other workers that have more than you but idolize their bosses. Since I've already established that my father is the scourge of "right-thinking" Americans high school educated, union member, blue-collar job and now retired with a pension and health care benefits. But let me tell you a little more about him. My dad grew up in Hamtramck, Mich., a Polish enclave surrounded by the city of Detroit. His mother was born in Poland and his father was second generation German-Polish. My dad graduated from Hamtramck High School in 1955 and, like nearly everyone of his classmates, went into the military. After two uneventful years in the peacetime Army, he returned home and married my mother. He got a job servicing office machines and my mom worked at the phone company. None of their friends or relatives went to college. None. They all got blue-collar union jobs in factories or driving trucks or working for the government. After a few years, me and my sister were born and my mom quit her job. My dad got into a tool-and-die apprenticeship program in a small factory and served a four-year apprenticeship. He also joined the UAW and my parents bought a three-bedroom, 1,300-square-foot brick ranch in Warren, Mich. After getting his journey mans card, my dad got a job at Chrysler. He worked at various plants in Metro Detroit as a tool-and-die maker. I remember he was laid off a few times and went on strike once. When my sister and I were in grade school, he was often on the afternoon or midnight shift, so he would wake up for an hour or so in the morning to see us before school. At some point, my parents bought a small, empty lot for $1,500 on a little lake in northern Michigan. My dad and his cousins built a little two-room cabin. Other than two weeks at Disney World, we spent every vacation at that cabin. I vividly remember the tension and unease in our house when Chrysler was in deep financial trouble in the late 1970s. After Congress gave Chrysler a loan (which it paid back early, with interest) we had a gold Plymouth Volare with a bumper sticker that said: THANKS, AMERICA. When I was six years old, I had a serious medical problem that required two surgeries, extended stays in the hospital and many, many doctor visits and tests. Because my dad had UAW-negotiated health care, our family was not financially devastated. Later, my dad transferred to an office job with Chrysler's parts division where he continued to use his knowledge of tooling and parts. It also was a UAW-represented job, but it was 9-to-5, so he saw my sister and I every day. Just weeks before I was to head off to college, my dad had a heart attack shoveling snow. He was hospitalized for a short time and was off work for a couple months. Because of the UAW contract, his medical treatment was fully covered and he received sick pay. The UAW contract also guaranteed that he could return to his job when he recovered. Because of these benefits, I didn't have to drop out of college and get a job. Instead, I was able to continue my education with my parents' help and student loans.When my dad retired after nearly 30 years at Chrysler, he retired with a union-negotiated pension and retiree health care benefits that supplement Medicare. My parents still live in the same three-bedroom brick house in Warren and spend a lot of their time with their five grandchildren. Other than the short time my dad was off after the heart attack, he never missed a day of work. He raised a family and now he and my mother have a comfortable life. But dad's not alone. Most of my parents' friends live much the same life. They are now in their 70s and they have modest, secure lives. They have lived what I was taught to be the promise of this country. Each generation progresses from the previous. Every person who works has financial security, decent health care and a dignified retirement. I learned this lesson in the public schools I attended and have heard it in speeches made by many politicians. So, when did it become acceptable to be against that ideal? How can U.S. senators stand on the Senate floor and denounce millions of Americans like my dad? Workers who spent their lives raising families, paying taxes, adding to their communities and laboring in good union jobs for a middle-class life the vaunted American Dream. Well, it's not acceptable and it is those senators who should be denounced.

Editorial : I could have written this letter, it is so factual ! It is so sad to say, but our Republican Senators have become the enemy of the working class and the champions of huge wealth !

Life is Precious ! A Letter to/for "Linda"!

A Letter for Linda...1/01/09

It seems that the older I get, the more valuable life becomes! I`m not sure why ? Perhaps it is merely the reality that it is close to the ending of it, or that one has finally learned what is most valuable in life. I learned on December 29,2008 that my one and only sibling, my Sister has terminal cancer, and that it is a matter of days before her life is finished here on earth ! Linda has been fighting this cancer for about eight(8)months now, she has fought the good fight. It is now time for her family to accept this fact and make what they can of it ? There is one good thing in all of this, she is a practicing Christian. She will be in a better place ! To her husband Jerry, I say, what a wonderful Husband and Father you are ! You have stayed with her night and day and fought along side of her in this quest to avoid death. You too have fought the good fight. To her five(5) sons, I say "Thanks Guys" you too are wonderful young men. You helped aided and assisted where ever you could. Count your blessings, you had her for such a longtime. How fortunate you are/were ! Her memory will be like a blessing of life, in that you can draw on it, as you will. This writer is her one and only Brother, I can remember when we fought as all brothers and sisters do. How precious are the memory`s ! I`m not sure exactly when it happened, but we became not only friends, but close ! I`m afraid that I`ve not taken this as well, as I might have ? My eyes seem closer to my heart than they once were. You see, I too loved her. Linda' Thanks for being my Sister and all that being a sister entails. I know that when you pass from this life to heaven, what a day of reunion that will be ! Being what we are as human beings, we want to keep you here ! We know, we must let you go. it is just so difficult to do. With deep and lasting love, I remain

Your Brother, D.V. = Don

Update : My Sister Linda, passed away this morning Sunday 1/04/09 at 5:30 am. She went peacefully in her sleep...she just stopped breathing ! What a wonderful reunion took place in heaven this morning. Amen !

Holidays, Transplant Odds Go Up !

Guest column: ‘Finding the good’ in holiday tragedy
By Laura Lefler Thursday, November 27, 2008

Last Thanksgiving, my life changed forever. My younger brother and only sibling, Trey, was in a very serious car accident, and after several days in the hospital, he died from his injuries. It was Thanksgiving Day. There is no doubt that Thanksgiving, and life in general will never be the same for those who loved Trey, but I believe the timing of his death was significant. It forced us to approach even our darkest day with a spirit of gratitude. Trey and I both worked for Sen. Lamar Alexander for years, and you can’t work or even be around Sen. Alexander for very long without hearing him quote his friend Alex Haley, who said, “Find the good and praise it.”For me, part of “the good” came when we learned that Trey would die the same way he lived, by loving and giving. I like to say that Trey, more than anyone else I know, tried to live his life according to our Lord’s commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves. As a natural extension of his generous spirit he had chosen to be an organ and tissue donor and because of his loving choice at least five people were given new life: two single mothers in their 40s, a 56-year-old mother of two who had been married for 28 years, a 36-year-old gentleman who enjoyed fishing (one of Trey’s favorite pastimes) and a 62-year-old physician and father of four who had been on the transplant list for two years. My family has learned a lot about organ donation in the year since Trey’s death. In particular, we’ve experienced firsthand that while marking “yes” to organ donation is critical, it’s just as important to share your wishes with family members. As the Tennessee Donor Services Web site states: “A discussion with family now will mean a life-affirming decision later.”According to Tennessee Donor Services, Trey renewed his driver’s license at a kiosk in Nashville on May 14, 2007, and marked “yes” to organ and tissue donation. His girlfriend, Jane, also recalled a conversation with Trey just a few weeks before his death indicating his wish to donate “everything.” She remembers him saying, “I’ll be with the Big Guy. Give it all.” As we sat in the hospital waiting room, I struggled with the decision to donate his eyes. It seemed so invasive. But they were not my eyes to give. They were Trey’s. He didn’t need them in heaven, and he had made it very clear to “give it all.”Many people find talk of organ donation uncomfortable and maybe even morbid. And many people believe organ donation is a good thing, but just put off doing something about it for another day. According to TDS, a survey by the National Coalition on Donation found that 91 percent of respondents support donation, and yet 29 percent have taken no action to indicate their wishes via their driver’s license, donor card, living will or by simply telling their family.That was me. I’m embarrassed to say that I signed my driver’s license the day that Trey died. I’m so thankful that my responsible brother was not part of that 29 percent like I was. Because of his decision to be an organ donor, Trey’s story became a resurrection story. Out of death and despair came new life, and our Thanksgiving became an Easter. Through our tears, we rejoiced knowing that five families had gotten a call on Thanksgiving Day with news that their loved one would be receiving a life-giving organ. What an incredible Thanksgiving for them! True story: On my mother’s birthday last March, she was having dinner with my stepfather at a restaurant in their hometown, 250 miles from the site of Trey’s hospitalization, when a gentleman approached her and thanked her for the very special gift her son had given him. It was the 62-year-old physician and the keeper of one of Trey’s kidneys. The gift —the good — had come full circle. Laura Lefler is from Loudon and currently lives in Washington, D.C. where she serves as press secretary for U.S. Sen. Bob Corker. Before his death on Nov. 22, 2007, Trey Lefler, 25, was serving as state field representative for U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander’s re-election campaign.

Editorial : This is not only a great story, it is the "Gift of Life" at its best ! Thanks to Bro.`s RWSGW Dr. Thomas Boduch and Grand Lodge Historian, Bob Demott !

Pulmonary High Pertension~Learn More...

New support group is connecting Wyoming people affected by a rare disorder
By KRISTY GRAYStar-Tribune staff writer

Twelve patients and caregivers came to the first meeting of the Wyoming Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group held in June. The group was formed by Nancy stearns, top left, and Cricket Mitchell, bottom left. The women, both of Riverton, became friends while helping each other through their illnesses. It's not like cancer.Yes, it drains a patient's energy and robs him of his quality of life. It is expensive to treat. Like cancer, it has no cure and needs money for research.Yes, it can be fatal.But it's not like cancer. Cancer people have heard of. Cancer has support groups and places to go to for information, advice and comfort.Pulmonary Hypertension doesn't even sound that serious. People hear it and think blood pressure, something that can be controlled by medication.But this is different. PH is a rare lung disorder in which the blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries rises and can damage the heart. The heart can swell and lose the ability to pump blood through the body.Cricket Mitchell was alone in her doctor's office when she heard the diagnosis. She'd felt out of breath doing the most mundane of activities: running into the grocery store for a quick errand, climbing a flight of stairs. At first, she had chalked it up to being a little out of shape. But she was only 33 at the time, so she went to ask her doctor."He came back and told me that I had this very rare disease and that unfortunately, I could die from it. It was scary. I was in the doctor's office by myself and I was devastated," said Mitchell of Riverton, now 44.This year, she and another Riverton woman, Nancy Stearns, started a support group to help patients and caregivers deal with an illness most people haven't heard of and few, if any, Wyoming doctors specialize in.The Wyoming Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group held its first face-to-face meeting in June. The pair had spent much of the spring travelling to health fairs across the state passing out information and reaching out to people with the disease."Because it's such a rare disease and it's so isolating and limiting, we knew that we needed support. And because we knew that, we knew that others needed it as well," Stearns said.Mitchell's story began like the stories of many other PH patients: She couldn't breath doing the most menial of tasks. She was diagnosed with primary PH in 1997, meaning hers wasn't a complication of another condition.She went on oxygen full time. When her condition didn't improve, Mitchell's doctor wanted her to start a medication called Flolan, which is still undergoing FDA approval. But she felt like a guinea pig and didn't want to live with side effects that sounded worse than the condition. She decided to put it off as long as she could.In 2002, her doctor told her it wasn't working. She was a walking time bomb. Her heart had enlarged so much that it was practically encased inside her rib cage. If it were to rupture, there'd be no bringing her back.In the kindest words he could manage, her doctor told Mitchell that if she were his wife or his daughter, he'd tell her to go on the medication.Now, Mitchell mixes the Flolan every morning. It is continuously administered through a heart catheter. At 44, she breaths through oxygen tubes day and night.Her doctor, a specialist in Denver, asked if she wanted to talk to any of his other PH patients to find out more. But she pictured people in their 50s and 60s and couldn't relate to them, so she declined."I thought, 'They don't know what I'm going through.' I felt like they weren't in my age group so I would just deal with this by myself."Across town, another Riverton woman was facing her own diagnosis. Stearns was an English teacher at Riverton High School. Just walking to the office to get her messages left her winded and out of breath. She couldn't remember how to spell words at the chalk board and couldn't lead a classroom discussion without the most detailed of outlines.She was diagnosed with secondary PH caused by her severe sleep apnea. Her specialist, also based in Denver, put her on oxygen. She wore the tank all day and all night.Faced with the possibility of going on Flolan, Stears called Mitchell asking for advice. The two became friends.And then they got to thinking: Wouldn't it be nice to have a group closer than those in Salt Lake and Denver where they could talk about mixing medications, living with oxygen, heart catheters and pumps? They had found each other, there had to be others in Wyoming.So they formed their own group. At the June meeting, people from across the state shared their stories, their tears and their triumphs."It's not a visible disease unless someone is on oxygen. We all have to drive considerable distances to treat this. We just felt the need to connect," Stearns said."It was an emotional meeting. Everyone sharing their frustrations, not just the patients but also the caregivers. We were really quite charged up after the June meeting."One of our major goals of the group is to educate. Not just the patients, but the public and the doctors."Though her PH is being managed, learning about the disease has become a passion for Stearns. She figures it's the teacher in her, the need to learn about it and pass on what she's learned to patients, doctors and the public.Lora Knight, 51, of Green River, said the support group has been invaluable."Especially in Wyoming, we're just not a very populated state," she said. "It's just knowing you're not battling a disease by yourself. We don't necessarily like talk to each other every day, but it's knowing that they are there if you need them."Knight has been married for 31 years and has three daughters and six grandchildren. She was diagnosed eight years ago, her PH developing from an autoimmune disease called scleroderma. By the time her doctors found it, they figured she was within two years of dying, she said.Her best weapon against the disease is her positive attitude, as cliche as that might sound. That last time she went to see her specialist in Salt Lake City, he exclaimed: Eight years! Can you believe it? Isn't that great!Now, she wears a pump that administers her medicine, Remodulin, continuously into her arm. Her grandchildren now know to look for the pump so they climb into Grandma's other arm. She's worn her oxygen tubes so long that she feels weird without them.The first year on her medication, it cost $24,000 a month and she has long since hit the $1 million mark for her care. But now, major medical coverage pays much of the cost.Knight looks forward to seeing her doctor for another eight years, even it means travelling to Salt Lake City every three to six months.And she looks forward to more meetings of the support group, though Wyoming weather and distance will keep face-to-face meetings to just a few a year."It's like a family kind of feeling. They're like the extended relatives you see once a year at holidays," Knight said."But I wish those holidays came around more often."Pulmonary Hypertension* What it is: Continuous high blood pressure in the pulmonary artery in the lungs, resulting in an enlarged heart, which can also lose its ability to pump. It can affect people of all age levels and ethnic backgrounds.* Symptoms: Because its early symptoms are similar to those of other conditions, PH is often not diagnosed until the disease is quite advanced. Symptoms include chest pain, breathlessness, low energy, dizziness and fainting, swollen ankles and legs, bluish lips and skin.* Treatments: Until 1990, there were no accepted treatments for PH. Because there are no known PH specialists in Wyoming, patients often have to travel out of state. Some Wyoming doctors have expressed interest in specializing in the disease and some Billings, Mont., doctors have come to the Cody area to see patients, said Nancy Stearns, cofounder of the Wyoming Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group.Many treatments are expensive and highly invasive, requiring the use of a pump that continuously administers medicine into the heart by an indwelling catheter. Other treatments include heart and lung transplants, supplemental oxygen and medication.* Prognosis: The length of survival seems to be improving with some patients able to manage the disease for 15 to 20 years or longer. With continuing research, specialists hope patients will survive even longer and a cure may someday be found.* Information: Contact the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, 800-748-7274, www.phassociation.org -- Source: Pulmonary Hypertension AssociationThe support groupThe Wyoming Pulmonary Hypertension Support Group was founded in April by Nancy Sterns and Cricket Mitchell, both of Riverton.The pair wanted to give a voice to other patients with PH and be a source of information and support to caregivers and patients who have few outreach options in Wyoming. The pair went to health fairs across the state handing out information and looking for PH patients.The group had its first face-to-face meeting in June with about a dozen patients and caregivers. They had a second meeting in September.Sterns and Mitchell hope to host a meeting twice a year. They also put out a newsletter and are networking with PH patients and caregivers from around Wyoming through e-mail and phone calls.To learn more, contact Nancy Sterns at 1206 Timber Lane, Riverton, WY 82501, 307-856-6976 or at pinnut3200@yahoo.com. Visit the Web site at http://tinyrul.com/ywb6e3.

Its The VEBA, VEBA, VEBA...

Auto Executives Come Back to DC to Request a Much-Needed LoanExecutives from General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC made a second attempt on Thursday for federal assistance -- this time for $34 billion -- before the Senate. However, their encore appearance brought "fresh skepticism," according to the Associated Press. A hearing before the House is slated for today (Friday). United Auto Workers (UAW) leaders agreed to let the cash-starved automakers delay billions of dollars in payments to a union-administered trust - called a VEBA, or voluntary employee beneficiary association. The VEBA is set to take over health care for blue-collar retirees starting in 2010, but a $7 billion contribution that GM owes its VEBA could be postponed indefinitely. The auto companies and the UAW agreed to establish the VEBA as a way to transfer future hourly retiree health-care costs off the automakers' books. The VEBA will be funded by employer and employee contributions, including wage deferrals and modified retiree benefits. Several autoworkers pointed out that delaying payments to the retiree health-care trust agreed to in last year's contract means postponing a cost-cutting measure. By 2010, the VEBA trust will cut employer costs for retiree healthcare at Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors by 50%, saving tens of billions of dollars at each company. "The main reason our competitors in the United States have lower costs for retiree benefits is not because they don't have union contracts; it's because they only recently began to have U.S. retirees. In addition, the majority of retirees from companies such as Honda, Toyota, and BMW live in countries where universal, national health systems provide quality, affordable healthcare."

Editorial : Our Elected officials on capitol hill must share/shoulder in the blame for this !

Meet Tom Kilgore~CEO TVA

Tom Kilgore
President and Chief Executive Officer...TVA

Tom Kilgore was named President and Chief Executive Officer of the Tennessee Valley Authority in October 2006, having served as Acting CEO since March 2006. He was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer in March 2005. He is responsible for managing all aspects of TVA, including power production, transmission, power trading, resource management programs, and economic development, as well as TVA’s corporate functions. He heads TVA’s Executive Committee and chairs its Business Council. Kilgore came to TVA from Progress Ventures, where he served as president and chief executive officer. Progress Ventures is a subsidiary of Progress Energy. The company has a diverse portfolio of energy-related businesses in fuel extraction, transportation, energy marketing, energy trading, and other areas. Kilgore previously served as president and chief executive officer of Oglethorpe Power Corporation in Georgia. He joined Oglethorpe in 1984 and held numerous management positions, becoming president and chief executive officer in 1991 and serving in that capacity until 1998. Prior to joining Oglethorpe he worked for Arkansas Power and Light Company and for the U.S. Department of Defense at Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas. Kilgore serves on the board of directors of the American Museum of Science and Energy Foundation and has served on the boards of directors of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce, the Electric Power Research Institute, and the United States Council for Energy Awareness. He has also been a member of the industry advisory board of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. A native of Alabama, Kilgore earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama and a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Texas A&M University. He served in the U.S. Army from 1970 to 1972. In 2002, he was inducted into the State of Alabama Engineering Hall of Fame. Kilgore and his wife, Myra, have a daughter, two sons, and four grandchildren.

Editorial : He also makes very good/too much money !

Tennessee Valley Authority ~ CEO Tom Kilgore...Big Raise !

TVA Raises CEO's Pay to $3.27 Million

Reported by: Associated Press Email:

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TVA Approves Huge Rate Increase That Will Affect Your MLGW Bill
MLGW Customers Affected by TVA Rate HikeEyewitness News
By ROSE FRENCH Associated Press Writer NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) --

The Tennessee Valley Authority board has approved increasing the utility chief executive's compensation by nearly a half million dollars.The increase comes a month after the largest power rate increase in three decades took effect.Meeting in Nashville, board members approved improving President and CEO Tom Kilgore's compensation from about $2.7 million to $3.27 million, effective with the next fiscal year.Kilgore's base salary of $650,000 has remained the same since he became CEO in 2006. He said after the meeting he would not decline the board's decision to raise it to $850,000. On Oct. 1, TVA put an effective 20 percent electricity rate increase into effect, raising the average residential monthly power bill by between $15.80 and $19.80.

Editorial : Poor Ole Tom, I do not see how he gets by ? It seems that not only CEO`S of Major Corporations get obscene pay amounts, but now the public sector is trying to catch up ! I have learned today that your rates will only increase by 15% instead of 20% ! The cheaper oil rates are the cause. I kinda believe that it was, because you the public turned up the heat on Ole Tom Kilgore CEO. Mr. Kilgore gets a half million more, you get 5% off !

Tennessee County Clerks~Organ/Donor Awareness Program

Organ/Donation...The Gift of Life !
By: Don Jones...11/12/08

I have today visited my County Court Clerk in Dresden Tennessee to purchase my license plate for my old truck, cost $65.00 per year. The real cost is $64.00, but back a few years ago, our clerks adopted the Organ/Donor program across the state of Tennessee. When you purchase your license plates, you can donate $1.00 to the County Court Clerks Organ/Donor Awareness program. What a nice thing to do ! These clerks were not mandated to this, they volunteered. My/Our County Court Clerk, Ms. Pat Scarborough not only does a great job, but is on the statewide board to oversee this wonderful life saving project. "Thank You" Pat ! She not only works hard on this program that is close to my heart (no pun intended) but, she has a nice clear collection box on her counter, where she serves us/you, kinda like McDonald's has on their counter. She said today, that she does quite well in her on counter collections. So, when you are in her office to purchase your plates or for any other business, that you might have with her office, donate to her/our Organ/Donor Awareness fund for Tennesseans across this state who are waiting on life saving organs. So, my hat is off to the Tennessee County Court Clerks association, who do such a great work for this program !

"Give The Gift of life, Be an Organ/Tissue Donor, it`s The Masonic Thing to Do"!