This article should be a “no-brainer” for anyone paying attention but I cant seem to go a month without someone complaining in some way about unions.
With all the talk about our shrinking middle class, with wages stagnant and not keeping up with the cost of living and with jobs more scarce then ever it amazes me that so many people believe that unions aren’t worth having, it seems to me that things are already much worse then they would be if unions were implemented more widely.
In Europe unions are even part of government, businesses don’t get away with spreading lies to the middle class. In the U.S. businesses have convinced the public that having better conditions and good wages is something extraordinary, something they shouldnt expect, its sad and hopefully with this massive recession the people will wake up and fight for something better.
Union members in low-wage occupations on average earn a great deal more than nonunion workers in the same occupations, often lifting their earnings above the official poverty level. For example, union cashiers in 2006 earned an average of $11.87—46 percent more than nonunion workers in the same occupation. Over a year’s time, having a union card could translate into more than $7,800 in additional pay for such a low wage worker. While the nonunion cashier’s earnings, on average, leaves a worker $3,746 below the poverty line for a family of four, the union cashier’s earnings, on average, brings the worker $4,075 above the poverty line for a family of four.
I have never seen more lies told about single payer care than by conservative Americans.
I have heard Americans say that Canadians cant chose our doctors, that Canadians wait years for treatment, all nonsense and I suppose it shouldn’t be a suprise, industry in the U.S. has been spending a lot of money to spread those lies.
What can I say? I feel bad for Americans and with Obamas slipping popularity it seems the lies are being accepted by the public.
Washington, D.C. – A campaign finance watchdog’s analysis of insurance and HMO political contributions and lobbying expenses found the industries spent $126,430,438 over the first half of 2009 and $585,725,712 over the past two and a half years to influence public policy and elected officials. The group, Public Campaign Action Fund, found that in the first part of 2009, the industries were spending money at nearly a $700,000 a day clip to influence the political process and that the monthly pace of political spending this year has increased by nearly $400,000 over the average spent per month in the previous two years.
In addition to PAC contributions to our “public servants,” that’s funding 875 registered lobbyists for the insurance industry, and 920 for the HMOs. Which really is hardly a drop in the bucket for the industry, when you take into consideration their CEO compensation, which ranges from $3 million to $24 million.
Nice to know what our premiums are paying for, huh? We could cut out the middleman here. We could start giving all the money we’re spending on premiums directly to our representative and Senators. Maybe then they’d listen to us, the people who hired them, when it comes to vote.
This is why I love this guy, shame the U.S. doesnt have him as president.
Dennis Kucinich Sets Dr. David Gratzer Straight
Ah yes, I’m not surprised that psychiatrist David Gratzer testified this week that the Canadian healthcare system is just awful and how the poor deprived Canadians are simply pouring across the border to the Mayo Clinic to get specialized medical care.
Oddly enough, he forgot to mention that the Canadian government was not only sending them across the border, they were picking up the check. Yes, it’s a system so awful, even Canadian conservatives defend it.
How gratifying it was, to see Dennis Kucinich lay the smackdown on this guy.
…
You’re probably not aware that for the past decade or so, right-wing American groups have been pouring a lot of money into Canada to undermine their health system. (Can you guess why? I knew you could! So American health care corporations can make a killing there, too!)
Dr. Gratzer’s biggest thing is hammering away on wait times – even though the long wait times are mostly for non-urgent care. (You can read a rebuttal about many of the common myths here.) He also thinks the way to bring down the cost of prescription drugs is… to cut back on those pesky FDA requirements!
So Vancouver cracks down on the poor and homeless, doesnt do anything to help the renoviction problem and now they are hoping to corral protesters into a small space to control them.
We are turning into the U.S. every day and I cant help but wonder what the point of our country is anymore. Time to move to South America or Europe? Its getting worse and worse here.
From the article:
The head of security for the 2010 Games, RCMP assistant commissioner Bud Mercer, told Vancouver city council on Tuesday, however, that protesters will not be required to limit their activities to the areas.
You’re free to use them, if you like, but anywhere you participate in lawful protest is legal and lawful in Canada. It doesn’t have to be in a free speech area,” said Mercer.
I cant say im suprised, I just expected him to say he slept with a teddy bear.
U.S. President George W. Bush is prone to bouts of crying caused by the stress of his job, and claims to have seen ghosts emerge from the Lincoln Bedroom in the White House, according to a new book on his presidency.
In a series of remarkably candid admissions by a sitting president, Mr. Bush confides to author John Draper that he has been “sustained by the discipline of the faithful experience” during the most difficult days of his presidency.
“I’ve got God’s shoulder to cry on. And I cry a lot,” Mr. Bush says in Dead Certain: The Presidency of George W. Bush, which was released to U.S. bookstores yesterday.
“I do a lot of crying in this job. I’ll bet I’ve shed more tears than you can count, as president. I’ll shed some tomorrow.”
Hampered by some of the worst approval ratings of any U.S. president, Mr. Bush reveals that he tries to keep the mood at the White House “relatively lighthearted,” and that his wife, Laura, often gives him a gentle reproach to jolt him out of his gloomier moods.
“She reminds me that I decided to do this. Nobody decided it but me,” Mr. Bush says.
“Self-pity is the worst thing that can happen to a presidency. This is a job where you can have a lot of self-pity.”
Well we all should know that cops are capable of many deceitful and sleazy tactics, this is one of the latest and while it chills me to be reminded how disgusting our so called peace officers can be I have to say I smiled happily to realize that these three assholes were caught.
Now I am just waiting for people to recognize the faces of these pieces of shit so we can expose them as cops in front of the entire country.
What a shameful act by our enforcement agency.
Here is a picture of the face of one of the cops from the video clip.
Lets try to get some internet power behind this, pass this image on to friends and friends of friends, lets see if we cant figure out who exactly these guys are.
The U.S. is by far the richest country in the world, they spend the most on health care despite having tens of millions without coverage and they are now ranked forty-first in how long their citizens live.
What does America stand for?
Apparently corruption and money trump health, education and justice to the Americans in power.
Americans are living longer than ever, but not as long as people in 41 other countries.
For decades, the United States has been slipping in rankings of life expectancy, as other countries improve healthcare, nutrition and lifestyles.
Countries that surpass the United States include Japan and most of Europe, as well as Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands.
“Something’s wrong here when one of the richest countries in the world, the one that spends the most on healthcare, is not able to keep up with other countries,” said Christopher Murray, head of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington.
Saturday, December 5th, 2009
No Comments 
Posted by The Left Populist in Activism, Local, Politics, U.S.A. 
