Franklin County Democrats

Amid more discoveries of continuing problems concerning improperly marked graves and overall mis-management at Arlington National Cemetery, a Senate oversight committee chaired by Senator Claire McCaskill revealed that there were possibly thousands of unmarked or improperly marked gravesites at Arlington. As a result of these hearings, in December of last year, legislation introduced by Senator McCaskill was passed by the Senate. This legislation will codify the new organizational structure and ensure that management at Arlington is accountable to Congress.  In a recent statement released by Senator McCaskill she states:

I am outraged at the problems that continue to surface at Arlington National Cemetery. Families who have loved ones buried there deserve so much better than this. These are our heroes. This is the most sacred ground we have in the United States. We’ve got to make sure we get this right.

Watch video of McCaskill speaking on the Senate floor about the legislation

Check out this video of what is required to work on a cell/satellite tower.  To make it even more interesting put yourself in the shoes of the workers that built this tower originally. 

The video starts after the animated commercial, strap yourself in and here we go!  http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player.swf?config=http://www.liveleak.com/mp53/player_config.php?token=07b_1284580365%26embed=1

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial board makes an interesting observation:

Some six years ago, after lawyers for AmerenUE had written a bill making it easier for Missouri utilities to pass on costs to consumers, the company needed a state senator to sponsor it. It turned to Sen. John Griesheimer, R-Washington.

Mr. Griesheimer got the job done. Senate Bill 179 became law.

Last fall, as term limits closed in, Mr. Griesheimer ran for presiding commissioner of Franklin County and was elected in November. Because his predecessor, Republican Ed Hillhouse, had resigned to take over the East-West Gateway Council of Governments, Mr. Griesheimer took office right away.

And before Mr. Griesheimer could even get his chair warm, who does he see before him with a controversial piece of business for the Franklin County Commission but his old friends at AmerenUE?

The “controversial piece of business” the Post’s editorial refers to is the pending land use regulation that could allow Ameren to build its soon-to-be proposed toxic coal ash landfill in the Labadie Bottoms floodplain. So yeah, Griesheimer’s cozy relationship with Ameren is a problem. It seems pretty clear where his allegiance lie. But as the Post’s editorial rightly points out, thanks to the bill he sponsored, Senate Bill 179, the utility can now pass the costs of finding a safer way to store its waste on to ratepayers.

Nice job, John.

“What do freelancers in L.A., NYC, and Topeka have in common? That’s what Freelancers Union wants to find out! While independent workers constitute a considerable segment of the workforce, there is limited information about these workers. Freelancers Union aims to fill that knowledge gap through their Annual Independent Worker Survey. They use the survey results to inform the public (2009’s survey results covered by The Wall Street Journal and USA Today) and policymakers about issues that affect independent workers and to shape their advocacy agenda to push for legislative changes. Their 2009 survey results showed that 40% of freelancers had trouble getting paid in that year alone, and Freelancers Union was able to push policymakers to introduce legislation (The Freelancer Payment Protection Act) in New York State to help combat client nonpayment. Needless to say, the more respondents, the better the data, so take a few minutes to complete the survey.”

Link to survey:  www.surveywriter.net/in/survey/survey937/2010Advocacy.asp

Thanks,

Althea Erickson
Associate Director of Advocacy and Policy

This week’s chapter from Thom Hartmann’s Rebooting the American Dream is Wal-Mart is not a Person!  Another fantastic chapter that will expand your view of how we got into the situation this country is in.  Thom mentions his book Unequal Protection which I have read and encourage you to check out at your earliest convenience for an in-depth look at how corporations have been granted all the rights of personhood without actually being a person.  This is at the root of many ills facing this country.

http://www.truth-out.org/wal-mart-is-not-a-person66831

In 2003, after my book Unequal Protection was first published, I gave a talk at one of the larger law schools in Vermont. Around 300 people showed up, mostly students, with a few dozen faculty and some local lawyers. I started by asking, “Please raise your hand if you know that in 1886, in the Santa Clara County v. Southern Pacific Railroad case, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons and therefore entitled to rights under the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.”

Almost everyone in the room raised their hand, and the few who didn’t probably were new enough to the law that they hadn’t gotten to study that case yet. Nobody questioned the basic premise of the statement.

And all of them were wrong.

During the Vietnam War, herbicides were used to destroy jungle foliage in order to expose enemy troops. These herbicides, including Agent Orange, may have harmed some veterans who were exposed to them. Compensation and care is available to Veterans suffering from illnesses or disabilities proven to be related to exposure to Agent Orange. Any Veteran who served in Vietnam between Jan 9th, 1962 and May 7th., 1975 is presumed to have been exposed to Agent Orange and therefore eligible. There are also monetary allowances available to children of Vietnam Veterans who suffer from spina bifida and other birth defects as identified by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs as there are instances where birth defects have been determined to be a direct result of a parent’s exposure to Agent Orange..

continue reading…

Happy Birthday – Martin Luther King

January 15^th is the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr.  Many know that Mr. King was one of the most prominent Civil Rights Leaders in America but are unaware of his close relationship with the Labor Movement.

In fact, he was killed in Memphis, TN on April 4, 1968 while helping the sanitation workers in their battle to achieve recognition of their union rights.  This brief nine-minute video tells that story and features one of Martin Luther King’s last speeches – and one of my favorites.  Enjoy your holiday!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBDgH435oaU&feature=related

Freddie Mac recently instructed its mortgage providers to hold off starting foreclosure proceedings against service members who are released from active duty. These companies must now wait at least 9 months from date of discharge before taking any kind of foreclosure action.
Any veteran or service member should contact their mortgage provider for more information. The Department of Veterans affairs can also assist you in resolving issues you may have concerning this. The VA does have the ability to intercede on the behalf of the service member to help arrange an alternative option to foreclosure. For more info on this contact the VA at 1-877-827-3702 (toll-free)

How’s Your Retirement Fantasy?

While watching a ball game the other day a commercial about retirement planning caught my attention.  The ad featured an animated gentleman complaining about other commercials that focused on retirement planning.  His point was the overwhelming disconnect between how the advertising world portrayed retirement and his reality “I just want to retire comfortably; I don’t want to sail around the world or buy a vineyard.  My goal is to take care of myself and our family, a vineyard – really?”

 While post-work fantasies play out in the media world, the real world reveals just how lofty a goal taking care of oneself in retirement is going to be – really!

 According to a recent article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Take charge of 401(k) to keep retirement in sight  ”People are not even close to where they need to be in total savings,” said Laurie Nordquist, director of Wells Fargo Institutional Retirement. “Barring a miracle, a winning lottery ticket or a big inheritance, they’re going to be forced to dramatically cut back their lifestyles after retirement.”

If that isn’t bad enough consider that 1 in 3 Americans has ZERO in any retirement account .

Even worse, 43% of Americans have less than ten thousand dollars in retirement savings (Business Insider).

Retirement Security is also facing tremendous pressure from the decline of Defined-Benefit Pensions.  According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), single-employer Defined-Benefit Pension plans have declined from 92,000 on 1990 to under 29,000 in 2009.

This trend is accelerating as almost every labor dispute in the last two years has included employer demands to either eliminate Defined-Benefit Pension plans or “grandfather” existing workers while removing the option for newer workers and substituting Defined-Contribution or 401(k) plans ( UAW-Big 3,  Steelworkers-Honeywell in Metropolis, IL  and Machinists – Boeing).

 Of course, the corporate media has served as cheerleader for this push to rid their fellow corporations and advertisers of responsibilities associated with Defined-Benefit Pensions and has recently turned its attention to Public Sector Workers with a zeal only a cheerleader could aspire to.  This story on 60 minutes is one example.  Economist Dean Baker puts the 60 minutes story into context  . 

That said, it is apparent the “3 legged stool” of retirement – Private Pensions, Personal Savings, and Social Security is wobbling like a drunken sailor on the Titanic.  With Defined-Benefit Pensions in decline, 401(k)’s underperforming, and savings almost non-existent it seems like an odd time for crotchety Alan Simpson and the Deficit Commission to propose reducing Social Security benefits. 

 A recent study by Mark Rank of Washington University in St. Louis showed more than half of Seniors are at risk for Poverty.  Considering Social Security provides over forty percent of the average recepients income, now is not the time to reduce benefits because its surplus has been used for war and tax cuts for the rich.

 Declining retirement security will affect younger Americans directly as fewer jobs become available because Seniors are forced to keep working just to get by.  One of the reasons Franklin Roosevelt pushed for Social Security was to provide an incentive for older workers to retire and create job openings for younger workers.  This same thought process was behind the “30 and Out” Pensions bargained by former UAW President and TIME “Man of the Year” Walter Reuther.

 To avoid this oncoming disaster for American Seniors we should,

 Enact policies that encourage Defined-Benefit Pensions.  The 401(k) experiment has failed the majority of Americans.

 At least, maintain Social Security which will only require modest changes (Check out the chart of where the U.S. stands on retirement benefits among the industrial nations.  Hint: about the same as health care ranking).   

 Expand Social Security 

I look forward to your comments on this issue. 

This week we feature Chapter 9 of Thom Hartmanns, Rebooting the American Dream – Put Lou Dobbs Out To Pasture.   This is my favorite chapter so far and explores several aspects of the wage stagnation/job insecurity/declining middle class elements of the American economy.

Under the guise of satisfying a consumer demand for low prices, multinationals have accelerated outsourcing ever since the Reagan years and pushed the “free trade” and “globalization” ideology that has given us the NAFTA and GATT/WTO processes initiated under President George H. W. Bush and finished by President Bill Clinton. As a direct result, American blue-collar workers saw their jobs vanish as factories making things from jeans to precision tools moved to Mexico and other countries. Not to worry, the Bush and Clinton administrations assured workers, just learn new skills so you can join the “service economy,” which included millions of new “Do you want fries with that?” and “Welcome to Wal-Mart” jobs, and the wonderful new Internet that would bring millions of new computer software and hardware engineering jobs to America.