LOUISVILLE /JEFFERSON COUNTY

DEMOCRATIC PARTY NEWSLETTER

Week of March 27, 2009

The link to this electronic newsletter is being e-mailed to 7,500+

Jefferson County Democrats 

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CLICK HERE FOR CURRENT LIST OF EVENTS

Updated on a regular basis

The Louisville/Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee meets the 4th Wednesday of every month at 5:00 pm at Democratic Headquarters,           

640 Barret Avenue .

 

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Gov. Beshear Announces KCTCS Career Transitions Initiative to Assist Displaced Workers

Gov. Steve Beshear and Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) President Michael B. McCall announced today a KCTCS Career Transitions initiative designed to provide Kentuckians who have lost their jobs with workforce training in high-growth, high-wage fields.

“The KCTCS Career Transitions program is a key ingredient in our efforts to transform the state’s economy during these challenging economic times,” said Gov. Beshear. “Kentucky’s two-year colleges are perfectly positioned to provide the workers with the skills and training they need to succeed in today’s marketplace.”

The KCTCS year-long initiative is being offered through its statewide system of 16 colleges and features a 50 percent tuition scholarship for up to six credit hours per term (spring, summer and fall) in open enrollment courses along with personalized assistance in navigating the college admissions process.  Each KCTCS college will provide displaced Kentucky workers with a coordinator to acclimate them to the campus and its resources.  The colleges will also provide: a streamlined admissions process; assistance in filing for state and federal financial aid; and advising and training sessions that maximize the students’ opportunity for success and re-employment. Kentucky residents who have become unemployed and have filed for unemployment benefits since Oct. 1, 2008 are eligible for the program.

“The KCTCS Career Transitions program is part of a workforce competitiveness initiative we have launched to enhance Kentucky’s capacity to meet current and future job needs,” said Dr. McCall. “As the primary provider of workforce training and education in Kentucky, we are working to ensure that our programs and services align with both current and future needs of business and industry.”

Kentucky’s seasonally adjusted preliminary unemployment rate for January 2009 climbed to a 22-year high of 8.7 percent from December 2008’s revised 7.6 percent, according to the Office of Employment and Training (OET), an agency of the Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet. The January rate was the highest in Kentucky since the 8.9 percent jobless rate recorded in March 1987.

 “I’ve never been laid off or had to rely on unemployment until now,” said Robert Lake a non-traditional student at Elizabethtown Community and Technical College (ECTC).  “ECTC was there for me…they had the answers I was looking for.  The program I am enrolled in is allowing me to obtain an education in something I’ve always wanted to do.”

All KCTCS colleges are working with local Workforce Investment Boards and other agencies to inform dislocated workers of the education resources that are available and to coordinate their efforts.  Additionally each college has developed specific workforce training programs to meet the specific needs of their local community.

 

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OFF TO THE RACES

New President Meets New Media, By Charlie Cook

 

It was hard to hear both second-guessing and criticism of President Obama's decision to go on ESPN to discuss his picks for the NCAA men's basketball tournament and to appear on "The Tonight Show With Jay Leno."

 

Add a rather unusual taping for Sunday night's "60 Minutes" and it was one of the most unusual weeks of presidential television appearances to date. It was at least the most unusual for any elected official since then-Gov. Rod Blagojevich's pre-impeachment media tour.

 

One Bush pollster privately warned that the White House was risking overexposure. Others wondered whether it was the right time for a president to push nontraditional media exposure at a time of great financial crisis and with two wars occurring.

 

But the Gallup Organization's three-night tracking polls (with 1,500 interviews over three nights and 3-point error margin) suggest the White House need not be worried. Obama's job-approval rating in the Gallup poll had been at 62 percent, with 27 percent disapproval, through Thursday night, before his Leno appearance aired. But Gallup's Thursday-Saturday and Friday-Sunday samples showed Obama's approval at 65 percent, with 26 disapproving.

 

This is hardly significant movement, and I'm not necessarily arguing that his approval ratings increased because of those appearances. Nevertheless, his approval certainly didn't take a significant hit because he went on either. At this point, there was no other reason for his numbers to improve, what with the public being mostly preoccupied with wanting to tar and feather American International Group bonus recipients. At the very least it suggests that the administration didn't take an immediate hit over the bonuses.

 

For those who have been in or watched politics closely for many years, it's hard to adjust to this new media age, but conventional ways of communicating with voters might not be adequate, with fewer reading newspapers and news magazines, watching television news or listening to conventional radio news programming.

 

This means you have to reach into the corners of the electorate to find those who aren't reading or watching traditional news. These voters can be tapped with Oprah, ESPN, or Leno or David Letterman.

 

Apart from those who because of partisanship or ideology are predisposed to be critical to begin with, an avid sports fan and ESPN-watcher who has just finished his or her own NCAA brackets isn't likely to be offended seeing a president offer his basketball picks. Similarly, a Leno viewer isn't likely to find offense in his appearances there (although it may be going too far for the president to appear on either "House" or "Law And Order," my two favorite shows).

 

But at the same time, just because a medium is new doesn't make it a great idea. I have yet to hear a single intelligent remark twittered by an elected official and was embarrassed for the Congress watching so many members Twittering away on the House floor during the president's speech last month. The vacuous utterances Twittered daily from members of Congress make me wonder how they have the time to spend keying in on such banalities and marveling over the narcissism implicit in their belief that anyone cares about their every single thought and reaction to contemporaneous events.

 

Further, with members several times a week having to explain why they Twittered some inappropriate remark (it is hard to blame these on staff), it serves as a reminder to all of us that once "send" is hit, there is no recalling anything. But it appears that the goal of appearing hip, relevant and accessible overrules good taste and judgment, so the Twitters continue. But before members hit send again, they might want to ask themselves whether the content of the message is really going to impress anyone with its brilliance. The answer is probably no.

 

Still, this is a new communication age. Traditional judgments might leave opportunities unmet. When the Obama campaign last summer decided to hold the Thursday night Democratic National Convention session and their candidate's acceptance speech at the Denver Broncos' football stadium, a lot of us older folks wondered whether it was too risky, or whether inclement weather, traffic or a lousy sound system might mar the most important night of the convention. Of course, it went off like clockwork and probably made Ronald Reagan's media maven Michael Deaver smile down from the heavens in approval.

 

One important caveat is that whether one likes and agrees politically with Obama or not, he is a skilled communicator on the same scale as Reagan, so a "kids, don't try this at home" warning is probably necessary. These aren't chances for the typical elected official or candidate, only for those particularly gifted.

 

This is a new day, with new approaches. Some will work, and some won't. But it looks like Obama's trifecta of unconventional television appearances worked out positively.

 

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Labor Agency Is Failing Workers, Report Says

The federal agency charged with enforcing minimum wage, overtime and many other labor laws is failing in that role, leaving millions of workers vulnerable, Congressional auditors have found.

In a report scheduled to be released Wednesday, the Government Accountability Office found that the agency, the Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division, had mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers.

In one case, the division failed to investigate a complaint that under-age children in Modesto, Calif., were working during school hours at a meatpacking plant with dangerous machinery, the G.A.O., the nonpartisan auditing arm of Congress, found.

When an undercover agent posing as a dishwasher called four times to complain about not being paid overtime for 19 weeks, the division’s office in Miami failed to return his calls for four months, and when it did, the report said, an official told him it would take 8 to 10 months to begin investigating his case.

“This investigation clearly shows that Labor has left thousands of actual victims of wage theft who sought federal government assistance with nowhere to turn,” the report said. “Unfortunately, far too often the result is unscrupulous employers’ taking advantage of our country’s low-wage workers.”

The report pointed to a cavalier attitude by many Wage and Hour Division investigators, saying they often dropped cases when employers did not return calls and sometimes told complaining workers that they should file lawsuits, an often expensive and arduous process, especially for low-wage workers.

During the nine-month investigation, the report said, 5 of the 10 labor complaints that undercover agents filed were not recorded in the Wage and Hour Division’s database, and three were not investigated. In two cases, officials recorded that employers had paid back wages, even though they had not.

The accountability office also investigated hundreds of cases that it said the Wage and Hour Division had mishandled. In one, the division waited 22 months to investigate a complaint from a group of restaurant workers. Ultimately, investigators found that the workers were owed $230,000 because managers had made them work off the clock and had misappropriated tips. When the restaurant agreed to pay back wages but not the tips, investigators simply closed the case.

In another case, the accountability office found that workers at a boarding school in Montana were not paid more than $200,000 in overtime. But when the employer offered to pay only $1,000 in back wages as the two-year statute of limitations approached, the division dropped the case.

“We have a crisis in wage theft, and the Department of Labor has not been aggressive enough in recent years,” said Kim Bobo, executive director of Interfaith Worker Justice, a group that advocates for low-wage workers. “The new secretary of labor says she’s the new sheriff in town, but I’m concerned she’s facing the wild, wild West of wage theft.”

Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis said she took the report’s findings seriously.

“I am committed to ensuring that every worker is paid at least the minimum wage,” Ms. Solis said, “that those who work overtime are properly compensated, that child labor laws are strictly enforced and that every worker is provided a safe and healthful environment.”

Ms. Solis said the Wage and Hour Division planned to increase its staff by a third by hiring 250 investigators — 100 of them as part of the federal stimulus package — “to refocus the agency on these enforcement responsibilities” and “ensure that contractors on stimulus projects are in compliance with the applicable laws.”

Ms. Solis said the hirings would “reinvigorate the work of this important agency.”

Ms. Solis’s predecessor, Elaine L. Chao, often defended the Wage and Hour Division, saying it had concentrated on larger, tougher cases, and secured back wages for more than 300,000 workers a year and collected more than twice as much annually as the division had done in the final years of the Clinton administration.

The report concluded that the Wage and Hour Division had mishandled more serious cases 19 percent of the time. In such cases, the accountability office said, the division did not begin an investigation for six months, did not complete an investigation for a year, did not assess back wages when violations were clearly identified and did not refer cases to litigation when warranted.

“When you have weak penalties and weak enforcement, that’s a deadly combination for workers,” said Representative George Miller, Democrat of California, who, as chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, asked the accountability office to do the report. “It’s clear that under the existing system, employers feel they can steal workers’ wages with impunity, and that has to change.”

Mr. Miller, whose committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on wage and hour enforcement on Wednesday, said he would push to enact tougher penalties for wage violations and laws that made it easier for workers to join class-action lawsuits.

The report said undercover agents recorded Wage and Hour Division officials urging workers who complained to file lawsuits. And on one recording, an investigator appeared to back off quickly on demanding back pay when an undercover agent posing as a wage-violating employer said he was financially stretched.

According to the report, the employer said, “Well, you know, like I said, all of our contracts have dried up, we really don’t have anything coming in, so. ... .”

The investigator responded, “O.K., so you’re not in a position where you can pay him?”

When the employer said no, the investigator seemingly gave up, saying he would let the worker “know that he has a private right of action to pursue the funds.”

The report expressed dismay with that approach. “Low-wage workers may be unable to afford attorney’s fees or may be unwilling to argue their own case in small-claims court,” it said, “leaving them with no other options to obtain their back wages.”

YOUR COMMENTS

DAILY GRILL

"[T]he danger [is] that everything will be presented from one political viewpoint...that the media that confront us are going to be more partisan." -- Fox News's Brit Hume, 03/19/09

VERSUS

"[Thanks] for the tremendous amount of material that the [conservative ] Media Research Center provided me for so many years when I was anchoring Special Report...we certainly made tremendous use of it." -- Hume, 03/19/09

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"So I think that what we try to do is do the news...although we would rather be fair than be first. And we're doing pretty well."
-- Fox News Chairman Roger Ailes, 12/19/04

VERSUS

"With this particular group of people in power right now...does it make it a little bit easier for us to be the voice of opposition on some issues?"  -- Fox News Senior Vice President Bil Shine, 03/23/09

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Quotes of the Day

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Recent Senate Votes 

Confirmation of Ronald Kirk to be U.S. Trade Representative - Vote Confirmed (92-5, 2 Not Voting)

On Wednesday, Ron Kirk was confirmed as U.S. Trade Representative.

Sen. Mitch McConnell voted YES
Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO

Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009 - Vote Passed (77-20, 2 Not Voting)

The Senate passed this package of legislation related to public lands, national parks and water development.

Sen. Mitch McConnell voted NO
Sen. Jim Bunning voted NO

Recent House Votes 

Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act - Vote Passed (321-105, 6 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill to reauthorize and reform national service programs.

Rep. Brett Guthrie voted YES

Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES

To impose an additional tax on bonuses received from certain TARP recipients - Vote Passed (328-93, 10 Not Voting)

The House passed this bill that would enact an additional income tax on bonuses given to employees or former employees of companies that received Troubled Assets Relief Program money.

Rep. Brett Guthrie voted YES

Rep. John Yarmuth voted YES

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HUMOR    

"How many watched President Obama's news conference last night? He got a little testy there, you know. When he was asked why he waited three days to speak out against the AIG bonuses, Obama said he likes to know what he's talking about before he speaks. So, yet another reversal of the Bush policies." --Jay Leno

"George W. Bush, who was our president before Barack Obama, recently signed a deal to write a book for $7 million. In the book, Bush will discuss his 12 toughest decisions, like 'should I heed Al Roker's warnings about Katrina?' That would be one tough decision. 'Should I let Cheney carry a loaded shotgun?' That would be another." --David Letterman

"This week eight tourists became the first Westerners to vacation in Iraq on an officially sanctioned tour. They're spending their spring break in Iraq. Which is kind of like spring break in Florida. Half get bombed, the other half get stoned." --Jay Leno

"You can tell it's tourism season in Iraq because today an American had to duck a pair of flip-flops. … But I was thinking about this. If you want to take a trip, a vacation, to some place where they've got sniper fire, dangerous streets, a lot of goat-based food, and random violence, just come to New York City." --David Letterman

"On '60 Minutes' the other night, if you saw the interview, reporter Steve Croft asked President Obama how he could laugh with all the financial trouble going on. And the President said it's necessary to have a measure of 'gallows humor to get you through the day.' You know why Obama likes gallows humor? It works much better for him than bowling humor." --Jay Leno

"Obama also repeated his support for Treasury Secretary Geithner, who unveiled his plan yesterday for the government to buy up the so-called toxic assets from troubled banks and sell them to China, which will then make them into children's toys, and should solve the problem entirely." --Jimmy Kimmel

"Obama was on TV saying Americans are angry. We are angry, but we don't want a press conference. We want to see Obama pelting AIG executives with a sock full of quarters shouting, "Here's change we can believe in!" --Craig Ferguson

"The market rallied yesterday after the Treasury said it was going to help banks sell off their toxic assets. That's the big problem, banks can't sell toxic assets. Well, duh. I mean, I'm no economist, but maybe you should stop calling them toxic assets. Huh? Isn't that like KFC advertising salmonella chicken?" --Jay Leno

"Michelle Obama -- and I think this is a lovely idea -- she's going to put a garden in the White House, out there where the Rose Garden is. A very nice idea. And she's out there digging it up. She found three of Dick Cheney's hunting buddies." --David Letterman

"This morning, the first lady, Michelle Obama, celebrated spring by breaking ground on a new vegetable garden at the White House. She said she did it to help educate children about healthy, locally-grown food, and to help her own family survive the coming economic apocalypse." --Jimmy Kimmel

"Not only is it the first time they have had a vegetable garden since the days of Eleanor Roosevelt at the White House, it's also the first time that a hoe has been used at the White House since the Clinton administration." --Jimmy Kimmel

"Senator Chris Dodd, after first denying it, now admits that he's the one who eliminated the provision in the stimulus package that outlawed excessive bonuses. He also just happened to have received $280,000 from AIG in campaign contributions. What a coincidence - what are the odds of that?" --Jay Leno

"AIG says they're trying to raise more money by selling their big office building in New York. It's 66 stories! And not one of them is the truth." --Jay Leno
 

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ECONOMY -- PALIN REJECTS RECOVERY FUNDING FOR ALASKA SCHOOLS:   Following the lead of the other 2012 GOP presidential contenders, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) announced yesterday that she would reject nearly half the $930 million Alaska was set to receive from the economic recovery package, saying she disagrees with the "'strings' attached to federal stimulus funding." The rejected funds were originally allocated for programs in education, health care, and labor, the largest being $160 million to Alaska schools "for programs to help economically disadvantaged and special needs students." During the press conference announcing her decision, Palin asked, "Will we chart our own course, or will Washington (D.C.) engineer it for us?" "We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. ... In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government," she added. Palin said that she would "work with the [Alaskan] Legislature if it decides that it wants to go ahead and accept the money," but "she didn't rule out vetoes" if the legislature attempted to bypass her with a resolution nullifying the her decision. 

HIGH-FLYING CEOs: JPMorgan's plan for new private jets includes "nearly $120 million for two Gulfstream 650 planes and $18 million for a lavish renovation of a hangar at the Westchester Airport" outside Manhattan. This hangar will be built with reclaimed wood and quarry tile and will feature a "vegetated roof garden." The type of plan is "described as the 'fastest,' 'widest' and 'most comfortable' private jet ever with superior cabin amenities, an optional stateroom, and 12 interior designs to choose from." As The Progress Report reported last month, seven out of eight bailed-out bank CEOs said in a House hearing that their companies still "own or lease" private planes. One of those confirming that he still had a private jet was JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who also said he was still taking home a $1 million salary.

CONGRESS -- CONSERVATIVE LAWMAKERS WHO VOTED AGAINST OMNIBUS TAKE CREDIT FOR LOCAL PROJECTS: Many of the same lawmakers who railed against the FY2009 omnibus are now taking credit for the local projects the bill funded in their districts, the Wall Street Journal noted. Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) slammed the omnibus as wasteful spending, before putting out a press release touting a local harbor project the bill would fund. Similarly, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL) voted against the omnibus but then declared he was "proud to have secured these federal funds" for his district. Both insisted to the Journal there was no hypocrisy in their actions. "'Not to be rude, but it's one of the dumbest things,' Mr. Hoekstra said of the notion that there is a contradiction. ... 'I don't see any inconsistency at all.'" Diaz-Balart agreed, repeating, "I am very proud of" the local earmarks he put in the bill. Spending hypocrisy is nothing new for these two lawmakers. During the recovery package fight, Hoekstra attacked President Obama's plan as a "spending spree." Three days later, however, he touted the plan's "generous" subsidies for new home-buyers. Diaz-Balart voted against the stimulus because "it's not going to help the economy." Two days later, he signed a letter asking for immediate access to the stimulus cash for Florida, calling the funding "critical" and "vital."

WORKERS' RIGHTS -- COMPROMISE PROPOSAL ON FREE CHOICE ACT CRITICIZED AS WRITTEN 'BY CEOs FOR CEOs': The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that a coalition led by Costco Wholesale Corp., Starbucks Corp., and Whole Foods Market Inc. were seeking to compromise with union groups to support a modified version of the Employee Free Choice Act. The compromise was reported to have allowed a union to be formed if 70 percent -- instead of the current bill's 50 percent proposal -- sign a card favoring unionization. The president of the National Right to Work Committee, an anti-union group, responded forcefully, saying in a statement, "These huge companies are apparently willing to sell out hundreds of thousands of small ones under the guise of making some phony and misguided compromise with Big Labor." Today, however, news reports indicate that rumors of a compromise on the majority sign-up provision were inaccurate. Indeed, The Hill reports that the compromise offered in the coalition's "declaration of principles" drops "two of EFCA's main provisions," including the ability to form a union through signing a card. The "measure that would allow workers to bypass secret ballot elections to form a union if a majority of them sign authorization cards stating their intention to organize...is not in the coalition's statement of principles." Instead, "there is a guarantee for a secret ballot in a union election but voting would have to happen in a fixed period of time once workers wanted to certify their union." Additionally, "the provision for the government to appoint an arbitrator if workers and management cannot negotiate a contract within 120 days is removed." Reps. George Miller (D-CA) and Tom Harkin (D-IA) said in a joint statement, "This proposal is unacceptable. It was written by CEOs for CEOs."

CONGRESS -- SPECTER ANNOUNCES HIS INTENT TO VOTE AGAINST EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT: Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) was the only Republican to vote for cloture -- and thus end debate and allow a vote -- when the Employee Free Choice Act was last considered in 2007.  But yesterday on the Senate floor, Specter announced his intention to vote against cloture on the same bill when it comes up this year. During his announcement, Specter noted his previous support for the bill, but suggested that the dire condition of the economy makes "this a particularly bad time to enact" employee choice legislation. Earlier this month, Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA) countered this right-wing talking point, observing, "In 1935, we passed the Wagner Act that promoted unionization and allowed unions to flourish, and at the time we were at around 20 percent unemployment. ... This is exactly the time we should be insisting on a fairer playing field for people to organize themselves." As evidence of the right-wing pressure he was facing, one of Specter's first calls was to Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, to inform him of his decision. Further, Specter is "likely to face a major primary challenge from Club For Growth president Pat Toomey in the 2010 election, which may have factored into this apparent decision." Specter also suggested that he did not want to bear the political cost of being the "decisive vote" in favor of the legislation.
 

 
Think Fast  

Wall Street firms are looking for loopholes to avoid the bonus caps that come attached to TARP funds. Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley, and other banks are considering increasing base salaries rather than relying on bonuses. Citigroup has received $45 billion in taxpayer relief so far, while Morgan Stanley has received $10 billion

Responding to a new report on Rep. John Murtha's (D-PA) questionable connection to a defense research center, Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas writes that it is time to stop tolerating "any corruption in our ranks." "House Democrats have been blocking an ethics investigation into this matter," writes Kos. "That has to stop now

Republicans have appointed Sen. John Thune (R-SD) to coordinate a broad campaign aimed at defeating the Employee Free Choice Act. Thune is working to focus "the lobbying power of business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and coalitions such as the Alliance for Worker Freedom against the measure."

A new Gallup Poll finds that a majority of Americans, 53 percent, favor the Employee Free Choice Act, which would make it easier for unions to organize workers. "Independents lean in favor of such a law, 52% vs. 41%." Thirty-nine percent oppose the legislation.

"At least 13 companies receiving billions of dollars in bailout money owe more than $220 million in unpaid federal taxes," said Rep. John Lewis (D-GA) yesterday. Lewis, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee's subcommittee on oversight, said that "two companies owed more than $100 million each." "This is shameful; it is a disgrace," said Lewis.

Former senator Tom Daschle pens an op-ed in today’s Washington Post, writing, "It was flattering to hear people say that I was somehow essential to health reform. But I always knew that wasn't true." Daschle argues that the “unwavering commitment to this issue” from President Obama, the "broad support" from Congress, and the urgency felt by the American public will make sure that reform is enacted.

Yesterday, U.S. Dictrict Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly blocked a “last-minute rule enacted by President George W. Bush allowing visitors to national parks to carry concealed weapons." Kollar-Kotelly wrote in a ruling that government officials had "'abdicated their Congressionally-mandated obligation’ to evaluate environmental impacts" of the rule.

For the record, Michelle Obama is not pregnant. Lately, there have been rumors swirling on the Internet that there may soon be another Obama running around the White House. But in a new interview for O Magazine, Oprah says to the First Lady, "Well, you look better than ever - despite the rumors that you've got a baby bump." Laughing, Obama replies, "I know -- I was like, 'Baby bump? As hard as I work on my abs?!'" She adds that she's not pregnant and "not planning on it."

New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo says "nine of the top 10 bonus recipients" at AIG will give their bonuses back and "that of the top 20 recipients in the United States, 15 had returned their payments in full." There has also been "a handful of senior-level resignations" at the firm, according to an AIG spokesperson.

House Republicans are "now pinning the economic recession squarely on the shoulders of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)." In an e-mail blast yesterday, Rep. David Price (R-MI) declared "We must work together to end the 'Pelosi Recession.'" Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami replied that the GOP "can't seem to remember that they were actually the ones responsible for passing the Bush economic agenda."

In a report to be released today, the Government Accountability Office finds that the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division is failing to properly enforce minimum wage and other labor laws, "leaving millions of workers vulnerable." In fact, the division "mishandled 9 of the 10 cases brought by a team of undercover agents posing as aggrieved workers."

"The military is racing to inspect more than 90,000 U.S.-run facilities across Iraq to reduce a deadly threat troops face far off the battlefield: electrocution or shock while showering or using appliances." According to military documents, approximately "one-third of the inspections so far have turned up major electrical problems."

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INTERESTING  

Buy American Mention of the Week, By Roger Simmermaker      

GOOD NEWS

The United States is moving to replace Blackwater security contractors in Iraq, filling some private jobs with federal jobs.

Yesterday, the House passed the Christopher and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act. The bill "will promote collaborative research, rehabilitation and quality of life initiatives" for Americans living with spinal cord injuries.

VIDEOS  

None this week

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