States will determine Obamacare’s success

States will determine Obamacare’s success

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snip


Is it Dec. 15, the last day consumers can enroll for coverage that begins on Jan. 1? Or March 31 when the enrollment period for buying insurance for 2014 closes?

In my mind, there is a different date that will have far more bearing on the number of people covered under the law. It’s June 28, 2012, the date the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on the act’s constitutionality.

What most people remember about the high court’s decision is that it upheld the core of the law: an individual mandate that requires practically everyone to buy health insurance or pay a penalty.
But the most consequential part of the ruling, which got less attention at the time, gave states discretion over whether to expand their Medicaid programs for the poor.

The law originally called for each state to expand Medicaid to people making less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level (now $15,856 for a household of one or $32,499 for a household of four). But the court said states could refuse to go along and not risk losing the federal government’s contribution to their Medicaid programs.

What's More Common: UFO Sightings or Voter Fraud?

http://www.youtube.com/v/PbK92gCfXHA?version=3&autohide=1&feature=share&autohide=1&attribution_tag=BuqOaGXGqXqZhryRleONWQ&showinfo=1&autoplay=1

Corporate Personhood: How Did We Get Here? | Legalize Democracy excerpt

Nixon proposed today’s Affordable Care Act

Nixon proposed today’s Affordable Care Act

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snip

Not surprisingly, private health insurers cheered on the Republicans while doing whatever they could to block Democrats from creating a public insurance system.

In February 1974, Republican President Richard Nixon proposed, in essence, today’s Affordable Care Act. Under Nixon’s plan all but the smallest employers would provide insurance to their workers or pay a penalty, an expanded Medicaid-type program would insure the poor, and subsidies would be provided to low-income individuals and small employers. Sound familiar?

Private insurers were delighted with the Nixon plan but Democrats preferred a system based on Social Security and Medicare, and the two sides failed to agree.

Thirty years later a Republican governor, Mitt Romney, made Nixon’s plan the law in Massachusetts. Private insurers couldn’t have been happier although many Democrats in the state had hoped for a public system.
When today’s Republicans rage against the individual mandate in the Affordable Care Act, it’s useful to recall this was their idea as well.

Got Dark Money? Launder It Like The Koch Brothers

Soup Kitchen Rejects Atheist Volunteers

Marco Rubio Immigration Bill's Key Opponent: Marco Rubio

Invalid Arguments: Climate Change

From the NSA: Internal Patriot Discovery

12 other governments that spy on their citizens

12 other governments that spy on their citizens

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note:  governments have always spied on citizens, check labor history and more

(HD) VIDEO: NC GOP Chair Calls Blacks Lazy And Stupid On Daily Show Inte...

note: what an idiot, make up your own mind

GOP’s Obamacare conspiracy: Sabotage from the inside

GOP’s Obamacare conspiracy: Sabotage from the inside

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snip


Yes, the Affordable Care Act rollout of the exchanges is a mess — and I agree with Brian Beutler and Jonathan Cohn that liberals should be pressing the White House hard to get it fixed, and with Ezra Klein that the ACA’s “success doesn’t depend on spin or solidarity. What matters for the law — and for the people who are depending on it — is how well it actually works.”

So I definitely don’t think the president and his administration should be let off the hook for the very real problems that have plagued the program this month.

Nevertheless, it’s worth noting that whatever their own responsibility for what’s gone wrong, the White House shares responsibility with the Republicans who have spent three years actively attempting to undermine the law. I’m not talking about repeal votes, which (while silly after a while) were totally legitimate, or about running against the program in subsequent elections, which was again entirely fair. No, I’m talking about actions designed — usually openly — not to make the law work better in their view, but to make it harder for the law to work well.

Grand Bargain Shot Down By Harry Reid

Propaganda Terms in the Media and What They Mean - Noam Chomsky

What a Labor Leader Said in Response to a Social Security Lie

How Does It Make You Feel?

GOP leader to Obama: “I cannot even stand to look at you”

GOP leader to Obama: “I cannot even stand to look at you”

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snip


During the negotiations over the government shutdown, one House GOP leader said to President Obama, “I cannot even stand to look at you,” according to a recent Facebook post from Illinois’ Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate.

“Many Republicans searching for something to say in defense of the disastrous shutdown strategy will say President Obama just doesn’t try hard enough to communicate with Republicans,” the post begins. “But in a ‘negotiation’ meeting with the president, one GOP House Leader told the president: ‘I cannot even stand to look at you.’”

“What are the chances of an honest conversation with someone who has just said something so disrespectful?” the post goes on to ask.

History tricked the Tea Party

History tricked the Tea Party

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snip

Thoreau concluded “Civil Disobedience” by “imagining a State” that would let a few people

live aloof from it, not meddling with it, nor embraced by it, who fulfilled all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men. A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which also I have imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.
It would be a state of perfect Transcendentalist anarchy, where everyone would fulfill all the duties of neighbors and fellow-men not because they were following the government’s laws but because they were letting nature take its course within them, living deep and sucking all the marrow out of life.

Today’s right-wing extremists would probably run from Thoreau’s view of life even faster than from Jefferson’s. But there is no denying that their obsession with shrinking government stands in a long, distinguished line of American tradition where these two luminaries shine so bright.

Those same right-wingers would probably run fastest of all from another luminary, Walt Whitman, who was surely marching to his own drummer when he rhapsodized about his own transcendental moments: “From this hour, freedom! From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines.” Where the Tea Party would erect fences stronger and higher, Whitman would have every fence torn down.

CNN on Obamacare

A Night In Macau

e billionaire guy whom supported Newt during last election. look what bribes buy

Sarah Palin Nonsense: Obama Risking 'Impeachment' Over Debt Ceiling

Veterans Scold Sarah Palin: 'Republicans Shut Down the Gov't', 'You're a...

Obama's 'Victim Mentality' Drives Him Says Fox News Psychiatrist

There is No Tea Party Only a Collection of Billionaires

Moratorium On Deportations Says AFL-CIO President Trumka At 2013 AFL-CI...

Two SF transit workers die as strike goes on

Two SF transit workers die as strike goes on

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snip


Just 48-hours after BART workers went on strike over pay and workplace rules, two workers were struck and killed by an out-of-service train during a track inspection.

On Sunday the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1555 canceled picket lines for the day to attend a vigil for the deceased workers. The strikers — around 2,000 transit employees — will resume picketing on Monday. Meanwhile federal authorities are investigating the deaths.

Ignore Tom Friedman!: Unions warn Obama against benefit cut fetish

Ignore Tom Friedman!: Unions warn Obama against benefit cut fetish

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snip

With the immediate government shutdown and debt ceiling showdown now past, the nation’s largest union federation is warning of dire consequences if the president and his party once again push so-called entitlement reforms.

“The labor movement is going to fight to the death to stop cuts to Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid,” AFL-CIO policy director Damon Silvers told Salon Thursday afternoon. “Not ‘unreasonable cuts.’ Not ‘cuts without tax increases.’ Cuts period. We’re against all of them, we will fight them ferociously, and we will give no cover to any Democrat who supports them.”

Silvers said it would be “simply an invitation to a fratricide in the Democratic Party” for the president to take up a renewed push for “chained CPI,” a proposed change in cost of living calculations that would reduce future Social Security benefits. “It hits the absolute most vulnerable people …” charged Silvers. “It’s a proposal that has no merit at all other than that billionaires like it.”

As I’ve noted, President Obama has repeatedly touted “chained CPI” – to the chagrin of some progressive activists and elected Democrats – as an example of both his commitment to Social Security’s future and his commitment to good faith negotiations with Republicans.

===
note:  for years soar 11-3 has warned democrats about such things  ignore us on this and you are bigger fools than teabaggers think.

I for one do not wish to ally with these folks over social security cuts

krugman and more on obamacare

from last week --- -----

Paul Krugman Smacks Down George Will's BS Global Warming Claims

Eugene Robinson: Not a good fight : Stltoday

Eugene Robinson: Not a good fight : Stltoday

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snip


President Obama’s victory last week was as complete and devastating as Sherman’s march through the South. But there is no early sign that the zealots of the anti-government far right have learned the lessons of their defeat — which means that more battles lie ahead.

House Speaker John Boehner was not being honest Wednesday when he explained the GOP surrender by saying, “We fought the good fight; we just didn’t win.” This was not a good fight. Republicans picked an objective that was never realistic — forcing Obama to nullify the Affordable Care Act, his biggest achievement — and tactics that amounted to self-immolation.

Boehner knew from the start that the GOP would be blamed for shuttering the government and that he could never really allow the Treasury to default. So what on earth was the point?

Steel Workers for the Future

Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare

Inside the Fox News lie machine: I fact-checked Sean Hannity on Obamacare

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snip


I asked Allison if she’d shopped on the exchange, to see what a plan might cost under the new law. She said she hadn’t done so because she’d heard the website was not working. Would she try it out when it’s up and running? Perhaps, she said. She told me she has long opposed Obamacare, and that the president should have focused on tort reform as a solution to bringing down the price of healthcare.

I tried an experiment and shopped on the exchange for Allison and Kurt. Assuming they don’t smoke and have a household income too high to be eligible for subsidies, I found that they would be able to get a plan for around $7,600, which would include coverage for their uninsured daughter. This would be about a 60 percent reduction from what they would have to pay on the pre-Obamacare market.

Allison also told me that the letter she received from Blue Cross said that in addition to the policy change for ACA compliance, in the new policy her physician network size might be reduced.  That’s something insurance companies do to save money, with or without Obamacare on the horizon, just as they raise premiums with or without Obamacare coming.

If Allison’s choice of doctor was denied her through Obamacare then, yes, she could have a claim that Obamacare has hurt her. But she’d also have thousands of dollars in her pocket that she didn’t have before.

America Wants No Cuts to Social Security

note: no democrat was sent to dc to cut social security. if they wish to win in 14 and 16, cutting social security is not the way. ditto that for pubs so much for blogger's opinion and keep that in mind. when corporations and rich start paying fair share, come back and we will talk.

Obama Agenda Double Down Second 100 Day Agenda Huckabee On Cavuto

Republican Called Out on Media Scapegoating obamacare

CNN Vs 'Tea Party Radicals'

The GOP's Rule Change on Oct. 12th That Will Shock You!!

BlueGreen Alliance Roundtable Challenges Young Leaders to Mobilize, Expand Clean Economy and Prevent Climate Change

BlueGreen Alliance Roundtable Challenges Young Leaders to Mobilize, Expand Clean Economy and Prevent Climate Change

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snip

PITTSBURGH, PA – The United Steelworkers (USW) today hosted a BlueGreen Alliance roundtable to discuss strategies for mobilizing the next generation of leaders in business, labor and government to create family sustaining jobs that also combat the effects of climate change.

Steelworkers joined local elected officials and representatives from green industries at the USW international headquarters to discuss how young leaders can move forward in expanding the clean economy, focusing on environmentally friendly policies that will also create good, middle class jobs.

“In our union, we have seen first-hand that we can have both good jobs and work towards a clean, green environment,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “But we also have seen the pain that comes when these jobs get shipped overseas. A bright future for young people is one where we have a sustainable environment and a healthy economy that is built around domestic manufacturing that helps us achieve our clean energy goals.” Speakers focused on President Obama’s climate action plan and other policies that will help create jobs and prevent climate change for decades to come.  

Congressional PAC dollars used to employ family members raise ethical qu...

GOP lawmaker voted against debt deal because he thought it funded Joseph Kony

GOP lawmaker voted against debt deal because he thought it funded Joseph Kony

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snip


Republican Rep. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina voted against the debt deal Wednesday night for a great many reasons, and one of those reasons is that he thought that the bipartisan legislation to reopen the government included funding for the Lord’s Resistance Army, a Ugandan militant group led by exiled war criminal Joseph Kony.

This is not true. But that didn’t stop Mulvaney from including it in his statement denouncing the deal!

“Finally, the ‘deal’ is full of pork,” Mulvaney said. “A dam project in Kentucky got extra money; the state of Colorado got money to help with its flooding; and the ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’ received special funds. Those may be worth discussing, but that will never happen now, as they were crammed into this ‘deal’ in order to help it pass. So much for the ‘clean’ bill that my Democrat colleagues said they wanted so badly.”

KCTV: McCaskill steps-in to help Missourian with credit report errors (+...

GOP reeling after epic defeat

GOP reeling after epic defeat

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snip


With the government reopened, the debt ceiling lifted, and Obamacare mostly untouched, there’s little doubt that the GOP has suffered one of its worst defeats in years. And as a report in the New York Times makes clear, members of the Party know it.

“We managed to divide ourselves on something we were unified on, over a goal that wasn’t achievable,” Republican Senator Roy Blunt told the Times. “The president probably had the worst August and early September any president could have had. And we managed to change the topic.”

Other Republican senators were equally distraught. “If you look back in time and evaluate the last couple of weeks, it should be titled ‘The Time of Great Lost Opportunity,’” said South Carolina’s Lindsey Graham. “I’m trying to forget it,” said Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski. “Here we are. Here we are. We predicted it. Nobody wanted it to be this way.”

That’s how you treat a bully!: Democrats win — and learn a huge lesson

That’s how you treat a bully!: Democrats win — and learn a huge lesson

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They’re also getting a promise of formal negotiations over the budget. Now that should happen anyway, so that’s not a big deal. But Democrats have spent the last month on GOP turf: conceding that they must talk about deficit reduction, with pious nods to Saints Simpson and Bowles and now, yuck, Blessed Leon Panetta — and that they’re open to everything. And most of them mean it.

I just watched Sen. Chuck Schumer tell MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell that once this deal is out of the way, Congress will resume budget negotiations, and everything, including so-called “entitlements,” must be on the table. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was a little bit more balanced, insisting Democrats should only look at entitlement cuts in exchange for more revenues from people who can pay more. “Why should Granny pay the price?” without asking the rich to share the sacrifice, Pelosi asked.

But with all due respect to the once (and perhaps future) speaker, who’s been the toughest Democrat over the last five years: The answer is Granny shouldn’t pay any price. When Social Security needs “fixing,” we should lift the cap on income subject to the payroll tax. The chained CPI is a cut and shouldn’t be a first offer, but a last resort.

“They’re fools — and work for fools!”: Grayson on GOP staffers (and much more)

“They’re fools — and work for fools!”: Grayson on GOP staffers (and much more)

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On the first day of the government shutdown, firebrand Democratic Congressman Alan Grayson told Salon that Republicans’ on-the-job drinking was partially to blame. Now he says the current showdown will end the party – for good.

In an interview late Tuesday afternoon, Grayson accused Republicans of pushing “health suppression” and measures “torturing” congressional staffers, and repeatedly “dragging America into heavy traffic.” The Florida Democrat also defended the effectiveness of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, predicted the demise of any “Great Betrayal” targeting Social Security or Medicare, and said voters will soon send the Republican Party “to the ash heap of history.” A condensed version of our conversation follows.

What’s your sense of what’s going on in the House right now?
Pathetic flailing around to little or no purpose.

What do you think John Boehner is trying to accomplish?
John Boehner is trying to maintain his position as President Obama’s golf partner.

Do you think the intention is to pass something that will become law?
No. I think that has never been the Tea Party’s intention. The Tea Party’s intention is destruction.

Congress votes to avoid default, open government : Stltoday

Congress votes to avoid default, open government : Stltodayu

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note:  loonies running the mad house, this whole affair it seems.  a moment of sanity does not undo months of insane  movement and speech

John Boehner: A pathetic profile in Jell-O

John Boehner: A pathetic profile in Jell-O

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snip

It’s an insult to all Americans’ intelligence and good will if the debt ceiling and government shutdown crisis end the way so many pundits of average intelligence, myself included, said it had to: with House Speaker John Boehner turning to the real speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to get the job done.

I mean, what do most pundits know? It could have taken a different turn, right? Except we’ve seen this movie many times before: Whether it’s keeping open the government when Boehner first took his job in 2011, or the August 2011 debt-ceiling deal, or the fiscal cliff deal last January, or Hurricane Sandy aid, or the farm bill, or… well, it’s been clear for a while that the only way Boehner can pass legislation that will pass the Democrat-controlled Senate (numerically controlled; the gateway to legislation can be blocked by the GOP minority) is by turning to Pelosi and asking her to corral her caucus and vote.

So this crisis may end the same way. It may: We started Tuesday believing a Senate deal was likely, and the House GOP rejected it. Then they rejected the deal Boehner proposed. Obviously, almost anything remains possible.

Let’s take

USW Calls on Crown Holdings CEO to End Attacks on Wages and Living Standards - PR Newswire - The Sacramento Bee

USW Calls on Crown Holdings CEO to End Attacks on Wages and Living Standards - PR Newswire - The Sacramento Bee: "WHO: Fred Redmond, United Steelworkers (USW) International Vice President Frank Snyder, Secretary-Treasurer of Pennsylvania AFL-CIO Leaders from USW Local 9176 Members from other USW locals in the area

WHAT: Rally at Crown Holdings Headquarters 

WHEN: 12:00 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 16

WHERE: Crown Holdings Headquarters, 1 Crown Way, Philadelphia, Pa. 19154

WHY: The rally will call on Crown Holdings to end its attack on its Toronto workforce and negotiate a fair contract that reflects workers' contributions to the company's financial success.   

The USW represents 850,000 members in the United States, Canada and the Caribbean. It is the largest private-sector union in North America, representing workers in a range of industries including metals, mining, rubber, paper and forestry, oil refining, health care, security, hotels, and municipal governments and agencies."

'via Blog this'

Bill Moyers: On the Sabotage of Democracy

Bill Moyers: On the Sabotage of Democracy:

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Texas fertilizer plant fined $118,300 for safety violations

Texas fertilizer plant fined $118,300 for safety violations

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snip


The West, Texas, fertilizer plant that explosed in April, killing 15, injuring hundreds of others and causing an estimated $100 million in damages, has been cited for two dozen serious safety violations. The plant faces $118,300 in federal fines, although those may end up being reduced if the company appeals.

The citations were issued Wednesday by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, although the announcement was delayed due to the government shutdown. Dallas News has the details on the charges:

All 24 violations are classified as serious, and eight pertain directly to West Fertilizer and parent Adair Grain’s stockpile of solid ammonium nitrate fertilizer. The ammonium nitrate exploded after the building housing it caught fire from an undetermined cause.

To defeat the Tea Party, the left needs bolder leader than Hillary

To defeat the Tea Party, the left needs bolder leader than Hillary

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snip


It’s three years away, but the ongoing government shutdown and debt ceiling debate makes it clear that Democrats need to be thinking now about a candidate able to effectively counter the Tea Party caucus in Congress — which thanks to gerrymandering, isn’t going anywhere until 2020.

While the Republican field is already loaded with possible candidates — Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz, Rand Paul, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush III  and Bobby Jindal  – the Democratic field is apparently sealed: Hillary Clinton.
RealClearPolitics finds Hillary getting 61 percent of the vote in a Democratic primary against Joe Biden (11), Elizabeth Warren (7), Andrew Cuomo (2), John Warner (1) and Martin O’Malley (0). There is a SuperPAC (with 1,000,000-plus Facebook “likes”) designed to lay the groundwork for a Clinton presidential run.

There is certainly a strategic reason for Democrats to play down Clinton: three more years under press scrutiny will only make her less appealing. But there are other reasons to question whether America needs another Clinton presidency.

Timeline of the Gulf Oil Disaster: Make BP Restore

Bob Schieffer grills Cornyn

IBEW, Manufacturer Partnership Brings Jobs Back from China

Sen. Warren on the Shutdown and Why Government Matters

Shutdown with Sammy Salmonella

Republican Doomsday Cult

Would You Like A Living Wage With That? | McDonalds Employee Confronts CEO

Enron billionaire expands craven plot to abuse workers

Enron billionaire expands craven plot to abuse workers

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snip

With the first deadline looming for a new public-pension proposal to make the November 2014 ballot, a Texas nonprofit has emerged in a behind-the-scenes battle poised to break into public view next year.

San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed, a Democrat pushing a controversial idea to dial down government retirement benefits, asked a Houston-based group (called Action Now Initiative) to give $200,000 to his local chamber of commerce last summer for “policy analysis for statewide pension reform” according to a report Reed filed in August

…
A message left Wednesday with Action Now wasn’t immediately returned, but it shares an address with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, which was launched in 2008 by a former Enron executive and his wife. Its website lists a number of causes, including “structural changes” to public pensions that are “comprehensive, sustainable and fair.”

Of course, the word “reform,” is now the preferred euphemism for “rip-off scheme.” In the context of pensions, it means pleading poverty to justify cuts to public employees guaranteed retirement income, all while preserving massive corporate welfare and, in many cases, funneling pension cash to Wall Street hedge fund managers.

Human Chain Against the Chained-CPI - Presented By Social Security Works...

Exxon Sues Fox Over FXX Network, Claims Stolen Logo

Boehner Goes Off Over 'We Are Winning' Government Shutdown Comments

Krugman predicts debt-limit disaster

Krugman predicts debt-limit disaster

click link

snip

Krugman then tries to predict what he calls the ultimate “endgame” of the crisis, writing that despite what many believe, a market “freakout” will not compel Republicans to raise the debt limit. “[G]iven their behavior so far, why would you believe this?” Krugman writes. “I can easily see Ted Cruz making a speech declaring that the freakout is all Obama’s fault, and that what the markets really fear is socialism or something — and the base believing it.”

The award-winning economist goes on to write that, ultimately, he believes an “extraordinary action” on the part of the president will be needed to resolve the crisis, but that Obama cannot communicate his willingness to take such an action yet because he has to “demonstrate [Republicans'] utter irresponsibility.”

He ends on a down-note, however, worrying that White House lawyers may be unable to concoct a legal rationale to allow Obama to ignore the debt limit. “If so,” he writes, “God help us all.”

Big Oil loses it: ExxonMobil claims it owns the letter “X”!

Big Oil loses it: ExxonMobil claims it owns the letter “X”!

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snip

Apparently if you are the world’s richest oil company used to making $104 million in profit every day, no lawsuit is too frivolous, expensive or downright hilarious when you are the plaintiff. That’s the message from ExxonMobil this week as it filed a lawsuit against the FX television network. In court papers, the oil behemoth effectively argues that it owns the exclusive right to put two X’s next to each other.

Underscoring the ridiculousness of a company claiming to own a letter of the alphabet, Deadline notes, “This double-cross brawl may come as a surprise to Dos Equis, which also has a double-X logo, and we assume the legal wrangling will be watched with considerable interest by the XX chromosome, and the roman numeral for 20.” Same thing for any clothing companies that make T-shirts marked double extra large.

In an interview with Ad Age, an FX spokesperson called the suit “entirely meritless” and said, “We are confident that viewers won’t tune into FXX looking for gas or motor oil and drivers won’t pull up to an Exxon pump station expecting to get ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’”

Krugman: Republicans’ “worst fears” are coming true-----obamacare

Krugman: Republicans’ “worst fears” are coming true

click link

snip

 Of course, it’s important that people who want to sign up can actually do so. But the computer problems can and will be fixed. So, by March 31, when enrollment for 2014 closes, we can be reasonably sure that millions of Americans who were previously uninsured will have coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Obamacare will have become a reality, something people depend on, rather than some fuzzy notion Republicans could demonize. And it will be very hard to take that coverage away.

Will Obama Fold Under Pressure From Republicans?

Conservatives Fracking Britain.

TPM's Josh Marshall Discusses Ted Cruz, 2016 On MSNBC

Rachel Maddow BLASTS Gop. They Wanted Gov't Shutdown All Along. They Wer...

The Marketplace for Individuals & Families obamacare

Elizabeth Warren Warns Against Citizens United On Steroids

International | Our Union | United Steelworkers--more details of crown cork strike

International | Our Union | United Steelworkers

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International unions' joint letter to Crown Holdings

Crown is demanding cuts despite doubling its profits in 2012 and recognizing its Toronto workers with an award this year for their "dedication, commitment, teamwork and personal accountability" and for meeting or exceeding the company's expectations for "safety, productivity, quality and budget management."

"The Toronto plant is one of the company's premier plants, and it's time to draw a line in the sand to stop Crown's unwarranted attack on all its workers," said Ken Neumann, USW Canadian National Director.

"We are launching a global campaign to fight back for Crown workers and their communities all over the world," Neumann said.

IndustriALL, the global union federation representing over 50 million members, recently condemned Crown's efforts to crush a union in Turkey. The USW will be enlisting IndustriALL in the global campaign, Neumann said.

"We will leave no stone unturned in this campaign and will hold Crown's officers and Board of Directors wholly responsible for these attacks," he added.

Crown customers in Canada, such as breweries and soft-drink companies, may be forced to seek other suppliers if the strike is prolonged and the campaign escalates.

canadian crown cork strike

Crown, Cork and Seal Forces Workers On Strike TORONTO, 6 September 2013 – Because of unreasonable demands to cut employee benefits, pension issues and the setting up of a two-tiered wage system, the 130 workers at Crown, Cork and Seal reluctantly when out on strike this morning. Members of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 9176 have a long and proud history of working hard and producing quality cans that are used for beer, soda pop and many other uses. “Our members are united and determined to get a fair deal. We have always worked hard, given this company a fair-day’s sweat and worked together on issues of mutual concern. However, these dramatic and crushing cuts are an affront to our members’ goodwill and hard work,” said Ken Hetherton, President of USW Local 9176. “Our families deserve the respect and decency of being dealt with fairly and reasonably. All we are asking for is a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work,” added Hetherton. Contacts: Ken Hetherton, President, USW Local 9176, 416-890-0118 Lawrence Hay, USW Staff Represenative, 416-807-8792 / 416-977-7274, lhay@usw.ca Tony DePaulo, Assistant to USW District 6 Director, 905-869-0760 / 416-243-8792 --------- ask the soar 11-3 crown cork seal retirees (continental can before buyout) what they think in st. louis about their ex employer. earmuffs necessary for safety reasons