| |
 |
Wednesday, April 5, 2006 |
Corporate Greed
Apr 5
E-Mail This Article
BREAKING: Wal-Mart Uses Its Might to Block Port Security
Wal-Mart and its Washington, D.C., lobbyist, the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), have systematically undermined America[base ']s security by working to defeat or weaken rules to make America[base ']s seaports and supply chains safe from terrorist attacks. A new report by the AFL-CIO[base ']s Jason Judd, Unchecked: How Wal-Mart Uses Its Might to Block Port Security, documents their efforts since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to ensure that [base "]security requirements should not become a barrier to trade.[per thou]
With $11.2 billion in profits last year, Wal-Mart is RILA[base ']s biggest and most influential member by far. Wal-Mart counts on the trade group[base ']s representation in matters ranging from Maryland[base ']s state law requiring large employers to pay minimal amounts for workers[base '] health care to challenges of other countries[base '] zoning and investment laws before the World Trade Organization.
On port security, that representation has included pressuring Congress to reject requirements for [base "]smart containers[per thou] and electronic seals on cargo coming into the United States, independent and regular inspections of supply chain security practices, container-handling fees to help finance port security measures and requirements to let U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) know what is being shipped in and from where it is coming.
One of America[base ']s top port security experts, retired U.S. Coast Guard Commander Stephen Flynn, puts the cost of helping protect our ports at 0.2 percent of the value of cargo in the containers[~]for Wal-Mart, about $36 million a year. That[base ']s less than one-third of 1 percent of the profits Wal-Mart raked in last year[~]and several million dollars less than Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott[base ']s total compensation over the past two years. But for Wal-Mart and RILA, that[base ']s money worth fighting for.
Wal-Mart[base ']s lobbyist group helped engineer a voluntary container and supply-chain [base "]security[per thou] program with standards so minimal Flynn likens it to an [base "]honor system.[per thou] Think about that[~]Wal-Mart can[base ']t even credibly enforce its own code of conduct to protect foreign workers from sweatshop conditions and we[base ']re expected to trust it with a voluntary port security program. What[base ']s more, CBP promises participating shippers no surprise inspections of supply chain security[~]much like the U.S. Department of Labor[base ']s 2005 pledge to give Wal-Mart 15 days[base '] notice before government inspectors come looking for wage and hour or child labor violations[~]after Wal-Mart was cited for child labor violations.
Moves to put teeth into or require dollars behind port security have been stomped out by RILA with Capitol Hill lobbying blitzes[~]and Wal-Mart and RILA spend mightily on members of Congress with the most sway over port security issues. Based on Federal Election Commission data, the report says:
Wal-Mart has given $191,500 to current House Homeland Security Committee members since 2000[~]all but $9,500 of that since the September 2001 attacks. Eighteen of the committee[base ']s 19 Republican members took in $173,000[~]90 percent of the total[~]and four of the committee[base ']s 14 Democrats collected $18,500.
In the past eight years, Wal-Mart[base ']s Washington Political Action Committee put more than $360,000 into current members of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee. Twenty-three of the committee[base ']s 24 Republicans took Wal-Mart[base ']s money[~]82 percent of the total[~]as did eight of the committee[base ']s 17 Democrats.
Wal-Mart also has spent $63,000 on current members of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs in the past eight years[~]more than two-thirds of that since September 2001. Ninety-six percent of Wal-Mart[base ']s spending went to the committee[base ']s Republican members.
Compare Wal-Mart[base ']s 2003-2004 Washington campaign contributions with those of Target, its chief rival: Wal-Mart spent $2.7 million, putting it third on the list of top corporate contributors. Target spent $295,000, good for 192nd place.
Some 11 million cargo containers will pass through U.S. ports this year. Two-thirds of Wal-Mart[base ']s portion of that total will come from China, with the remainder coming from 70 other countries [base "]where we find a dangerous cocktail of workers[base '] rights abuses and lax enforcement, official corruption and active terrorist organizations.[per thou] A single shipping container can be what one expert calls a [base "]poor-man[base ']s missile,[per thou] killing thousands of Americans and cutting the blood flow to the economy. The AFL-CIO represents millions of workers on the frontlines of port security[~]port, transportation and emergency workers, including first responders, as well as working families in communities nearby.
Although we[base ']ve been fortunate never to have suffered a catastrophic attack on an American seaport, we know for a fact[~]Wal-Mart and RILA and our national leaders know darn well[~]that it can happen. ABC News smuggled into this country 15-pound canisters of depleted uranium in 2002 and again in 2003. A March 2006 Government Accountability Office investigation smuggled enough radioactive material across our borders with Mexico and Canada to make two dirty bombs.
But Wal-Mart[base ']s massive profits and retail dominance are built on the speed and efficiency of the movement of products through its supply chain. Wal-Mart and RILA fight like hell to keep anything[~]like reasonable inspections[~]from slowing that chain down or diverting any portion of the lucre into security measures. And that[base ']s rich, considering Wal-Mart wrings more than $4.3 billion each year from federal, state and local governments to provide income and health care subsidies to its low-wage workers and has sucked up more than $1 billion in the past 20 years from state and local governments for the construction of its stores and distribution centers.
Port security got some much-needed attention when the controversy exploded over the Bush administration[base ']s move to hand U.S. ports to Dubai Ports World. But the administration and its allies in Congress need to get serious enough about keeping America safe to take on the world[base ']s largest retailer and its pals, much less the terrorists.
by Donna Jablonski
11:55:52 AM 
|
|
Wildlife Refuge UsedTo Illegally Plant GE Crops. For over ten years, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has illegally entered into Cooperative Farming Agreements with private parties, allowing some 500 acres of Delaware’s Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge to be farmed, some with genetically engineered (GE) crops, according to a federal lawsuit filed today by a coalition of environmental and public health organizations, reports Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
The groups filed suit in U.S. District Court in Wilmington after discovering that a top Bush administration political appointee, Casey Stemler, overruled the wildlife refuge manager in allowing the gene altered crops in violation of the Service[base ']Äôs own policy prohibiting GE crops unless their use is “essential to accomplishing [the] refuge purpose.”
[Muckraked]
10:28:40 AM
|
|
Carl Jeffers: An Amazing Time for Revelations!. Over the last week to ten days, all of us have been treated to some of the most astounding series of revelations and statements that we have heard from any Administration within a similar period of time. Although the President's approval ratings continue to drop, the administration is still lucky that some of these statements and revelations have remained somewhat below the radar screen for many Americans. But with so many of these statements within such a short period of time, the questions is - how long before the luck runs out?
The series of events commenced with the President's press conference that was stunning in its content. Let's examine some of the President's statements. First, President Bush said that "we got the Patriot Act passed over the objection of the Democrat leadership in the Senate" - WRONG! That statement is simply untrue. Democrats didn't hold up passage of the Patriot Act - Republicans did. In fact, Democrats didn't have enough power or votes to hold it up. It was the concerns and reservations of Republicans that held up the Patriot Act, including their own James Sensenbrenner ® Ohio, who vetoed the 90 day extension Democrats and Republicans had compromised on and insisted on only a 30 day extension. The President's statement seems intended only to play the "patriotism card" again, on a subject the President has insisted should be spared any partisan political jockeying. And then there's Katrina and the 11,000 trailers in Oklahoma that were needed in New Orleans. The President said "I told Chertoff to do something with them." Are you kidding me? Chertoff (Director - Homeland Security), needs an order to do something with them. Let's see. We have 12,000 people being evicted from hotels in the Gulf region, and we have 11,000 unused available trailers sitting idly by in another state just needing to be transported. You do the math. That is not leadership.
As to Iraq, the President said "Every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy." Our problem was that we didn't even have a plan on paper for the aftermath of the invasion or for the implementation of the goals of our military action - goals which we seem to change every week. The President also said "THEY want to hit us again." But THEY didn't hit us the first time. The people we are fighting in Iraq, and indeed, their former leader, Saddam Hussein, had nothing to do with hitting us on 9/11, and I defy anyone now to explain how the war in Iraq is going after the "people who brought down the buildings" on 9/11 - the people who the President said would hear from "all of us soon." And to wrap up the press conference, the President said it "would be up to the next President" to determine when the troops would come home - he also passed on the budget deficit problem to the next President to solve as well. It should come as no surprise that many would surmise that this information would have been even more helpful had it been revealed prior to the 2004 Presidential election.
Days later, the announcement was made that Andrew Card, the President's Chief of Staff, would be leaving as a response to constant demands, mostly from within Republican and conservative ranks, for a shake-up in the Administration. But Andrew Card didn't send troops to Iraq, didn't respond or fail to respond to Katrina, and didn't manage the Dubai Ports deal. What's more, rather than bringing in outside new blood, the President is replacing him with Joshua Bolton, an insider at the White House perhaps as close to the President as Card.
Now we hear rumors that press secretary Scott McClellan and Treasury Secretary John Snow may be leaving. McClellan presents the same problem as Andrew Card, being primarily a decision defender rather than a decision maker. Now as to John Snow, his leaving won't make much difference as he seems to have disappeared a year ago Christmas and hasn't been heard from since.
Next, we learn that the day the Supreme Court decided the 2000 Presidential election in favor of the Bush campaign, Dick Cheney called William Cohen, Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense, and told Cohen he wanted a "briefing on one country and one country only. I want to know what's going on in Iraq and I don't care about anywhere else." As I have said for two years, Iraq was on the neo-cons' agenda long before 9/11 and 9/11 moved it to the front page.
Then, we learned that in a January 2003 meeting between President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair, the President indicated that he was "determined to invade Iraq without a second resolution" (which he promised to get) and regardless of the findings of the UN Weapons Inspection Team (which he was prepared to ignore). Furthermore, he even suggested sending a plane up with UN ensignia on it hoping Saddam would shoot it down to give us a publicly justifiable excuse to invade Iraq. And the President gave Tony Blair our invasion date, even before Colin Powell made his presentation to the UN designed to present a last chance for Saddam to avoid war - under the circumstances a rather tall order. And this past weekend, Sec of State Condoleeza Rice acknowledged that we "have made thousands of tactical mistakes" in the war in Iraq, and as General Tony Zinni promptly pointed out on Meet The Press, "tactical mistakes are mistakes made by military personnel," what we made were "strategic mistakes," which are made by the leaders of the government.
And for breaking news, Rep Tom Delay has announced he will resign his House seat by mid-June rather than "allow liberal Democrats to steal the seat." His reference to someone else "stealing" suggests he hasn't read his own indictment as clearly as he might have.
And Republicans want to build a 700 mile wall along the border to keep out immigrants. But since Americans don't want these jobs, we'll have to hire illegal immigrants to build the wall to keep them out. No wonder most Americans think the country is on the wrong track.
The list goes on, but I think you get the idea. In fact, the best way to sum all of this up is to quote the suggested fall campaign theme for the Democrats that was made not by Ted Kennedy, not by Nancy Pilosi, and not by Howard Dean - No, this suggested theme came from none other than Newt Gingrich - HAD ENOUGH?
 [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed]
10:21:19 AM
|
|
Senate president's son sodomizes 18 boys, is not charged with sexual assault. Clifton Bennett, 18-year-old son of Arizona state Senate president Ken Bennett, and his friend, 19-year-old Kyle Wheeler, were charged in January of 18 counts of aggravated assault and 18 counts of kidnapping. The charges refer to incidents which occurred at a boys' student government leadership skills camp in June of 2005, at which Bennett confesed that he and Wheeler sodomized several 11- to 14-year-old boys with broomsticks and flashlights in 40 separate incidents.
Wheeler has an additional assault charge based on his choking three boys until they passed out.
Yesterday, the pair was offered a plea agreement that will include no record of sexual assault; they will likely receive 90-day jail sentences, though the judge could reduce the charges and give them no jail time at all.
According to the victims' parents, the boys are having some type of colonic difficulty, they are sleeping with their clothes on, are afraid at night, and have received sexual assault-related counseling. However, the prosecutor told the judge that the "broomsticking" was a "hazing ritual" and a punishment for breaking rules, not sexual assault. The assaults, he said, were not viewed as sexual in nature because the prosecution could not prove that the perpetrators had "sexual intent." One has to wonder how this prosecutor does with other rape cases.
Bennett is an honor student and an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. If convicted of a felony, he would not be allowed to go on a planned church mission in September. [MoJo Blog]
10:15:50 AM
|
|
IF YOU JUST HAD BREAKFAST, I'D ADVISE WAITING 30 MINUTES BEFORE VIEWING THIS. AND DID I HEAR CORRECTLY, THAT LITTLE WEASEL DELAY SAY "THERE'S NOTHING WORSE THAN A WOMAN LAWYER" IN REFERENCE TO HILLARY CLINTON?
Harry Shearer: Found Object: DeLay on Hardball. To see just how grateful Chris Matthews was for getting the Tom DeLay scoop, and what DeLay may think of Hillary Clinton, go here. Thanks to the usual source gods.
 [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed]
8:49:01 AM
|
|
Davis Sweet: Lessons they never got from Reagan. It looks like the Republican Revolutionaries are making their last gasp in power as painful-to-watch as that liquefied-brain chick's balloon-torture video. And I have to blame Reagan. Not just because I like to blame Reagan for things, and whoo-MAMA do I like that, but because he never showed these petty criminals how to move up to the Boss's chair. They've become unmoored from the Gyper's big-crime strategy, and we're seeing how much the Ronnie theology lacks, not having any commandments.
Here, then, are an idealogue's decalogue of lessons the Republicans might have learned had they been raised in Reagan values-based families.
1. Thou shalt not steal from Target; Thou shalt steal from taxpayers.
2. Thou shalt not shoot an old guy; Thou shalt shoot nuns.
3. Thou shalt not try to diddle kiddies; Thou shalt screw them out of their college loans.
4. Thou shalt not drown the blacks; Thou shalt imprison them.
5. Thou shalt not invade an unarmed country; Thou shalt invade three or four unarmed countries.
6. Thou shalt not leave an angry war mother alone; Thou shalt give her plenty of company.
7. Thou shalt not foul the skies with poison; If anybody's watching.
8. Thou shalt not threaten Iran on one hand while making their dreams come true with the other; Oh, wait. Thou shalt do exactly that.
9. Thou shalt not sell legislation in exchange for campaign contributions; Thou shalt... Damn! That one's OK too.
10. Thou shalt not appoint utterly sociopathic Attorneys General; OK, this one's not set in stone or anything. In fact, it's kind of fun to find out, without giving it away, how explicit we can make our secret motto: "You have no more rights than a dog, rube."
 [The Huffington Post | Full Blog Feed]
8:45:53 AM
|
|
© Copyright 2006 Patricia Thurston.
|
|
|
|
|
