Action Alert

We Need to Know Where Representative Capito Stands!
For the last six years, American families have endured a government in Washington that catered to the interests of the super-wealthy and well-connected. They were given big tax cuts while the rest of us paid the price with cuts to services that we rely on, such as child care, education, worker training and more.

But this week, the House of Representatives will vote on a spending bill for the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education departments that reverses those misplaced priorities and invests in funding for vital domestic programs.

President Bush has threatened to veto this bill if passed.

Call 1-888-460-0813 , request Representative Shelley Capito's office and ask Representative Capito to support the Labor-HHS-Education bill and oppose the President's threatened veto.

You may follow this simple script:

The person who takes your call may not be able to give a direct answer on where Representative Capito stands, but rest assured – your call counts!

Save the Date

On Aug 20th from 5:30-7PM, Economist Dean Baker will be speaking at Tayor Books on his new book The Conservative Nanny State. Baker is one of the best known progressive economists in America, perhaps second to Paul Krugman, and it will be a very informative event.

Both Baker and Krugman are contributing to the growing body of fact-based knowledge that West Virginia free-market apostles like Russ Sobel of WVU, Dick (he shot his friend in the face with a gun) Cheney, and other top officials keep ignoring and getting so very wrong. On almost every front - energy, the economy, and the budget Sobel, the Chamber of Commerce and other disciples keep dishing out the same old 1980's economic rubbish that just isn't true and just isn't working – deregulate, financialize, privatize. Read More Here ---

Interesting Info

The Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act of 2007
by Brother Carl Eastham, President LU #289

WV Professional Fire Fighters 
International Association of Fire Fighters, AFL-CIO, CLC

On July 17, 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to pass H.R. 980 which guarantees collective bargaining rights for every fire fighter in the nation -- has overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives. The IAFF will now focus its efforts in the Senate and, ultimately, on lobbying the president to sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.

For more information on HR 980, click here.

James Parks

AFL-CIO blog
Jul 16, 2007
Judge Upholds Overtime Pay Ruling for Resurrection Home Health Workers

More than 50 employees at Resurrection Health Care may be eligible for as much as $500,000 in back wages after an administrative law judge denied the hospital chain's appeal of an Illinois Department of Labor ruling that management violated the state's labor law on overtime pay. …… Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, says Resurrection Health Care should stop its stalling tactics and pay these employees what the law requires.

222,000 Letter Carriers Have Tentative Contract Deal

by Mike Hall, Jul 13, 2007

The Letter Carriers ( NALC ) and U.S. Postal Service (USPS) have reached a tentative five-year agreement that includes new limits on contracting out work. NALC President William H. Young calls the pact a “win-win situation” for the 222,000 union members and the USPS. In January, Postal Workers ( APWU) members ratified afour-year deal with the USPS that covers some 272,000 postal clerks, maintenance and motor vehicle craft employees. The 55,000-member National Postal Mail Handlers Union (NPMHU) also ratified a new contract. http://blog.aflcio.org/

Analysis

Intelligence Puts Rationale for War on Shakier Ground
By Michael Abramowitz

Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 18, 2007; Page A05

The White House faced fresh political peril yesterday in the form of a new intelligence assessment that raised sharp questions about the success of its counterterrorism strategy and judgment in making Iraq the focus of that effort.

Paul R. Pillar, a former CIA analyst who has been involved in previous intelligence estimates, said that the administration has correctly identified the danger posed by al-Qaeda in Iraq and that there are indeed links between the Iraq group and the larger international terrorist network. But he said the White House is drawing the wrong conclusion, and argued instead that it is the U.S. presence in Iraq that is fueling the terrorists' cause.

"Iraq matters because it has become a cause celebre and because groups like al-Qaeda in Iraq and al-Qaeda central exploit the image of the United States being out to occupy Muslim lands," Pillar said.

Referring to al-Qaeda in Iraq , Clinton administration official Daniel S. Benjamin, who has written books and articles on international terrorism, said: "These are bad guys.

These are jihadists." He added: "That doesn't mean we [should] stay in Iraq the way we have been, because we are not making the situation any better. We're creating terrorists in Iraq , we are creating terrorists outside of Iraq who are inspired by what's going on in Iraq . . . . The longer we stay the more terrorists we create."

So who made the best case for women's health?  It's up to you.

Watch the Videos and Help Decide Who Made the Most Powerful Case for Women's Health and Safety.

Watch the videos for yourself and then join thousands of Planned Parenthood Action Fund supporters in deciding which speaker made the strongest case for action on women's health.  Make your choice before 5:00 p.m. EST on Friday.  We will email the results on Monday. This is an exciting opportunity to keep vitally important women's health issues front and center in the presidential campaign. 

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