DAGGER 24 Hour News Service

Have you heard about Blackwater, it's ties to George Bush and the GOP?  There is a new book out that looks into Blackwater and it's mercenery army.  Based on the interview I saw with it's author it will be a very enlightening read:

Well, here we are a decade later, and it’s the most powerful mercenary firm in the world. It has 20,000 soldiers on the ready, the world’s largest private military base, a fleet of twenty aircraft, including helicopter gunships. It’s become nothing short of the Praetorian Guard for the Bush administration's so-called global war on terror. And it’s headed by a very rightwing Christian activist, ex-Navy Seal named Erik Prince, whose family was one of the major bankrollers of the Republican Revolution of the 1990s. He, himself, is a significant funder of President Bush and his allies.
source

Are "security measures" really security measures or a way to track, identify and influence worker's behavior?  Find out here.

I recently posted about how Exxon Mobil was paying large amounts of cash for articles, press releases, fake news segments etc, that sought to confuse the public when it came to global warming.  Enough other people joined me in posting about it that now the giant has given up on it's goal of confusing Americans.  Of course this means that they have a backup strategy in place already but it does feel good knowing that occasionaly people read what we bloggers have to say.

The Pump Handle has the scoop.

Thanks to all the scientists and public watchdog groups that brought the problem to light in the first place.  To every driver out there, how do you feel about a company using the profits sucked from your pockets being used to lie to you?  Maybe it's made you angry, angry enough to boycott.  Maybe you know of another company endangering people's lives and wellbeing for a quick buck, if so you are encouraged to blow the whistle. 

Set up a blog on freeflux or send me an email and I'll post items for you.

Peace.

Do you pride yourself in being an ethical consumer?  Do you like boycotting companies that seek to crush the voice of their own workers, cheat owners of tribal lands from billions of dollars, lock doors on workers and fail to supply adequate safety equipment?  If so then you'll love our new sidebar section.  We'll keep it updated and will do a story here and there about one of the companies on the list.  So far the list consists of:

• Exxon-Mobil
• British Petroleum
• General Electric
• WalMart
• AIG
• State Farm
• Caterpillar
• Chevron Texaco
• Coca-Cola
• DeBeers
• Donna Karan
• Esso
• Proctor and Gamble
• SC Johnson
• Shell

If you know of a reason that another company should be added please post in the comments.

Global Warming?  Never heard of it, probably a vast left wing conspiracy, aren't you tired of shoveling snow anyway, shhhhhhhhhh.

One wonders just how these turds sleep at night.

Matt Singer at CampusProgress.org takes a look at how America treats American workers when it comes to healthcare.  He includes many facts that perhaps you are not aware of and questions the way things are currently being done.

Unlike our counterparts in most developed nations, American workers are not allowed to get sick. Many American workers, especially the middle-class and working-class, have no paid sick days under their employment policies, because they are not mandated by law.

full story

How do you feel about the way your company handles things when you are too sick to work?  Perhaps you'd like to share your own experiences in the comments.

Daulton, over on Kos, pointed out some of the worst companies to work for if you are gay.  If you support the pursuit of happiness in America, perhaps you'll consider boycotting the compaines on his list.  Some of the name, like EXXON are no surprise, but did you know that Progressive Insurance was hostile towards gays at the workplace?

Go read more and then do something about it please.

From ProgressiveStates.org:

With a change in party control of Indiana's legislature, one shift may be new resistance to Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniel's pell-mell movement to privatize all public services.

"Our caucus basically does not support privatization," said Speaker-elect Patrick Bauer. "We don't support making profit out of poor people or mentally ill people," referring to the new proposal to give a $1 billion, 10-year control to a consortium to take over welfare-eligibility processing. This follows a slew of recent privatization initiatives in the state:

• Outsourcing the Department of Corrections' food services
• Giving a 75-year lease of the Indiana Toll Road to an Australian-Spanish consortium
• Beginning the privatization of state developmental centers

These have been matched by unsuccessful attempts to privatize state park inns and other proposals that are on the drawing board.

Despite the magnitude of change involved in privatizing social services in the state, the Governor scheduled just one hearing at 9am last Friday-- which didn't stop community members such as Cornell Burris from the NAACP from denouncing the corporate contracting out as a "sham" that was excluding community input.

As we noted earlier this year, one problem with these kinds of privatization deals are the incestuous deals that threaten to corrupt politics. For example, the consortium, Affiliated Computer Systems, vying to run these social services is the former employer of Indiana's Family and Social Services Administration, Secretary Mitchell Roob, just par for the course for a scandal-plagued company that had to oust its CEO and CFO last week over improprieties surrounding its stock option plans.

Instead of such rushed privatization, states should enact rules that require careful evaluation of the costs of contracting out and whether in-house alternatives are more cost-effective. Hopefully, Indiana will be moving in that direction with its new legislative leadership.

from the UFCW:

Watch a special investigative report on the workers' conditions at Smithfield's plant in Tar Heel, N.C. this  Friday, December 15 . Tune in to your local PBS station for the program Now with David Brancaccio to watch an inside look at the workers' fight to form a union for better working conditions.

To find out when the program airs in your area, please visit: www.pbs.org/now/

For information on how to get involved in the workers' fight for justice, please visit: www.smithfieldjustice.com