Free Republic

  "I am committed to preserving Florida's natural beauty … There is no ambiguity in my position on drilling off the coast of Florida." - President Bush, 4/23/04 Kerry Supports Offshore Drilling In Florida Kerry Says He Favors Drilling Off The Coast Of Florida. "But Kerry said he would be in favor of drilling off the coast of Florida. 'I support oil drilling in the right places,' Kerry said. 'There is a capacity to protect what we have today - the protections for the coast of Florida - and still be able to drill in those locations where they're already...

Sarah Palin with her husband Todd spoke to a tea party crowd Monday in New Hampshire. From her Facebook page: In my speech on Saturday in Iowa, I said: “Between bailouts for Wall Street cronies and stimulus projects for union bosses’ security and ‘green energy’ giveaways, [Barack Obama] took care of his friends. And now they’re on course to raise a billion dollars for his re-election bid so that they can do it all over again.” This was shamefully on display yesterday at President Obama’s taxpayer-funded campaign rally in Detroit. In introducing the President, Teamsters President James Hoffa represented precisely...

Monday, October 11, 2004 Out Of Energy   OUT OF ENERGYKerry's Energy PlanIndependent Of Reality______________________________________________________KERRY'S OWN ADVISERS SCOFF AT KERRY'S IDEAS ON ENERGY INDEPENDENCEKerry Energy Advisers Believe Kerry's Energy Plan Is "Unrealistic And Misleading."  "The idea of a United States independent of Middle East oil is a touchstone of Senator John Kerry's campaign and a huge crowd pleaser, but has divided and exasperated many of his most experienced energy advisers.  Some advisers say they worry that Mr. Kerry's focus on freeing the United States from reliance on oil from the Persian Gulf, the linchpin of the energy plan he released...

<p>WASHINGTON -- While blaming President Bush for the high price of gasoline, his Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, on Tuesday reiterated his opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, saying it is no solution.</p> <p>"We deserve an administration that doesn't fake it to the American people and pretend that somehow by drilling in the Alaska wildlife refuge we can deal with the problems of America," Kerry, D-Mass., told university students in San Diego. "We can't provide the supply of oil America needs from the Alaska wildlife refuge or from any other source in the United States, because we only have 3 percent of the world's oil reserves."</p>

Teamsters President James Hoffa said on Friday he would ask the 500,000 truck operators covered by his union to take part in a grass-roots homeland security effort looking for suspicious activity on the roads. Talking to reporters on the White House driveway, Hoffa said he had pitched the idea to President Bush's director of homeland security, Tom Ridge. His comments came shortly before an FBI warning that terrorists may use fuel tanker trucks for attacks in the United States -- possibly on fuel depots, Jewish schools or synagogues -- or on U.S. interests overseas. Hoffa was among a group of...

Not surprisingly, MSNBC’s Ed Schultz was practically orgasmic with joy Tuesday over Teamsters president James Hoffa’s Labor Day declaration of war against the Tea Party. After telling his “Ed Show” audience that Obama’s poll numbers have been declining because he hasn’t spoken to the American people like the union boss, Schultz actually asked Hoffa, “Do you think the Republicans are sons of b---hes?” (video follows) The program began with an exultant Schultz saying, “It is priceless audio. I love this story. It’s about time somebody stood up and said it just like this.” After an introduction, Schultz played Hoffa’s comments,...

MATTHEWS: How about ANWR? You guys want to see ANWR because you want to see guys working in your business. I guess there‘s a lot of Teamsters jobs up there lined up and organized, if you could put a pipeline up to the Alaska wilderness. He is against that. HOFFA: Well, we talked about that. He says, look, I am against ANWR, but I am going to put that pipeline in and we‘re going to drill like never before. (CROSSTALK) MATTHEWS: What, are they going to run water through it? (CROSSTALK) HOFFA: ... more jobs than the ANWR would have...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Teamsters President James P. Hoffa's growing relationship with President Bush has gotten downright cozy. Hoffa scored a VIP seat in the first lady's box for Bush's State of the Union speech, blurring the lines of the traditional rivalry between Republicans and organized labor. Hoffa said Wednesday that it was a great honor to be asked. "We have a growing relationship and we're very proud of that," Hoffa said in an interview. Hoffa and Bush have been courting each other for some time and with varying motives. Their staffs talk to each other weekly. The Teamsters even employ ...

Creating another four years' space for Dear Leader  (to finish off what's left of this country) is Job #1... Elite Obama for America volunteers train for upcoming get-out-the-vote efforts More at Reaganite Republican

INDIANAPOLIS -- With the controversial right-to-work legislation now law, protesters are moving ahead with plans to try to disrupt Sunday's Super Bowl. Gov. Mitch Daniels signed the bill Wednesday to make Indiana the 23rd state to prohibit labor contracts that require workers to pay union representation fees and the first to adopt such legislation in a decade. Between 3,000 and 4,000 union protesters streamed outside the Statehouse on Wednesday chanting, "No Super Bowl," and "See you at the Super Bowl!" before marching into Super Bowl Village, down to an area near the stadium and back. "We certainly had a huge...

Hostess Brands Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as this week, said people familiar with the matter, a move that would mark the second significant court restructuring for the Twinkies and Wonder Bread baker in the past several years. The privately held Irving, Texas, company, which employs roughly 19,000 people and carries more than $860 million in debt, has been facing a cash squeeze amid high labor costs and rising prices for sugar, flour and other ingredients, according to people familiar with the matter. Those costs together have proved higher than the company's roughly...

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Occupy LA movement grew by the thousands Wednesday as unionized workers, caregivers and their patients joined the call for an end to corporate greed and Congress to put Americans back to work. The demonstrators held large signs, chanted loudly and blew whistles as they marched through the streets of downtown Los Angeles to the steps of City Hall. Organized by the Service Employees International Union, the demonstration was in support of President Barack Obama's American Jobs Act....

Two separate investigations are underway Monday after multiple submachine guns and pistols used for SWAT training by the LAPD were found missing. KNX 1070′s Pete Demetriou reports the weapons were stolen from a building owned and used specifically for training by the LAPD. The 21 MP-5 submachine guns and a dozen Colt 45 automatic pistols were taken from a locked container inside the Kennedy Building on San Pedro Street, police officials said. The location — which formerly housed clothing firms before it was donated to the LAPD several years ago — is considered a secure site, Deputy Chief Michael Downing...

Fred Gegare, who is challenging Teamsters president Jimmy Hoffa in elections this month to head up the transport union, says that Hoffa and the US government are colluding to control the union by the use of intimidation. If true, the allegations could mean that 50 years of work trying to rid unions of mob influence has come to an end.  Hoffa and the Justice Department, says Gegare, have abused a decades-old consent decree, “which was once used to remove mobsters two decades ago, [but] is now being used to target [Hoffa’s] critics” through a “rogue investigative unit set up by...

Organizers Wanted!!! Working America / AFL-CIO is hiring full time staff to take our country back from the political forces that favor the wealthy and corporate special interests over your well-being! Diversity is highly valued at Working America: Women, people of color, and LGBT applicants strongly encouraged to apply. $11.44/ Hour $457.60 week base pay – Entry Level. Fun work environment. EOE. Rapid advancement opportunities. Call Jared Or Nate 414.257.9433, www.workingamerica.org

this was just posted on the Teamsters Facebook page: Teamsters Notice: This Facebook page is not a forum for discussing internal union politics but for issues that affect the Teamsters, unions and working people. Going forward, comments that refer to internal union politics will be deleted and the poster will be warned. Anyone who posts a comment about internal union politics after being warned will be banned from the page.

Organized labor has many enemies in this country. Unfortunately, we also need to start worrying about our friends. Vocal conservatives continue to increase their influence and hijack the debate about restoring our economy, putting the focus on cutting deficits and not creating jobs. Their attempt to shrink government and hurt the middle class is unfortunate but not surprising. While Tea Party Republicans have awakened a newfound passion for fiscal conservatism, the party has always been the cloak the powerful use to conceal their self-interest. Sadly, however, this belief is finding a toehold in the Democratic Party, the once strong ally...

Between Richard Trumka's special invitation to the president's "jobs speech," his despicable AFL-CIO 9/11 "tribute" essay, and the AFL-CIO affiliated ILWU's riot and hostage-taking in Washington State, we've been discussing organized labor quite a lot this week. Luckily for the embattled unions, a reporter from Portland, Oregon-based KGW-TV ventured over to the local ILWU headquarters to cover their side of the story. A friendly, staid, and eloquent employee greeted the news crew and calmly explained the situation. Just kidding. He went ballistic, screeching every profane slur in the book, and threatening to commit physical assault and destroy their equipment. *Extreme*...

This occurred at International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU Local 21)

They appeal to comity, defined as a friendly social atmosphere, social harmony. That was undoubtedly Barack Obama’s greatest attribute as a candidate. He promised a new politics, a new cordiality. No more red state/blue divisions. He touted his Senate friendship with Oklahoma ’s Tom Coburn. It was genuine. On the campaign trail in 2008, Sen. Obama offered his sitting down with Tom Coburn as an example of how he could reach out to opponents and bring disparate groups together.   President Obama last February spoke eloquently last winter when a madman shot Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and killed several others in...