2011 May 09 - Headline News

As part of our ongoing research effort into the smear-campaign conducted against Sodexo, we recently came accross a - sizeable - bit of information that might be of interest to all party in this affair. It so happens that there is an online record of all financial activities at the SEIU. While it would be a laudable step towards transparency if it could be found anywhere else than on a federal website, it does have the merit of telling us a bit more about SEIU than its official communication - for which it spends hefty sums - will let you believe. Of course we’ve taken upon us to share that information with you and it is sure to be a recurring topic in the coming days.

In light of the information present in these documents, it appears quite amusing that among the many, more or less founded, accusations leveled against Sodexo, one stands first and foremost, the alleged “poverty wages” the company pays. Note that neither SEIU nor USAS ever said Sodexo was paying its workers under the legal minimum-wage, because that would be wrong. No, the rethorical trick here is to give the illusion that Sodexo workers are being paid sub-standards wages when, in fact, they receive wages equal or superior to the legal minimum.

Well then, it’s certainly not so bad of SEIU and puppet-organization USAS to try and promote higher wages for Sodexo Employees, is it? Of course it isn’t, and we’re pretty sure Sodexo workers wouldn’t mind a few more bucks at the end of the month - unless it costs them their jobs. Yet, where it gets funny is when one looks at the “living wages” being paid at SEIU’s headquarters.

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http://biggovernment.com/creport/2011/05/09/seiu-fighting-for-living-wages-enjoys-some-nice-standards-of-living/

Monitor Group said on Friday that elements of work it conducted for Muammar Gaddafi’s Libyan regime from 2006 through 2008-with support from some members of the Harvard faculty-should have been identified as lobbyist activity according to federal policy, leading one involved Harvard professor to say he was misled.

Monitor, a consulting firm co-founded by Harvard professors in 1983, said in a statement that it would retroactively register its work under the Foreign Agents Registration Act after the internally-hired law firm Covington & Burling concluded that some of the consulting group’s work in Libya violated the 1938 legislation.

The Libyan government paid the group $250,000 per month to identify opportunities for economic and political reform. The firm’s work also included a program that brought influential “thought leaders”-including two prominent Harvard professors-to the nation, according to The Boston Globe.

Harvard Kennedy School Professor Robert D. Putnam, who partook in the Monitor program, told The Globe that he had not known of a lobbying agenda.

“If I had known that a primary purpose of the visit to Libya was to influence public opinion in the United States, I would not have gone,” he said in an interview with The Globe.

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http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/5/9/harvard-university-work-lewis/

May. 9, 2011 04:34 PM
Associated Press

NOGALES, Ariz. - Authorities have found a 250-foot-long unfinished smuggling tunnel underneath the U.S.-Mexico border that had electricity, water pumps and ventilation.

Chief Border Patrol Agent Randy Hill says the tunnel is more sophisticated than other recently discovered tunnels, saying that those who were building it chiseled through solid rock and installed lighting and other equipment.

The Border Patrol said Monday that they initially discovered the tunnel May 2 and confirmed it with the Mexican government three days later.

The tunnel was 15 feet beneath the ground and began in an abandoned building in Nogales on the Mexican side of the border. It was still undergoing construction on the Arizona side.

Agents have found dozens of smuggling tunnels in Nogales since the 1990s. The proliferation of tunnels is attributed to the government putting more border fencing, Border Patrol agents and technology at the border in recent years.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2011/05/09/20110509drug-tunnel-found-in-nogales.html

PRINCETON, NJ -- Fifty-two percent of Americans believe the Republican and Democratic parties do such a poor job of representing the people that a third party is needed. Forty percent believe they do an adequate job. The percentage calling for a third party is down from August, when it tied its high of 58%.

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http://www.gallup.com/poll/147461/Support-Third-Party-Dips-Majority-View.aspx?utm_source=add%2Bthis&utm_medium=addthis.com&utm_campaign=sharing&utm_term=Support-Third-Party-Dips-Majority-View

Accusing someone of lying is a serious matter. Especially when that someone is the President of the United States. Charges of that nature should be leveled based only on absolute proof of a deliberate statement, intentionally made, whose sole purpose is to deceive. Based on this criterion, President Obama is a liar. Demonstrably so. And a disturbing pattern is emerging that allows for the possibility that our president is a serial liar. Consider:

In just the last month, Obama has made several statements that are just not so. Statements made to the American public that were in direct conflict with known facts.

In April, Obama flatly stated that implementing ObamaCare will reduce the deficit by $1 trillion. A day later, the Congressional Budget Office reported that statement was 'incorrect,' pegging the "deficit savings" at $210 billion over 10 years.

In the same April 15 speech, Obama stated that the tax burden on the wealthy is the lowest it has been in 50 years. A simple fact-check proves him wrong. Obama did not correct his false statement and the media didn't either.

In January of 2009, Obama stated that it was no longer necessary to kill Osama bin Laden to win the war against al-Qaeda. On May 1, 2011, after the successful raid by Navy Seals that killed bin Laden, Obama told the nation that he made the capture or killing of Osama bin Laden a "top priority," and had instructed CIA Chief Leon Panetta to make this job number one. Which statement is correct?

Last week, several of my friends asked me if I believed that bin Laden was really dead. The questions weren't surprising, considering the mass of misinformation and conflicting accounts of bin Laden's death now emanating from the White House. It appears the question of bin Laden's demise was only settled after al Qaeda issued a statement confirming it.

What does it say about Obama's credibility when the pro-Arab al Jazeera media reports are given more credibility than our own president? Maybe that's why Columbia School of Journalism just awarded al Jazeera a journalism prize.

Giving Obama the benefit of the doubt, I'll allow for the possibility that he underwent a drastic change of heart and altered his position on bin Laden. It happens. But when added to the increasing number of statements Obama continues to make that defy reality, the facts, and common sense, I'm more inclined to believe Obama's "mis-statements" are a deliberate effort to deceive the American people.

For example: Obama told the American people that not spending money is "mortgaging America's future." Who knows, it's possible Obama actually believes this, but anyone with an ounce of common sense knows we can't spend our way out of bankruptcy.

Another blooper: Obama stated that increased drilling will not solve our energy problems. Huh? Again, the media let this statement go unchallenged. (At least Sen. Vitter called him on it.)

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http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/05/is_obama_a_serial_liar.html

BOSTON (MarketWatch) - If you thought the housing crisis was bad, think again.

It’s worse.

New data just out from Zillow, the real-estate information company, show house prices are falling at their fastest rate since the Lehman collapse.

Average home prices are down 8% from a year ago, 3% over the quarter, and are falling at about 1% every month, according to Zillow.

And the percentage of homeowners in negative-equity positions - with a home worth less than its mortgage - has rocketed to 28%, a new crisis high.

Zillow now predicts prices will fall about 8% this year and says it no longer expects the market to bottom before 2012.

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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/housing-crash-is-getting-worse-2011-05-09?link=MW_latest_news

Here comes the ax man!

† Translation: Sneed has learned Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel is sending an e-mail to city commissioners this week that will shrink their wallets.

† To wit: To slice the city budget deficit and help taxpayers, Emanuel is asking them to cut their payroll budgets for political appointees by 10 percent - which would also include commissioner’s salaries.

† The numbers: There are 33 city departments saddled with at least 1,300 political appointees.

† Quoth Emanuel’s e-mail: “No exceptions and no excuses. . . . Changing how we do business in Chicago won’t make everyone happy . . . but business as usual is not working for most Chicagoans.”

† The kicker: Watch for Emanuel to post the salaries of all political appointees online in an effort to “be as transparent as possible.”

The Daley bodyguards . . .

$$$: The flap over Mayor Daley’s request for police protection after he leaves office could become a major flapdoodle when word hits the street it could cost Chicago taxpayers nearly $400,000 a year.

† To wit: Sneed is told Daley’s present security detail - two police commanders and 22 police officers making sergeant’s pay - is about $2 million a year.

† The kicker: If Daley is given a four-man team working in two-day shifts - plus a fifth guy working relief duty, Sneed is told it could cost about $400,000 a year. The new detail would include a driver and a walker.

The mayor might qualify for protection, but the city is broke.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/sneed/5222153-417/mayor-elect-emanuel-demands-salary-cuts-for-political-appointees.html

This DAY in History:

May 9, 1955:
West Germany joins NATO

Ten years after the Nazis were defeated in World War II, West Germany formally joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a mutual defense group aimed at containing Soviet expansion in Europe. This action marked the final step of West Germany's integration into the Western European defense system.

Germany had been a divided nation since 1945. The Americans, British, and French held zones of occupation in Western Germany and West Berlin; the Soviets controlled Eastern Germany and East Berlin. Although publicly both the Americans and the Soviets proclaimed their desire for a reunited and independent Germany, it quickly became apparent that each of these Cold War opponents would only accept a reunified Germany that served their own nation's specific interests. In 1949, the Americans, British, and French combined their zones of occupation in West Germany to establish a new nation, the Federal Republic of Germany. The Soviets responded by setting up the German Democratic Republic in East Germany. On May 5, 1955, the American, French, and British forces formally ended their military occupation of West Germany, which became an independent country. Four days later, West Germany was made a member of NATO. For U.S. policymakers, this was an essential step in the defense of Western Europe. Despite the reluctance of some European nations, such as France, to see a rearmed Germany—even as an ally—the United States believed that remilitarizing West Germany was absolutely vital in terms of setting up a defensive perimeter to contain any possible Soviet attempts at expansion. The Soviet response was immediate. On May 14, 1955, the Soviet Union established the Warsaw Pact, a military alliance between Russia and its Eastern European satellites—including East Germany.

The entrance of West Germany into NATO was the final step in integrating that nation into the defense system of Western Europe. It was also the final nail in the coffin as far as any possibility of a reunited Germany in the near future. For the next 35 years, East and West Germany came to symbolize the animosities of the Cold War. In 1990, Germany was finally reunified; the new German state remained a member of NATO.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/west-germany-joins-nato