Jason Gooljar

• When you actually enforce trade agreements good things happen

  The background is that China was flooding the US market with cheap tires, costing thousands of American jobs and forcing factories to close. Our agreement when China joined the WTO was that we could impose a tariff when “disruptions” occurred, and this was a disruption. President Bush refused to enforce [...]
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  Posted: November 30, 2009, 1:06pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Union Gal doesn’t fly American Airlines :)

  Now, American Airlines, did you think you were going to get that one past me? Tease me with a great looking deal, only to piss on the workers who will be protecting my ass in the sky? Well, American Airlines, I think not! via Women, Unions, and Our Stories: Of Picket [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 11:03pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Absoluteley criminal stereotype about construction workers must end…

  But at Gage, a fashionable cafe just a block from the pounding hammers and buzzing saws, Steve Thompson, a cyber-executive, said he considered $40-an-hour pay “unreasonable” for the crowd in steel-toe boots, “given their education and training.” To workers in the trades, that kind of talk is as familiar as the [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 5:42pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Canada gets a little like Iran and China: Questions Amy Goodman on speaking out about Olympics

  U.S. journalist Amy Goodman was stopped at a Canadian border crossing south of Vancouver on Wednesday and questioned for 90 minutes by authorities concerned she was coming to Canada to speak against the Olympics. via US Journalist , Amy Goodman, Grilled at Canada Border Crossing | CommonDreams.org. I would not usually blog [...]
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  Posted: November 29, 2009, 5:12pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Today Show highlights Richistan butler school

  I was watching the Today Show this morning where they did a segment on the Starkey School. I first read about this school in Robert Frank’s book Richistan. It is rather depressing to me to see people who publicly state that they were having trouble finding work or decided against [...]
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  Posted: November 27, 2009, 8:59am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• You don’t need an extended warranty

  In general, we have found extended warranties to be a bad deal for the customer and have long advised against them. The most cautious consumers might want to consider an extended warranty for a repair-prone brand, provided that the warranty is both inexpensive and comprehensive and the cost of repairs [...]
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  Posted: November 26, 2009, 9:24pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Health insurance corporations can literally kill you…literally

  “I went to Howard University hospital on May 9, but did not go to surgery until May 11. I had DC Alliance insurance, but they would not do surgery on me that night or the next day. They waited until Medicaid kicked in on May 11. Man, I stayed fucked [...]
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  Posted: November 25, 2009, 1:37am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Dear, American Medical Associaton: Stuff this turkey up your backsides, please. Thank You.

  When medical residents work 30-hour shifts, should they be guaranteed a five-hour nap? The Institute of Medicine thinks so, but the AMA disagrees. At its recent meeting, the AMA adopted a new policy to oppose the guaranteed sleep time. Mandatory naps could “have significant unintended consequences for continuity of patient [...]
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  Posted: November 24, 2009, 4:03pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• I will never eat movie popcorn again!

  A medium-sized popcorn and medium soda at the nation’s largest movie chain pack the nutritional equivalent of three Quarter Pounders topped with 12 pats of butter, according to a report released today by the advocacy group Center for Science in the Public Interest. via Pop Goes The Diet: Movie Popcorn Is [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 7:21pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Hell: Where your iPhone really comes from

  By the time a gadget reaches Apples flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City or any other U.S. retailer, it may have passed through the hands of a heavily indebted Filipina migrant worker on the graveyard shift in Taiwan, a Taiwanese “quality control” worker wholl soon be fired [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 3:19pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• I don’t get Lieberman and Lincoln..

  She added: “But let me be perfectly clear. I am opposed to a new government-administered health care plan as a part of comprehensive health insurance reform, and I will not vote in favor of the proposal that has been introduced by leader Reid as it is written.” But Senator Lieberman, [...]
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  Posted: November 22, 2009, 2:15am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Local legislators put their federal counterparts to shame when dealing with foreclosures

  To protect neighboring property values and prevent health hazards that surround an unkempt, foreclosed home, the bill S66007 would require lending institutions to maintain the property so that it remains in a safe and habitable condition. To protect the tenant, the lending institution that acquires the foreclosed property must notify [...]
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  Posted: November 17, 2009, 3:00pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Health Insurance corporations and their execs are terrorists

  Wonder why? Because insurance companies can profit from blocking down reform. A newly identified report from Goldman Sachs looked at the impact of health reform on major health insurance companies and put it in stark terms – insurance company earnings could be cut by 50% over the next decade if [...]
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  Posted: November 15, 2009, 1:17pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• I like Bernie Sanders’s banking act

  That said, Mr. Sanders’s philosophy seems sensible. Breaking up the biggest financial firms would remove unfair subsidies in the form of implicit government backing, sharply reduce systemic risk, and perhaps foster greater competition. Given the poor performance of some of the biggest financial conglomerates, it might even benefit shareholders. It’s [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 10:04pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• AG Cuomo goes after spaceman (Intel)

  New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo filed an antitrust lawsuit against Intel, alleging the chipmaker threatened computer makers and paid kickbacks to stop them from using competitors’ chips, Cuomo’s office said Wednesday. via NY attorney general Cuomo files antitrust suit against Intel – Nov. 4, 2009. What ever happened to the free [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:48pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Workers get some sleep!

  This isn’t the first study to show that interrupting natural sleep cycles is harmful. A previous study whose mouse participants were even more unfortunate found that chronic jet lag can be fatal. Uh, yikes. Suddenly my frequent flier miles are looking less appealing. Another study, this time with hamsters in [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 8:19pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Small things I gleamed from a trip to New York

  I’m heading back home to the DC Metro area tomorrow but I wanted to blog about three observations I’ve made in traveling back and forth from Manhattan to Hartsdale, NY to visit mom & sis. The first thing was an ad I saw in a subway car about a local [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 11:27am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Indoor plants good for the office

  New research shows that ornamental plants can drastically reduce levels of stress and ill health and boost performance levels at work because they soak up harmful indoor air pollution. via Indoor Plants Could Save Your Life | CommonDreams.org. If you work in an office it appears that getting some plants will help [...]
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  Posted: November 08, 2009, 9:18am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Screw credit cards and the banks!

  Lenders are making the moves in advance of tougher federal regulations for credit cards scheduled to take effect on Feb. 22. The new rules will limit how companies can modify credit card agreements, specifically prohibiting them from retroactively raising interest rates and fees on existing balances. via Credit Card Firms Hurry [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 12:09pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Google Sidewiki: A new tool for activists

  Eric Lee over at Labourstart in his latest newsletter has pointed out the usefulness of Google Sidewiki. I do think this is actually quite brilliant. Unless you’re a regular reader of the official Google blog (and I’m not) you probably haven’t heard of Google SideWiki.  But a trade union activist in [...]
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  Posted: November 06, 2009, 6:39am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Why would a health group take money from Coca-Cola?

  The American Academy of Family Physicians has prompted outcry and lost members over its new six-figure alliance with the Coca-Cola Co. The deal will fund educational materials about soft drinks for the academy’s consumer health and wellness Web site, http://www.FamilyDoctor.org. via Coke to Bring You Advice About Health and Soft Drinks [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:43pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• No jobs in America so Americans are leaving!

  James is awaiting final approval on his visa to Korea. The hagwon, a special school for learning English, has hired him for about $1,000 a month plus living expenses. He explains that it’s the best he can do: even the Korean English-teaching market, which used to hire any college graduate [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 5:37pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• AFI workers win union

  But the spat ended on Wednesday when the union announced that it had negotiated an agreement with AFI to represent the Maryland theater workers. The agreement provided “significant wage, benefit and condition improvements,” according to a statement from the guild, which touted how Loeb had “put pressure on the company [...]
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  Posted: November 05, 2009, 7:49am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• BPA in canned soup? Just great…

  The food processing world is reeling right now one day after a shocking new series of tests released by Consumer Reports revealed that many leading brands of canned foods contain Bisphenol A (BPA)—a toxic chemical linked to health risks including reproductive abnormalities, neurological effects, heightened risk of breast and prostate [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:31pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Cereal ads detrimental to your kids health

  According to a new study from Yale University’s Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity, the least healthy breakfast cereals are the most frequently and aggressively marketed to children. via Cereal ads might be bad for your child’s health : Consumer Reports Health Blog. I’m not surprised. Kids really have it rough [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:24pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Latisse drug a lesson in subersive consumerist advertising

  But I still couldn’t quite believe the level of glam-infused over-the-topness the commercial imparted, making a powerful prescription drug that can cost more than $100 a month sound like just a really, really cool new makeup item (and featuring superstar Brooke Shields, no less). If I didn’t know better (and [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 8:18pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• What’s the matter with Canada?

  Number of comments: 2
  Yet no crop could grow in the pitch-black surface exposed by the machine working 1,000ft below our helicopter. This is the edge of a fast-expanding open-cast mine in the Canadian tar sands, one of the world’s most polluting sources of oil. It takes only a few minutes to fly across the [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 6:18pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• On affordable housing was Andy Spano right about Westchester County, NY?

  The race matter reached its peak of controversy late last month when Spano, at a League of Women Voters of Westchester debate, said he thought much of the opposition to the housing settlement — what he dubbed as code words like economics, zoning and home rule — were really covers [...]
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  Posted: November 04, 2009, 1:53am EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Senator Burr sides against rape victims

  “SENATOR BURR: You were wrong to side with your campaign contributors from the defense industry and Chamber of Commerce and against your constituents, who overwhelmingly support the Franken Amendment protecting rape victims. Women, families, and workers expect better from you — and our democracy deserves better.” via Change Congress. What’s probably the [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 8:12pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• Mining giant uses divide-and-conquer tactics

  Global mining giant Vale is a highly profitable company.  Its net profits in 2008 were thirteen billion US dollars. Yet it tells the union that deep concessions are now needed, and tried to divide the workers by undermining seniority and providing fewer benefits to new employees. 3,500 Vale employees in Canada responded [...]
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  Posted: November 03, 2009, 1:57pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• This is why I laugh at the nativists who are anti-immigration like Lou Dobbs and Pat Buchanan

  Of all the American contenders to try and break the 27-year men’s drought in the New York City Marathon, Meb Keflezighi may have represented the American dream more than any of them. Born in war-torn Eritrea, one of 11 siblings in a village with no electricity, Keflezighi now wears his [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 3:39pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar

• PepsiCo learns a $1.26 billion lesson – HA, HA!

  The Wisconsin men said they talked with the distributors in 1981 about their idea to bottle and sell purified water and that PepsiCo later stole the idea by creating Aquafina. via PepsiCo learns a $1.26 billion lesson over misplaced letter | U.S. | Reuters. There is no shame when it comes to [...]
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  Posted: November 01, 2009, 1:06pm EST
  by Jason Gooljar