Explosive Testimony about the Bayer CropScience chemical plant fire

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Wednesday April 29, 2009 · 6:15 AM PDT

2009/04/29 · 06:15

crossposted from unbossed

In August 2008, an explosion rocked a chemical plant in Institute, West Virginia. It killed two plant employees and raised fears of local residents, who had cause to worry. The Bayer CropScience plant there is reportedly the twin of the Union Carbide facility in Bhopal, India that killed thousands in the aftermath of a toxic chemical leak in 1984, one of the worst industrial accidents in history.

~ from On the Media

Most of us may already have forgotten the explosion and fire last August 28, 2008 in the Bayer CropScience chemical plan in Institute, West Virginia. But the truly explosive testimony last week on April 21, 2009 before the Committee on Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations brings it all back. Indeed, revelations in just the opening statement by Rep. Bart Stupak are just jaw dropping.

shirah

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Tuesday April 28, 2009 · 7:17 AM PDT

2009/04/28 · 07:17

crossposted from unbossed

That is the conclusion of GAO in a new report issued this past week. FYI, $72 billion is about 4% of the $1.8 trillion of reported government outlays and according to GAO is a significant increase of about $23 billion from FY 2007. The Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) requires executive branch agency heads to identify programs and activities that are susceptible to significant improper payments.

shirah

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Monday April 27, 2009 · 1:33 PM PDT

2009/04/27 · 13:33

criossposted from unbossed

It's hard to imagine that any politician whose nomination for a federal cabinet position would relish having to take a stand on a controversial bill and one that has been heavily financed by agribusiness.

But last week, in the midst of her confirmation hearings and vote for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kansas Governor Sebelius vetoed HB 2121, a bill that would have used milk labeling as a way to crush dairy farmers who do not inject their dairy cows with rBST / rBGH / Posilac - artificial hormones - and take away the right of Kansans to have information that will let them choose what foods to serve themselves and their families.

But the fight is not over.

shirah

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Wednesday April 15, 2009 · 4:54 AM PDT

2009/04/15 · 04:54

crossposted from unbossed

Part I, provided background on airline deregulation and its impact on working conditions and safety in the airline industry. It also included links to several earlier pieces on this subject. It then included in full recent testimony by Captain Sully Sullenberger on those same issues.

This Part examines other testimony on that subject at the February 24, 2009 Subcommittee on Aviation - US Airways Flight 1549 Accident.

shirah

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Sunday April 12, 2009 · 8:05 AM PDT

2009/04/12 · 08:05

crossposted from unbossed

A few weeks ago we observed:

If you're worried about your safety when you fly these days, consider how dangerous it is to work for an airline bent on cutting corners just so it can stay afloat in the shark-infested waters of airline deregulation.

Those dangerous conditions come as a result of years of cost-cutting and ruthless competition, leading to bankruptcies and worse, as we reported back in 2005. They, like our financial markets, are the poison fruit of deregulation. And like the financial markets, the real costs were imposed on the public.

shirah

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Monday April 06, 2009 · 6:18 AM PDT

2009/04/06 · 06:18

crossposted from unbossed

Sunday marked the 20th anniversary of the start of the Pittston strike, a coal miners' strike that would drag on for 14 months into 1990. On April 5, about 1,700 miners in Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky struck Pittston Group's coal mining operations. Within a couple months there were demonstrations and solidarity strikes that involved 10 times as many people.

This was a strike that provided and still provides a window into who we were as a people and what we value. It still does. Twenty years after the strike began is time to re-examine the portrait of us as a people.

shirah

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Sunday March 22, 2009 · 8:25 AM PDT

2009/03/22 · 08:25

crossposted from unbossed

The mantrum of the last few weeks is that Obama must focus only on the budget and, either explicitly, or implicitly drop a focus on climate change, energy independence, green jobs, just to name a few. The idea repeated through the right wing echo chamber is apparently that it is possible to do only one thing at once, that only once the most pressing thing on the list is completed is it possible to move to item number 2. And then 3. And then 4. . . .

shirah

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Friday March 20, 2009 · 4:33 PM PDT

2009/03/20 · 16:33

crossposted from unbossed

GAO knows. In a report released today, GAO reviews the quality of the methods used by financial regulators and the actions taken when problems were found. It. is. not. a. pretty. picture.

shirah

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Wednesday March 18, 2009 · 6:03 AM PDT

2009/03/18 · 06:03

crossposted from unbossed

The mantrum you hear every where these days is: To get good workers and good work an employer must be able to fire workers. That means just-cause employment, tenure, and union grievance procedures are on the firing line, because, they, well, stand in the way of the "firing" line.

NPR reporter Claudio Sanchez can barely report a story that advocates this position. For example, on March 18, his story starts with:

shirah

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Monday March 02, 2009 · 5:20 AM PST

2009/03/02 · 05:20

crossposted from unbossed

Among GAO's greatest hits this past week is a basic report on how poorly government contracting can be done. That's not quite the title or the intent, but it's certainly the theme. The report and a second report with testimony show how poorly GSA's Excluded Parties List System is working at its most basic function - excluding parties who have defrauded the goverment in the past financially or by providing defective products or by breaking laws. The reasons for the failure to do this basic job are many, and examples from the reports are included below.

shirah

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Thursday February 19, 2009 · 5:21 AM PST

2009/02/19 · 05:21

crossposted from unbossed

The one bright spot within the economic gloom that surrounds so many of us was the Republic Window and Door worker sit in. By sitting in they stood up for their rights. By sitting in they got our attention and sent a lesson of what is possible by engaging in concerted acts of mutual aid and support.

They showed a labor movement that has some real movement.

shirah

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Saturday February 14, 2009 · 2:14 PM PST

2009/02/14 · 14:14

crossposted from unbossed

Curious about CEO pay in those days before we had heard of limiting them to poverty wages in the mid-6 figures? What could be more of doldrum than mid-February in the midst of a serious recession? So how about a fun website that lets you see how the CEOs got paid, who got how much TARP money, and more? And why is it that worker pay is always blamed for the trouble we are in?

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Explosive Testimony about the Bayer CropScience chemical plant fire

"Agencies reported improper payment estimates of $72 billion for fiscal year 2008"

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The poison fruit of deregulation - Airline Safety Part II

The poison fruit of deregulation - Airline Safety Part I

April 5, 1989 - Remembering the Pittston Strike - Plenty of Law . . . No Justice

On walking AND chewing gum and the economy

What did the regulators know and when did they know it?

"Firing is the best way to get good workers" Is it, though?

Really Excluding the Fraudsters This Time . . . Really!

"We Make the Windows and the Doors"

CEO Pay, TARP, and Worker Pay