jobs

Earlier this week a lot of good people got arrested trying to protest the insanity that is happening at the General Assembly. If that inspired you to make your presence and your opposition to these attacks on voting rights and on the people of North Carolina known, then check out this event.

Schedule: http://maydaytrianglenc.wordpress.com/schedule/
3 pm: Welcome and Teach-ins (Moore Square, Raleigh, NC)
4 pm: Sidewalk march steps off (Moore Square going to Halifax Mall with stops along the way)
5-5:30 pm: Arrive at NC Legislature
5:30-8 pm: Rally, speak-outs, music, and more!! (Halifax Mall, Raleigh, NC)

The NC GOP jobs plan has been outlined in the first two days of the new legislative session. Cut spending on any program that benefits the poor, mentally ill, or the elderly. Oppose health care reform by any means necessary, provide welfare for the wealthy and corporations by eliminating their tax burden and transferring it to the poor and middle class. End public education and sustain high unemployment,and make the state's economy less competitive.
The entire NC GOP is working from the same basic idea, which is to privatize the common wealth and natural resources of the state.

CHAPEL HILL, NC - Deputy Assistant Governor Pat McCrory today took his attacks on public education to a new low, insisting that there is no longer a need for law schools in North Carolina universities.

"According to the New York Times, a flaming liberal newspaper, law school graduates can't find jobs. As a result, enrollment is sliding downhill faster than Tom Tillis' beer belly," McCrory told reporters this morning. "The fact is, hard-earned taxpayer dollars should not be going to support a bunch of pansy-assed lawyers whose profession in decline. I have directed my staff to eliminate all funding for legal education in public colleges."

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Sorry, there are no quick fixes. It requires organizing, organizing, and more organizing. Robert Cruickshank explains how Democrats and progressives in California, sick and tired of the past decades' destruction of rational government by the Republicans and conservatives, carefully and methodically organized the stunning Democratic sweep of the state in the November 2012 elections.

What California Can Teach America About Stopping Extremist Obstruction (Jan 01, 2013)

A small snippet:

“Here in 2013, California is in a very different place - precisely because of the lessons learned from the era of Republican obstruction. Voters approved a tax increase to help schools. The state budget is headed toward surplus. Budgets are passed on time and without hostage tactics. State government is starting to become functional again.

Take action now – tell the North Carolina legislators to keep unemployment benefits strong

Thankfully, earlier this week Congress fulfilled its (minimum) obligation to the long-term unemployed by passing an extension of federal unemployment benefits as part of the “fiscal cliff” deal.

Progress NC Action is proud to be partnering with the Center for American Progress Action Fund on a special report that reveals the real cost to North Carolina of the Romney/Ryan Plan. CAP Action has analyzed the Romney/Ryan plan and measured its potential impact on our state in a number of critical areas, including taxes, jobs, medicare, healthcare and more.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn the facts and to pick up materials you can pass along to your family and friends before November 6th.

You are invited to join us at a press conference in Raleigh this Wednesday afternoon featuring U.S. Congressman David Price, or at a special forum later that evening at UNC Greensboro. There will also be a Charlotte press conference on the morning of October 18th with details to some.

Event information and a link to a comprehensive resource page you are welcome to use is posted after the jump.

This post is from Robert Reich's FB page and it expresses my own sentiments eloquently.

"This is going to be a squeaker of an election. Polls are showing Obama and Romney within a hair's breath of one another in the critical swing states that will determine the outcome. How can that be when Romney is an empty suit who believes nothing, hasn't articulated any program, and has (along with his running mate) called for more tax cuts for the wealthy, more spending cuts for the poor, and an evisceration of Medicare and Medicaid? When they want to deregulate Wall Street and regulate women?"

There is nothing working families want and need more than re-electing President Obama. Members of organized labor are re-doubling our efforts to see that candidates who will work hard and look out for working families prevail this November.

The President has worked to help strengthen our economy, but times are still tough here in North Carolina. We need help now more than ever. But, the Obama Administration is considering an action that could have a very negative impact on our state’s economy, on organized labor, and on our chances for victory in November here in NC.

The AFL-CIO is working against an ill-timed effort by the Food and Drug Administration that would remove menthol cigarettes from the market. If adopted by the agency, thousands of well-paid and organized workers across NC would be out of a job. And all because of a bad decision, made at the wrong time, and not supported by science.

Thank you so much for the your wonderful support and comments on my story about trying to stop the runaway fracking train in North Carolina. The need for clear evidence-based comments is urgent because the east coast Triassic Basins could be the most dangerous shale-gas plays in the America. These shallow ancient lakebed shale gas deposits, located near several North Carolina's most important rivers for water supply, are riddled with near vertical faults and basaltic (diabase) dikes. These vertical geologic structures and the shallow depth make the potential for accidental vertical transport of gas and drilling fluids much higher in these basins than for deep shale deposits like the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania and New York.

Next time some government hating Republican or Libertarian starts whining about how regulation kills jobs, tell'em to get their head out of their ass and face reality. The reality is that most regulations create more jobs than they kill. It's part of that thing we call progress.

The new EPA pollution regulations on power plants, announced by the Obama administration last year, are a perfect example.

The rules, which among other things will require coal-fired plants to make deep reductions in mercury and sulphur dioxide emissions by 2015, will cost utilities at least $12 billion, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates. Coal producers put the price tag at $21 billion. They say electricity prices will spike 12 percent, dozens of plants will close, and thousands of workers will lose their jobs.