Obama must act to protect homeowners
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Orlando Sentinel
Obama must act now to help homeowners with loan troubles
By Carmen Balasquide | Guest columnist
September 4, 2012
It's been more than seven months since President Obama's State of the Union address, in which he promised to stand up to Wall Street and take strong action on the side of homeowners in Florida and other states.
And Aug. 9 marked the six-month anniversary since the $25 billion settlement between the big banks and the states over foreclosures, which the president also promised would bring results.
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Months later, homeowners like me are wondering whether Obama is going to keep his promises.
Wall Street, Corporate CEOs Push Legalized Bribery
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Gov. Chris Christie's corporate waivers jeopardize New Jersey
Newark Star Ledger, Sunday, February 26, 2012
By John Pajak
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/02/gov_chris_christies_corporate.html
The health of your family or small business may be jeopardized by an executive order issued by Gov. Chris Christie that is now being implemented by state agencies.
Executive Order No. 2, issued the day Christie took office, directs every state agency to establish a procedure for giving individual corporations a “waiver” from complying with virtually any legally adopted public safeguard that protects us.
Who should decide about our health and safety?
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Stronger safeguards needed in N.J. hospitals, nursing homes
Newark Star Ledger
Friday, January 13, 2012
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2012/01/stronger_safeguards_needed_in.html
By Ann Twomey and Chrystal Disant
Should corporate lobbyists decide whether safe equipment and procedures are needed if you or a loved one have to go to a hospital or nursing home? Or should health care professionals make those decisions?
That’s the type of issue being debated in our Statehouse and in Congress over safeguards that protect the public’s health and safety.
Last month, special interest lobbyists convinced the U.S. House of Representatives to pass a bill — the REINS Act — designed to make it practically impossible for federal health and safety experts to set standards that all corporations must follow. No major safeguard could be adopted unless every single word were approved by Congress.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce urged the Senate to pass the House bill, arguing it would prevent “intrusive” regulation of the health care and banking industries, in particular.
What does this assault on public interest regulation mean in human terms? Ask a New Jersey nurse named Jean Lucas.
As Lucas testified before the state Legislature, her back was permanently injured while lifting a maternity patient. At that time, the hospital didn’t provide mechanical lifting devices to bear the weight. Lifting devices had been proven at hospitals in other states to reduce caregiver and patient injuries, but New Jersey had no legal standards requiring hospitals and nursing homes to use them.
Lucas missed months of work and endured a wide variety of treatments. After 24 years of service, she told legislators, “I live in constant pain, some days much worse than others.”
Studies show the typical nurse lifts 1.8 tons during each shift. Before mechanical lifting devices were required in N.J. hospitals and nursing homes, more than half of nurses reported that they had suffered costly injuries from lifting and moving patients.
Similarly, proven measures to reduce violence against caregivers — lighting, alarms, communication systems, training and more — had been well-known. But these steps were not legally required of all facilities. Fifty-two percent of hospital nurses and radiology technologists reported experience with violence or physical harassment on the job, and patient safety suffered as well.
Fortunately, caregivers, their unions and workplace safety organizations were able to persuade then-Gov. Jon Corzine and the state Legislature to enact statewide standards. By last month, hospitals and nursing homes were required to establish committees made up of at least 50 percent front-line caregivers to choose and deploy safe lifting devices, violence prevention measures and other required protections.
During hearings on these laws, nurses and other health professionals presented research showing that investing in these safeguards had saved millions of dollars in other states. Facilities saved on medical payments and workers’ compensation; overtime, recruiting and training costs to cover for injured workers; administrative down time; and much more.
Yet corporate CEOs continue to try to block such health and safety protection. They want to use the REINS Act and other legislation to make it easy for corporate lobbyists to block meaningful federal standards on clean air and water, workers’ rights, consumer protection and many other issues. Then they want to pass legislation in New Jersey that would bar the state from adopting safeguards that the federal government hasn’t enacted.
Safe lifting and violence prevention rules for hospitals and nursing homes are among standards that either didn’t exist in our state or are weaker at the federal level. Others involve oil spills, nuclear and chemical plant accidents, food and toy safety, and lead poisoning of children and building occupants.
It’s understandable that corporate CEOs and Wall Street don’t want legal standards to intrude on their profits. But the rest of us need stronger federal and state safeguards, such as the new hospital and nursing home protections, that will protect our health and safety — and save all of us money.
Ann Twomey, R.N., is president of Health Professional and Allied Employees, New Jersey’s largest health care union. Chrystal Disant, R.N., is a board member of the New Jersey Work Environment Council.
Corporate Right Taught How to Talk about Occupy
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http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/
ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Republican Governors Association met this week in Florida to give GOP state executives a chance to rejuvenate, strategize and team-build. But during a plenary session on Wednesday, one question kept coming up: How can Republicans do a better job of talking about Occupy Wall Street?
"I'm so scared of this anti-Wall Street effort. I'm frightened to death," said Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and one of the nation's foremost experts on crafting the perfect political message. "They're having an impact on what the American people think of capitalism."
Luntz offered tips on how Republicans could discuss the grievances of the Occupiers, and help the governors better handle all these new questions from constituents about "income inequality" and "paying your fair share."
Occupy Flyer - Pay U.S. Back
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Support “Occupy Wall Street” and Make Corporate CEOs…
Pay U.S. Back!
Wall Street and big corporations in America have the largest cash reserves and profits in history. CEO salaries and bonuses are at an all-time high. And the top 1% have taken for themselves the largest share of our country’s wealth they’ve ever had.