Friday, December 28, 2012

Names to Remember


* When I shop, I always consider the political leanings of the stores/businesses. If I've read about unfair practices in the way a company treats employees, or some odd behavior on the part of the owners, that particular store is not where I'll spend my money. For example, I do not shop at Walmart or stores that want to deny their employees certain parts of the Affordable Care Act.  Here is news you can use.....

Raw Story:

An attorney representing the Hobby Lobby chain of arts and crafts stores said that the company intends to defy a court order that it comply with the Affordable Care Act (ACA)’s provisions regarding contraceptives, the so-called “morning after pill” and employee health coverage. According to Associated Press, the company says that it is willing to face the up to $1.3 million in fines it will accrue per day by not providing coverage for the medications.

The arch conservative Green family, which owns Hobby Lobby and the religious bookstore chain Mardel, maintains that allowing anti-conception medications like the “morning after” and “week after” pills is tantamount to supporting abortion. The family is being represented in court by Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a Christian legal group dedicated to fighting issues of this kind of the nation’s courts......

.....Emergency Contraception (EC) drugs do not induce abortions, but rather prevent pregnancy by keeping a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.  An abortion terminates a pregnancy, whereas with EC medications, if used properly, pregnancy never began......

I guess a lot of us will be avoiding Hobby Lobby.  Some people are avoiding other businesses, according to ThinkProgress:

Ever since Darden Restaurants — the owner of the Olive Garden and Red Lobster chains — first announced its anti-Obamacare campaign, the company has had a tough couple of months. Darden admitted as much when it revised its predictions for latest quarterly earnings down in December, attributing the drop to “recent negative media coverage on Darden [...] and how we might accommodate healthcare reform.” The negative press led the company to reverse course on its threat to shift employees to part-time status to avoid covering them under Obamacare. The latest report on Darden’s earnings prove that was a good move, since the restaurants did take a turn for the worse as a result of their bad publicity. Its net income fell 37 percent.....

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>>>  The Republican-loving Columbus Dispatch has come out against an Ohio elected official--- State Senator Chris Widener, a Republican. 



Columbus Dispatch:


Sen. Chris Widener wields great power at the Statehouse, where he is supposed to use his position to better the interests of his constituents — not, as appears to be the case, to bail out his associates. Or himself.

The Springfield Republican, set to be the Senate's No. 2 leader, says he did nothing wrong in 2009 when he sponsored a bill that authorized a financially troubled livestock-exposition center to levy a special tax to bail itself out of financial difficulties.....

Never mind that he helped found the nonprofit association that built the center.....

....Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said he's discussing the situation with the state legislative inspector general.....

Uh-oh.  You know there is real trouble when the Dispatch goes after an Ohio Republican!

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*****  If milk prices go up, you can blame it on John Boehner and the Republicans!

Dayton Daily News:


For Ohio farmers, it is not the fiscal cliff that’s made them nervous, but the farm bill held hostage to fiscal cliff wrangling, said Adam Sharp, vice president of public policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland-based think-tank, estimates Ohio could lose more than $18.5 million in aid.

The farm bill has serious implications for a giant share of the economy since there’s funding for farm conservation, research, price safety nets and insurance.

If Congress does not pass a farm bill to replace one that expired in September, analysts also predict price hikes for grocery store items, including losing the 1949 milk law that could lead to doubling the price of a gallon of milk to $7.....

Boehner and his pals probably don't care if milk goes to $7/gallon.  They probably put champagne on their morning cereal!