Ego or Preparation?

This photo was provided with a bit of humor. The contents dictate that Obama is already the 44th President of the United States. Sometimes I get a bit behind. Did I forget to vote? Did McCain concede? I guess I need to stay more current with political events. Oh yea... The picture was taken November 2nd, 2008 at 2025 HRS-CST

Road Drivers Hold Harmless Agreement

From the RD News Desk
A Road Driver's Hold Harmless? A wonderful tool to have in your briefcase when a dispatcher directs you to run an illegal load.

Any Road Driver that has been on the job for a decent length of time has been dispatched an illegal load or two. Some Road Drivers do it on a weekly basis without concern of their own welfare. Some Driver's refuse to run an illegal load. If the worst scenario were to occur and the Road Driver were jailed for a criminal offense, it's the Driver that is prosecuted, not his employer. It's happened before and it will happen again.

Jim Larsen, a Yellow Transportation Safety Supervisor recently reported the "MCMIS Carrier Profile for YRCW Operating Companies" The purpose of the report was to list out by company under the YRCW umbrella the top five violations of each company. Yellow Transportations top violation was overweight loads. This accounted for 19.96% of Yellow's violations during the period of 11/21/2006 and 11/20/2007.

The 19.96% may be a drop in the bucket, however during the holiday travel and winter weather, more accidents occur. If an incident occurred while going down the road with an over weight load, resulting in harm to a family off to see Grandma, the Road Driver is subject to being jailed. One of the first things law enforcement will do when investigating a fatality is check for FMCSA violations.

So with that in mind, when confronted with a testy dispatcher that refuses to scale a load, have them sign this document. Here at Road Drivers Weekly News, we assure you management won't sign the document. Perhaps however, the dispatcher might think twice and have the load corrected of it's violation(s).

Report Source(s):
http://www.roaddrivers.org/indemnity_agreement.htm

Paul Raises Millions in 24-Hour Effort

Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul's supporters were hoping Sunday for another fundraising bonanza to boost the 10-term Texas congressman's campaign for the White House.
Called a "Money Bomb," the goal is to raise as much money as possible on the Internet in one day. The campaign's previous fundraiser brought in $4.2 million.

As of 5:30 p.m. EST, donations were approaching $4 million, according to the campaign Web site. Those donations are processed credit card receipts, said Paul campaign spokesman Jesse Benton. Benton said the median donation is about $50 in the fundraiser, which was the idea of Paul supporters who are not officially connected to the campaign.

Trevor Lyman, a Paul supporter who is traveling the country following the Ron Paul blimp, said the date of the fundraiser coincides with the 234th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party.
The Ron Paul blimp is an aerial billboard emblazoned on one side with "Who is Ron Paul? Google Ron Paul." The other side reads "Ron Paul Revolution." The blimp, another grass-roots effort, was in Chester, S.C., on Sunday, and organizers hope to get it to New Hampshire before the Jan. 8 primary there.

Pension Tension Article Creating Concern

John Gallager of Traffic World magazine reported the growing interest of LTL CEO's to opting out of the Teamster pension fund. PIonline.Com reported that United Parcel Service of America Inc., Atlanta, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, Washington, would create a joint UPS-Teamster pension plan “to cover full-time UPS employees who currently obtain their pension benefits from” the $20.7 billion Teamsters Central States, Southeast & Southwest Areas Pension Fund, based in Rosemont, Ill. Read the report

Oklahoma House Bill 1804

Illegal immigration; creating the Oklahoma Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act of 2007 by Randy Terrell, OK. House of Representatives.

The State of Oklahoma finds that illegal immigration is causing economic hardship and lawlessness in this state and that illegal immigration is encouraged by public agencies within this state that provide public benefits without verifying immigration status. The State of Oklahoma further finds that illegal immigrants have been harbored and sheltered in this state and encouraged to reside in this state through the issuance of identification cards that are issued without verifying immigration status, and that these practices impede and obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration law, undermine the security of our borders, and impermissibly restrict the privileges and immunities of the citizens of Oklahoma.

Therefore, the people of the State of Oklahoma declare that it is a compelling public interest of this state to discourage illegal immigration by requiring all agencies within this state to fully cooperate with federal immigration authorities in the enforcement of federal immigration laws. The State of Oklahoma also finds that other measures are necessary to ensure the integrity of various governmental programs and services.

Yellow Transportation January 2007 MRCOO

On November 21st, A Labor Relations Vice President with Yellow Transportation issued a request for a Multi Region Change of Operations (MRCOO) be docketed for hearing at the Eastern Region Joint Area meetings the week of January 22, 2007 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

The introduction letter indicates the proposed Change of Operations will not alter any method of road dispatch currently in effect or as a result of any other approved Change of Operations or agreements, unless referenced in the proposed Change of Operations filing. View the COO

Congress Addresses Superhighway & North American Union Conspiracy With House Concurrent Resolution 487

Conspiracies or not, Congressional House members are addressing the issue to insure the the sovereignty of the United States is not threatened by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the potential North American Union, duplicating the European Union.

On September 28th, 2006, Congressmen GOODE, PAUL, TANCREDO, and JONES (of North Carolina) have the intestinal fortitude to address a subject that was dubbed a late night conspiracy to shake off it's critics, but now has come to light as a reality.

Certain members of our government have determined that without Congressional authority, they can take land from Americans to build a super highway from Mexico to Canada, in an effort to further erode the employment of American workers by foreign laborers.

Thousands of Mexican truck drivers would be running freight up from the ports of Mexico into America and Canada with this super highway, bypassing the American ports, and the services that support the ports.

With thousands of layoffs hitting the working American, It is a great relief that some members of congress are not asleep at the wheel. Read the Legislation

Changes Relating to Multi-employer Plans in the Pension Protection Act

The changes relating to multi-employer plans in the Pension Protection Act are very detailed in the law but other highlights include, according to TaxWatch:

1.) Changing the amortization schedule for any plan benefit amendments from 30 years to 15 years;

2.) Increasing the maximum deductible limit to 140% of current liability, providing additional funding flexibility for plans each year;

3.) Requiring plan trustees to improve the health of the plan by one-third within 10 years if a plan is less than 80% funded or will hit a funding deficiency within seven years.

United Parcel Service, whose employees participate in the largest multiemployer plan in the country, may be a beneficiary of the controversial clause, according to the New York Times. UPS will be negotiating with the Teamster’s Union in coming months, according to the New York Times, and “has been eager to increase its control over troubled plans such as the Teamsters' Central States Pension Fund.” Read more at accountingweb.com