Fox News, GOP & Prostitutes
A few weeks ago, the Alexa Foundation, a group that offers support to rape victims, made the bizarre decision to invite right-wing propagandist Bill O’Reilly to speak at a fundraiser. O’Reilly, who is married, was famously sued by a Fox producer for making unwelcome sexual advances, has also made a statement on the air in which he suggested that a young woman who was raped and murdered had dressed in a way that invited attack:
O’REILLY: Now Moore, Jennifer Moore, 18, on her way to college. She was 5-foot-2, 105 pounds, wearing a miniskirt and a halter top with a bare midriff. Now, again, there you go. So every predator in the world is gonna pick that up at two in the morning.
On March 1, Think Progress reported the story that O’Reilly would be speaking at the Alexa Foundation fundraiser and published O’Reilly’s comment in which he said Jennifer Moore was complicit in her own rape and murder. A little over two weeks later, O’Reilly sent his goon squad out to ambush a Think Progress editor:
On Saturday, March 21, Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly sent one of his producers to stalk, harass, and ambush ThinkProgress.org’s managing editor Amanda Terkel. Upset over a ThinkProgress report that noted O’Reilly’s insensitivity to rape, O’Reilly sent two men to track Amanda in a car for two hours, and then confronted her with hostile questions while she was on vacation.
Since then, Think Progress has launched a campaign to notify O’Reilly’s advertisers about his thuggish tactics:
Sadly, Amanda is just one of at least 40 different victims of O’Reilly’s Harassment Machine. O’Reilly has hired producers whose job is to track, harass, and intimidate anyone whom O’Reilly perceives as an opponent. That’s not “journalism” — that’s a mafia-style operation. And we need to put an end to it.
On Friday, the first of these advertishers — UPS — agreed to cancel future ad campaigns on O’Reilly’s show:
In response to our Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine campaign, UPS told us yesterday that it was investigating whether to continue supporting O’Reilly’s show. “We are sensitive to the type of television programming where our messages and presence are associated and continually review choices to affect future decisions,” spokeswoman Susan Rosenberg told us.
Today UPS announced it will stop advertising on O’Reilly’s show. Here is the statement UPS emailed out just moments ago:
“Thank you for sending an e-mail expressing concern about UPS advertising during the Bill O’Reilly show on FOX News. We do consider such comments as we review ad placement decisions which involve a variety of news, entertainment and sports programming. At this time, we have no plans to continue advertising during this show.”
To find out what you can do to support Think Progress’ campaign to Stop Supporting The O’Reilly Harassment Machine, go here.
Topics: Fox News, GOP & Prostitutes
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Hmmmm, it’d be even more cool if UPS concentrated as much of this gusto and fervor into making its service turn from one of complete incompetence to one of higher quality instead of making political statements.
YOU just made a political statement.
Why cant UPS?
Some people are complete morons (JC).
Companies are allowed to make good decisions, regardless of whether or not you happened to receive a package late on an occasion. I’ve never had a problem with UPS; their service is great.
This is the only kind of message that O’Reilly understands but, unless it becomes a fully fledged exodus of advertisers, he will just spin it (if he addresses it at all) like he does everything else.
Hopefully, the bigger message will get out that o’Reilly is just an entertainer whose shtick is the bullying intolerance of corporate interest combined with a deep seated loathing of humanity.
UPS Was A Corporate Sponsor Of “The Contract On America,” They Have An Overseas Shell Corporation
…based in Bermuda, Overseas Partners Limited (OPL), whose sole purpose is avoidance of United States income taxes. The IRS won the largest back taxes judgment in history against them in the late 1990’s. The Bush administration dropped the case during the appeals process.
They are not good guys. I was in management there for 12 years. They are not fans of organized labor. They are not your friends and certainly not your ally. Decertify the Teamsters and watch how fast they skin you alive.
They are not fans of Democrats either. I was repeatedly informed by upper management that Democrats were a pale shade of the Communist Party. Their lobbying organization, UPSPAC, one of K Street’s biggest, gives overwhelmingly to Republicans. When I left UPS in 1992 I turned in testimony and documents that detailed their tactics of forcing supervisors and management into donating to UPSPAC. The Federal Elections Commission filed a charge against UPS, in which, after a four year legal battle UPS agreed to pay a fine and to never engage in this behavior again (never get caught again).
I turned over to the EEOC internal company documents that resulted in a sealed judgment against UPS for age discrimination.
I turned over to attorney David Mark of Seattle, Washington, documents that proved UPS was aware of tactics that resulted in employees being forced to work through their unpaid lunch hour. The documents proved that UPS was aware of these facts and were actually tracking the number of affected employees on a national level, in spite of years of legal testimony to the contrary. The case resulted in a multi million dollar judgment aginst the corporate entity.
UPS, may be an authoritarian dinosaur in the business world, but they are extremely astute in avoiding bad press. In fact press clipping are gathered at a national and world wide level and studied with an intent as to how to influence positive press coverage. Example: one of the biggest contributors to National Public Radio is the Annie E. Casey Fund, This fund is named after the daughter of UPS’s founder Jim Casey.
mike kohr
mkohr@dishmail.net
Mike, you say you left UPS 17 years ago. I started there three years ago, and all I can say is I think I work for a different company. Maybe your efforts paid off. I have heard about that deal with people being expected to work off the clock back in the day, but nothing could be further from the truth now, probably because of the lawsuit you cite. I am continually proud of UPS, and find it one of the least political (in the sense of office politics) places I’ve ever worked, and I think that’s largely to the union’s credit. Even on the management side, which I’m on, you just can’t have but so much intrigue when everything is black and white. I am also very proud of UPS’s stand on gay rights.
FedEx, on the other hand, still classifies its drivers as private contractors in order to get out of paying health insurance, disability, retirement, or any other benefits. They claim almost no actual employees. UPS is the polar opposite. I have every benefit anyone ever thought of, and I’m only part-time management.
Trish,
I’m glad your are happy at the Parcel. And I hope to God it’s a different place than when I was there.
But UPS still avoids taxes through its shell corporation, OPL, in Bermuda. UPSPAC continues to support right-wing politicians and policy that have put us in the mess we are in now. UPS was after all, advertising on the Bill O’Rielly Show.
I was part-time supervisor at one point in my carreer, just like you. After going fulltime and getting to know what goes on behind closed doors I came away with a very different perspective. I don’t think the company is as changed as you think. I still talk with the drivers and managers, they tell me a different story.
We find common ground in our mutual appreciation of the good influence of the Teamsters on UPS. Let’s pass The Employee Free Choice Act and organize FedEx and the rest of America’s workplace.
mike kohr
mkohr@dishmail.net
p.s. save EVERY piece of paper UPS gives you and take notes. I did and it cost UPS millions.