The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has reportedly rejected a proposed compromise with the Obama Administration on birth control access rules for religiously affiliated institutions. Under the “Hawaii compromise” any exempt religious organization would have to tell enrollees how they could directly access contraceptive services from their insurance company. But advocates of ensured access don’t want to force employees to beg their employers for a right they should have.

Thursda,y in two separate actions, several hundred people participated in a march organized by Good Jobs LA, with folks from Occupy LA, SEIU and citizens joining in as part of a general day of action to protest police actions in New York and elsewhere; planned arrests went off without a hitch. Later in the afternoon, a large group from Occupy LA marched back to the Bank of America branch and some folks were arrested. There was no violence in either action.

Minnesota’s 99%, OccupyMN, came to start the occupation of the Hennepin County Government Plaza, now also known as The People’s Plaza, in downtown Minneapolis. They’re going to stay there for at least the next three months — yes, deep into the famed Minnesota winter. (Hey, if the Madison folks could camp outside without tents in mid-winter, we can too. Quality sleeping bags are a must.) You can watch the occupation live here and see what’s going on at any given moment.

The Occupy LA Livestream is up and running. When the mods are sleeping, there are re-runs of the past days: General Assemblies, marches interviews. And a visit from City Council members, who told the Assembly, “stay as long as you need.” The LAPD has been cordial and all is well. It’s raining hard today; so, heavy duty trash bags are ready for the rain to cover signs; tarps are needed.

Labor commentator, and former union staffer, Steve Early draws on years of trade union activism to shed light on labor’s troubled path over the last decade. His recent book, The Civil War’s in US Labor, examines the internal conflicts which have wracked the labor movement over the last decade: the 2005 split of several international unions from the AFL-CIO to form the Change to Win coalition, the subsequent fracturing of Change to Win, and the internal conflict within the Service Employees International Union (SEIU).

SEIU came out against the Colombia “free trade” agreement today, slamming the deal as a product negotiated by George W. Bush with an “action plan” that does nothing to actually reduce the number of assassinations of union members in the country.

Gov. Walker and the Republicans are losing this fight in the court of public opinion. And because the standoff in Wisconsin could take months, this could only get worse for them, as recall elections loom.

Hunton & Williams, the law firm that solicited HBGary and two other security firms to spy on Chamber of Commerce opponents, has remained silent so far about its efforts.

But it hasn’t covered its tracks. The SEIU reports that people from Hunton & Williams spent 20 hours last November–at the time when Themis was pitching H&W to use a JSOC approach to go after Chamber opponents–on the SEIU sites.

One of the more interesting documents on HBGary et al’s partnership with the Chamber of Commerce details the prices they wanted to charge. Now, other emails make it clear that the Chamber balked at what the team originally proposed would be $2 million of work–the Chamber didn’t pay these rates (indeed, they probably haven’t paid for any of this).

But I was particularly interested in what HBGary’s Aaron Barr proposed charging for the work of what they called a “Social Media SME.”

The Chamber of Commerce has responded to ThinkProgress’ reporting of the Chamber’s discussions with Hunton & Williams about an intelligence campaign against USChamberWatch and other anti-Chamber efforts. It purports to deny any connection with Hunton & Williams and HBGary. More Baseless Attacks on the Chamber by Tom Collamore We’re incredulous that anyone would attempt to [...]