I don’t understand how a corporation could get subsidized by the federal government and still write that off on their taxes! Now they’re complaining about the rules changing with the new health care bill.

When the Medicare prescription drug program was passed in 2003, it included a provision granting employers a subsidy of 28%, or up to $1,330, per retiree for prescription drug costs.

Even though the federal subsidies were already tax free, employers could still write them off on their income taxes, in addition to writing off their own contribution. The new law, signed by Obama on Tuesday, maintains the subsidy as a tax-free incentive to employers, but prohibits them from taking it as a deduction.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs defended this change on Thursday, explaining that the previous law essentially allowed for two deductions – one for the employer’s own contribution, and another for the tax-free federal subsidy.

I just read on the AFL-CIO blog that 30,000 workers (CWA) have rejected AT&T’s final offer.

Some 30,000 AT&T workers in five states, represented by the Communications Workers of America (CWA), have rejected what the company declared to be its ”best and final” offer to resolve a nearly three-month contract dispute. Union leaders repeatedly have said they are optimistic a deal can be reached before workers walk off the job.

This has been an ongoing fight. I don’t think they should have called this their “final offer”. I’m sure there’s more talks going on right now anyway.

I got this email from the Communications Workers of America talking about AT&T and the Masters Tournament. The interesting strategy I read about in this email is the CWA’s embracing of Twitter to spread the word about AT&T’s corporate greed.

When you send your "tweets," be sure to include a link to our petition (www.standupforworkers.com) and add #masters to the end of your message. This will make sure that other Twitter users who are following the Masters Tournament will see your messages about AT&T.

They even have some example tweets you can send or make up your own if you’d like.

• Master of corporate greed — AT&T wants to cut my health benefits www.standupforworkers.com #masters

• AT&T leaves its workers in a bunker www.standupforworkers.com #masters

• AT&T at the top of the leader board for corporate greed www.standupforworkers.com #masters

• AT&T execs: watching golf and cutting retiree health benefits www.standupforworkers.com #masters

AT&T is the leading sponsor of the 2009 Masters Tournament. The thinking goes that if they have the money to do this, they have the money to stop job cuts and the taking away of health care benefits.

I think it’s great that Google is creating so called “net neutrality” tools to monitor ISP’s who are doing wrong.

In response, the Federal Communications Commission announced it would investigate the charges, and in May, a bill was re-introduced into Congress that would rewrite U.S. antitrust law to prohibit network operators like AT&T and Comcast from blocking, impairing, or discriminating against “lawful” Internet content, applications, and services or charging extra fees for “prioritization or enhanced quality of service.”