New York City And New York State Sue UPS For Shipping Untaxed Cigarettes

Via Reuters:

New York City and New York state sued United Parcel Service Inc. on Wednesday, seeking over $180 million in damages and penalties against the shipping company for allegedly delivering nearly 700,000 cartons of untaxed cigarettes across the state. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accuses UPS of cheating the state and city of $29.7 million and $4.7 million, respectively, in tax revenue, according to a statement from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The deliveries mostly originated from smoke shops on Indian reservations in New York state and were shipped to unlicensed wholesalers and retailers as well as residences in New York and nationwide, according to the lawsuit. The deliveries, which violated both federal and state laws, were made despite a 2005 agreement between UPS and the state in which the company agreed to stop cigarette shipments to individual consumers and unlicensed dealers, Schneiderman said.

A similar suit filed last year against FedEx remains pending. Cigarettes sold in New York City are taxed an extra $5.85 per pack.

Tony Perkins: The UPS Boycott Is On

"In this busy shipping season, UPS will have at least one less customer to worry about: FRC. After 11 years as our official carrier, FRC is suspending its contract with UPS for openly discriminating against the Boy Scouts of America. FRC tried to resolve the matter behind the scenes, even contacting Chairman and CEO Scott Davis with a letter of protest -- to which UPS promptly replied. Unfortunately, the company only reiterated its position that until the BSA puts a greater priority on the political agenda of LGBT activists than the protection of Scouts, they are not entitled to the same equality UPS claims to endorse. Apparently, the company isn't interested in true diversity but in strong-arming anyone who disagrees with their extreme agenda -- including a century-old youth development program, whose only crime is instilling character into millions of American boys. As for their longstanding policy on homosexuality, the Boy Scouts are doing what every parent would want them to: putting children's safety first." - Hate group leader Tony Perkins, on those "anti-freedom" homo-lovers at UPS.

Christian Group Warns UPS: Watch Out Or You'll Be Shot Like That FRC Guard

The Corporate Morality Center today issued a dire warning to UPS over their new funding decision regarding the Boy Scouts.

Attacking organizations which support traditional sexual views may have unintended and possibly life-threatening consequences. For example, a day after the Human Rights Campaign repeated the charge that the Family Research Council was a "hate group," an employee of another LGBT organization walked in to the headquarters of the Family Research Council, armed with 50 rounds of ammunition and a bagful of Chick-fil-A sandwiches, and began shooting the "haters" who worked there. According to Thomas Strobhar, President of the Corporate Morality Action Center, "UPS should be careful whom they support with money that belongs to all the shareholders. The Boys Scouts are a national treasure with legitimate interests regarding the safety of the scouts, while the Human Rights Campaign has contributed greatly to a lack of civility in public discourse."

Strobhar is also the head of the Catholic Life Decisions International, which lobbies companies to defund Planned Parenthood.

Tony Perkins Slams UPS

"Despite relentless pressure to make its message more politically correct, the Boy Scouts have kept their commitment to keep the organization 'morally straight.' Unfortunately for millions of young boys, not everyone in America respects that decision. Instead, their stance on homosexuality has often made the Scouts the target of harassment, ridicule, and now financial bullying. For more than 100 years, the Scouts have focused on instilling character and leadership into America's boys. They aren't about to compromise that mission just to placate liberal companies and activists. As a private company, UPS has every right to determine who it supports. By the same token, so do we. With whom will you stand?" - Tony Perkins, threatening a UPS boycott via press release.

UPS Dumps The Boy Scouts

GLAAD alerts us UPS has dumped the Boy Scouts, who will no longer be getting grants from the shipping giant due to their anti-gay policies.  UPS has posted this statement on their website:

The UPS Foundation seeks to support organizations that are in alignment with our focus areas, guidelines, and non-discrimination policy. UPS and The UPS Foundation do not discriminate against any person or organization with regard to categories protected by applicable law, as well as other categories protected by UPS and The UPS Foundation in our own policies. These include, but are not limited to race, gender, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran or military status, pregnancy, age and religion.

UPS gave $167,000 to Boy Scouts USA in 2010.

Scandal: Wingnut Group Associated With Limbaugh & Coulter Selling Their Endorsements For Millions

The American Conservative Union, who bills themselves as "the nation's oldest and largest conservative lobbying group," has been busted by Politico for offering to sell their endorsement to FedEx for $2M - $3M. At the moment, FedEx is fighting Congress about changes that increase the power of their employees union.

The American Conservative Union asked FedEx for a check for $2 million to $3 million in return for the group’s support in a bitter legislative dispute, then the group’s chairman flipped and sided with UPS after FedEx refused to pay. For the $2 million plus, ACU offered a range of services that included: “Producing op-eds and articles written by ACU’s Chairman David Keene and/or other members of the ACU’s board of directors. (Note that Mr. Keene writes a weekly column that appears in The Hill.)” The conservative group’s remarkable demand — black-and-white proof of the longtime Washington practice known as “pay for play” — was contained in a private letter to FedEx , which was provided to POLITICO.

The letter exposes the practice by some political interest groups of taking stands not for reasons of pure principle, as their members and supporters might assume, but also in part because a sponsor is paying big money. In the three-page letter asking for money on June 30, the conservative group backed FedEx. After FedEx says it rejected the offer, Keene signed onto a two-page July 15 letter backing UPS. Keene did not return a message left on his cell phone. Maury Lane, FedEx’s director of corporate communications, said: “Clearly, the ACU shopped their beliefs and UPS bought.”

On Wednesday, after being rebuffed by FedEx and before this scandal broke, the ACU told Congress that FedEx was “misleading the public and legislators" about the union issue and took UPS's side in the dispute.

RELATED: The ACU is perhaps best known for their annual CPAC Convention, a conclave of right-wing personalities and ultraconservatives during which Ann Coulter famously called John Edwards a "faggot" in 2007. Rush Limbaugh was the keynote speaker at CPAC earlier this year.

What Can Brown Do For You?

Kudos to UPS for reaching out to gay businesses, but they might need to rethink their slogan.

United Parcel Service Inc. has added lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT)-owned businesses to its supplier diversity program. The move comes with a partnership with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (NGLCC), Atlanta-based UPS (NYSE: UPS) said. The NGLCC represents the interests of some 1.4 million LGBT-owned businesses.

UPS began its supplier diversity process in 1992, giving UPS business opportunities for small businesses and those owned by minorities, women, veterans and now lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. LGBT-owned businesses also will get a discount on UPS shipping services.

I kid, I kid. Good for them for getting into gay packages. I'll stop now.

UPS Reverses On Civil Unions

After pressure from NJ Gov. Corzine and Lambda Legal, UPS has reversed its previous stance denying benefits to the partners of civil-unioned employees. The lawyer representing the UPS employees for Lambda Legal said, "UPS is joined by hundreds of employers around the state in hearing that civil unions are different from marriage and that is to be expected when people are given second-class status. The consequences to such ongoing mistakes are severe, and rather than going employer to employer and explaining civil unions one by one, the legislature has a quick fix: allowing same-sex couples to marry."

Good for UPS, although I almost wish they'd forced the issue back to the courts.