Update: Video of Andy's appearance last night is below:

Tonight on MSNBC's "The Ed Show" at 6:45 PM ET, watch SEIU President Andy Stern give the latest on healthcare reform and some of the outrageous political rhetoric from the other side.

Today on MSNBC, reporter Andrea Mitchell spoke with SEIU Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger about health care reform--and why successful reform to contain health costs needs to include a public option.

Hear what Anna has to say about moving reform forward in this country, and why co-ops are not a viable substitute for a public health plan option.

Last week, Democratic Rep. Russ Carnahan's health care town hall in St. Louis, Missouri turned violent after conservative right-wing protesters clashed with pro-reform union workers. On MSNBC's "The Ed Show," Dr. L Toni Lewis, President of the Committee of Interns and Residents (CIR), discusses SEIU's ongoing efforts to keep the focus of town halls on the need for health care reform.

Fact check on St. Louis town hall here.

As the House leaves for August recess, the Republican party is pulling out all stops as they misinform the public about the true cost of health care reform. With H.R. 3200, America's Affordable Health Choices Act--which should be exempt from the usual political machinations-- the health and welfare of Hoosiers and folks throughout the country is at stake.

Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana continues to spread false information about the cost of the bill. In an interview on MSNBC, Rep. Pence incorrectly states that the health reform bill would result in "one trillion dollars" in new taxes. Even the news anchor knows something is wrong with Pence's calculations.

Watch the interview here:

Rep. Pence followed up his cable news performance by spouting even more misinformation on the House Floor this week, this time with a new incorrect figure: 800 billion dollars in new taxes.

Folks, we must nip these false facts in the bud. Here's our fact check.

FALSE CLAIM: Rep. Pence Claims Over $800 Billion In New Taxes In House Health Care Reform Bill. Rep. Mike Pence claimed on both MSNBC and the House floor that the House health care overhaul included "more than $800 billion in new taxes."

FACT: Bill Includes Only $544 Billion In Taxes Affecting Only 1.2% of the Population. The surtax in the House health care overhaul bill would actually "raise $544 billion over 10 years- roughly half the cost of the bill - and affect only 1.2 percent of all households in the United States."

So if you're on Twitter-- message Rep. Pence and ask him and his colleagues in the House to read the bill and disseminate the facts.

"Name a successful unionized company. Think. You're gonna go to break before you come up with one."

Today, SEIU International President Andy Stern made the following statement in response to comments by New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin and MSNBC's "Morning Joe" cast on the effectiveness of unionized companies.

"Unionized companies are a driving force in our economy, from Kaiser Permanente to Securitas. The bigger question this country is really asking right now is how do we define a successful company? Is it a company that turns a profit by driving down employee wages successful?  Is cutting off benefits or putting people out of work to improve the bottom line for shareholders a business model we as Americans want to embrace? Are we going to embrace the Wal-Mart model as the standard of success, or are we going to raise the bar and rebuild the middle class in this country?

"We think it's time to have a serious national discussion about what we want the future of our economy to look like--and the voices of women and men who work are critical to that conversation.  That's why we're supporting the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill to help create an economy in which companies succeed based on the quality of their services, not on their willingness to exploit or silence workers."

This morning, the Morning Joe crew of MSNBC decided to go on an anti-union tirade. Clearly, they didn't drink the coffee handed to them by their unionized colleagues that help to get their show in the air.

After a rant from "smart" money man Jim Cramer (who, in recent months, has admitted that he's "gotten a lot of things wrong" and that he "should do a better job") on the terribleness of unions, the entire on-air team decided to weigh in.

The discussion went as far as co-host Mika Brzezinski claiming that unions "cripple the system that makes a company work." Together, they failed at naming a single "successful" unionized company - even though they all work for one.

Watch it here:

As mentioned above, the Morning Joe crew needed to look no further than their colleagues. GE, which owns NBC-Universal (and thusly MSNBC), is one of the world's largest companies, and made more than $18 billion last year. In total, 13 different unions represent GE companies.

Media Matters takes this issue a step further, wondering aloud if this might have anything to do with the fact that the members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA union have protested NBC-Universal in recent weeks. These fellow brothers and sisters have been working without a contract for nearly two months, and little progress has been made to reach a new agreement.

Perhaps that's what's leaving the Morning Joe crew with such a bitter taste in their mouths.

One more thing - today is day two of Starbucks' official sponsorship of Morning Joe. That would be the same virulently anti-union Starbucks pushing the "For CEOs, By CEOs" alternative to the Employee Free Choice Act that Morning Joe trumpeted in this morning's segment.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was on the Rachel Maddow Show last night to discuss, among other things, the timeline for health care reform:

Earlier this week, we told you about the attacks being leveled against the provisions of the Economic Recovery Act that improve health IT and information sharing for doctors and hospitals. Since then, more than 2,600 letters have been written to newspaper editors across the country by caregivers who want to set the record straight.

Your efforts to uncover their misinformation campaign are gaining major traction in the mainstream media. MSNBC dug further into the smear tactics being used against health IT on last night's "Countdown with Keith Olbermann." No surprises here, the usual gang of suspects is at it again:

Reaction to Sam Stein's recent Huffington Post article on Bank of America's anti-Employee Free Choice conference call has been sweeping.

Wednesday night, on MSNBC show 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., host David Shuster reported on the call during his "Hypocrisy Watch" segment. Airing some of the tape from the call, Shuster makes the following comment:

"Bernie Marcus is entitled to his opinion on unions. Likewise, every American citizen is welcome to get involved in elections - elections matter. However, Bank of America and other financial institutions helped create the financial mess that our country faces, to begin with. For Bank of America to take taxpayer bailout money in order to 'improve the company's health' and then use that money to organize a conference call and get so involved in fighting in fighting workers who are trying to improve their own financial health...that's hypocrisy and that's wrong."