People Before Profit blog

People's Weekly World labor editor debates Employee Free Choice Act on askthetrucker.com

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 08:14:00 +0000

Bobby Jindal's cynical anti-worker politics

Sat, 28 Feb 2009 07:34:00 +0000

Louisiana's Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal launched his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination this week by delivering his party's response to President Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress, Feb. 24.

In his response, Jindal failed to offer new ideas or even give an inkling of an impression that he understands the significant hardships of working Americans or the dramatic shift in ideas and politics that has occurred over the past four or five months since the collapse of the economy and the election of President Obama.

Instead, Jindal spouted stale Republican ideological talking points about the need for more Bush-style tax cuts for the wealthy and attacks on 'big government.' The subtext of Jindal's speech expressed a hope for continued economic hardship in order to boost his personal ambitions for the presidency.

Jindal's speech, which was universally panned, was part of a recent two-pronged effort on his part to launch himself as the presidential frontrunner of his party. Earlier, he had vowed to reject almost $100 million as part of the president's economic stimulus package earmarked for unemployment benefits for his state.

Ignoring the fact that his state lost about 430 jobs every day in the month of December, Jindal described the stimulus spending as wasteful and even harmful.

Jindal's move, designed to appeal to a shrinking and narrow Republican Party base, will harm as many as 25,000 Louisiana families, responded ACORN in a statement this week.

'Governor Jindal is holding the recovery and the state's economy hostage to his own ideology and his naked ambitions for national office,' said Gwendolyn Adams, board member of Louisiana ACORN.

ACORN called on the state legislature to force the governor to accept all of the estimated $4 billion headed to his state as part of the president's stimulus package.

'Unemployment in Louisiana is up 50 percent over the last year, and unemployment assistance is the quickest way to get money into our struggling economy as jobless workers spend those funds immediately on necessities with our Louisiana merchants,' said Adams.

Louisiana's Lt. Gov. Mitch Landrieu sharply criticized Jindal's maneuver also. He suggested that Jindal may have abdicated his job first and foremost as the state's governor by taking on the responsibility of becoming the national spokesperson for the GOP. Landrieu added, 'It puts the governor at risk of sending mixed messages. … Louisiana should be very aggressive in going to get this money.'

After Jindal's announcement of his refusal to accept the money, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin described Jindal's presidential ambitions as 'clouding' his judgment.

have pointed out Jindal's refusal of some of the stimulus money may have an even more insidious side. Official government statistics on unemployment are determined by the number of people who apply for jobless benefits, the program for which Jindal has refused stimulus money.

Unemployment benefits are limited, however, to a certain period of time. So when a worker has been out of a job past that deadline, he or she is no longer eligible for benefits and is simply no longer counted by the government as unemployed. President Obama's stimulus package aimed to remedy this situation by expanding the unemployment compensation program.

But by refusing the money and the inclusion of more unemployed workers in the program, Jindal's unstated goal seems to be to artificially reduce the state's official unemployment rate – without creating any new jobs – to make himself appear to be successful.

National News from pww.org

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 09:35:00 +0000

Solis confirmed, 80-17

The Senate Feb. 24 voted 80-17 to confirm California congresswoman Hilda Solis as labor secretary, two months after Obama nominated her.

Her nomination was held up by Republican obstructions over her pro-union activities and her support for the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act.

Labor leaders John Sweeney and Ana Burger hailed the victory and the grassroots support of millions that overcame the political and ideological delay. Solis becomes the first Latina labor secretary.

A vote for D.C.

Legislation giving residents of the U.S. capital a full voting member of Congress cleared a hurdle this week and headed toward passage, meeting demands first made by democratic activists two centuries ago.

On a vote of 62-34, two more than the needed 60, the Senate began formal consideration of the measure and acceded to the demand of people in Washington, a city also known as the District of Columbia, for full political representation. The district’s more that half a million residents pay taxes, yet are not represented by any voting member in Congress.

NY Post’s Murdoch apologizes

After the New York Post’s offices were flooded with hundreds of thousands of e-mails, calls and protests, media mogul and owner, Rupert Murdoch, apologized for the racist and violence-inciting cartoon it published.

The cartoon, by Sean Delanos, who is no stranger to other insulting cartoons, depicts the recent stimulus bill’s “author” as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police.

Neither the cartoonist, nor the editors have been held accountable. Protests and boycotts continue. The New York Post, meanwhile, does not divulge any information about its news room diversity.

Ludlow finally recognized

On April 20, 1914, in Ludlow, Colo., one of the bloodiest chapters in the nation’s labor history was written. Thugs hired by several coal companies, John D. Rockefeller and the Colorado militia attacked a peaceful encampment of striking miners and their families. By the end of the day, 20 were shot or burned to death, including 14 women and children.

It has long been a hallowed site: In 1918, the United Mine Workers of America erected a monument there. Yet for decades, despite the efforts of historians and labor activists, there was no state or national commemoration of the site.

But last month, the U.S. Department of the Interior designated Ludlow a National Historic Landmark.

A dedication ceremony is planned for late June.

Violence shelters need to keep lights on

Women’s safety advocates called on Congress to hike funding for the nation’s domestic violence shelters. During grim economic times, shelters struggle mightily to do more with less.

The advocates immediate goal is full funding of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, which funds basic operating costs at many of the nation’s 2,000-odd domestic violence programs and shelters.

“They use the money to keep the lights on,” said Monica McLaughlin, public policy specialist at the National Network to End Domestic Violence.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women’s Issues, a bipartisan group of female lawmakers in the House, says she will push for more money for women’s safety this year.

Digital TV transition delayed

Imagine turning on your television and all you see is black and white fuzz.

This might be the scenario for the estimated 6 million U.S. citizens who have been left in the dark when it has come to the nation’s required digital television transition. Many of the 6 million are elderly, low income and/or disabled.

U.S. households will now have until June 12, instead of Feb. 17, to prepare their television sets for the transition from analog to digital broadcast. If you don’t have a digital TV, a converter box must be purchased. The government is offering $40 coupons towards the purchase of the box. But they expire quickly and there is a waiting list. For more info go to: https://www.dtv2009.gov/.

30,000 Haitians to be deported

The United States is set to deport more than 30,000 Haitians to their impoverished homeland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced last week. A protest, in response to the decision was held Feb. 21 in Broward County, Fl. Haitian activists and immigrants called for a halt to the arrests and a suspension of the deportations.

As the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti’s troubles significantly increased with the passage of four deadly back-to-back storms last fall — Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike — that killed more than 800 persons and worsened the nation’s food crisis.

Haitian President René Préval has urged the United States to grant Haitian nationals in the United States temporary protection status (TPS) as victims of natural disasters, insisting Haiti is still struggling to recover from last year’s devastating hurricanes and cannot handle the return of its citizens.

Haitian grassroots activists and immigration advocates have renewed the call for TPS, which has been granted to nationals from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan, but never for Haitians.

Free choice and small business help each other

Writing in the Massachusetts-based Herald News, Sen. John Kerry argued that the labor-backed Employee Free Choice Act and small business are mutually dependent and compatible. Kerry is the former chairman of the Senate Small Business Committee.

Kerry said a U.S. Small Business Administration report “indicated that small business bankruptcy rates are lower in states with high unionization rates than they are in states where fewer workers have a voice.” He also said that history has shown when unions thrive, so do small businesses. And when workers are organized in unions, costly training for high turnover rates has been reduced and productivity increased.

Kerry also said big Wall Street and corporate interests oppose the law and ironically these big business interests have hurt small businesses. “I don’t think [small businesses] have much to worry about,” regarding employee free choice, Kerry said.

Republic Windows and Doors workers on tour

UE Local 1110 President Armando Robles and other officers recently toured the country to make public their sit-in at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago, which won a severance package.

They have travelled to Michigan, Connecticut and points between ,speaking about their struggle and offering solidarity to workers who find themselves confronting a closed factory, in violation of federal notification law.

They began a 24-hour-sit-in in early December. The company called the police to tell them they had to exit the building. Robles stated to the police this is not your fight, it is between the company and the workers. The police went back to their cars. Workers brought their children to help in the protest. Numerous visitors come into the shop to bring food, sleeping bags, and music.

UE Local 1110 has been in negotiations with a California company to see if they could reopen the plant. They are hoping that if this happens all the workers will be hired back. They will have to go through bankruptcy court to get it approved. They are hoping that, by March, they will have confirmation for the company to reopen.

Pushing for more after Ledbetter

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:37:00 +0000

Original source: WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--In June, Michelle Obama made a last-minute decision to take time out of her campaign schedule to speak at the annual fundraising luncheon for the National Partnership for Women and Families, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C., that lobbies for workplace fairness and balance. It was an auspicious sign that the group would have a key ally in the White House if her husband, Barack Obama, won the presidential race.

Now first lady, Michelle Obama has appointed Jocelyn Frye, formerly the general counsel for the National Partnership, to be her policy director and has pledged to use her position to help working women balance responsibilities to their careers and families.

Michelle Obama has not publicly laid out a work-family legislative agenda; a spokesperson did not return a call for comment.

But the president supports legislation that would narrow the gender pay gap, lower the cost of child care, encourage companies to offer flexible work schedules, protect workers with caregiving responsibilities from discrimination and expand leave benefits to employees.

Efforts to tackle these problems have come up short in recent years, partly because President Bush opposed many of them

But with a new president and first lady championing work-life balance issues--and with Democrats in firmer control of Congress--lawmakers and advocates see the possibility for major change on the horizon.

'I have every hope this is one of those moments, those big change moments,' said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, an Illinois Democrat who is the new co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, a bipartisan group of female lawmakers in the House of Representatives. 'I don't see change happening in small increments.'

Schakowsky spoke to Women's eNews in a recent interview. She addressed these and other issues at a panel discussion sponsored by Women's eNews at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last August.

Uncertain Prospects for Family Bills Prospects for work-family legislation this congressional cycle are uncertain because of the recession, which curtails federal tax revenues and makes money for discretionary programs harder to find, said Heather Boushey, an economist at the Center for American Progress, a think tank in Washington, D.C.

Also, massive budget and health care initiatives are coming down the legislative pike and could push work-family measures farther down the to-do list.

Still, she said there's reason to believe Congress will act on behalf of working women, and cited as proof the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, signed into law by President Obama in January. It effectively reverses a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that made it more difficult to sue for wage discrimination. 'It is very rewarding that the first bill the president (signed) is the Lilly Ledbetter Act,' Schakowsky said. 'I think it's symbolic that not only is the president moving quickly but the Congress is moving quickly on women's issues.' Congress also set aside $2 billion for child care programs in the stimulus package signed earlier this month.

Meanwhile, women's rights advocates have their eye on legislation that would expand employees' rights to take temporary leave from work to take care of themselves or family members.

They frame the initiatives as a matter of economic security that will help employees--especially women--keep their jobs if they or a family member falls ill or if a new child arrives. These kinds of benefits are especially necessary during economic downturns, said Debra Ness, president of the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Women often bear the brunt of recessionary periods because they earn less than men, have fewer benefits, and are more likely to have part-time positions that often do not allow them to qualify for unemployment insurance. Because they earn less money overall, women also save less and have smaller pensions or retirement accounts.

'More than ever it is critical that we have policies that don't add to that struggle,' Ness said. Pro-business advocates argue that expanded leave benefits for employees impose unfair administrative burdens and costs on employers. Proponents counter that argument by saying that companies would save costs by reducing turnover and retaining trained employees.

Under current law, companies with more than 50 employees are required to offer workers up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for themselves or a family member after the arrival of a new child or in cases of a serious illness.

The law applies to about 60 percent of the nation's employees and does not cover short-term illnesses, according to a study by the Department of Labor in 2000. Nor does it require paid compensation during absences; consequently, many eligible employees cannot afford to take advantage of the benefit.

A number of bills are percolating in Congress that would expand workers' leave benefits, but one in particular--the Healthy Families Act--has drawn lawmakers' and advocates special attention, according to Ellen Galinsky, president of the Families and Work Institute, a think tank in New York that studies changes in the workplace. Sponsored by Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, the bill would give most workers up to seven paid days off to care for themselves or for family members in case of minor illness.

Most observers think the paid sick-day provision has the best chance of becoming law this cycle, Galinsky said; however, passage is not assured. Economic Pressure to Move Bills Ahead The worsening recession could make lawmakers more reluctant to force businesses to give workers more benefits, Galinsky said.

However, the economy could also push the bill forward. 'As you get more women in the work force, which is what's happened in the downsizing that's happened, these issues are going to have more salience. There's a little bit more pressure' to pass this bill, she said.

Advocates also are pushing for a number of other bills that would expand workers' leave benefits. One measure, introduced in the last Congress by Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, would expand current leave law so workers could take up to eight weeks of paid leave to care for themselves or their family members.

Bills that would take more incremental steps toward expanding workers' leave rights have better prospects at passage, said Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, co-founder and executive director of MomsRising, an online-based organization that lobbies for mothers' rights. That sort of incremental change could come in a measure to provide federal employees with four weeks of paid leave after the birth of a child. New York Rep. Carolyn Maloney introduced the bill--called the Federal Employees Paid Parental Leave Act--in January.

And the House passed a bill earlier this month to make a technical fix to the Family and Medical Leave Act to make it easier for flight attendants and other airline employees to qualify for unpaid leave. Because some airline employees don't work a typical 40-hour work week, they have trouble qualifying for the unpaid leave benefit. Meanwhile, on the other side of Pennsylvania Avenue, President Obama could reverse regulations authorized by President Bush that made it more difficult for employees to access their leave.

'There's no reason to think he isn't interested in reversing' Bush's regulations, Ness said, noting that Obama is a 'strong supporter' of workers' leave benefits.

Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.

Quotas on immigrant arrests stirs outrage

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:57:00 +0000

BALTIMORE—CASA de Maryland, an immigrant rights organization, has just released a videotape of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arresting 24 Latino workers and shoppers at a 7-Eleven in 2007 based solely on racial profiling, a flagrant violation of federal law.

The video shows the arresting officers ignoring Caucasians and African Americans while zeroing in on Latinos in the convenience store parking lot in the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore where day laborers gather. The plainclothes ICE agents in unmarked vehicles posed as employers in order to trap their victims.

One of those arrested proved his legal status, nineteen were deported and four have pending immigration cases. Among the detainees was Ernesto Guillen, a janitor, who was on his way to Johns Hopkins Hospital where Tomas, his six year old son is undergoing chemotherapy for cancer.

Casa de Maryland filed a lawsuit and waged a two year legal battle to force the Department of Homeland Security to acknowledge the incident. The federal agency finally released a damning report that the mass arrest was carried out to fulfill a quota. Every ICE team in the nation is under orders to make 1,000 arrests annually under ex-President George W. Bush’s “Operation Return to Sender.”

An ICE internal report on the Jan. 23, 2007, incident obtained by CASA quotes a supervisor in the ICE Baltimore Field Office telling his deputy, “bring more bodies in….go back out to make more arrests as the quantity of arrests that were made that morning was unacceptable.”

Yet the mission of these ICE teams is to apprehend “violent criminals who are in the country illegally.” Their instructions require them to show “probable cause” that a target is a criminal before making an arrest. Not one of the 24 people arrested met the criteria.

Gustavo Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland said, “Our current enforcement of immigration policy based on quotas leads to the separation of families and civil rights violations. This is the federal government and these are agents who took an oath to uphold the Constitution. Is this the America contemplated by our founders?”

June White-Dillard, president of the Prince George’s County NAACP said, “Street raids to meet quotas are unbelievable. It will take time to reverse the Bush years and the abridgement of our constitutional rights but I look forward to standing with CASA de Maryland and my Latino and immigrant brothers and sisters to get it done.”

CASA has requested a meeting with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano to appeal for an end to the dragnet raids.

CASA brought hundreds of immigrant workers and their families to Annapolis, the state capital, Feb. 23, to oppose the anti-immigrant campaigns and to fight for human and workers’ rights. They gathered in a Senate hearing room to tell Senators and their staff of widespread “wage theft” by unscrupulous employers. One worker told the hearing he and other members of his crew toiled at a construction job for three days. “At the end of the three days, our wages were denied us. We never recovered the money. Many times this has happened and workers have lost thousands of dollars,” he said.

Later, another worker told of being chiseled by a contractor installing fiber optic cables for Verizon. CASA, he said, took up their grievance and won restitution of the stolen pay.

State Sen. Melvin Stukes told the witnesses, “You’re looking at a person who has gone through some of the same exact things you have gone through, worked in Baltimore for three dollars a day… Anyone in this room understands that struggle. I will do anything I legally can to help you in your endeavors.”

CASA is urging the legislature to strengthen enforcement including forcing employers to pay a worker three times the unpaid wages. Criminal fines should be increased to $2,500 for the first violation and $5,000 for subsequent violations of the wage law, a CASA handout states.

Witnesses also urged the lawmakers to resist the federal REAL ID that could be used to deny drivers’ licenses to undocumented immigrants. Madeleine, a high school student urged the Maryland General Assembly to enact pending bills to make the sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants eligible for in-state tuition at Maryland universities. The grassroots lobbysists also urged the lawmakers to oppose immigrant-bashing campaigns that would deny public benefits to all non-citizens.

Later the crowd rallied in front of the Maryland State House holding placards that proclaimed, “Stop the Raids,” “College For All” and “Drivers Licenses for Safety.” CASA’s Torres led the crowd in chanting, “Si se puede” “yes we can.” He told the crowd, “We’re here fighting for civil rights for all, for the African American community, the Latino community.”

Guy Djoken, president of the Frederick County NAACP said, “Together we are going to win. For a long time, they have tried to divide us, Black against Hispanic. But when Dr. King fought for civil rights, everyone walked through that open door. We come together as one people, one more time.”

Job Creation Key to Recovery, Obama Stresses

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:32:00 +0000

WASHINGTON, Feb 25 (IPS) - In his first speech before a joint session of Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a hopeful assessment of the country’s future and defended his economic recovery plan to get there.

'[T]hough we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this: We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before,' he told lawmakers in his hour long speech

Obama called his attempt to turn around the economy a 'day of reckoning' for deregulation and valuing on 'short-term gains' rather than 'critical debates and difficult decisions,' saying that part of his plan would be sweeping reforms.

Using plain-spoken language, reportedly after having studied President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s famous 'fireside chat' radio speeches as the U.S. pulled out of the Great Depression, Obama explained the root causes of the slowing economy - unemployment is currently at 7.6 percent, the highest in nearly two decades, and expected to worsen - and how specific parts of his plan would address those problems.

Obama entered his speech, a state of the union address in everything but name, riding a wave of high polling numbers and having, just over a month into his term, achieved several legislative goals, most notably his 787-billion-dollar stimulus package.

An ABC television and Washington Post poll said that Obama had a 68 percent overall approval rating - typically high for an incoming president - with 61 percent of respondents trusting that he will handle the economy. A New York Times and CBS television poll found more than three-quarters of respondents optimistic about the next four years and Obama’s ability to deal with the economic crisis.

In his address, Obama laid out his recovery agenda piece-by-piece, detailing his plans to shore up financial institutions to bolster lending, bring relief to homeowners, and giving the focus of a budget he is expected to deliver in the next few days.

He promised his budget would invest heavily in energy, health care and education, saying those were crucial areas to his economic plan because they would spur job creation, which he said 'begins' his agenda.

As he had stated during his 'fiscal summit' this week with lawmakers and over 100 economists, Obama said that his plan was based on ideology - 'Not because I believe in bigger government - I don’t,' he said - but rather based on necessity.

'I called for action because the failure to do so would have cost more jobs and caused more hardships,' he said. '[W]hile the cost of action will be great, I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade... And I refuse to let that happen.'

The reference to 'inaction' may be a veiled jab a Republicans, who voted nearly unanimously against the stimulus bill while proposing little in the way of solutions beyond the same Republican rhetoric delivered during the last eight years as the economic crisis slowly brewed.

Indeed, in the opposition’s response to the president’s address, Republican Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal dismissed the notion that the federal government had a significant role to play in economic recovery.

'The strength of America is not found in our government,' he said. 'It is found in the compassionate hearts and enterprising spirit of our citizens.'

He went on to blame Republican woes on the party’s departure from its core values of 'limited government, fiscal discipline, and personal responsibility.'

Jindal’s remarks were widely panned in news coverage of the two speeches.

Even conservative New York Times Op-Ed columnist David Brooks took exception to Jindal’s speech, saying that while he sees promise in Jindal, the rumored 2012 Republican presidential hopeful’s remarks went over 'not so well.'

'In a moment when only the federal government is actually big enough to do stuff,' he said on PBS television’s coverage, 'to just ignore all that and just say ‘government is the problem, corruption, earmarks, wasteful spending,’ it's just a form of nihilism.'

'I think it's insane, and I just think it's a disaster for the [Republican] party,' he said. 'I just think it's unfortunate right now.'

In the ABC/Washington Post poll, where six of 10 respondents said they trust Obama to help the economy recover, only 26 percent said that they felt the same about Congressional Republicans - the largest such spread since 1991.

Despite Republican opposition to his massive stimulus spending, Obama spoke directly to the notion of federal spending, emphasising that he intended to spend even more.

'[T]his plan will require significant resources from the federal government - and yes, probably more than we’ve already set aside,' he said.

That notion echoes many economists, such as liberal New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who have called for the president to spend significantly more than the package he has already laid out.

In his speech, Obama placed the financial crisis in global terms, stressing both things such as education as a way to make labour competitive in a global economy and the requirement that all nations work together to bring recovery.

'[T]o respond to an economic crisis that is global in scope, we are working with the nations of the G-20 [the 20 most industrialised nations] to restore confidence in our financial system...' he said. 'For the world depends on us to have a strong economy, just as our economy depends on the strength of the world’s.'

Obama shifted only briefly to foreign policy at the end of his speech, restating his opposition to torture and support for diplomacy in foreign affairs, and noting his ongoing reviews of U.S. policy in two foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

'We are now carefully reviewing our policies in both wars, and I will soon announce a way forward in Iraq that leaves Iraq to its people and responsibly ends this war,' he said.

Just hours before his speech, unnamed administration officials told several major news outlets that Obama intended to announce that his withdrawal plan from Iraq would be extended to a 19-month period rather than the 16-month one he had promised while campaigning.

Those sources also said that the 'residual force' Obama planned to leave behind in Iraq was likely to be tens of thousands of troops.

Ending the nearly six-year old war in Iraq will likely free up room in the budget for Obama to focus more cash on economic concerns.

(END/2009)

Realizing the dream

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 05:15:00 +0000

The Peoples Weekly World 35th Annual African American History Month celebrations in Connecticut last weekend had overflow crowds in Hartford and New Haven including many young people. The events featured local panels, music and a tribute to W.E.B. Du Bois.

Panelists addressed questions around the theme, “Building the Momentum for Change. Realizing the Dream for Jobs - Peace - Equality.” They were asked to reflect on next steps to achieve equality and how to keep the unity growing that elected Obama.

In New Haven, the inspiring music of Brian Jarawa Gray and Friends had people swaying to the beat of the drums. Young people of every ethnic background were in attendance to see and hear history in the making.

Awards were presented to winners of the second annual People’s Weekly World high school arts competition around the theme “Dear President Obama, My dream is....” The students, from various area high schools, came with their families, accepted their prizes and shared their work.

New Haven panelist Clifton Graves, a long time civil rights activist, emphasized to the audience “you are not going to agree with everything Obama does, but it is up to us to keep the momentum going for change. This is one of the best opportunities that Americans have had in decades. “

Graves spoke especially to the youth in attendance about earlier civil rights struggles which enabled Obama’s election, quoting Frederick Doublass that “power concedes nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will.” The fight for affirmative action is not over, he said.

Ashaki Binta, a union organizer with UE, thinks a good way to keep the ball rolling is to re-establish some of the coalitions that have faded in recent years. She warned about the dangers of the right-wing which continue even as the country is moving in a more progressive direction

It was emphasized that while the election reflects growing unity, vigilance against racism, which has always been a divider in our country, is necessary. Cited was the recent NewYork Post racist caricature of Obama making fun if the stimulus package. The point was made that we are all human beings trying to achieve the same goals, a better life for ourselves and family, and in order for us to reach our dream everyone must be united and work together.

Andrew Greene, high school student and member of New Growth Praise Center, wasn’t shy about speaking his mind. He was very motivated when he went to Philadelphia to door knock for Obama in the summer. He believes this will help some young people turn their lives around so they will know there is hope for them. He encourages his fellow high school students to stay focused and get a good education.

Craig Gauthier, a former union leader who moderated the discussion, concluded by saying that “our tasks and responsibilities have been laid before us. We must take up the banner for equality, justice and organize to take action in these hard economic times.”

In Hartford, panelists also stressed unity and grass roots organizing to achieve the goals of jobs, peace and equality.

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists president Kathleen Jackson recalled being spat on at school where she was the only Black student. She helped organize a bus to the Inauguration just to be present as Barack Obama was sworn into office.

Jackson lauded youth panelist Kedar Fluker for his activism and emphasized that the most important thing is to encourage young people who will shape our future. Fluker called on young people to get involved and participate in opposing looming budget cuts in Connecticut and stand up for better opportunities.

Brian Steinberg reflected on the change in thinking that has taken place in the South since his experience in the 1960's during Freedom Summer in Mississippi when three civil rights activists were slain. He said Obama’s election represents an expansion of democracy in our country, won by the unity of the people, which must continue on.

The events raised nearly $2,000 for the People’s Weekly World fund drive.

Oscar ratings improve as 'Slumdog Millionaire' dominates awards

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 23:14:00 +0000

(Xinhua)Preliminary numbers released Monday showed that ratings for the 81st Academy Award show overnight climbed about six percent from last year's record low.

The ABC-produced Oscar telecast show, where British director Dan Boyle's 'Slumdog Millionaire' took eight statuettes including best picture, probably had an average viewership of more than 34 million across the United States, according to a market research firm.

Preliminary numbers from Nielsen Media Research, which measure roughly 50 of the biggest markets in the U.S., showed that New York, Chicago and Los Angeles were among the markets where most households tuned in to watch the film industry's annual gala show.

Although total viewer estimates are expected to be issued later in the day, it is a good bet that this year's Oscar show will rise comfortably ahead of last year's all-time low. About 32 million U.S. viewers watched the show last year.

Last year's record-low ratings prompted organizers to change their traditional format to hand out the awards and present more dance-and-song performances during the ceremony hosted by Australian actor Hugh Jackman.

Tom Cruise 'flustered' by Penelope Cruz

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:53:00 +0000

(China Daily/Agencies) Tom Cruise was 'weird' and 'awkward' when he bumped into his ex-girlfriend Penelope Cruz.

The 'Valkyrie' star was 'visibly flustered' when Penelope - who he dated for three years before they split in 2004 - approached him at a pre-Oscars party in Beverly Hills on Friday night.

A source said: 'Penelope tapped him on the shoulder and timidly asked, 'Tom?'

'Tom turned around, got visibly flustered and awkwardly said, 'Oh, hey. Hi', and gave her a small, distant hug before turning back around to his friends. It was weird.'

The 46-year-old actor is now married to actress Katie Holmes, who was absent from the party, hosted by the head of Creative Artists Agency Bryan Lourd.

The source told the New York Post newspaper: 'Katie was not there. But he clearly hasn't run into Penelope very often since they split.'

Madonna, Sir Elton John, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Ford, Mike Myers, Shirley MacLaine, Meg Ryan, Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio were also at the party.

Yahoo's new tools to hit the stands

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 16:44:00 +0000

(Xinhua/Agencies) In a bid to strengthen its online adverts and attract users, Yahoo Inc. will launch several tools Tuesday to help marketers better use its services amid global meltdown.

Yahoo senior officials in a Wall Street Journal report were quoted as saying the new services include targeting graphical adverts to users who have searched for particular terms in Yahoo's search engine and customizing the offers in adverts based on what Web sites a consumer has visited and what they have done on those sites.

Yahoo, the leading provider of online display advertising, has been under pressure for nearly a year following unproductive merger talks with Microsoft Corp., Google Inc. and Time Warner Inc's AOL.

'Targeting a site with a couple hundred thousand users...I don't call that targeting. I call that wasted effort,' the paper quoted Joanne Bradford, Yahoo's senior vice president of U.S. revenue and market development, as saying. 'Size does matter.'

Another service that is expected to go live next month will allow marketers to buy text adverts next to search results that are targeted to users during a certain time of day or based on factors such as their age and gender, according to the paper.

Bradford and Michael Walrath, a senior vice president at Yahoo, will discuss the new features during a keynote address at a conference in Orlando, Florida, on Tuesday, the paper said.

Stimulus package to help workers keep health care coverage

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Two important health care measures that were included in President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package will begin to be implemented this week and will ensure that millions of working families impacted by the recession are able to keep their existing health care benefits or find affordable coverage.

Wednesday, Feb. 25, the federal government will release about $15 billion to help states shore up their Medcaid programs. The additional funds should boost the ability to provide for a growing number of applicants as unemployment rates rise and job-related benefits end.

According to the White House, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will oversee the distribution of the money and work with states to ensure eligibility requirements are met.

The money will help many states avoid severe cuts in Medicaid funding at a time when new applicants are desperate to receive benefits and avoid losing medical care. In addition, the funds will allow states to avoid making steep cuts in other parts of the budgets, such as public education and public safety.

“This plan will also help ensure that you don’t need to make cuts to essential services Americans rely on now more than ever,” the President told the nation’s governors in a meeting at the White House on Monday, Feb. 23.

According to HHS data, states like Louisiana, South Carolina, Minnesota and Alaska will receive about $800 million as part of this package. The governors of these states have been the sharpest critics of the president's recovery program. Their criticism stems mainly from their maneuvers for frontrunner status for the GOP presidential nomination for 2012 rather than out of serious objections.

These potential candidates, which include Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Sarah Palin, appear to have prioritized personal ambitions over people's needs. Unfortunately, working families in their states may suffer as a result of their political ambitions.

According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, for example, each day in the month of December, 430 people in Louisiana lost their jobs. Statewide, the number of unemployed people stood at 122,000.

A second provision in the economic stimulus package will provide a subsidy to reduce COBRA payments by 65 percent. COBRA is a federal program administered by the Department of Labor to help laid-off workers keep their employment benefits in the short term as they look for new work.

Celebrating Black history and Obamas roots

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 08:07:00 +0000

CHICAGO –To celebrate African American history month, the People’s Weekly World and Workers Education Society hosted a distinguished panel over a delicious meal of the city’s finest soul food. Historian Dr. Timuel Black, civil rights, HIV/AIDS activist and former government official Brenetta Howell Barrett and Political Affairs publisher Joe Sims spoke on the “Roots of Obama and the struggle for equality in a new era.”

Black, born 1917 in Birmingham, Alabama is the son of sharecroppers. Black moved to Chicago with his family during the “Great Migration” in 1918. He is a long time activist and notable writer on Chicago’s Black community.

“History has been made,” said Black about President Barack Obama. The whole world is watching and his presidency is a phenomenon felt across the entire planet, he said. “His election was the exhibit of the possibility of what we can do when we keep on keeping on,” said Black. “We have just created the impossible.”

Black pointed out, “In my life we did not believe it was possible. But we worked to make it happen. We were always pessimistically optimistic and Obama’s win was due to the struggle of working people.”

Along the way there have been many casualties beginning with slavery, said Black. Those include the brave freedom fighters against slavery all the way through the Civil Rights movement that included both white and black, he said.

It’s the voters and American people who are Obama’s main strength and base, said Black. “We are Obama’s resources. Now we have to get on with the miraculous,” said Black. Brenetta Howell Barrett, a native Chicagoan, has been an activist and educator her whole life. She is the founder and director of the Pathfinder Prevention and Education Fund, which provides prevention education for HIV and AIDS awareness. Barrett is also a board member with the Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights. She was a cabinet member in several city administration’s including Harold Washington’s.

Barrett recalled getting active as a teenager and joined a Black History club in school. Activist and artist Paul Robeson visited her school. “His oratory just meant so much to me and a standard was set in what an individual can accomplish.” she said, also recalling learning at that time she was a “quiet storm.”

Obama was born out of the grassroots and he appreciates local struggles on the ground, said Barrett. He has the best interests of working people at heart, she added. “We need to share our issues and tell him what’s important to us.” For example, a retiree’s corps for education should be appointed by the Obama administration, said Barrett. “There are a lot of skilled people who are looking for something to do.” Barrett also pointed out that people should recognize the role of Michelle Obama too. Progressive principles are portable and can be applied in different places and we should take those ideas along with us wherever we wind up, said Barrett. Blood is thicker than water but struggle is thicker than blood and when we struggle together that bond is golden, she said.

Joe Sims grew up in Youngstown, Ohio and is the son of a steel worker. Sims joined the Communist Party as a teenager and edited Political Affairs Magazine for 16 years. Today he is its publisher and is also an editorial board member of the World.

Sims mentioned seeing a recent picture of Tommie Smith and Juan Carlos hugging their families soon after Obama’s victory. Smith and Carlos were 1968 Mexico City Olympic medal winners who raised their black-gloved fist in the air during the ceremony in protest of the racial unrest exploding throughout the U.S. at the time.

“The struggle for equality is a mighty tree and has many roots but one of those roots lies back to Smith and Carlos,” said Sims. Back then the movement of connecting the civil right struggle to economic rights was being beaten down, said Sims.

Today with Obama, change is evident including a notable break from the disastrous Bush policies especially when it comes to foreign and domestic issues, said Sims.

But the economic crisis is much bigger than we realize and the housing battle needs immediate addressing because it’s Blacks and Latinos who are suffering the most, said Sims. The biggest legislative battles American voters are going to have to continue to fight for, is the fight for health care and passing the Employee Free Choice Act, said Sims.

Stanford: Biggest Texas scandal since Enron

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 05:37:00 +0000

HOUSTON – With typical Texas flamboyance, Sir Robert Allen Stanford built a financial empire which stretched across Texas, through Mexico, the Caribbean islands and into South America. He was charged by the SEC on Feb. 17 with defrauding investors of upwards of $8 billion in the most shocking financial scandal in Texas since the fall of Enron.

The centerpiece of his empire was a bank in Antigua, which some think may have been a major drug money laundering center for organized crime operations in Latin America. A native of Mexia, Texas, he affected a British accent and was knighted in Antigua. Some of the countries involved in his financial operations included Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Peru and Venezuela.

Last week, after charges against him became public, panicked investors flew their private jets to Antigua, only to be turned away. Many Houston-area charities supported by the Stanford empire, including the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital in Memphis will not be receiving their usual contributions due to the pending investigations by multiple branches of the federal government.

Right wing talk host Sean Hannity promoted Stanford Coins & Bullion, a part of the Stanford Financial Group, on advertisements which ran on his show by stating “their name is as good as gold.”

Many people stand to be hurt in this far reaching scandal. Some people had invested their life savings in the financial group because of its claims of high rates of return.

Set in the context of the global financial catastrophe, many people are questioning the wisdom of a system in which people’s individual retirement funds can be swindled out of them by private companies. They are also questioning a system which makes the arts and health care dependent on charitable contributions by these same unscrupulous individuals.

GOP senator says U.S. must rethink Cuba ban

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 02:18:00 +0000

WASHINGTON -(Associated Press) The U.S. policy of shunning communist Cuba by imposing a strict trade embargo has failed to prod the island nation toward democracy and should be re-evaluated, according to the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

'We must recognize the ineffectiveness of our current policy and deal with the Cuban regime in a way that enhances U.S. interests,' wrote Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican, in a report dated Monday.

The report lends new weight to a bipartisan view in Congress that Raul Castro's rise to power has opened a window for U.S.-Cuban relations. Story continues below ↓advertisement | your ad here

Obama promises fresh look President Barack Obama has promised a fresh look at the U.S. policy toward communist Cuba. He says he would be open to meeting with Castro, who took over as Cuba's president for his ailing brother, Fidel. Obama also supports easing limitations on the number of visits and the amount of money sent to Cuba by family members in the U.S.

But like his predecessor, George W. Bush, Obama has said he believes the embargo provides important leverage with the country's leaders.

Lugar's suggestion that the U.S. rethink that position was included in an assessment of U.S.-Cuban relations written by his senior staffer, Carl Meacham, who traveled to Cuba in January. The report was scheduled to be distributed this week among Lugar's Senate colleagues.

While the report stops short of calling for an end to the ban, it offers a harsh assessment of U.S. policies. It charges that the existing embargo provides the Cuban government a convenient 'scapegoat' for the nation's economic difficulties, ignores recent political developments and keeps the U.S. from gaining a 'broader understanding of events on the island.'

'By directing policy toward an unlikely scenario of a short-term democratic transition on the island and rejecting most tools of diplomatic engagement, the U.S. is left as a powerless bystander, watching events unfold at a distance,' the report states.

Congress would need to act Ending the embargo would require an act of Congress because lawmakers wrote key parts of the restrictions into law in 1992 and 1996. The 1996 law, passed shortly after Cuban fighter jets shot down two planes operated by a Miami-based anti-Castro group, bars the United States from normalizing relations with Cuba as long as Fidel or Raul Castro is involved in the Cuban government.

In 2000, President Bill Clinton signed a law allowing the sale of agricultural goods and medicine to Cuba for humanitarian reasons. Since then, agricultural sales to Cuba have risen from almost nothing to more than $440 million last year.

The report points out that Obama could engage Cuba on this and other issues, such as drug interdiction, migration and terrorism.

Man arrested for alleged ties with Al Qaeda

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:42:00 +0000

(Xinhua) A man living near Los Angeles has been ordered detained in federal custody for failing to reveal family ties to Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship, it was reported on Saturday.

Ahmadullah Sais Niazi of Afghan origin was taken into custody by agents of the Orange County Joint Terrorism Task Force at his home on Friday, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Niazi, whose brother-in-law is designated as an Al Qaeda terrorist, is charged with misstating facts in his U.S. citizenship application. If proved guilty, he could face up to 35 years in prison, the paper said.

But the defendant accused federal agents of blackmailing him and forcing him to be an informant, said the paper.

'I was blackmailed. I did not do what they told me to do,' he told reporters when appearing in the courtroom after the arrest. 'I want justice. I want fairness ... The people need to know.'

The five-count indictment accuses Niazi of lying on his naturalization application, procuring naturalization unlawfully, using a passport procured by fraud and making a false statement, according to the paper.

According to an affidavit for a search warrant, Niazi, who was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, failed to reveal that his sister is married to Amin al-Haq, who has allegedly served as a bodyguard for Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

Al-Haq was designated as a specially designated global terrorist by the U.S. Treasury Office of Foreign Asset Control following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

That designation froze all of al-Haq's assets in the United States, according to the affidavit.

Around March 8, 2001, the United Nations Security Council declared that al-Haq is associated with Al Qaeda and bin Laden, according to the indictment.

A search warrant unsealed alleges that Niazi and his wife, according to documents seized, used a 'hawala,' an unlicensed money transfer system often used by people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, to transfer money from one country to another.

That system can be used legitimately, but is also exploited by those seeking to avoid U.S. regulations applied to financial remittance systems, according to the search warrant.

Violence funds not sheltered from budget cuts

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:36:00 +0000

Original source: WASHINGTON (WOMENSENEWS)--Women's safety advocates called on Congress Wednesday to hike funding for the nation's domestic violence shelters, which are being forced to scale back services or eliminate them altogether due to the ailing economy.

'During these grim economic times, when shelters are struggling mightily to do more with less and serve a population in great need, maintaining and expanding core state and federal funding for these emergency shelters becomes even more essential,' said Anne Menard, director of the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence in Harrisburg, Pa.

Menard spoke Wednesday at a news conference marking the release of a study showing the effectiveness of shelters in meeting survivors' needs, which she and other advocates plan to use in a campaign to lobby lawmakers for more money for shelters.

In addition to meeting with lawmakers in person, advocates plan to make their case for more federal dollars in a March 4 congressional briefing in Washington, D.C.

Their most immediate goal is full funding of the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act, a decades-old formula grant that funds basic operating costs at many of the nation's 2,000-odd domestic violence programs and shelters.

'They use the money to keep the lights on,' said Monica McLaughlin, public policy specialist at the National Network to End Domestic Violence, an advocacy group in Washington, D.C. 'It's the lifeblood . . . of domestic violence programs.' Allocations Fall Short

Congress is currently authorized to spend up to $175 million a year for the program. But the actual allocation of federal dollars is subject to a congressional vote, and lawmakers last year set aside $123 million; over $50 million less than was approved. That was a slight cut from fiscal 2007, when Congress spent $125 million on the program.

Women's safety advocates also want Congress to fully fund the Violence Against Women Act, a broader anti-violence law originally passed in 1994 that provides some funds for domestic violence shelters but also sets aside money for a wide range of other services relating to sexual and domestic violence, sexual assault and stalking.

But with an ailing economy curtailing federal revenues from taxes, and lawmakers focused on economic-stimulus efforts, more money for discretionary social programs that combat domestic violence could be hard to come by.

Anti-domestic violence programs have had trouble winning full funding even in better economic times. Indeed, neither the Family Violence Prevention Services Act nor the Violence Against Women Act have ever received the full amount of authorized funding, McLaughlin said.

President Obama is expected to release his budget later this month. The appropriations season typically begins in late spring and concludes in the fall. Pushing for Women's Safety

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, a bipartisan group of female lawmakers in the House, says she will push for more money for women's safety this year.

'We know that the Family Violence Prevention Services Act needs adequate funding; their shelters are considered emergency rooms,' she said. And the 'reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act is up in 2010, and we want to be ready for that, ensuring that it's a priority.'

Fully functioning shelters are needed now more than ever, Schakowsky added.

'When people are under financial stress, when men lose their jobs, and women too, it just increases the stress and the conflict at home,' she said in a recent interview. 'So we have to be looking long and hard at funding for those kinds of programs.'

Yet even as demand for shelter use rises, victims of abuse now have fewer places to turn because governments tend to cut back on social services during recessions.

Although there is no comprehensive study of the effects of the recession on shelters, women's safety advocates have picked up anecdotal reports that shelters have been forced to scale back services, cut staff or shut their doors completely. Study Examines Effectiveness

The campaign for more shelter money comes at the same time as a new study showing the effectiveness of shelters in meeting survivors' needs.

More than 90 percent of those surveyed--almost all of whom were women--said they found shelters 'very helpful' or 'helpful' in their effort to escape their abusers and rebuild their lives, according to the survey.

Without access to shelters, respondents said they might have lost their homes, their jobs, their children, and even their lives.

Funded by the Department of Health and Human Services, the study was conducted between October 2007 and March 2008 and involved more than 3,000 residents of 215 shelters in eight states across the country.

Most residents surveyed were women between 18 and 34 who had children under 18. More than half were white; 22 percent were African American and 12 percent were Hispanic.

The study showed that shelters meet a range of needs, often helping residents deal with the trauma of abuse and helping them obtain safe housing, legal protections, health care, financial help, protection for their children and job training.

Still, shelters need more money to meet survivors' needs in areas such as transportation, lack of privacy and expanded time limits on shelter stays.

'There's clear evidence that shelters are an effective resource and that there are many states where funding is in jeopardy in a variety of ways,' said Dr. Eleanor Lyon, a professor at the University of Connecticut and a lead researcher in the study.

Allison Stevens is Washington bureau chief at Women's eNews.

Haitians facing deportation look to Obama for help

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 02:40:00 +0000

Original source: The United States is set to deport more than 30,000 Haitians to their impoverished homeland, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials announced this week. A protest in response to the decision has been planned for Saturday, Feb. 21 in Broward County, Florida. Haitian activists and immigrants are calling for a halt to the arrests and a suspension of the deportations.

Deportation orders have been processed for 30,299 Haitians and they are starting to be implemented. Hundreds of Haitians have been put in camps awaiting the return home, while others have been put under a form of house arrest and are being monitored with electronic ankle bracelets, the AFP reported.

As the poorest nation in the western hemisphere, Haiti's troubles significantly increased with the passage of four deadly back-to-back storms last fall -- Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike -- that killed more than 800 persons and worsened the nation's food crisis. The storms devastated the small, impoverished island nation, washing away roads, bridges and crops. Thousands lost their homes. By some estimates, 80 percent of the country's population had been displaced by wide-ranging flood damage. A joint World Bank, United Nations and European Commission assessment released last November determined that total losses from the storms -- 'the largest disaster for Haiti in more than 100 years' -- could equal 15 percent of Haiti's gross national product.

Haitian President René Préval has urged the United States to grant Haitians nationals in the United States temporary protection status as victims of natural disasters, insisting Haiti is still struggling to recover from last year's devastating hurricanes and cannot handle the return of its citizens. Haitian officials even said they will not issue the travel documents needed to process the deportees. But ICE argues that Haiti's resistance will force people to languish longer in crowded detention centers. 

The U.S. government did halt deportations to Haiti for three months last year, starting in September. After resuming flights in December, the administration of then President George W. Bush denied Haiti's request for 'temporary protected status.' Temporary protected status, or TPS, is a special state granted to immigrants of certain nationalities who are unable to return to their countries because of armed conflict, environmental disasters, or other extraordinary and temporary conditions, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The designation would have allowed Haitians living in the United States illegally to stay and work temporarily as their home country recovered from the devastating storm season.

Several Florida lawmakers criticized the Department of Homeland Security's decision to resume deportations last December. Haitian grassroots activists and immigration advocates have since renewed the call for TPS for Haitian nationals in the United States. Haitian advocates are upset that the new Obama White House seems to be maintaining the same policy of the past administrations -- one that advocates say represents a double-standard in dealing with Haitian immigrants.

PCH0707.GIF Protected status has been granted and extended by the DHS to people from a handful of African and Central American countries because of natural disasters. For instance, Hondurans are still getting TPS from a natural disaster that occurred in 1999. In addition to Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Sudan have temporary protected status through 2010. Yet, Haiti has never been granted such a status. Over the years, the United States has become notorious for turning away Haitian 'boat people' coming into South Florida seeking refuge and asylum from political upheaval and disaster.

The impact of U.S. and multinational policies continue to haunt the country. Over the years, due to harsh policies and pressure from the United States, World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, Haiti was forced to undergo strict structural adjustment policies that had a devastating impact on its local economy. Critics argue that international lending organizations helped worsen hunger in Haiti by pursuing free market policies that undermined domestic rice production and turned the country into a market for U.S. rice. This food crisis was further compounded by crippling sanctions, political destabilization, and environmental destruction.

Now Haitian advocates are wondering if the Obama era will bring in fair immigration reform or just more of the same.

More than 50,000 people email New York Post over chimp cartoon in less than one day

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 18:33:00 +0000

More than 50,000 members of ColorOfChange.org sent emails to New York Post Publisher Paul Carlucci on Thursday protesting the paper's decision to run a controversial political cartoon.

Momentum around the petition continued to build Thursday evening as the civil rights organization launched online ads and began outreach on social networking sites. The group expected tens of thousands more emails would be sent through its website by the weekend.

The cartoon depicts the recent stimulus bill's 'author' as a dead monkey, covered in blood after being shot by police. ColorOfChange.org is circulating an online petition that takes The Post to task for its apparent ignorance of a history of racist symbolism that depicts Black people as apes or monkeys. The organization argues that the image is particularly dangerous at a time when hate crimes are on the rise and threats against President Barack Obama abound.

'The paper's leaders need to be held accountable, and so far we've seen no sign that The Post cares about the thousands of people across the country who are rightly outraged by this cartoon,' said James Rucker, the organization's executive director. 'The next question we have to ask is whether advertisers feel comfortable being associated with a publication that responds so callously to readers' concerns.'

Rucker also responded to a statement released by The Post late Thursday. 'The Post's recent statement about the uproar it has caused with this cartoon insults our intelligence. It acknowledges no mistake while continuing to attack those who are raising serious, legitimate concerns. If The Post thinks they can close the book on this without taking any responsibility, they're wrong.'

An excerpt of the petition, addressed to Carlucci, reads as follows:

I am writing to ask that you publish an apology. I also ask that whichever editor approved Delonas' cartoon for publication be fired, whether it was Editorial Page Editor Bob McManus, Editor Col Allan, or another senior manager in the newsroom. I ask that you determine who was responsible and hold that person accountable.

I was particularly concerned by the Post's sole response to readers who found the image to have racist undertones. The callous statement Col Allan issued Wednesday denies a historical reality, and for him to claim ignorance of this history raises questions about his ability to effectively lead a daily newspaper geared toward a mainstream and multiracial audience.

Please publish an apology that acknowledges that it was a mistake for the Post to publish this cartoon and fire the person responsible.

With more than a half million members, ColorOfChange.org is the largest African-American online political organization in the country.

Digital TV for all? Not so fast

Sat, 21 Feb 2009 12:06:00 +0000

NEW YORK, Feb 20 (IPS) - Imagine turning on your television and all you see is black and white fuzz.

This might be the scenario for the estimated 6 million U.S. citizens who have been left in the dark when it has come to the nation's required digital television transition.

While U.S. households will now have until Jun. 12 instead of Feb. 17 to prepare their television sets for the transition from analog to digital broadcast, there are still many roadblocks that stand in the way for those who rely on analog television.

Households that can't afford an analog to digital converter box are on a waitlist for federal discount coupons due to high demand, and even those who already have converter boxes are experiencing problems.

And while the transition deadline has been extended, over 400 television stations in the U.S. have already begun broadcasting exclusively in digital, leaving those who have yet to make the transition without essential programming.

Some 21 million U.S. citizens rely on over-the-air television, half of whom make less than 30,000 dollars a year and a third of whom are disabled, according to a July 2008 report by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), which partnered with the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) to distribute information about the DTV transition.

Many organisations focused on media justice see the digital television transition as an important crucial issue because it particularly limits access to information to these and other communities.

Amalia Deloney, programme director for the Main Street Project, a national grassroots initiative helping rural communities, said, 'It's a communication rights issue. We got involved in this because it is the most recent issue of the digital divide that people are going to face.'

The switch for these disenfranchised families is important due to their reliance on television for alerts during extreme events, said Lisa Holland, director of Communications at Community Action Partnership, an NTIA partner organisation that spread the word of the transition to low-income families.

'I do think it is critical that the vulnerable populations have television access as that is their primary access to news and information during emergency situations,' she said.

In order to ensure that analog television users are not without this important resource, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has required that at least one station in each market remain analog for at least two months to provide emergency information, news and information about how to make the digital television transition.

The FCC's decision to switch to digital television in the United States was originally due to a combination of efficiency and economic incentives. While there are promises of better picture and sound quality, ultimately digital television allows for more channels in the broadcast spectrum compared to analog. The government has allocated the remaining analog channels for use by public safety agencies such as police and fire departments and auctioned off the majority of the rest of the available channels to wireless companies.

Brandon Lacey Campos, a national organiser for the Centre for Media Justice, views this action as silencing the means to access public voices.

'What this should mean is the increase in public airwaves for the public good,' he said. 'Instead the FCC has auctioned off to private companies so there is little tangible expansion of public airwaves.'

LCCR, Community Action Partnership and other organisations are using methods such as operating DTV assistance centres and hosting coupon sign-up events where consumers can watch a converter box demonstration and apply for their coupons on the spot to get the word out about the transition.

Deloney has seen the problems faced by people firsthand while working at an assistance centre in Minneapolis, but also sees the benefits of offering assistance.

'The first response we get from people is that they have no idea about the transition, and the second response is they know there is a big change but they don't know how to meet the requirements,' she said.

'We're actually using a more movement building approach. We are passing on the knowledge and the skills to make them feel self-determined about this and other issues in the future,' Deloney added.

Lacey Campos also sees this issue as an opportunity to bring more attention to the media justice movement as it affects people's daily lives.

'For us this is a tangible social justice movement around the media which feeds into our justice organizations. People see what it means for a federal agency to impact their lives in such a direct way. The best time to bring someone into the movement is by helping them, so if we do this we do this right we will bring more people into our work.'

Some funding help may be on the way. Funds that are currently tied up in expired coupons are expected to be released by the NTIA, and an additional 650 million dollars will be available for more coupons thanks to the nation's larger stimulus bill which was signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday.

While waiting for this money to be released, however, households will have to pay for their own converter boxes but will not be able to receive any money back because coupons cannot be redeemed after their purchase, a decision which can put a strain on certain households.

'My understanding is that if the coupon programme is not refunded, households of the elderly, people with disabilities and people of colour will be impacted more than the larger population,' said Mark Lloyd, vice president of strategic initiatives at LCCR.

Holland does eventually expect there to be some relief for those for whom the cost of converter boxes is beyond their financial means.

'I think that people have been very understanding, that with the economy the way it is that there is a vulnerable population that needs that 40 dollars to help put food on the table,' she said.

Chasm between words and deeds

Fri, 20 Feb 2009 09:43:00 +0000

When I heard Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina call for bank nationalization, and Sen. Chuck Schumer say “well .... let’s hold on a little longer,” I considered re-reading Alice in Wonderland. Schumer’s reluctance merely exposes him as a liberal pawn of Wall Street (there was never much doubt about that), but in fact it’s now hard to find an economist who does not favor nationalization as the only means of removing toxic assets from bank balance sheets and restarting lending.

Without credit, no amount of stimulus can bring economic recovery. You might get hired in one of the Recovery Act projects, but you won’t be able to get a loan for a car, house, washing machine, etc.

(Here’s one idea for the Think Big record: Establish a national bank to perform essential financial functions that are not performed by the private sector, including a modern equivalent postal savings accounts to provide savings and credit services to all residents. Low and mid-level professionals and managers from the defunct private sector could provide the necessary technical expertise. Then the loans could start flowing.)

In the case of Graham — even though he voted in lockstep with the Republican no-nothings and ostriches — he does not appear to be a bankers’ fool. But, is it real, or fake?

Why is nationalization the only means of restoring credit? Because bank stockholders and executives, even those already receiving public assistance, keep lying about the fact that their companies are insolvent. Why shouldn’t they lie? Telling the truth leads to the same conclusion, only sooner — they are out of business.

So, they are grasping at every public dollar they can, and spending it on themselves rather than loans, before the ax falls. Some are no doubt gaining revelation and religion in the faint hope that their moral excesses will be forgiven and the wand of wealth will favor them again!

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s apparent stumble on the bank plan shows the profound consternation of the president’s top economic team at the challenge of confronting the bankrupt, but still awesome and powerful interests embraced in the term “U.S. finance capital.” This group is pulling out all the stops to maintain its ruling positions and prerogatives.

The big question is: Can a team composed of people who have spent much of their professional lives as part of this ruling culture, and who have personally benefited immensely from it, embrace policies that put the interests of the people, and of their country, first? Even if it means confiscation of perhaps trillions of dollars of wealth without compensation or payoffs to stockholders, or the executive whose arrogance contributed so deeply to the crash?

We are going to find out very soon. But the answer lies in how firmly the people mobilize to enforce the mandate they gave President Obama: jobs, income, health, retirement, peace, education — before insuring the survival of ruined bankers.

There’s calling for nationalization — then there is actually nationalizing. There is ridding the credit markets of worthless assets — then there is actually lending money to individuals and businesses. There is calling for accountability — then there is actually arresting the crooks. There is calling for saving the financial system — then there is actually placing public control over the spending of public monies to see that the public interest — restarting lending — is enforced.

As none other than Vladimir Lenin pointed out in a famous pamphlet during the failed 1905 Russian revolution, when democratic forces attempted to overthrow the Tsarist autocracy and establish a democratic republic: “There is all the difference in the world between calling for a Constituent Assembly, and actually constituting one!”

The difference, in this writer’s view, is the difference between genuine socialist, genuine democratic activity — and opportunism. In 1905, opportunism prevailed, a fake democratic structure was created, but the autocracy remained.

A similar danger posed by the potential chasm between words and deeds in the repair of the financial system is before us now.

jcase4218 @gmail.com