People Before Profit blog

Ronald Takaki, 70, pioneer of multi-cultural studies

Sun, 31 May 2009 04:19:00 +0000

Original source:

BERKELEY — Ronald Takaki, professor emeritus of ethnic studies at the University of California, Berkeley, and a preeminent scholar of U.S. race relations who taught the University of California's first Black history course, died at his home in Berkeley on Tuesday, May 26, at age 70. He had struggled for years with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune condition that attacks the central nervous system.

Although Takaki retired from UC Berkeley in 2003, he was frequently seen on campus, delivering guest lectures to standing-room-only audiences or joining marches about social justice, with his shock of silver hair, trim runner's body and professorial spectacles.

'When I think of Ron, the words that come to mind are: solidarity, justice, easy-going, self-effacing, generous, creative,' said Beatriz Manz, chair of UC Berkeley's Department of Ethnic Studies. 'He poked fun at himself and had a contagious laugh. He embodied kindness.'

During his more than 40 years at UC Berkeley, Takaki established the nation's first ethnic studies Ph.D. program as well as UC Berkeley's American Cultures requirement for graduation, and advised President Clinton in 1997 on his major speech on race. In his books, such as 'Hiroshima: Why America Dropped the Atomic Bomb,' 'Iron Cages: Race and Culture in Nineteenth Century America' and 'Pau Hana: Plantation Life and Labor in Hawaii,' Takaki tracked the history of racist attitudes not just about Asian Americans, but about all minorities, using real people's stories to touch all readers, not just scholars.

'Ron Takaki elevated and popularized the study of America's multiracial past and present like no other scholar, and in doing so had an indelible impact on a generation of students and researchers across the nation and world,' said Don Nakanishi, director of and professor at UCLA's Asian American Studies Center and a longtime friend of Takaki's.

'He had a very special gift of bringing to life - through his oratory and his voluminous writings - the dynamic interconnections between major historical and structural trends and the often unheard voices of ordinary people,' Nakanishi added.

'He wanted to influence public discourse,' said Michael Omi, an associate professor of ethnic studies who had also been Takaki's student. 'He really was a pioneer in comparative ethnic studies.'

Takaki's 1989 book, 'Strangers from a Different Shore: A History of Asian Americans,' was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.

A descendent of Japanese field workers in Hawaii, Takaki spent his childhood in the Palolo neighborhood of Honolulu and surfed almost every day. From an early age, he was acutely attuned to the inequities in Hawaii's tough and ethnically divided plantation system, said Takaki's close friend, Roberto Haro. They met while teaching in Southern California in the early 1970s.

'He saw how people of color were put to work for long hours in the hot and humid sugar cane factories,' said Haro, who joined the UC Berkeley ethnic studies faculty in 1977 and went on to become the campus's assistant vice chancellor for undergraduate studies before leaving in the 1990s.

Takaki left the islands in the late 1950s to study at Ohio's College of Wooster where he earned a bachelor's degree in history in 1961. There, he met his wife, Carol Rankin, who later became a teacher and artist. In the Midwest at that time, a mixed marriage was frowned upon, and although it took Carol's parents a while to warm up to their son-in-law, he eventually won them over, Haro said. The couple had two sons and a daughter.

Takaki went on to earn a master's degree in 1962 and a Ph.D. in history in 1967 from UC Berkeley, where he became drawn to campus activism, including the Free Speech Movement. 'I was born intellectually and politically in Berkeley in the '60s,' he told a San Francisco Chronicle reporter in 2003 after winning the Bay Area Book Reviewers Association's Fred Cody Award for lifetime achievement.

In 1966, he was hired to teach UCLA's first black history course in the wake of the explosive Watts riots. 'I can still remember the smoke rising from Los Angeles and the sound of gunfire - it was a war zone,' he told the San Francisco Chronicle in that same interview.

When a student in the black history class asked him which revolutionary tools he could teach them, Takaki replied: 'We're going to study the history of the U.S. as it relates to African Americans. We're going to strengthen our critical thinking skills and our writing skills. These can be revolutionary tools if we make them so.'

After five years at UCLA, Takaki returned in 1971 to UC Berkeley as the Department of Ethnic Studies' first full-time teacher. He became wildly popular, filling auditoriums with hundreds of students hungry for perspectives on the struggles of America's minority groups, and went on to win the campus's Distinguished Teaching Award in 1981.

'His perspective and his analysis of history is unique. Although he definitely has a 'viewpoint' which is clearly expressed, he in no way demonstrates any sort of bias. Rather, his lectures constantly challenge the student and force the student to reexamine his own biases,' wrote Ling-chi Wang, now a UC Berkeley professor emeritus of ethnic studies, in his letter nominating Takaki for that award.

Takaki served as chair of ethnic studies from 1975-77, and in the mid-1980s established at UC Berkeley the nation's first doctorate program in ethnic studies. He then turned his attention to ensuring that each student satisfy an American Cultures requirement to graduate. His overall mission was to make UC Berkeley's curriculum more multicultural and diverse.

'Ron wanted to make certain that the voices of the people who really matter would be heard,' Haro said. 'Most historians take a dispassionate approach to history, but Ron thought the only way this country could mature was to allow the voices of slaves and minorities to be heard, and so he did that.'

Haro and Takaki were jogging partners, took spear fishing trips to Hawaii and attended numerous parties. Haro said Takaki was a sought-after celebrity scholar, appearing on national TV shows and speaking at least once a month at major universities and conferences around the world.

'He was a wonderful guest. He worked the room and encouraged people to share their experiences,' said Haro, who lives in Marin County. 'Privately, he disliked intolerance and individuals who had talent and wasted it. I don't think I ever heard him utter a word of anger.'

'He was always bigger than life,' Haro added. 'He was always very much ahead of his time.'

Takaki is survived by his wife, Carol; his three children, Todd of El Cerrito, Calif., Troy of Los Angeles and Dana of Chester, Conn.; and several grandchildren.

Takaki has donated his research and published papers to the Ethnic Studies Library at UC Berkeley. His family asks that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Takaki's name to the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.

Plans for a campus memorial service are pending.

Is New York's Mayoral race in the bag?

Sun, 31 May 2009 00:27:00 +0000

NEW YORK—If you were to believe the hype, of which there’s no shortage, you would think that this city’s Republican-now-turned-independent mayor, Michael Bloomberg, has the November elections in the bag.

But how many people actually believe the hype is an open question.

It seems possible that Bloomberg himself may not even believe it. According to the AP, Bloomberg has spent more than $8 million on campaign advertisements already – a lot of money on public relations for a mayor that, after eight years in office, virtually everyone knows.

Though hungry for publicity, critics say, he only wants publicity over which he has direct control.

The Working Families Party, which is based in the labor movement, along with the Amsterdam News and El Diario/La Prensa invited Bloomberg and his likely Democratic opponent, current city Comptroller Bill Thompson, to a public debate.

“They just said they didn’t want to think about debates until the fall,” Dan Levitan, speaking for the WFP, told the World. “If it’s not too early to run seven or eight straight weeks of TV ads, then it shouldn’t be too early to have a real debate.”

Many have suggested that Bloomberg avoids debates because he does poorly in them. In 2005, he used a bomb scare as an excuse to avoid debating then-candidate Fernando Ferrer. Each time he actually did debate Ferrer, however, polls showed a decrease in support for Bloomberg.

After months of a one-sided campaign blitz, Bloomberg’s approval ratings are at 59 percent. While this represents a majority opinion of New Yorkers, it doesn’t bode well for the mayor.

The effects of the mayor’s budget cut proposals have not yet been felt, there are number of simmering issues that are angering New Yorkers – including an 18 percent property tax increase, a water rate increase and a troubled school system. Thompson, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee, has not begun to campaign in earnest yet.

While Bloomberg is prepared to spend up to $100 million of his own personal wealth in this election, and therefore has, by far, the financial advantage, this has in itself offended many New Yorkers; many see him as trying to buy the city. People, as well as newspaper editorials, have begun grumbling about being overloaded with the mayor’s material, sometimes receiving several pieces in a single day.

The wealth itself is an issue for the mayor. His riches come from Wall Street, and Bloomberg is part of the elite circle of financiers that that helped bring the United States to its knees economically.

Thompson, who is African American, has been able to secure the backing of both the city’s Black and Latino political establishments, paving the way for unity between two huge sections of the city’s population. And labor has yet to weigh in officially.

“Unfortunately, we have a mayor who would like to privatize the city of New York,” City Council member Letitia James (D-Brooklyn) said at May 17 gathering of labor and civil rights activists in Manhattan. ”He's definitely anti-labor in a pro-labor town, and so we have to remember that when we go to the polls.”

Faye Moore, president of the 18,000 member Social Service Employees Union Local 371, AFSCME DC 37, which represents the city’s social service employees, echoed James’s sentiment, mentioning that Bloomberg planned layoffs of hundreds of members of her local alone, including “130 people at the housing authority, that worked at community centers that gave poor children and children of working parents a place to be and be safe.”

Even just a few of the city’s biggest unions, with their massive election machinery, hundreds of thousands of members and the potential to put thousands of people in the streets, can change the picture dramatically.

“Michael Bloomberg has declared war on poor people, on children, on unions,” Moore said. “And he thinks he’s going to be mayor again.”

Nothing, it seems, is in the bag.

Maryland residents hail Rep. Edwards anti-war stand

Sun, 31 May 2009 00:16:00 +0000

Leaders of 23 Maryland-based organizations wrote to Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD) thanking her for her “courage and foresight” in voting May 13th against the $96.7 billion supplemental for Iraq and Afghanistan.

The letter dated May 27th, and initiated by Baltimore United for Peace and Justice (BUPJ), commends Edwards, a freshman member of Congress for traveling to Afghanistan just before the vote “and observing first hand that there is no military solution to the crisis there.”

The letter continued, “We agree with you when you said this package means ‘war without end’ placing our soldiers in harms way without a plan for being there or a strategy for leaving Afghanistan.”

BUPJ is affiliated with United For Peace and Justice (UFPJ) which appealed this week to its affiliates to mobilize phone calls and visits to lawmakers offices urging them to vote “no” on final passage of the Iraq-Afghanistan Supplemental. After negotiations between the House and Senate to reconcile differences in the two versions of the measure “both the House and Senate will have an additional opportunity to vote once more on the bill, perhaps as early as next week,” says the UFPJ message. “They need to hear from us again. These funding requests will keep coming back – and every time they do, our legislators need to hear from their constituents that we want to end these wars.” The House voted 368 to 60 in favor of the Iraq-Afghanistan Supplemental.

UFPJ is soliciting signatures for a letter to the House Progressive Caucus urging them to lead the fight against open-ended war spending. (Individuals and groups can sign the letter by sending an email tono later than 12 noon, Monday June 1.)

The House Progressive Caucus, of which Edwards is a member, urged that 80 percent of U.S. foreign aid to Afghanistan be programmed for “peaceful development” and 20 percent for the military and war. “Yet the package approved May 13 allocates 90 percent for the military and only 10 percent to help the Afghan people develop their economy, health, education, and physical infrastructure,” the letter to Edwards states.

The spending package is “especially ill-conceived when millions of working people here at home, including Maryland, are losing their jobs, their homes, their health care,” the letter continues. The message commends President Obama for his “strong efforts” to get the nation out of the worst economic crisis in 80 years. “But all our efforts to pull the nation out of this crisis are put at risk by endless wars that bleed our nation both in human lives and tax dollars.”

It concludes, “We need a foreign policy based on mutual interests, mutual respect, not war, weapons, domination and exploitation. We are proud that you are leading the fight for that new, enlightened foreign policy.”

Signers include Jean Athey, leader of Peace Action, Montgomery County, Kevin Martin, National Executive Director, Peace Action, Jim Baldridge Vietnam Veterans Against the War, John Oliver, Baltimore Chapter, Veterans for Peace (VFP), Rev. Pierre Williams, VFP National Board Member, Rev. Heber Brown, III, Pastor, Pleasant Hope Baptist Church, Donna Blackwell, President, Winston-Govans Neighborhood Improvement Association, Gwen DuBois, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Diane Witter, founder, Chesapeake Citizen, Gary Gillespie, Director, Baltimore Urban Peace Program of the American Friends Service Committee, Andre Powell, AFSCME Delegate to the Baltimore Metro Council, AFL-CIO, Sister Carol Gilbert and Sister Ardeth Platte of the Jonah House Community, and Max Obuszewski, Pledge of Resistance Baltimore.

BUPJ is keeping the list open and already more individuals have asked that their names be added.

Palestinian Americans harshly sentenced

Sat, 30 May 2009 08:42:00 +0000

DALLAS — With the selection of Sonia Sotomayor for Supreme Court justice, Americans are hoping that the Obama era will put an end to the drift toward judicial tyranny here in the “land of the free.” Those hopes were shaken when a judge here pronounced harsh sentences on five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation on May 27.

If the 15- to 65-year sentences are carried out, some of the five defendants (Ghassan Elashi, Shukri Abu-Baker, Mufid Abdulqader, Abdulrahaman Odeh and Mohammad El-Mezain) will never draw a free breath again.

The government’s argument, agreed to enthusiastically by editors of the Dallas paper (“Defendants got the sentences they deserved”), was that the Holy Land Foundation raised and sent money to Palestine via the Hamas organization, which the U.S. government declared a terrorist organization in 1995. Defendants argued that their efforts went to ease the suffering of Palestinian children. Faithful Muslims are required to make charitable donations, and the pain of the beleaguered Palestinians is a worldwide scandal.

The first trial ended in a hung jury in October 2007. During all phases of the legal battles, North Texas Muslims mobilized large demonstrations. A conservative “pro-Israel” group also organized a big public event. The Dallas Peace Center made a strong commitment to defend the Holy Land Five. Activists stood at vigils at the Dallas Federal Courthouse day after day. They believe that the government’s vendetta against the Palestinians was clear since 2001, when the U.S. Justice Department closed the foundation’s offices and froze their assets. Unrelated charges were brought against Ghassan Elashi concerning his export business. Apparently, his company had sold a few used computers to a business in Syria, and Elashi was sent to jail.

A heroine of the movement emerged as Elashi’s daughter, Noor, took up the cause in public and on the Internet. Her comments are at . She says, “But with an appeal already under way, the defendants and their families know the legal fight is not over. Truth and justice will emerge triumphantly from this gloomy low point in American history.” Those who believe in civil rights and justice and America are looking toward the Supreme Court.

Celebrating their fifth

Sat, 30 May 2009 05:39:00 +0000

Gay couples who brought the landmark lawsuit that led to the first legalized gay marriages in the United States at reunion in Newton Mass, May, 17, celebrate their fifth anniversaries, five years after Massachusetts became the first state to legalize gay marriage. The California Supreme Court’s recent upholding of Prop 8 is a setback, but LGBT rights groups and supporters vow to keep up the fight for full, basic civil rights for all.

AP photo.

New foreclosure protection for renters

Sat, 30 May 2009 03:54:00 +0000

Original source:

You may think that not owning a home will protect you from foreclosure - but an estimated 40 percent of households facing eviction due to foreclosure are renters, not homeowners. Many renters have been evicted from their homes with little or no notice - sometimes with no idea that a foreclosure was pending - after their landlords were unable to pay their mortgages.

But renters now have some protection against eviction under the foreclosure prevention bill signed by President Obama last week. The new law, which took effect immediately, requires the new owners of a property to allow tenants to remain in the home, as long as the tenants pay their rent on time. Renters will be able to stay until the end of their lease, or will get at least 90 days notice if they do not have a lease or if the new owner intends to reside in the home.

Community health centers are key ingredient for reform

Sat, 30 May 2009 03:06:00 +0000

Marking the 100th day since passage of President Obama's economic recovery act, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius this week touted the special role her department has played in moving stimulus money into the economy.

'We were the first department to release recovery act funding when resources began to flow to states to assist in the Medicaid program to make sure that Americans didn't lose essential health services, ' Secretary Sebelius told reporters and health care specialists on a press teleconference, Thursday, May 28th.

The recovery act also allocated more than $2 billion for community health centers, which serve some 17 million Americans annually, Sebelius added. 'Health centers close a gap by providing care for the underinsured and uninsured, and those who can't afford the treatment they desperately need,' she explained. 'They're a lifeline for millions of Americans.'

In addition to providing needed, affordable care to millions of people, the injection of recovery act funds to support community health centers alone will create or save at least 6,500 jobs, Sebelius estimated.

Recovery act funds will also support building new community health centers, creating additional jobs in construction and support services sectors. As many as 2 million additional Americans will have access to community health centers as a result of the recovery act funds, including about 1 million uninsured people, Sebelius predicted.

She also pointed to the important role community health centers can play in making comprehensive health reform workable.

'Health reform can't wait,' Secretary Sebelius went on. 'Many Americans go everyday without the care they need. Costs are skyrocketing, crushing families and businesses.'

Families have been forced to choose between medical care and other necessities. Insurance premiums for families have increased 85 percent over the last nine years, far outpacing inflation. And, without reform, families can expect to see an additional $1,000 added to their insurance bill each year going forward.

Small business have dropped health care insurance from their compensation packages at an alarming rate – almost by half over the past 15 years, Sebelius pointed out. 'People trying to buy that insurance in the private market are in desperate need of relief,' Sebelius explained. 'The costs are unacceptable and unsustainable.'

People seeking medical care but who can't afford insurance typically end up in an emergency room, Sebelius added. Because of this, high quality community health centers, as a quality alternative to emergency room care, are more necessary than ever.

Secretary Sebelius expressed confidence that the President's plan for comprehensive health care reform that provides greater, affordable access and that controls costs would be passed soon.

Labor, allies urge 'development bank' to create jobs

Fri, 29 May 2009 07:52:00 +0000

The decline in initial claims for jobless pay announced by the U.S. Labor Department this week was greeted as a “good sign” by Heidi Shierholz, a researcher at the Economic Policy Institute. But it only underlines the need for stronger federal efforts to create jobs to bring the nation out of the worst recession since the Great Depression, she said.

“It’s a sign that the pace of new layoffs may be slowing down. But the numbers of workers being laid off is still enormously high,” Shierholz told the World in a phone interview. “We’re still adding over half a million to the jobless rolls each month. This is a deep, deep recession.”

Indeed the number of workers receiving unemployment compensation increased to 6.78 million, the largest total on records dating back to 1967, and the 17th straight record week. More than 13 million are officially counted as unemployed and millions more who have given up the search for a job aren’t counted in that total. Black workers suffer 15 percent unemployment and Latino workers 11.3 percent.

Shierholz predicted that the nation’s jobless rate, 8.9 percent in April, “will continue to rise for another year.” She added, “The fact that this decline in initial jobless claims is greeted as a good sign tells us just how bad it is, how far we have fallen.”

She added, “It is absolutely crucial that people not look at these figures and say, ‘Oh, things are turning around and we can back off from job-creating initiatives.’”

An example of the action needed was Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s (D-Conn.) introduction May 20 of a bill to create a National Infrastructure Development Bank. It would provide capital to speed hundreds of job-creating public projects in transportation, environmental protection, modernization of the electric power grid and broadband communication.

Flanked by leaders of the labor and “green jobs” movements and investment bankers at a Capitol Hill news conference, DeLauro said, “Not only will we create jobs and spur economic growth, but we will make the critical investments necessary to build state-of-the-art infrastructure systems for the 21st Century — ensuring we do not again allow our nation’s roads, bridges and electrical grid to reach the deterioration we have seen in recent years.”

Ray Poupore, executive vice president of the National Construction Alliance, a joint venture of the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and the Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO, told the news conference, “Given the 20 percent unemployment rate in the construction industry, Rep. DeLauro’s infrastructure development bill is timely and we will aggressively support it through passage into law.”

Mark H. Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades, cited the American Society of Civil Engineers’ (ASCE) finding that the U.S infrastructure deserves a grade of “D” and that $2.2 trillion is needed to build and repair bridges, roads, schools, our power grid and our telecommunications system. DeLauro’s bill “is a strong first step towards addressing this critical economic, social, and national security issue,” he said.

Banker Felix Rohatyn called for passage of the bill “to create employment” and “increase competitiveness.”

ASCE President Wayne Klotz hailed President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act but told reporters at the news conference, “It is not enough.” He urged Congress to approve DeLauro’s bill quickly. “A sustained effort is needed to repair and maintain the economically vital infrastructure systems of the nation,” Klotz said. “This nation cannot afford to wait much longer to invest significant sums in its infrastructure.” Every $1 billion in federal funds for public works infrastructure creates 47,500 jobs and $6.2 billion in economic activity, he noted.

Robert Borosage, co-director of the Campaign for America’s Future, deplored the short-term “pay-as-you-go” mentality in the U.S. Congress that blocks long-range investments. Spending on public works infrastructure projects has dropped below 4 percent of gross domestic product, he said. “Our post-World War II infrastructure is decaying and we aren’t replacing it.”

DeLauro’s development bank would “create jobs in the short term and economic growth in the long term,” he said.

Modeled on the European Investment Bank, it would be capitalized with $5 billion in federal appropriations and a total of $250 billion in total subscribed capital available from the U.S. Treasury if needed.

EPI’s Shierholz stressed, “Just to keep pace with population growth, we needed to create 2 million jobs over the past 16 months. Instead we lost 5.7 million jobs. Add those two figures together. We need to create 7.7 million new jobs to get back to where we need to be.”

greenerpastures21212 @ yahoo.com

Anti-union bill defeated in Missouri

Fri, 29 May 2009 05:08:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS -- The fight to pass the Employee Free Choice Act recently won a victory here in Missouri. House Joint Resolution 37, better known as Save Our Secret Ballots, went down in defeat when the Missouri legislature adjourned May 15.

HRJ37 would have amended the Missouri constitution to require secret ballots for all union elections. The Missouri legislation is part of a nation-wide campaign by big business, anti-union forces designed to give the impression that workers are against the Employee Free Choice Act, organized labor's top priority.

According to the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, “The Save our Secret Ballot” organization is pushing similar anti-union constitutional amendments in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Missouri, South Carolina and Utah. The group is based in Nevada.

Free Choice will strengthen the rights of workers to form unions by signing cards authorizing union representation (often called card-check); it will also place stiffer penalties on employers who violate the law.

Current labor law allows for card check representation or a secret ballot. However, the choice is not made by the workers. It allows the employer to decide which process will be used.

According to a Cornell University study, 92 percent of private-sector employers force employees to attend closed-door, captive audience meetings where they are forced to listen to anti-union propaganda; 80 percent of employers require supervisors to attend training sessions attacking unions; and 78 percent require that supervisors give anti-union messages to workers they oversee.

Employee Free Choice would let workers, not their bosses, decide how they want the union recognized: through card check representation or through an election.

Many see state-level campaigns for bills like Save Our Secret Ballots as dangerous not only because they weaken workers' rights, but also because they help the right-wing and big business build momentum as it tries to stop Free Choice at the federal level.

Senator Robin Wright-Jones, who helped block HJR37, told the World, 'HJR37, the so-called Save Our Secret Ballots initiative, would have done nothing to protect workers' rights. It would keep a broken system in place. Big business' unsolicited interest only underscores the fact that the current system by which union elections are held does not meet the needs of today's workers. So why keep it?'

Additionally, Wright-Jones asked, 'Why is the Chamber of Commerce concerned about workers' rights? They've never cared about workers before.'

Wright-Jones was referring to a spirited Jobs with Justice rally held earlier in May outside of the Clayton, Mo., Chamber of Commerce meeting where Karl Rove, who is staunchly anti-EFCA, was the keynote speaker.

'The Employee Free Choice Act would give workers power in the workplace -- power to fight for and win better wages, working conditions and benefits,' Wright-Jones added.

HJR37 failed in Missouri because the MO AFL-CIO and Change To Win affiliates mounted a grassroots campaign that highlighted workers' struggles for a better life, while shedding light on employer misconduct. Labor's mobilization - from phone-banks to legislative visits -- showed right-wing, anti-union forces that Missouri isn't just the Show Me State. It's a union state.

Despite Coleman-Franken fallout, GOP gov. blocks election reform

Fri, 29 May 2009 04:08:00 +0000

Original source:

If vetoes are like slapshot goals in hockey, then Gov. Tim Pawlenty scored an election-reform hat trick last week. After vetoing motor-voter and felon-notification, he scotched the state Legislature’s big omnibus elections bill.

The measure included provisions drawn from at least eight separate bills, from an earlier primary date to absentee-ballot streamlining. While the bill was not everything reformers had sought — no early voting, for instance — it would have made dozens of improvements to the current system.

All fell to Pawlenty’s veto pen because the bill didn’t meet Republicans’ demand for new photo-ID requirements.

“Omnibus election bills making changes to our election process should be bipartisan. Unfortunately, this bill fails that test,” Pawlenty wrote in his veto letter (pdf) — a criticism he leveled at the other attempts at election reform as well.

The omnibus bill contained a long list of measures, minor and major, meant to improve Minnesota’s elections procedures.

Mike Dean, who directs the Minnesota office of the nonpartisan government-reform group Common Cause, laid the blame for the bills’ lack of bipartisan support at the feet of Pawlenty’s fellow Republicans in the state Legislature.

Their insistence on language mandating that prospective voters present photo identification was itself patently partisan, Dean said; the pool of voters for whom such a requirement is a problem likely leans left politically. In his view, Democrats correctly interpreted such changes to state election law as anti-DFL.

Interviewed hours before Pawlenty’s third election-reform veto, Dean called the first two vetos “disappointing and disingenous.” With them, Pawlenty discarded benefits that he claims to back, such as improved voter integrity and cost-savings for cities and counties.

Erin Sapp, election-reform project director at Heartland Democracy, likewise lamented that “Republican haven’t voted on the merits.”

Her group, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, has produced a report calling for universal voter registration — a goal that the motor-voter bill would have brought Minnesota closer to, by signing up driver’s-license applicants to vote (with opt-out available).

Almost every other democracy in the world has more liberal laws governing who can vote, Sapp said; indeed, in America, “voter registration is meant to bar people from voting.” Neighboring North Dakota has early voting and is the only state to do without voter registration altogether.

Too little, too late?

If Democrats “had been able to push [the omnibus bill] through earlier, they could have picked up 10 moderate-Republican votes,” Dean said — enough to override a veto or push Pawlenty to sign the bill.

With the contested Norm Coleman-Al Franken election providing a daily reminder of the need for reform, why didn’t the Legislature act sooner in the session? The Senate dispute itself was one reason — though not a good one, in Dean’s estimation.

“There was a hesitancy in leadership in the House because of the ongoing Senate trial,” he said — a wariness of an incorrect public perception that “changing state law would influence the trial.”

Reformers can try again next year, as Pawlenty himself suggested in his veto letter. Perhaps it’s more reasonable to expect that major changes like early voting would have a chance when the Coleman-Franken dispute is behind us. (That’s the gist of a Wednesday Pioneer Press editorial.)

But by the time the puck drops for the reconvened Legislature next February, Minnesota will likely have a second senator securely seated and the public’s sense of urgency on election reform may be lost — leaving the two sides to repeat this year’s face-off on reforming elections.

U.S. a center-left nation, progressive leaders say

Thu, 28 May 2009 08:50:00 +0000

WASHINGTON — Progressive leaders today released a new report showing that, on most issues, across the nation moderates line up with liberals, not conservatives.

Rock the Vote executive director Heather Smith and Women’ Voices, Women’s Votes president Page Gardner joined Campaign for America’s Future co-director Robert Borosage and Media Matters for America president Eric Burns at a news conference here to discuss the report produced by Media Matters.

They are among the organizers of next week’s “America’s Future Now” conference, the annual progressive gathering formerly called the “Take Back America” conference.

The report should energize the conference, which is expected to attract 3,000 leaders and activists to the Omni Shoreham Hotel here June 1-3.

The report shows, the leaders said, that around the country conservatives are isolated, majorities of Americans now hold progressive positions on a broad range of issues, and key constituencies that favor progressive positions are growing larger.

“From the moment Obama won the election the mainstream media was busy trying to convince people that this was still a center-right country,” Burns told reporters. Commentators on both NBC and CNN were warning on Election Night that it would be a mistake to interpret the Obama election as a shift in a more progressive direction, he noted. Since the election, he said, the major media have remained to the right of the American people.

It is a mistake to classify people exactly the way they “self-identify,” Burns said. People who support national health care and tougher regulations on big business may still call themselves “conservative” or “moderate,” but they are actually supporting progressive positions, he said. “They are rejecting the old conservative line that the enemy is big government and they are accepting the progressive position that government has the responsibility to proactively intervene on behalf of the people.”

Gardner said that “when you total the voters under the age of 30 with voters who are single women, African American and Latino, you already have 47 percent of the electorate. This group is growing and it voted overwhelmingly for Obama.”

Smith said the youth vote in 2008 was the largest in U.S. history and it too is “overwhelmingly progressive.”

Borosage said that progressives gathering at the convention in the nation’s capital next week will be emphasizing the need to push on a wide range of issues, including health care reform, rebuilding the economy, the right of workers to form unions, investment in public education and immigration reform.

jwojcik @ pww.org

Anti-union, anti-gov't group takes aim at public health plan

Thu, 28 May 2009 06:41:00 +0000

It doesn’t take much scratching beneath the surface of the web site “Patients United Now” to see its anti-union, far-right roots.

Taking aim at the public health plan option backed by President Obama and a wide range of consumer and health care advocates, this strangely anonymous group declares, “The Washington vision of making health care ‘affordable’” will mean “arbitrary bureaucratic standards and taking choices away from patients.”

It warns ominously, “Whether you have one dollar or a billion dollars, once Washington mandates that all Americans participate in a government-controlled health care plan and every doctor and treatment are required to be a part of the government plan, you will have no right to be in control of your health care decisions.”

“We are people just like you,” this faceless web site claims. “We are Americans just like you. We believe patients and doctors should make health care choices, not Washington bureaucrats.”

But there are a few easy clues about who “Patients United Now” is, and for most Americans, it isn’t “people just like you.”

Its home page prominently displays a cover of the right-wing National Review magazine. The cover features a drawing suggesting that a public program that expands access to health care would actually somehow mean less access to doctors.

The group’s “About” page lists no individuals, no consumer or health care or any other “people just like you” organizations. The only specific identifying information it provides is: “Patients United Now is a project of Americans for Prosperity Foundation, which is a nonprofit organized under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.”

Moving right along to Americans for Prosperity’s web site, we find it calls itself “the free-market grassroots group.”

Its president, Tim Phillips, “is currently overseeing the Save My Ballot Tour, aimed at educating citizens about card-check legislation as well as initiatives to prevent the passage of cap and trade legislation.”

The Save My Ballot Tour, serving as the front group for the Chamber of Commerce/corporate attack against labor law reform, is mobilizing against “the radical big labor agenda of taking away the secret ballot.”

Right now, Americans for Prosperity seems to be focusing on fronting for the health insurance industry’s attack on health care reform. AFP is featuring its Patients United Now campaign prominently on its web site.

AFP’s other current campaigns include:

* “RightOnline Summit — Join the nation’s foremost new media experts, leading voices of the conservative movement, and hundreds of citizen activists from across the country, to take back the internet. Americans for Prosperity Foundation is proud to announce our second annual RightOnline Conference on August 14 & 15 in Pittsburgh.”

and

* “Hot Air Tour — Exposing the ballooning costs of global warming hysteria.” This project works on “exposing the economic costs of President Obama, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid’s proposed cap and trade legislation to the American taxpayer.” One of AFP’s “featured partners” is the Heartland Institute Conference on Climate Change — an oil-industry-linked panel trying to debunk global warming and steps to deal with it.

* Earlier this year, AFP organized “NoStimulus.com,” an online petition to protest the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package. It was one of the main groups behind the Tax Day anti-government “Tea Parties” heavily promoted by Fox News.

Another indication of just how unlike “people like you” Patients United Now and its parent Americans for Prosperity are:

Under a headline “Your Daily Dose of Absurd Liberal Legislation,” a staffer for Americans for Prosperity ridicules Florida Congressman Alan Grayson for introducing — horrors! — the Paid Vacation Act of 2009!

This bill, introduced last week, is the first paid vacation bill ever introduced in Congress. It would requires one week of paid vacation for employees of companies with at least 100 employees. Three years after passage, the bill would extend this requirement to companies with at least 50 employees, and would require two weeks for companies with 100 employees.

It would cover workers after one year on the job, and would cover part-timers who work 25 or more hours a week and 1,250 hours per year. (For more information on the bill: right2vacation.org)

It’s highly doubtful most “people like you” would consider requiring companies to provide one week of paid vacation “absurd” or harmful.

But it seems backers of Americans for Prosperity and its latest baby Patients United Now are not really “people like you” after all, unless you are a billionaire.

Take the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which gave Americans for Prosperity Foundation $1 million between 2004 and 2006, according to SourceWatch.org.

The Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation is part of the Koch Family Foundations.

Here’s what SourceWatch has to say about these funders:

“Funding for the foundations comes from the conglomerate Koch Industries, the ‘nation's largest privately held energy company, with annual revenues of more than $25 billion. ... Koch Industries is now the second largest family-owned business in the U.S., with annual sales of over $20 billion.’

“‘The company is owned by two of the richest men in America,’ David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch (described as 'reclusive billionaires'), who have a combined personal fortune estimated at more than $3 billion and who have emerged as major Republican contributors in recent years. ... Both David and Charles Koch are ranked among the 50 richest people in the country by Forbes.

“The Koch brothers control the three family foundations that have 'lavished tens of millions of dollars in the past decade on 'free market' advocacy institutions in and around Washington.' [The Nation, 'What Wouldn't Bob Dole Do for Koch Oil?']

“The foundations are financed via the oil and gas fortunes of Fred G. Koch, a founding member of the John Birch Society. David is a libertarian who ‘provides a significant amount of funding for the Cato Institute's $4 million annual budget.’”

Apparently, and not surprisingly, scratch an anti-public-health-plan campaign and you'll find some anti-labor, anti-environmental, far-right oil and gas billionaires.

suewebb @ pww.org

Activists vow struggle after Prop. 8 ruling

Thu, 28 May 2009 06:40:00 +0000

The California State Supreme Court's decision to uphold a referendum banning gay marriage and creating a segregated category for civil unions earned a sharp rebuke this week from civil rights organizations.

In the case of Strauss et al v. Horton, the state Supreme Court upheld a narrowly passed statewide referendum (Prop. 8) that took away rights granted to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people wishing to marry. The same court ruled in the summer of 2008 that marriage equality was a fundamental right, opening the way for legal same-sex marriage until the passage of Prop. 8 last November.

It may be the first time a state actually upheld the removal of existing rights, setting a dangerous precedent that leaves no fundamental Constitutional right safe from legal challenge, civil rights activists said.

California Justice Carlos Moreno agreed in his dissenting opinion. “The rule the majority crafts today not only allows same-sex couples to be stripped of the right to marry that this court recognized in the Marriage Cases, it places at risk the state constitutional rights of all disfavored minorities,' Moreno wrote. 'It weakens the status of our state Constitution as a bulwark of fundamental rights for minorities protected from the will of the majority.”

Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, who argued the case before the California Supreme Court in March, said “Today’s decision is a terrible blow to same-sex couples who share the same hopes and dreams for their families as other Californians.'

'It is a travesty that the court has permitted a simple majority to use the initiative process to strip a fundamental right from a minority group,' Rea Carey, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, said in a press statement. 'We are profoundly disappointed the court has upheld Proposition 8. Banning the fundamental freedom to marry for same-sex couples is unfair, unjust and flies in the face of progress occurring throughout the country, from the Iowa heartland to the rocky shores of Maine.'

The California decision contrasts with the growing trend across the country that is leaving anti-gay bias behind. By September 2009, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont and Maine will have granted full marriage equality rights. Five additional states, including California, will have provided some separate, unequal status for same-sex couples.

Both New Hampshire and New York are considering laws that would grant marriage equality. Washington DC and New York are close to recognizing same-sex marriages entered into outside those jurisdictions. According to a recent poll, more Americans support marriage equality now than oppose it.

“Public opinion is moving in the direction of fairness and equality, and it is only a matter of time until the freedom to marry will again be secure for all Californians,” said Jennifer C. Pizer, marriage project director for Lambda Legal. “Achieving equality always requires struggle, but over time people come to accept that equal treatment and equal protection of the laws is the best way to protect the rights of all.”

Civil rights groups have vowed an ongoing struggle for equality. Human Rights Campaign (HRC) President Joe Solmonese said, “This ruling is painful, but it represents a temporary setback. There will be a groundswell to restore marriage equality in our nation's largest state, and HRC will not give up until marriage equality is restored in California.”

One initiative to build support for equality at the ballot box is California Faith for Equality (CFE), a statewide group established to educate, support and mobilize faith communities on LGBT equality. Some 6,000 faith group leaders in California have endorsed the project.

'We are confident that same-sex couples will soon enjoy the honor, dignity and protections that only marriage provides,' explained Geoff Kors, executive director of Equality California. “Despite this injustice, we are prepared to return to the ballot box together with our allies to restore the freedom to marry.'

The national labor movement had also urged the California court to uphold marriage equality in this case. In a resolution passed at its executive council meeting last March, the AFL-CIO denounced Prop. 8, saying, 'it ended the right to marry enjoyed by gay and lesbian couples in California and cast a cloud over the legal status of thousands of California marriages…depriving one class of citizens of rights enjoyed by all others.'

Coalition of Black Trade Unionists conference highlights labors long term battles

Thu, 28 May 2009 05:57:00 +0000

ATLANTA – The nation’s economic crisis and the importance of the fight against racism were high on the agenda at the CBTU’s annual convention May 21-25 in this city.

The nation’s economic crisis is the result of failed trade policies and the lack of a national industrial plan that creates and sustains good manufacturing jobs, according to Bill Lucy, the coalition’s president.

In his speech to 1,200 delegates at the gathering Lucy declared that, “as bad as the economy is for all working people, workers of color have been hardest hit. The strides made by African American workers in the 1990’s have been wiped out in this current economic crisis,” Lucy said, “and millions of people of color are no longer making middle class incomes.

Lucy quoted former President Franklin Roosevelt who had asked, “Do you judge a nation’s greatness by what it gives those who already have too much or by what it gives to those who have too little?” He said the question was as relevant today as it was 75 years ago.

At a town hall meeting on the economy AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka expanded on what he has been describing as the trade union movement’s responsibility to lead in the fight against racism.

“Many white union members who first opposed Obama because of his race ended up supporting him because he stood with workers and supported working family issues,” Trumka said. “But now the union movement must move beyond the election and understand that Obama’s election is not the end of racism. The danger within the labor movement is that we try to define every problem in strictly economic terms. Because of that, to the extent that unions talk about racial injustice at all, we characterize it as a subset of economic injustice. But not every issue can be cut as economic.”

Trumka said, “If we want to prevent white members from falling into the trap of believing that racism is now a thing of the past, as a movement, we have a responsibility to educate them that there is a racial dynamic to the issues we face.”

He used health care as an example and noted that, even if all the problems of high co-pays and cost shifting were to be solved, African Americans would still have less access to health care. Trumka pointed out that as long as such divisions exist the struggle for unity among workers will be a more difficult one. .

'There's no way I'm going to deploy to Afghanistan'

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:45:00 +0000

MARFA, Texas, May 26 (IPS) - 'It’s a matter of what I’m willing to live with,' Specialist Victor Agosto of the U.S. Army, who is refusing orders to deploy to Afghanistan, explained to IPS. 'I’m not willing to participate in this occupation, knowing it is completely wrong.'

Agosto, who returned from a 13-month deployment to Iraq in November 2007, is based at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas.

While in Iraq, Agosto never left his base, located in northern Iraq.

'I never had any traumatic experiences, never fired my weapon,' Agosto told IPS in a phone interview. 'I mostly worked in information technology, working on computers and keeping the network functioning well. But it was in Iraq that I turned against the occupations. Through my reading, and watching what was going on, I started to feel very guilty.'

Agosto added, 'What I did there, I know I contributed to death and human suffering. It’s hard to quantify how much I caused, but I know I contributed to it.'

Having served three years and nine months in the U.S. Army, Agosto was to complete his contract and be discharged on Aug. 3. But due to his excellent record of service and accrued leave, he was to be released the end of June. Nevertheless, due to the stop-loss programme, the Army decided to deploy him to Afghanistan anyway.

Stop-loss is a programme the military uses to keep soldiers enlisted beyond the terms of their contracts. Since Sep. 11, 2001, more than 140,000 troops have had tours extended by stop-loss.

A copy of his Counseling Form from the Army, dated May 1, reads, 'You will deploy in support of OEF [Operation Enduring Freedom] on or about [XXXXX] with 57th ESB. This is a direct order from your Company Commander CPT Michael J. Pederson.'

Agosto posted copies of the Counseling Statements issued by the Army on his Facebook page. Counseling Statements outline actions taken by the Army to discipline Agosto for his refusal to obey a direct order from his company commander.

On one of them, dated May 1, Agosto’s written statement appears: 'There is no way I will deploy to Afghanistan. The occupation is immoral and unjust. It does not make the American people any safer. It has the opposite effect.'

In another, dated May 18, he wrote: 'I will not obey any orders I deem to be immoral or illegal.'

On that day, Agosto was ordered to get his medical records in preparation to deploy to Afghanistan. He refused to do so. The Army threatened to take punitive measures, but Agosto wrote on the Counseling Statement, 'I am not going to Afghanistan. I will not take part in SRP [Sealift Readiness Programme].'

If Agosto continues to refuse orders, he almost assuredly will face court martial, and likely jail time.

When IPS asked Agosto if he is willing to take whatever consequences the Army is prepared to mete out, he replied, 'Yes. I’m fully prepared for this. I have concluded that the wars [in Iraq and Afghanistan] are not going to be ended by politicians or people at the top. They are not responsive to the people, they are responsive to corporate America.'

Agosto added, 'The only way to make them responsive to the needs of the people is if soldiers won’t fight their wars, and if soldiers won’t fight their wars, the wars won’t happen. I hope I’m setting an example for other soldiers.'

Agosto has overtly refused to follow any order that has anything to do with his taking an action that would support the occupation of Afghanistan. For a time, according to Agosto, he was given simple orders to clean the motor pool, or pull weeds.

'They switched that recently,' he told IPS, 'I’ve continued to be fairly defiant, so on Tuesday I have to meet with Trial Defense Services, which then begins the process of getting an Article 15, which is movement towards being court-martialed, if these reprimands continue.'

'If I take the Article 15, I’ll take a reduction in rank and pay. I don’t’ know what is going to happen. I agreed to sweep the motor pool and pull weeds, but nothing else that I feel directly supports the war. I’m not going to follow orders I’m not comfortable with.'

Agosto’s case is not unique. The group Courage to Resist, based in Oakland, California, actively engages in assisting soldiers who refuse to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan.

'Although the efforts of Courage to Resist are primarily focused on supporting public GI resisters, the organization also strives to provide political, emotional, and material support to all military objectors critical of our government's current policies of empire,' reads a portion of the group's mission statement.

IPS spoke with Adam Szyper-Seibert, an office manager and counselor with Courage to Resist.

'Currently we are actively supporting over 50 military resisters like Victor Agosto,' Szyper-Seibert told IPS, 'They are all over the world, including André Shepherd in Germany, and several people in Canada. We are getting five to six calls a week just about the IRR [Individual Ready Reserve] recall alone.'

U.S. Army Specialist André Shepherd, who went AWOL after serving in Iraq, has applied for asylum in Germany after refusing military service because he is morally opposed to the occupation of Iraq.

The IRR is composed of former military personnel who still have time remaining on their enlistment agreements but have returned to civilian life. They are eligible to be called up in 'states of emergency.' The Army is currently undertaking the largest IRR recall since 2004, despite the recent inauguration of a so-called anti-war president.

Szyper-Seibert said that the number of soldiers contacting Courage to Resist has been increasing dramatically in the last year, and particularly in recent months.

'The number of soldiers contacting us is increasing,' he explained, 'With five to six IRR’s contacting us a week, plus others going absent without leave [AWOL], the numbers are all climbing, as compared to a year ago. Since May 2008, we’ve had a 200 percent jump in how many soldiers are contacting us.'

According to Courage to Resist, there have been at least 15,000 IRR call-ups since Sep. 11, 2001, for deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq.

Sgt. Travis Bishop, who served 14 months in Baghdad and is also stationed at Fort Hood, recently went AWOL when his unit deployed to Afghanistan.

Like Agosto, Bishop feels it is immoral for him to deploy to support an occupation he morally opposes.

'I love my country, but I believe that this particular war is unjust, unconstitutional and a total abuse of our nation’s power and influence,' Bishop’s blog reads, 'And so, in the next few days, I will be speaking with my lawyer, and taking actions that will more than likely result in my discharge from the military, and possible jail time... and I am prepared to live with that.'

The reason he made this decision is addressed in his blog.

'My father said, ‘Do only what you can live with, because every morning you have to look at your face in the mirror when you shave. Ten years from now, you’ll still be shaving the same face.’ If I had deployed to Afghanistan, I don’t think I would have been able to look into another mirror again.'

Asian and Pacific Americans support Employee Free Choice Act

Thu, 28 May 2009 00:16:00 +0000

Original source:

Twelve organizations representing the Asian American and Pacific Islander American communities have added their voices in strong support of the Employee Free Choice Act.

Reflecting the diversity of the Asian and Pacific Islander American communities, these organizations support the freedom of all workers to form unions and bargain for a better life. The organizations who have come together behind the Employee Free Choice Act include:

* Asian American Justice Center * Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) * Asian Pacific Islander American Vote

* Association of Asian Pacific Community Health Organizations * National Coalition of Asian Pacific Community Development * Hmong National Development * Japanese American Citizens League * National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum * National Federation of Filipino American Associations * OCA * South Asian Americans Leading Together * Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

Maria Somma, the president of APALA, an AFL-CIO constituency group, says the Employee Free Choice Act is critical to fairness in the workplace and a strong, sustainable economy.

The Employee Free Choice Act will help Asian Pacific Americans achieve the American Dream by allowing us to fight for fair wages, health care and a voice in the workplace. Asian Pacific American workers are struggling to keep up in today’s economy. Close to 10 percent of Asian Pacific Americans live below the poverty line while CEOs earn 340 times as much as an average worker. The ability to form or join a labor union provides all workers, and particularly low-wage workers, with a pathway to achieve economic prosperity.

These organizations join a wide range of civil rights, human rights and community groups in supporting new law to protect the freedom to form unions and bargain.

Bitter news from California on Prop 8, but the fight is far from over

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:23:00 +0000

Same-Sex Couples' Constitutional Right to Marriage Denied

'Today's decision by the California Supreme Court to uphold Prop 8 is a devastating setback, but I believe it will be another galvanizing moment in the struggle for equal marriage,' said NOW President Kim Gandy. 'We commend the court for allowing to stand the 18,000 same-sex marriages that took place under the court's earlier decision.'

'NOW members will be out in force at protests in California and across the country Tuesday and in coming days. And we will continue working to right this wrong,' said Gandy.

The National Organization for Women, California NOW and the Feminist Majority had submitted a joint amicus curiae brief to the court in support of the plaintiffs' challenge to the validity of the Proposition 8 ballot measure, which passed at the polls last November by a slim margin.

Statement by Rea Carey, Executive Director, National Gay and Lesbian Task Force:

“This is a day of immensely conflicted feelings. We are profoundly disappointed the court has upheld Proposition 8. Banning the fundamental freedom to marry for same-sex couples is unfair, unjust and flies in the face of progress occurring throughout the country, from the Iowa heartland to the rocky shores of Maine. That California is taking a step backward at this moment in history is disconcertingly out of step with society’s growing support for equality, and personally painful to committed couples who will be blocked from marrying in California. It is a travesty that the court has permitted a simple majority to use the initiative process to strip a fundamental right from a minority group.

“We are pleased, however, for the more than 18,000 same-sex couples who legally married before the ban took effect and will see those marriages remain intact. But there is no getting around the fact that stripping basic freedoms from people by majority vote is cruel and morally wrong. As long as Proposition 8 remains in effect, untold numbers of same-sex couples will be relegated to second-class status. We refuse to settle for this inequity, and are committed to working with our partners in California to eradicate this terrible injustice and achieve full equality.”

Statement by Joe Solmonese, President, Human Rights Campaign:

While we take some solace that the loving couples who did marry in California will stay married, an estimated one million more individuals have been denied that dignity and right.

We are heartbroken. But we won't back down.

We will work relentlessly, organizing communities of faith and other allies across the state, until Prop. 8 is repealed. It will take major resources to win – but the momentum of history is on our side.

HRC members from around the country have sent in beautiful images and messages of support in recent weeks. We'd like to share those with you now in a new video that expresses both our profound hurt and our fierce resolve to fight for equality. Watch the video. Look into the eyes of the people, LGBT and straight, who stand in solidarity today. And join the effort we must begin.

Pride At Work :

Pride At Work chapters and activists will continue engaging the labor community to get involved, speak out, dedicate resources, and engage rank and file union members in this important struggle.

Our chapters and activists in California lead the way in making the labor movement a powerful ally in this struggle for equality. To get involved with a Pride At Work chapter in your community or to start a Pride At Work chapter, please visit the Pride At Work website at .

While the California Supreme Court's ruling today is disappointing, it is by no means the end of the story. Pride At Work continues to push forward for full 'basic civil rights' for all in our community.

We'll continue to speak out about the inequities of our two-tier marriage system, ending pervasive job discrimination against LGBT individuals, bringing transgender individuals full healthcare equality, and advocating for comprehensive immigration reform that includes all families, among other things.

We will stand together, in solidarity, unafraid, and continue to loudly speak our truth.

Protests and actions in response to today's decision are taking place around the country. To find a protest in your community, please visit: .

GLAAD expresa su más sincera desilusión sobre la decisión emitida para mantener en efecto la Proposición 8

Neil G. Giuliano, Presidente de La Alianza Gay y Lésbica Contra la Difamación (GLAAD), expresó su profunda desilusión sobre la decisión emitida por la Corte Suprema de California para mantener en efecto la Proposición 8 – una enmienda anti-gay que elimina la posibilidad de que las personas del mismo sexo se casen por el civil en California.

“En este día, expresamos nuestra profunda desilusión con la decisión emitida por la Corte Suprema de California, que continúa negándole a un grupo el derecho fundamental al matrimonio civil en California”, dijo Neil G. Giuliano.

“Afortunadamente, la corte decidió en proteger los matrimonios de más de 18,000 parejas que se casaron antes del 5 de noviembre. Es vital que los medios de comunicación compartan las historias de estas parejas y también de aquellas parejas y personas gay en California que de nuevo se les ha negado el derecho fundamental al matrimonio civil”.

”Es injusto bloquear las protecciones legales de parejas que necesitan estas protecciones para cuidar de la persona que aman y de sus familias. Estamos agradecidos con el Centro Nacional de Derecho para Lesbianas, la ciudad de San Francisco y los de más defensores y parejas demandantes por su abogacía y compromiso a la igualdad y oportunidad para todos los californianos”.

See the recent People’s Weekly World editorial “The year we came to our senses”

Civil rights leaders rejoice in Sotomayor nomination

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:12:00 +0000

President Barack Obama’s May 26 nomination of New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court has drawn praise from Latino leaders and civil rights and women’s advocates. Sotomayor would be the first Latina justice on the high court.

A Republican president, George H.W. Bush, first appointed Sotomayor to the district court of Southern New York. She became the first Puerto Rican judge on that court.

“The President has chosen a nominee with a record of excellence and integrity and I commend him for this thoughtful appointment,” said New York Congresswoman Nydia M. Velazquez (D) in a press statement.

“Her uniquely American story of rising from a humble background to overcome numerous obstacles, coupled with her professional experience at nearly every level of the judicial system, make her an outstanding choice,” said Velazquez. “Not only will she bring a balanced approach to legal issues that will benefit all Americans, but, importantly, this historic selection adds needed diversity to the court.”

Leaders of LatinoJustice Puerto Rican Legal Defense Fund congratulated Obama for his decision. In a press statement the group said, “The President has not only chosen a well-qualified and respected judge who will be a great asset to the court and our nation — but with his first opportunity to nominate a Supreme Court Justice, the President brings the Hispanic community into the exclusive chambers of the highest court in the land.”

“Sonia is a member of our family and spent more than a decade providing leadership to our organization,” said Cesar Perales, president and general counsel of LatinoJustice PRLDEF. “We profited first-hand from her probing mind as well as her thoughtfulness beyond her extraordinary intellect. She is a most practical person who found solutions to complex issues.”

Sotomayor’s nomination comes at a time when the Latino community is at the heart of a number of highly politicized issues and attacks on our civil liberties, LatinoJustice PRLDEF says. The group notes that, with Latinos being the second largest and fastest growing population in America, with a large pool of qualified individuals to choose from, it was wholly appropriate for the president to nominate Sotomayor.

“We are prepared to engage those who would unfairly tarnish her reputation,” said Perales, who said he expects a fight from the far right and conservatives opposing Sotomayor. “The nation needs to know that LatinoJustice PRLDEF will come to her defense.”

Janet Murguia of the National Council of La Raza said, “Today is a monumental day for Latinos.” She added, “Finally, we see ourselves represented on the highest court in the land. Judge Sotomayor’s story personifies the American dream for so many Latinos in this country.”

Kim Gandy, who heads the National Organization for Women said in a press statement that her group cheers Obama’s selection.

Nominated to serve as the third woman and first Latina to serve on the high court in U.S. history, Sotomayor will serve with distinction, Gandy said, noting that “she brings a lifelong commitment to equality, justice and opportunity, as well as the respect of her peers, unassailable integrity, and a keen intellect informed by experience.” Gandy added that Obama wanted a justice with “towering intellect” and a “common touch” and “he has found both in Sotomayor.”

Marc H. Morial, president of the National Urban League, said in a statement that Obama made an outstanding choice in Sotomayor.

Morial said, “Because of the National Urban League’s long-standing commitment to civil rights and social justice, we have a unique responsibility to our constituents to carefully evaluate and influence important national issues, including nominations to the U.S. federal courts, which play a critical role in protecting the civil rights of African Americans.”

Morial continued, “In evaluating a federal judicial nomination, the NUL’s primary concern is whether a nominee’s record demonstrates a commitment to upholding civil rights, equality of opportunity and social justice. Our initial review of Judge Sotomayor’s record indicates that she meets these criteria.”

Wade Henderson, leader of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, praised Obama’s decision, saying Sotomayor is “someone with a sharp and independent mind, and leads with a record of excellence.” Henderson added, “Besides her superb intellectual ability and a distinguished three-decade judicial career, she brings a quality of common sense understanding of how laws affect the realities of people’s daily lives.”

Born in New York*, Sotomayor grew up in a housing project near Yankee Stadium in The Bronx. Her father, a factory worker, died when she was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, put Sotomayor and her brother through school. Sotomayor’s brother went on to become a doctor, while she became a lawyer, graduating at the top of her class at both Princeton and Yale.

One of Sotomayor’s most famous decisions was during the 1994-95 Major League Baseball strike. She issued an injunction in favor of the players by barring “replacements” (i.e. scabs) and helped bring the strike to an early end.

Supporters of Sotomayor see her nomination as a step forward in the fight for affirmative action. White fire fighters in New Haven, Conn., brought suit against the city charging “reverse discrimination” because the city threw out a promotion test because no African Americans or Latinos scored high enough. Sotomayor supported the opinion upholding the city’s decision. The Supreme Court will hear the appeal.

National civil rights groups supporting Sotomayor’s nomination are looking to the Senate to proceed with the confirmation process in a fair and timely manner. They say they expect that senators from both parties will treat Sotomayor with the respect she deserves, examine her record thoughtfully, and perform their constitutional duty without undue delay or obstruction. Supporters of Sotomayor expect a swift confirmation by the Senate so she can join Ruth Bader Ginsburg as the second woman on the high court before the Senate’s August recess.

plozano @pww.org

*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of the story we reported that Judge Sotomayor was born in Puerto Rico, based on various incorrect media reports. We regret the error.

Black, Latino workers hit hardest in recession, report charges

Wed, 27 May 2009 09:04:00 +0000

A just-released report on the economic recession documents that the crisis is hitting African Americans, Latinos and other people of color much harder than the general population with millions falling through the safety net. The report calls it a “State of Emergency.”

Titled, “Race and Recession: How Inequity Rigged the Economy and How to Change the Rules,” the report charges that African Americans, Latinos and other people of color have been hit hardest because of long-standing discrimination including “last hired, first fired” job practices, a flood of subprime mortgage foreclosures among Black and Latino families and a catastrophic loss of health insurance that hits people of color hardest of all.

Prepared by the Oakland-based Applied Research Center, the report declares that while all Americans worry about the economic recession the effects are “unevenly distributed.”

People of color “are unemployed, hungry, homeless and without healthcare at alarming rates.” Many have fallen through the “safety net” and millions more are about to go under. “This dire and worsening situation amounts to a State of Emergency,” the report warns.

It goes beyond graphs and statistics, offering profiles of the hardships of jobless Black and Latino workers in Washington State, California, Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Michigan, Ohio, New York and Rhode Island.

Maria Cecilia Osorio, a mother of two children, employed as a factory worker in Nogales, Arizona, was struggling against exploitation and abuse even before the recession, the report declares. She and her fellow-employees, many undocumented, are paid only $6 an hour, less than the minimum wage. “They discriminate a lot when you don’t have papers,” she says. “They did everything but crack the whip to make us work.” She charged that the boss routinely threatens to call the Border Patrol if the workers do not do exactly as the employer demands.

Farrah Hassan, an Iraqi-American mother of four told the researchers she was laid off from her job as a teacher’s assistant. After her unemployment benefits ran out, she applied for cash assistance. Two months later, the state claimed she was not meeting the “work requirement” and benefits were terminated. At the same time, Hassan’s mortgage bill doubled. The mortgage company foreclosed. Now she faces the immediate threat of eviction and homelessness.

“Communities of color were saddled with predatory sub-prime loans at a very high rate,” the report charges. “Many were sold sub-prime loans when they could have qualified for prime loans. The foreclosure epidemic has plagued communities of color and caused as loss of wealth that will have lasting generational effects. Disproportionate rates of foreclosure compound the deep and growing racial wealth divide.”

L.W. Vincent is a Black man in his mid-40s who cannot land a job. Two decades ago, he spent time in prison and his criminal record follows him everywhere. “When he does get an interview, he is often turned away, told that his criminal record makes him ineligible,” the report declares. “Homeless, Vincent spends his nights on other people’s couches…he faces the prospect of being permanently poor.”

The inequitable impact of the recession “is not random,” the report charges. “Rather, the conditions that create this disparity are structural, deeply embedded into the rules, the histories and the cultural currents of this country.”

The report continues, “As the country unites to recover and rebuild, the time has come for new rules so that everyone can engage on fair and even terms. To avoid repeating this crisis, we must recognize and combat the compounding effects of racial inequity.”

The first “key finding” is that people of color “have been relegated to precarious, low-wage work—or no work—at disproportionate rates. Black, Latino, Asian and American Indian communities face barriers to employment including discrimination in hires and promotions, unfair criminal background checks and the lack of protections for immigrant workers….”

This finding is buttressed by a graph, “Unemployment by Race, 1973-2009.” It shows that in March 2009, the jobless rate for African Americans was 13.3 percent compared with 11.4 percent for Latinos and 7.9 percent for whites. Thus, the African American unemployment is nearly twice that of whites, and the Latino jobless rate nearly two percent higher than for whites, a pattern for the entire 37-year period covered.

The report offers recommendations for addressing the crisis that would benefit not only people of color but all workers of whatever race: Expand use of the Racial Equity Impact Assessments in public policy planning “so that we can anticipate and prevent racial inequities before adoption of new policies and practices.”

On “immediate actions” to alleviate the “State of Emergency” the report calls for:

* A moratorium on foreclosures * Suspension of lifetime limits in the Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) act * Moratorium on workplace immigration raids * Expunging criminal records for most past offenders * Enforcement of anti-discrimination laws.

The report also urges enactment within a year of:

* The Employee Free Choice Act to make it easier for workers to join unions * Enactment of the Community Reinvestment Act to create millions of infrastructure repair and rebuilding jobs * Immigration Legalization * Green Jobs, Good Jobs * Raise the Minimum Wage * Enact Comprehensive Universal Healthcare.

President Obama nominates first Latina to Supreme Court: Sonia Sotomayor

Wed, 27 May 2009 02:58:00 +0000

This morning President Barack Obama nominated New York Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. If approved, Sotomayor would become the first Hispanic to the high court.

A Republican president, George H.W. Bush, first appointed Sotomayor to the district court of Southern New York. She became the first Puerto Rican judge on that court.

Saying he was looking for a 'towering intellect' and a 'common touch,' Obama gave a brief history of Sotomayor's biography.

Born in New York,* Sotomayor grew up in a South Bronx housing project near Yankee Stadium. Her father, a factory worker, died when she was nine years old. Her mother, a nurse, worked and put Sotomayor and her brother through school. Her brother became a doctor, while Sotomayor became a lawyer graduating at the top of her class in both Princeton and Yale.

That's the kind of American story that the Obama presidency has consistently highlighted.

One of Sotomayor's most famous decision was during the 1994-95 baseball strike. She issued an injunction in favor of the players by barring 'replacements' (i.e. scabs) and helped bring the strike to an early end.

'Some say she saved baseball,' Obama said.

In accepting her nomination, she said it was most 'humbling' and gave great credit to her mother.

The Republicans and ultra-conservatives have tried to galvanize their base to block any nomination of the president's. Seeing a chance for fundraising and political points, filibusters and other blocking tactics are being projected.

Nominating the first Latino/a and only third woman to the high court is a huge and historic move, commentators have said. Sotomayor brings a wealth of legal experience including working as a prosecutor and in private practice. Sotomayor is now a judge on the Court of Appeals.

Commentators say the historic nature of the nomination, plus Sotomayor's experience and life story will make it very hard for Republicans to block her.

One area there is expectation of a fight is on affirmative action. White New Haven fire fighters brought suit against the city charging 'reverse discrimination' because the city threw out a promotional test because no African Americans or Latinos scored high enough. Sotomayor supported the opinion upholding the city's decision. The case will be heard by the Supreme Court.

*CORRECTION: In an earlier version of the story we reported that Judge Sotomayor was born in Puerto Rico, based on various incorrect media reports. We regret the error.