People Before Profit blog

Gun control battle opens in Senate

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., still recovering from being shot in the head two years ago, gave an emotionally charged opening to the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence Wednesday. Giffords is partly blind and has difficulty walking and speaking as a result of the injuries she suffered during the January 2011 Tucson shooting, which killed six people and wounded 13.

"Speaking is difficult, but I need to say something important," Giffords told the senators. "Violence is a big problem. Too many children are dying. Too many children. We must do something. It will be hard. But the time to act is now. You must act. Be bold. Be courageous. Americans are counting on you."

Even as the hearing unfolded, a 70-year-old man opened fire at an office complex in Phoenix, in Giffords' home state, killing one man and injuring two others.

A day earlier, 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton was shot to death, and two of her friends wounded, by a stranger who jumped out of a car, at 2 o'clock in the afternoon in a Chicago park. Pendleton, a member of her school's majorette team, had performed with her team at an inaugural event for President Obama in Washington last week.

An indication of the direction some senators are taking on gun control came in the opening remarks by the committee chair, Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and in the comments by the first Republican to speak, Sen. Charles Grassley, R- Iowa.

Leahy devoted most of his remarks to promoting legislation for more comprehensive background checks on gun purchasers, including "straw purchasers" who buy firearms to sell to others who may not pass background checks (criminals, for example). He appeared to distance himself from proposals to curb assault weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, even though such measures are part of the plan to curb gun violence announced by President Obama and Vice President Biden two weeks ago.

Leahy made no mention of the bill introduced Jan. 24 by fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein that would ban the sale and manufacture of 157 types of semiautomatic weapons - commonly referred to as assault weapons - as well as ammunition magazines holding more than 10 rounds.

Giffords' husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, told the Senate committee that Jared Loughner, Giffords' shooter, had fired 33 bullets in 15 seconds, and was stopped only when he paused to reload his semi-automatic handgun. Loughner's handgun would not have been illegal under the federal assault weapons ban that was allowed to expire in 2004, but the magazine that held more than 30 bullets would have been prohibited.

On the Republican side, Grassley focused on legislation to curb violence in video games. That was echoed by Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., who told MSNBC's Chuck Todd, "I think video games is [sic] a bigger problem than guns because video games affect people."

Grassley also argued against a new assault weapons ban, saying that the previous ban was ineffective. Grassley's argument ignored the fact that the earlier ban contained numerous loopholes that gun manufacturers and dealers easily walked through. The expired ban prohibited the manufacture of only 19 gun models and did not bar the sale of previously manufactured weapons or large-capacity magazines.

Republicans and some Democrats are opposing any curbs on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and some are even opposing universal background checks for firearm sales.

National Rifle Association head Wayne La Pierre, who also testified Wednesday, argued against expansion of background checks to cover private sales, and repeated his calls for weaponizing schools.

Kelly sharply challenged La Pierre's opposition to expanding background checks..

Giffords' shooter, Jared Loughner, was an admitted drug user and "clearly mentally ill," said Kelly. When Loughner purchased the gun used in the Tucson shootings, "his plan was to assassinate my wife and commit mass murder at that Safeway," Kelly said. Loughner was able to buy the gun from a dealer because of thousands of gaps in the background check mental health records. But even if Loughner had failed the background check, "he would have likely gone to a gun show, or a private seller, and avoided that background check."

"But if we close that gun show loophole, if we require private sellers to complete a background check, and we get those 121,000 records and others into the systems, we will prevent gun crime," Kelly said. "That is an absolute truth. It would have happened in Tucson. My wife would not have been sitting here today if we had stronger background checks."

La Pierre also repeated his call for weaponizing schools, and declared his disagreement with "all of the gun control groups."

La Pierre claimed to speak for "the hardworking, law-abiding, taxpaying American that we're going to make the least capable of defending themselves," while "If you're in the elite, you get bodyguards."

Yet La Pierre arrived at the hearing with a team of bodyguards. "In blatant violation of congressional rules," the Washington Post's Dana Milbank reports, one of bodyguards bumped and body-checked television reporters so they couldn't film LaPierre or question him as he walked.

Photo: Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords arrives at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on gun violence, Jan. 30. She is escorted by her husband, retired astronaut Mark Kelly, and Committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., left. J. Scott Applewhite/AP

Boy Scouts might drop anti-gay clause

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 13:30:00 +0000

The Boy Scouts of America issued a surprise announcement Jan. 28 saying that it was "actively considering" ending its long-time ban on gay members and leaders.

Chad Griffin, president of the pro-gay rights Human Rights campaign, said in a statement, "The pulse of equality is strong in America, and today it beats a bit faster with news that the Boy Scouts may finally put an end to its long history of discrimination. Our nation and its leaders respect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens, and it's time the Boy Scouts echo those values."

The BSA has more than 3.3 million members nationwide, and has been under scrutiny both for its anti-gay ban and an ongoing scandal that arose when it came to light that the BSA had covered up at least two decades' history of the sexual abuse of its members, young boys, by older men.

This change would not necessarily mean that gay boys and men would be welcome in their local Boy Scouts unit. The organization's different units are overseen and administered by various groups with charters from the national organization. While the national ban could be lifted, each local organization would be left to make its own decisions.

Deron Smith, a national spokesperson for the organization, said in a statement, "Currently, the BSA is discussing potentially removing the national membership restriction regarding sexual orientation."

However, the statement continued, "This would mean there would no longer be any national policy regarding sexual orientation, and the chartered organizations that oversee and deliver Scouting would accept membership and select leaders consistent with each organization's mission, principles, or religious beliefs. BSA members and parents would be able to choose a local unit that best meets the needs of their families."

Still, gay rights organizations are claiming a potential victory, which could affect a large number of people. According to Scouts for Equality, a gay rights group working specifically on the Boy Scouts issue, 11 Boy Scouts councils, with more than 260,000 scouts combined, have taken positions against the ban.

SFE has support of more than 3,500 Eagle Scouts, the highest level in scouting.

Herndon Graddick, the president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, or GLAAD, said on his groups website, "The Boy Scouts of America have heard from scouts, corporations and millions of Americans that discriminating against gay scouts and scout leaders is wrong ... Scouting is a valuable institution and this change will only strengthen its core principles of fairness and respect."

GLAAD has run an ongoing campaign in support of a more inclusive Boy Scouts since April 2012, after it heard the story of Jennifer Tyrell. Tyrell was a popular leader in her local Bridgeport, Ohio, community. After her seven-year-old son joined, she was asked to become a "tiger den mother." According to her, after she was elected treasurer, she uncovered "financial inconsistencies." About a week later, she was removed from her position and her membership terminated. The reason she was given the boot, she says, is because she is a lesbian.

More than 300,000 people signed Tyrell's petition online, and since then, more than a million people have signed change.org petitions demanding that the Boy Scouts end their national policy against gay and lesbian members.

A number of celebrities have started doing so, including Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Barney Stinson on the popular How I Met Your Mother television show. Harris tweeted, "Interesting: the Boy Scouts have created a line to call for your opinion on keeping the ban in place. CALL 972-580-2330 and affect change!"

Other celebrities who are pushing for the change include Ellen Degeneres, Star Trek's George Takei, Benicio del Toro, Julianne Moore and others.

The policy could be discussed and decided as early as next week, at a meeting of the organization's board of directors.

The right-wing Family Research Council and other anti-gay groups are pushing BSA to keep their ban in place. GLAAD is calling for those who support ending the national ban to make their opinion heard to the BSA.

Photo: Boy Scouts perform while passing the presidential box during the Innaugural parade. Charlie Neibergall/AP

Nationwide rallies against austerity

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:48:00 +0000

Footballs, dodge balls, and pumpkin pie were props used in some of the nationwide actions for fiscal fairness during the National Day of Action sponsored by the AFL-CIO and allies Jan. 30. Labor and community activists in 60 cities and 29 states held rallies, marches, public leafleting and visits to Congressional offices demanding no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, tax increases on corporations and the wealthy and cancellation of across the board federal budget cuts scheduled for March 1.

In Seattle members of Washington Community Action Network, wearing athletic uniforms, threw dodge balls inscribed with the word "TAX" at each other during lunch hour in front of the downtown office of Wells Fargo, one of the "dirty thirty" giant corporations that pay no federal income tax. Together with a group of 80 union members they marched to the Federal Building, held a rally and sent delegations to meet with aides in the offices of Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell, said AFL-CIO representative Dianne Gross.

In Denver, Coloradans for Tax Fairness also flyered passersby in front of the Wells Fargo Bank as well as two other tax avoiding corporations, Verizon and CMS Energy, at the 16^th St. Mall. They organized phone calls and online petitions to Congress demanding the closing of corporate tax loopholes and no benefit cuts for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

"Stop Punting Responsibility" was the message union activists brought to the office of Republican Congressman Sean Duffy in Wausau, Wisc., as they kicked footballs with the word, "RESPONSIBILITY" on them and demanded that fiscal problems be addressed by making corporations pay their fair share.

In Portland, members of the Maine People's Alliance presented staff of newly elected Sen. Angus King, an Independent, with a pumpkin pie.

"We wanted to welcome them to the neighborhood," Kevin Simowitz told the People's World, "and also make the point that the fiscal pie needs to be expanded to create jobs and rebuild the infrastructure." At the same time a delegation from the Maine AFL-CIO met with representatives of Congressman Mike Michaud in Lewiston, Simowitz said.

About 120 labor and community activists rallied in Miami at the office of GOP Senator Marco Rubio while a delegation met with his staff. They reported that the aides stated Rubio was "not planning to make cuts in Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security," AFL-CIO staff representative Jim Junecko said.

Junecko said he told the group that Congress must "close the tax loopholes on the top 2% and Wall Street" and create "good paying jobs to build the economy." Other speakers shared personal experiences showing how the earned social benefits had been critical to their lives.

"We had to keep correcting them on the word, 'entitlements,'" Chris Erickson, political coordinator for the Utility Workers Local 270, told 100 gathered in Cleveland's Public Square as he reported from a delegation that had just met with aides in GOP Sen. Rob Portman's office. "Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are not 'entitlements.' They are earned benefits that we pay for and should not be cut. Social Security has over 20 years of solvency and any problem can be easily solved by raising or eliminating the cap," he said, referring to the fact that high earners stop paying Social Security tax when their income reaches $113,700.

"Let everybody know," he said, as the crowd chanted "No Cuts Now! No Cuts Ever!"

The event was organized by the No Cuts Coalition, and included speakers from the AFL-CIO, Senior Voice, Young Democrats, United Pastors in Mission, American Friends Service Committee and Policy Matters Ohio interspersed with original protest songs.

Michael Williams, a Social Security employee and member of American Federation of Government Employees Local 3448, described how a deficit of 8,000 jobs in the agency had been created by austerity policies that have drastically cut services to people, especially the elderly, seeking their hard earned benefits.

Derek Dissell, a student at Cleveland State Univ. and member of the Ohio Students Organization said he had been inspired by President Barack Obama's Inauguration speech reaffirming the nation's commitment to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security and his call that "all of us are compelled to act in our time" to secure a better future.

The National Day of Action, coordinated through the AFL-CIO's America Wants To Work coalition, was initiated after similar events were held in many cities in December at the time Congressional battles over the so-called "Fiscal Cliff."

"Another showdown looms on the horizon in Washington as the Tea Party controlled GOP continues its reckless crusade to stonewall any reasonable legislation to fix the economy," the group states on their website. "It's another manufactured crisis and Republicans are holding the U.S. economy hostage."

The coalition has scheduled a national call-in to Congress day for Feb. 12 and another round of public demonstrations for Feb. 20.

Photo: AFL-CIO Facebook page.

Money out, voters in!

Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:37:00 +0000

CHICAGO - Marking the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's "Citizens United" decision, hundreds of Chicagoans marched and rallied Jan. 19 to protest the "Golden Megaphone of Money" that decision has provided to corporate America.

Poster-carrying protesters formed a "CEO Walk of Shame" to dramatize the damage done by the power of corporate money in politics. The poster of W. James McNerney Jr., CEO of Boeing Corporation, pointed out that Boeing laid off 57,000 American workers while raking in $32 billion in profits. It received $58 billion in corporate welfare, but paid no income tax between 2002 and 2011.

Another poster depicted Leon Blankfein, the chairman of Goldman Sachs. His company spent $2.6 million for lobbying in 2012. Goldman Sachs in turn received $814 billion in loans along with a $10 billion bailout. At the same time, the investment banking firm holds up to 39 off-shore tax havens.

Rahm Emanuel, mayor of Chicago, was portrayed in another poster as the CEOs' court jester. Emanuel was remembered for helping push the North American Free Trade Agreement through Congress in 1993, eliminating millions of American jobs. As Chicago's mayor, he has continued that program, privatizing city services while trying to bust unions.

Chanting "Money out, voters in!" the protestors marched to Michigan Avenue, Chicago's "Magnificent Mile," ending the action with a spirited singing of the Woody Guthrie anthem "This Land is Your Land."

The rally's sponsors included Public Citizen, Move To Amend, Common Cause, MoveON, Illinois Public Interest Research Group, Coffee Party, Rainbow PUSH Coalition, American for Democratic Action, the 10^th Dems, U.S. Uncut, DuPage County Green Party, Progressive Democrats of America - Illinois and Occupy Naperville.

Photo: Public Citizen. CC-BY-NC-SA 2.0.

Obama outlines comprehensive immigration reform

Wed, 30 Jan 2013 15:13:00 +0000

Speaking in Las Vegas, President Barack Obama outlined his program for comprehensive immigration reform yesterday.

This came a day after a bipartisan group of eight senators outlined their own plan. The eight senators include Democrats Richard Durbin, Ill., Charles Schumer, N.Y., Michael Bennett, Colo., and Robert Menendez, N.J. The Republicans are John McCain, Ariz., Jeff Flake, Ariz., Marco Rubio, Fla., and Lindsey Graham, S.C.

Neither of the proposals has yet been shaped into a bill to present to Congress. President Obama indicated that he would wait to see what kind of a bill the bipartisan Senate group can put together, but if they falter, the White House will present its own bill.

Both plans allow for legalization of most of the 11 million or so undocumented immigrants in the United States. Both were received with guarded optimism by the immigrant rights movement and organized labor. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka and SEIU President Mary Kay Henry were present when Obama spoke, and offered positive assessments of his proposal.

Both plans include "tough" enforcement measures that could make the situation worse: Increasing border security, forcing all employers to use a government database to check the legal status of their employees, obliging all persons seeking legalization to learn English.

The Republican proposal would not put undocumented immigrants on a path to citizenship until a yet-to-be-created body of political leaders from border states declares that the border is fully "sealed". This would hold full legalization of these immigrants hostage to anti-immigrant ideologues like Republican Gov. Jan Brewer of Arizona.

The senators' approach also would put the undocumented immigrants into a limbo in which they would not be able to get full legal residency until the backlog of people who have applied for immigrant visas is "cleared up." This backlog is decades long. Many would die of old age before they could get their green cards.

Also the undocumented are people who have been excluded from getting visas, not because of moral turpitude, but because they are poor farmers or workers displaced by corporate globalization instead of credentialed scientists and engineers. The Obama approach partially corrects for this "backlog" problem by changing the way in which permanent resident visas are allocated so that more will be made available overall. People applying for legalization would still be in a provisional category (allowed to stay in the country and work, but not yet on the path to citizenship and not allowed government benefits, including health care under "Obamacare"), but for a shorter period.

Obama's approach includes better legal protections for immigrant and non-immigrant workers against exploitative employers, and new appeals mechanisms for immigrants and refugees. It allows partners in same-sex marriages to apply for legalization of an undocumented spouse.

A high priority for all immigrant rights organizations is stopping deportation of immigrants of all ages and thus preventing the breaking up of mixed-status families (those who have members who are citizens, legal permanent residents and undocumented) that has wreaked havoc in immigrant communities. Both the president's and the senators' approaches would do this, but the president's plan would do this more quickly and directly.

Organized labor considers that the legalization of 11 million undocumented immigrants would be a major victory for the working class. The massive immigrant rights marches of 2005, 2006 and 2007, followed by the courageous activity of the "Dreamers,, show that liberating the undocumented would release a tremendous force for fair treatment in the workplace and the community. No longer would employers be able to use the vulnerability of undocumented workers as a mechanism for dragging down wages and working conditions for all. But labor will oppose "guest worker" programs that replace the cheap labor of undocumented workers with that of temporary workers.

Agribusiness and similar sectors are interested in keeping up their profits by replacing undocumented labor with guest workers. In past debates about immigration reform, the issue of guest workers has been a major bone of contention.

Other business sectors insist on approaches that will make it easier to tap into the skills and labor of highly trained and credentialed professional workers from outside the United States. They emphasize making it easier for industry to employ foreign specialists who graduate from U.S. universities and to bring in such people from foreign countries under worker visas. U.S. labor and poor country governments object to this "brain drain".

Republican politicians are trapped in a dilemma of their own making. For years they have been whipping up viciously racist anti-immigrant sentiments among their right-wing populist base, so as to create a nativist mood which they thought they could use in the 2012 elections. But it backfired. Latino and Asian voters went overwhelmingly (around 70 percent) for Obama and the Democrats. So Republican politicians have to continue to present themselves to the tea party crowd as "tough on immigration" while appealing to Latino voters as "not so bad..

After promising immigration reform in 2008, the Obama administration and the Democratic leadership in Congress did not push for it in the president's first term. John Morton, director of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, assured Congress that the Obama administration was deporting people at a faster clip than the Bush administration had done. Only in 2011 did the administration respond to pressure from the base and introduce administrative measures that would give substantial numbers of undocumented immigrants a break.

Some immigrant rights organizations, while praising especially the Obama proposal, also pointed out that it makes no sense to keep deporting thousands of people while legislation is being crafted that would let them stay. Pablo Alvarado of the National Day Labor Organizing Network joined other grassroots groups in calling for suspension of such deportations pending the finalization of legislation.

Photo: President Barack Obama delivers remarks on immigration at Del Sol High School in Las Vegas, Nev., Jan. 29, 2013. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza. All federal photos are, by law, in the public domain.)

NYC Council bans hiring discrimination against unemployed

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:17:00 +0000

NEW YORK- The City Council passed legislation January 23, prohibiting employers from discriminating against job applicants based on employment status.

With both unemployment and long-term unemployment statistics here remaining at elevated levels -- higher than average for the country -- this measure promises some support to those who are trying to find a job after a lengthy period of unemployment.

In a preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics report, the current unemployment rate for the NY-NJ-PA metropolitan area in December was 8.4 percent, while it was 7.4 percent for U.S. and 8.2 percent for the whole of New York State.

Increasingly, prospective employers have been screening applicants based on length of unemployment, sorting the longer term unemployed applicants out of the hiring process. Whether this occurred because of bias or a brazen strategy to hold down wages, the result was the same: real discrimination against those most desperately needing a job to support themselves and their families.

While this important anti-discrimination measure passed overwhelmingly in the city council by a 44-4 vote, opposition continues from employers and their advocates. Billionaire NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg promised to veto this legislation, according to the Wall Street Journal, calling it "one of the most misguided pieces of legislation."

But labor disagrees. A spokesperson for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) commented that there is "no good reason why unemployed Americans should be penalized for an economic crisis they had nothing to do with creating."

Public radio station WNYC reports that City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says the council will act to override any mayoral veto.

When this bill becomes enforceable law, applicants discriminated against on the basis of employment status will be able to take action in court or file a complaint with the NYC Commission on Human Rights. NYC would become the first city in the U.S. where residents can pursue action in court to stop discrimination based on employment status.

Photo: Gabe Falsetta/PW

Jan. 30 day of action: "We need Jobs Not Cuts"

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Americans for Tax Fairness is about to wind up an online "flash-mob" campaign titled "We need #JobsNotCuts." It aims to get thousands of Americans to send that message to Congress all at the same time - automatically. You have until Wednesday morning, Jan. 30, to join in, here.

The message is simple: "We need #JobsNotCuts. Don't cut Social Security/Medicare/Education. Make corporations & top 2% pay their fair share."

The campaign is using a new free online social media tool called Thunderclap. Thunderclap describes itself as a "crowdspeaking platform that helps people be heard by saying something together." The tool links up with Facebook and Twitter to create a "mass-shared, flash mob-style" message.

Americans for Tax Fairness explains its #JobsNotCuts campaign: "Our tax system is rigged and favors big corporations and wealthy Americans. Some huge corporations haven't paid any federal income taxes for years. Yet conservatives in Congress are demanding steep cuts to programs that millions of working Americans rely on, like Social Security, Medicare and education, instead of making large multinational corporations pay their fair share.

"It's time to tell Congress: instead of cutting vital programs make sure that big corporations and the wealthiest Americans pay their fair share."

The Thunderclap campaign was launched on Jan. 23 with a very modest goal of 100 supporters by Jan. 30. At press time, over 5,000 had signed on there. The campaign ends Jan. 30 at 12 noon Eastern time.

The public can also sign on at the Americans for Tax Fairness website.

Jan. 30 has been declared a national Day of Action for "No More Cuts," sponsored by The 99 Uniting, composed of a wide range of union and community organizations. No More Cuts events are planned in more than 50 cities around the country, kicking off a month of intensive activity leading up to the March 1 deadline set by Congress for automatic "sequestration" cuts in vital programs. A partial list of local actions is available here.

Image: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/1119-

Oil barge crashes, leaks into Mississippi River

Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:37:00 +0000

On January 27, the Mississippi River was polluted with oil when a barge carrying more than 8,000 gallons of it struck a railroad bridge in Vicksburg, Miss. The sheen of crude kept the waterway shut to ship traffic. Cleanup crews rushed to clean up the mess the following day, and are continuing to skim oily water off the river.

"We don't have an estimate or accurate amount of what was released," said Lt. Ryan Gomez of the Memphis, Tenn. Coast Guard office. Reportedly, however, an oily sheen was spotted as far as three miles downriver of Vicksburg.

A second barge hit the bridge with the first, and was heavily damaged, though oil has not leaked from it. Both barges were being pulled by the towboat Nature's Way Endeavor when the disaster happened.

The spill is only the latest issue for the Mississippi River, which is currently at low levels due to the historic drought in the Midwest (an impact of climate change), which may have created conditions that contributed to the accident. This is also not the first time an oil spill has tainted the river and closed a portion of its waterways. In 2008, 283,000 gallons of oil were spilled when a fuel barge collided with a tanker and broke in half, closing the river for six days.

Coast Guard spokesman John Lally claimed that this incident caused no visible signs of negative environmental impact so far. "We did have a Coast Guard helicopter crew fly for 60 miles up the shoreline there to see if they could spot any environmental impact, and they weren't able to find anything."

This disaster, at any rate, has proven to be just one more in a history's worth of reasons why concerned environmentalists are shunning fossil fuels. Greenpeace noted that the Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010 is still fresh in peoples' minds, and stated, "The root cause of [that] disaster is the world's addiction to fossil fuels. Without an energy revolution, disasters like this are bound to happen again."

Photo: The towboat Nature's Way Endeavor, as seen on the western bank of the Mississippi River. Eli Baylis/AP

The woman whose name I carried on a cold winter day

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 14:28:00 +0000

Thousands of people traveled to Washington on Satuday, Jan. 26, for a national March for Gun Control. Local rallies and marches took place across the country the same day, from San Francisco to Indianapolis to Boston.

Many held signs with names of gun violence victims and messages such as "Ban Assault Weapons Now," as the march proceeded from the Capitol to the Washington Monument.

About 100 residents of Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six teachers at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December, traveled to Washington together for the event, organizers said.

Eleanor Holmes Norton, D.C.'s non-voting representative in Congress, told the rally that the gun lobby can be stopped, and the crowd chanted back, "Yes, we can."

Here is one marcher's reflections on the day.

I met her Saturday morning for the first time. I gazed down upon her until suddenly we were face to face. She was introduced to me as someone I would have to carry and protect in the freezing cold for the duration of the day. She was a stranger to me, as plain as the black lettering on a white placard that was used to personify her existence. She was important to this day and so too were the other faceless names written on placards that were carried by the masses as we marched. These were the names of the victims of our inertia, they were the victims of gun violence over the years - gone too soon.

As I marched down Pennsylvania Avenue I thought about her. Who was she? What was her life like? Did she ever love or was she ever loved? What were her dreams, her fears? What were her goals in life? Was she young or old, black or white? What did she feel in those final moments before her life was stolen from her? As we marched past police holding the oncoming traffic in place for us, I held her name up for all to behold for I knew she was important. I know she mattered - to me.

Her name was Diane Trent. She died on December 5, 200,7 at the age of 53. Diane was one of eight victims of the Omaha mall massacre. She was an employee of Von Maur, a department store chain with a presence primarily in the Midwest. Ms. Trent was divorced and had no children. She was once described as being a sweet, middle of the road American and dedicated worker.

On that fateful afternoon in December, as holiday shoppers at the Westroads Mall were going about their business, something was about to go horribly wrong. Robert Hawkins - whose suicide note alluded to the fact that he was going to kill himself, take people with him and become famous as a result - had just entered the Westroads Mall.

He carried with him pain, death and suffering in the form of a Century WASR-10 semi-automatic rifle along with two high-capacity magazines stolen from his stepfather. He hid these items under his sweatshirt and then took an elevator to the third floor. When he got off the elevator Mr. Hawkins entered the Von Maur department store and proceeded to fire. Because he was using high-capacity magazines he was able to kill eight people and injure four others in a matter of six minutes. After the rampage was over, Hawkins took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. It took the police six minutes to respond but by then it was all but too late. Later after an autopsy was done traces of Valium were found in Hawkins' bloodstream.

It turns out that Diane Trent spent her last moments behind the customer service desk calling 911 for help. In the coming weeks her niece was quoted saying that Diane could have run back to the storage area to seek refuge from the gunman, but instead put her life ahead of others and sought help. Diane Trent, that middle-of-the-road American and dedicated worker, made the ultimate sacrifice.

I am proud to have carried Diane's name through Washington D.C. Saturda. We marched for all the victims of gun violence because we don't want to have to write down more names on placards. We carried the names of the dead because they cannot speak for themselves; so we speak with their memory in our hearts so that all may hear.

Photo: Jasongooljar.com

Virginia GOP tries to dilute African-American vote

Mon, 28 Jan 2013 11:18:00 +0000

You can call Virginia Republicans' plan to steamroll a new redistricting scheme through the General Assembly gerrymandering or sour grapes after they lost the commonwealth to President Obama.

Take your pick.

On Inauguration Day, Senate Republicans took advantage of the absence of Democrat Henry Marsh, a civil rights hero who was attending the ceremony, to pass a huge mid-decade redistricting bill. However, public pressure may cause Republicans to fold this time.

Marsh's absence gave the Republicans the opportunity they needed to pass the bill. The Senate is split 20-20 between the parties and the bill would have failed on a tie vote had Marsh been able to vote. Republican Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling would have voted against the bill.

The new plan would have created a sixth majority minority district and put two incumbents in the same district. The new minority district would have run from the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains to the James River. The plan also weakens at least 12 incumbent Democratic senators by reducing the number of African-American voters in their districts.

"This was nothing more than what I call plantation politics," said Senator Donald McEachin, chairman of the Democratic caucus.

Republicans say adding a new majority minority district would prevent Virginia from being sued under the Voting Rights Act. Senator Richard Saslaw, the Democratic minority leader, used an expletive to describe Republican concerns for Black voters. He said Republicans, in 2011, blocked efforts to create a new Congressional district with a high percentage of blacks.

Tweaking districts after the lines have been drawn is not new. A major overhaul of the legislative boundaries after lines have been redrawn is major.

Virginia Republican scheming didn't stop there. Like a few other states won my President Obama and whose legislatures are controlled by Republicans, legislators are considering a bill that would change how electoral votes are awarded by the state in Presidential elections.

Currently, the top voter getting earns all of Virginia's 13 electoral votes. That's not good enough for spoilsports in the Republican controlled legislature.

Republicans want to change it so that electoral votes are awarded based on the top vote getter in congressional districts. Virginia's plan goes one step further. The two at-large electoral votes would be awarded to the candidate who won the most electoral votes. Guess who that was in 2012?

If the GOP plan had been in effect, Republican Mitt Romney would have won nine electoral votes to four4 for President Obama.

The good news is two GOP senators, Ralph Smith of Roanoke and Jill Holtzman Vogel of Winchester, have indicated they might vote against the bill.

"What if all states got to skewing it to their own advantage? Smith told the Roanoke Times.

Let's not forget another scheme working through the State Capitol. Delegate. D.W. Marshall, R-Danville, wants to stop schools from being used as voting precincts.

Marshall's logic is that his bill would keep children safe from someone planting weapons inside of a school on Election Day. The State Board of Elections said Marshall's bill "could have a substantial impact on localities." Almost 50 percent of the polling places in Virginia are in schools, and in some localities a vast majority of polling places are located in schools. Localities would need to rent space from private facilities to conduct elections.

Another bill introduced by Marshall would make it easier for voters 65 and older to vote absentee without an excuse. Virginia currently requires voters to have a specific reason, that is approved by the State Board of Elections, in order to vote absentee. There are no early voting provisions in Virginia. What is interesting in Virginia is that voters 65 and older voted for Romney 54 percent to 46 for President Obama.

Photo: Lawmaker and civil rights leader Henry Marsh (left). Facebook page

Obama to announce immigration plan

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:23:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - President Obama will unveil his proposals for comprehensive immigration reform Tuesday in Las Vegas, the White House announced today.

The White House announcement said the proposal will involve legislation to create a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. The President, according to reports, told members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus at a meeting today that immigration reform is a top priority for his second term.

One of the lawmakers who met with the President today was House Democratic Caucus Chair Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., who said, after the meeting, "The President expressed a great sense of urgency that comprehensive immigration reform, including an earned path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, is his top legislative priority."

It is believed the president's plan is modeled on one developed by Hispanic lawmakers. Their plan calls for a pathway to permanent residency and eventual citizenship for the undocumented, new work visas for skilled professionals and the establishment of an employment verification system.

Republicans are under increasing pressure to drop their hard line anti-immigrant positions after an election that saw Latinos vote overwhelmingly for President Obama.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush today argued that his party should embrace reform.

"In some conservative circles, the word 'comprehensive' in the context of immigration reform is an epithet - a code word for amnesty," said Bush. "People who oppose such reform declare that securing the United States border must come before moving toward broader reform. Such an approach is short-sighted and self-defeating."

Photo: Nick Ut/AP Photo

Court nullifies Obama appointments to Labor Board

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 14:06:00 +0000

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled today that President Obama violated the Constitution when he made three recess appointments to the National Labor Relations Board last January.

The Obama Administration is expected to appeal the ruling to the U.S. Supreme Court but if the Appeals Court decision is upheld, some fear that it would violate all decisions that the National Labor relations Board has made since last January.

The NLRB itself and the White House are saying, however, that this will not be the case.

"This court decision does not affect this operation, their (the NLRB's) ability to function," White House press secretary Jay Carney told the press today.

The Appeals Court in D.C. said that the President did not have the power to bypass the Senate and make the appointments.

The labor movement reacted quickly to the ruling with outright condemnation.

"Today's decision by a panel of Republican judges on the DC Circuit is nothing less than shocking," AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement, adding that he fully expects "this radical decision to be reversed, and that other courts addressing thjs issue will uphold the President's appointment authority."

The labor movement is concerned about GOP attempts to cripple the NLRB because the board has traditionally been an important avenue used by workers in response to corporate attacks on their right to organize, among other rights at the workplace. The board came into existence in the 1930's as part of the Wagner Act and was charged by Congress at that time with guaranteeing that companies adhered to labor law. The Wagner Act under which the NLRB was created spelled out specifically that it is the policy of the United States Government to encourage collective bargaining.

When George W. Bush was president he stacked the board with Republican appointees who most often sided with business in the many labor disputes that came before the board. President Obama has tried to restore the board to its original purpose - protection of the rights of workers.

President Obama has said his appointments were legitimate because they were constitutional recess appointments, made legally when the Senate was away during a 20-day holiday recess a year ago. The all-Republican panel of three Appeals Court judges disagreed, ruling instead that the Senate was in session because it was gaveled in and out every few days during that recess.

The Administration argues that the gaveling in and out of session was merely a tactic used to prevent the president form making recess appointments which Obama was forced to make because the Republicans have repeatedly filibustered the nominees he sent to the Senate.

The Appeals Court ruling also raises questions, some say, regarding the President's appointment of Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

That appointment was also made last January during the same recess.

The Administration says it was forced to resort to the recess appointment method in Cordray's case because Republicans in the Senate have blocked Obama from naming someone to head the consumer protection unit ever since it was established two years ago. Obama's first nominee to that position, Elizabeth Warren, was never allowed to take the position and eventually ran for and won a seat in the U.S. Senate instead.

Carney also said today that the ruling will have "no bearing" on Cordray, adding "It simply doesn't as a legal matter."

Mr. Cordray's appointment is now being challenged, as were the NLRB appointments, in a lawsuit.

This week the President announced that he was again nominating Mr. Cordray to that position, saying he hoped the GOP would not block his confirmation again.

The NLRB ruling leaves the Labor Board with only one valid member - its chairman, Mark Gaston Pearce, who was confirmed by the Senate.

Under a 2010 Supreme Court decision, the NLRB, which has five seats, is authorized to make rulings only when it has three or more sitting members.

The president made three recess appointments to the board last January. Two, Deputy Labor Secretary Sharon Block and the general counsel to the operating engineers union, Richard Griggin, were Democrats and one, attorney Terence Flynn, was a Republican. Flynn quit the board last May after a scandal broke regarding his leaking of internal NLRB deliberations.

Carney said there has been "enormous frustration" at the White House with the Senate's refusal to approve nominees and that the ruling Friday "contradicts 150 years of practice by Democratic and Republican administrations. So we respectfully but strongly disagree with the ruling."

The Republican judge who wrote the opinion coming down against the Obama administration was David Sentelle, a Ronald Reagan appointee who served many years as an aide to the arch segregationist, ,Sen. Jesse Helms.

Photo: Obama with Cordray before appointment. AP Photo.

Panel: Media consolidation hurts women

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:24:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Media consolidation and cross-ownership, where fewer and fewer big conglomerates determine the information Americans see, read and hear, shuts out women and minorities, a panel of experts on the issue says.

And that consolidation and concentration also hurts democracy, the group, including The Newspaper Guild's president, Bernie Lunzer, told a packed-house crowd at the Newseum, D.C.'s museum to the news business, on Jan. 24.

While the panel on "Media Ownership and the Public Interest" did not specifically say so, media concentration is important to workers, and not just because concentration costs minorities and women a shot at owning media outlets or getting media jobs.

Media concentration also reduces the variety of voices and viewpoints and the breadth of information Americans can see, hear and use for informed decisions on public policy and issues. Those issues range from jobs versus the deficit to the performance of local schools, the panelists added.

Labor is one of the voices ignored - or worse - by media conglomerates, studies show.

More media concentration means lessened coverage of issues vital to workers and citizens. The conglomerates instead play to popular preferences in their pursuit of profit, Lunzer and the others said. Quality is sacrificed.

"It's a good time to be a corrupt congressman," Lunzer commented, given the decline in breadth and depth of coverage of politics - federal, state and local - by media conglomerates.

"If the only condition" for a media owner to meet "is what's most popular, then it (coverage) would be all Britney (Spears) all the time."

The issue of media concentration will come to a head, again, sometime within the next few weeks. The Obama administration's Federal Communications Commission, at the behest of chairman Julius Genachowski, is scheduled to vote on proposed rules to let media conglomerates increase their concentration the top 20 U.S. markets.

Unions, led by The Newspaper Guild, plus the courts, Congress and citizens, have strenuously opposed past FCC attempts, under Republican administrations, to enhance media concentration. Sen. Bernard Sanders, Ind.-Vt., who led the past congressional opposition to

such concentration, urged the crowd to spread the word about the FCC's latest plan and to organize opposition to it again.

The conglomerates argue that allowing newspapers and other media in the same big metro areas to be under the same ownerships produces "synergies" of enhanced coverage. The panelists rejected that claim, at least in the case of newspapers and broadcast cable or TV stations.

Increased concentration of media power in few conglomerates also led to declines in newsroom and television numbers, especially women and minority-group members, the panelists noted.

In one example, the Baltimore Sun, a major metro daily unionized with The Washington-Baltimore Newspaper Guild, now has a total newsroom staff of 81 and fewer than 200 workers overall. Years before its takeover by one of the big media conglomerates, the Tribune Co., and Tribune's subsequent bankruptcy reorganization, the Sun employed more than 400 people.

In another example, the Georgia state capitol newsroom used to host 15 reporters. Now it hosts five. Nationwide, newspaper staff numbers have dropped to those of 1974, before Watergate. Local broadcast television stations and national networks also cut staff and coverage, with women and minorities the first to go.

The conglomerates also argue consolidation and cross-ownership will keep mass media alive to perform their information function for a democracy. The panelists doubted that. They admitted newspapers have smaller profit margins now than years ago, and said classified advertising revenue - the largest revenue stream for most papers - fell by 70% in the last decade. Broadcast profits are also down.

But newspaper declines are due to the Internet, they said. Google and Craigslist, among others, have taken away classified ads.

There is no hard and fast solution, at least according to the panel. The conglomerates also claim Internet access improves quantity and quality of available information. But Lunzer noted almost 40% of the country is still not wired - and its' even higher in low-income communities.

Panelists floated Ideas for alliances between radio stations and newspapers, changing tax laws to allow non-profit organizations to own for-profit media outlets and even fees extracted when the FCC awards broadcast licenses. Money from the fees would go to promote diversity both in print and broadcast newsrooms and in ownership. Sanders, wrapping up, admitted all the problems exist, but warned of the immediate threat from the FCC. The agency "is acting under the radar screen," he said.

Photo: A female journalist. Robert Thivierge // CC 2.0

Filibuster reform agreement: No filibuster reform!

Fri, 25 Jan 2013 11:13:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - A determined effort to curb or kill Senate filibusters - secret holds and threats that let the minority party stop virtually anything it wants - failed on Jan. 25 when the Senate's two party leaders announced a "compromise."

The agreement between Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent. - who launched 391 filibusters in the last Congress - lets the minority offer guaranteed amendments in return for curbing filibusters against lower-level presidential nominations. And filibusters against even taking up a bill, on "motions to proceed," are gone.

But senators can still bring business to a halt with just a filibuster threat, without having to actually talk a measure or nomination to death. And it will still take 60 votes to halt filibusters and threats.

"This deal is a missed opportunity to move forward or even ensure debate on the critical issues facing our nation," said Communications Workers President Larry Cohen, leader of a 51-group coalition, Fix the Senate Now, that mobilized members and citizens to curb or end the filibusters.

"In recent years, the Senate has failed to discuss, debate, or vote on measures that affect jobs, workers' rights, health care, campaign financing, immigration, and the list goes on and on," Cohen added.

Republicans used filibusters and threats to halt nominations to the National Labor Relations Board, kill equal pay for equal work legislation and spike the Dream Act legalizing young undocumented workers who enlist in college or join the military, among many things.

Even in the Democratic-run 111^th Congress, in 2009-10, the filibuster threat and a multimillion-dollar business campaign sidelined the Employee Free Choice Act, to help level the playing field between bosses and workers in organizing and bargaining. Filibusters and threats could now sidetrack much of what labor wants from this Congress as well, Cohen said.

Fix the Senate Now members sent 2.5 million e-mails to lawmakers, delivered petitions with a million names and added 100,000 phone calls. The U.S. Capitol switchboard was jammed. Reid apparently yielded to McConnell, instead of backing - and pushing through - a tougher reform package Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., offered.

McConnell had told Reid that if the tougher package passed, the GOP would tie up the Senate when substantive issues - such as the federal budget - came up for votes.

The leaders' "incremental improvements...do not go nearly far enough to deliver meaningful change, transparency and accountability," the fixthesenate coalition said.

"For members of our union, and progressives throughout the nation, the failure to enact substantial reform of the rules almost guarantees that for two more years, there will not be effective debate, discussion or voting on even the critical issues the Obama administration has outlined," Cohen added.

He then pledged CWA would continue its Democracy Initiative, which included filibuster reform. But he admitted that no reform makes achieving its goals - such as curbing corporate power in politics - harder.

"The toxic combination of Senate rules, money and politics, obstacles to voting rights, and no path to citizenship for millions of immigrants all add up to continued control by the 1%, and a declining standard of living for the rest of us," he said. "Today, we are more committed than ever to building a movement for real change."

The coalition said the McConnell-Reid agreement "avoids measures that would actually raise the costs of Senate obstruction. Neither the talking filibuster provision, nor the shifting of the burden to the minority to supply 41 votes to keep a filibuster going" were included.

Younger Democrats, led by Merkley, pushed for the wide-ranging reforms, including mandating an actual "talking filibuster." Older ones, except Senate Labor Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, resisted. They remembered when they had to use filibusters to block GOP schemes during the Bush government. Harkin's long-held plan to have declining numbers of votes needed to cut off filibusters - from 60 to 57 to 54 to 51 - lost on a voice vote.

Women take lead in Seneca Falls, Selma, Stonewall journey

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 15:39:00 +0000

Women of all ages, colors, national origins and class status were a critical piece of the coalition that propelled President Barack Obama into his second term. Certainly much of that support came from the president's record, as well as disgust towards the Stone Age alternative offered by the Republican Party.

President Obama's inaugural speech outlined in broad strokes some of the key democratic struggles on which he will lead in these next four years. Women's, voter, immigrant and LGBT rights were front and center, interwoven in a vision of expanding democracy.

"We the people declare today that the most evident of truth that all of us are created equal -- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls and Selma and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth," Obama said.

"It is now our generation's task to carry on what those pioneers began, for our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts," he said.

The day after the president said that line the Paycheck Fairness Act was introduced into Congress. Campaigns are already under way to make sure that bill becomes law.

Other significant milestones this week mark key steps in this "journey."

* Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that for the first time in American history, women will be eligible for combat duty. We strongly oppose war and militarism. At the same time, this order is a victory for democratic rights, much in the same vein as repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell and the desegregation of our armed forces - which provided gays/lesbians and African Americans, respectively, the same opportunities to serve in the military as others.
Women soldiers have already been injured or died on the front lines, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Twenty thousand women have served in those wars, with 800 wounded in combat and more than 130 killed. But women were denied the additional combat pay and advancement opportunities that come with being in combat.

* This week is the 40th anniversary of a keystone in women's equality in America: the Supreme Court Roe v. Wade decision. In essence that legal rullng said women are human beings and equal citizens who should be trusted to make their own decisions regarding reproduction. Unfortunately that basic human right has been chipped away over the years through state and federal laws that limit and confine women's freedom. There are more battles ahead. Right-wingers in Congress are already plotting to deny medical access to women and endanger their lives.

* The Violence Against Women Act was reintroduced into Congress this week after Republicans forced its expiration last year. They refused to include, and therefore protect, undocumented women, Native American women, lesbians, transgendered women and college students - 30 million women - strictly for rigid political and ideological reasons. With the Republicans still in charge in the House and other anti-women forces still operating in the wings, it's going to take organized political pressure to guarantee VAWA's passage.

Whether on gun violence or violence against women, the coalition of voters that re-elected the president has to stay engaged. New coalitions and democratic forces will also emerge in the course of these interrelated struggles. These continuing movements are necessary for protecting and expanding democratic rights, and for any progress to be made. Indeed, as some have said, a Women's Spring may be under way.

Photo: President Barack Obama congratulates Google Science Fair winners, from left, Naomi Shah, Shree Bose, and Lauren Hodge in the Oval Office, Oct. 3, 2011. (Pete Souza/White House)

Senate filibuster deal a capitulation, says Common Cause

Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:27:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Today's announced "compromise" on Senate filibuster reform is in fact a capitulation by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who now has missed two excellent opportunities to restore the Senate to its proper role as a working legislative body, Common Cause said.

"My friend Harry Reid, the senator from Searchlight, NV, has gone missing in the fight for filibuster reform," said Common Cause President Bob Edgar. "The deal he and Sen. McConnell have struck allows individual senators to continue blocking debate and action by the entire body and to do so without explaining themselves to their colleagues or the American people. This is not the Senate of debate and deliberation our founders envisioned.

Edgar invited senators who remain committed to ending the 60-vote requirement for conducting most Senate business to join in Common Cause's lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the filibuster rule. The case is before the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington following a lower court judge's ruling in December that Common Cause and other plaintiffs, including four members of the House of Representatives, lacked legal standing to sue.

"We're convinced that in a trial on the merits, we can demonstrate that the filibuster is unconstitutional and was never contemplated by America's founders," Edgar said. "The Constitution requires a supermajority for Senate action in just a handful of circumstances, including ratification of treaties and convicting the President in an impeachment trial, but the filibuster has expanded that to cover virtually every piece of legislation and every judicial or executive branch nomination."

Edgar praised and congratulated Sens. Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall, whose determined drive for changes to the filibuster rule brought the issue to prominence and pushed Reid and McConnell to act, as well as Sen. Tom Harkin, who for more than a decade has championed filibuster reform.

"These senators and others have given the reform effort their best shot but through no fault of their own have come up short," he said. "It's now clear that the Senate will not fix the filibuster and the President lacks authority to fix it. We must turn to the judicial branch to enforce the Constitution."

Today in Labor History: Paul Robeson dies

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 16:05:00 +0000

On January 23, 1976, noted singer and actor Paul Robeson died in Philadelphia.

Robeson was also a legendary civil rights and peace leader and athlete.

He was hounded by McCarthy-era witch-hunting committees, deprived of his livelihood and his right to travel for his actions and his beliefs.

Ironically, soon after the turn of the century, Robeson's fame was carried throughout the nation by a beautiful 37-cent postage stamp bearing his portrait and calling him "an incomparable artist and singer, human rights advocate, scholar and athlete, defender of Black freedom."

Many events were held in 1998 on the 100^th anniversary of his birth. Calling Robeson "a great fighter for equality and world peace, a genius who gave his heart and soul to the people," Jarvis Tyner, executive vice chair of the Communist Party USA, said he "embraced all the advanced ideas of the CPUSA, the need for a socialist transformation of society, for unity of Black, Brown and white. If you look at his writings and you know the party's history and policies," Tyner added, "he was an important figure, helping to give leadership in the party's formulation of its policies."

Paul Robeson, athlete, scholar, singer, actor and civil rights advocate, rose to fame at a time when segregation was legal in the U.S., and Black people were being lynched by racist mobs.

Robeson's father, a runaway slave, graduated from Lincoln University, and his mother came from an abolitionist Quaker family.

Robeson attended Rutgers University on a four-year academic scholarship. He won 15 varsity letters and was twice named to the All-American football team. He became Phi Beta Kappa in his junior year and graduated as valedictorian.

At Columbia Law School, Robeson met and married Eslanda Cardoza Goode, who would become the first Black woman to head a pathology laboratory. He took a job in a law firm, but left when a white secretary refused to take dictation from him. He then shifted to an acting and singing career.

Because Robeson was an outspoken activist, striking workers and peace and friendship with the Soviet Union, he was targeted by the McCarthy era witch-hunting House Un-American Activities Committee. Robeson refused to yield to the committee, which he considered to oppose freedom of expression of those working for international friendship and peace. He is famously quoted: "The artist must elect to fight for Freedom or for Slavery. I have made my choice. I had no alternative."

Sixty of his concerts were cancelled, and in 1949 two interracial outdoor concerts in Peekskill, N.Y., were attacked by racist mobs. "I'm going to sing wherever the people want me to sing," Robeson responded, "and I won't be frightened by crosses burning in Peekskill or anywhere else."

In 1950 the government revoked Robeson's passport, leading to an eight-year battle to win it back and to travel again.

Beginning in 1952, the Mine, Mill and Smelter Workers Union sponsored four annual Robeson concerts at Peace Arch Park on the U.S.-Canadian border, with as many as 40,000 in attendance.

Photo: September 1942, Paul Robeson, world famous baritone, leading Moore Shipyard [Oakland, CA] workers in singing the Star Spangled Banner, at their lunch hour recently, after he told them: "This is a serious job---winning this war against fascists. We have to be together." Source: Still Picture Records Section, Special Media Archives Services Division (NWCS-S), National Archives at College Park, MD.

GOP, despite debt ceiling deal, avoids real issues

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 11:44:00 +0000

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) seemingly have rallied enough of their House allies to push the battle over causing a U.S. government default down the road, with a temporary three-month extension of the government's borrowing authority (or "debt ceiling"). But House Republicans have not changed their ransom demands. They've simply chosen a different hostage. For now.

House Republicans are still demanding benefit cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. They are still demanding deep budget cuts that would jeopardize the economic recovery and increase unemployment. And they are still refusing to cancel across-the-board budget cuts that are scheduled to take place in March 2013 by asking Wall Street to contribute more tax revenue or closing tax loopholes for the richest two percent of Americans.

While House Republicans have put on hold their threat to tank the economy by causing a government default, they have shifted their attention to tanking the economy by shutting down the government if they do not get their way.

The willingness of House Republicans to postpone the debt ceiling fight is a welcome development. It is a minor concession to pressure from working family advocates. And it suggests that House Republicans are slowly coming to the realization that they do not have as much leverage as they thought they had to pursue policies that voters overwhelmingly reject-and that, in fact, voters overwhelmingly rejected in the past election.

But House Republicans have not sworn off hostage-taking. Far from it. They will even revive the threat to cause a government default in three months and they will be back in three months with more hostage demands.

President Obama has signaled he will support a temporary extension of the debt ceiling. However, the Obama administration supports a long-term increase in the debt limit that would increase certainty and economic stability. In a press release, the administration stated:

A temporary solution is not enough to remove the threat of default that Republicans in the Congress have held over the economy. The Congress should commit to paying its bills and pass a long-term clean debt limit increase that lifts self-inflicted and unnecessary uncertainty from the nation's economy.

The solution is to respect the mandate of the voters in the last election, which could not be clearer: close loopholes for Wall Street and the richest 2% of Americans and protect Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare benefits from cuts.

This article was reposted from the AFL-CIO Now Blog.

Photo: Unions march in New York in a rally against Medicare and Medicaid cuts. Osamu Honda/AP

Obama charts progressive course for America

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:48:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - More than a million people gathered on the National Mall, Monday, to witness President Obama's second inauguration. It was the second largest inauguration in U.S. history - the largest was Obama's first in 2009 when 2 million people jammed the nation's capital.

Looking out at a sea of humanity, Obama delivered what is widely being described as a progressive call to action based on the theme that the nation is stronger when people act together. "We have always understood," the president declared, "that preserving our individual freedoms requires collective action.

"For the American people can no more meet the demands of today's world by acting alone. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we'll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation and one people."

The president gave a ringing endorsement to the majorities in poll after poll who have backed the nation's social insurance programs. He delivered an undisguised slap at the "makers" versus "takers" language of Congressional Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

"We do not believe that in this country freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few," Obama said. "We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us at any time may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other through Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security, these things do not sap our initiative, they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great."

The president made it clear that he supports extending and deepening civil and human rights.

"For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts," he said.

"Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law - for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.

"Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote.

"Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as the land of opportunity.

"Our journey is not complete until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country.

"Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm."

An overarching theme of the president's speech was that a progressive agenda actually fits in with and furthers the intent of the founding fathers.

He assailed the idea that there is no such thing as a good government regulation. "Together, we discovered," the president said, "that the free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play."

For the climate change deniers he had three short but equally powerful sentences: "Some may deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition, we must lead it."

Obama did not call for a radical overhaul of foreign policy, which would move toward elimination of the huge military budgets and use of the saved money to meet domestic needs. He made no mention of ending the use of drones, which people around the world have spoken out against in the face of growing civilian casualties.

He did, however, contradict the neoconservatives and backers of the old Bush doctrine. Rather than just offer the usual platitudes presidents have uttered about wanting "peace," Obama declared forcefully that national security and lasting peace do not require, as he put it, "perpetual war."

"We must," the president said, have "the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully - not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear."

The president notably refrained from any mention of Iran and Israel. Republicans have, for more than a year now, stepped up their rhetoric against Iran and have claimed, despite growing peace sentiment in Israel, that their support for military action against Iran is aimed at "protecting" Israel.

Photo: President Barack Obama speaks during the ceremonial swearing-in at the U.S. Capitol during the 57th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, Jan. 21, 2013. Susan Walsh/AP

Senate inundated with demands to end “silent” filibuster

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:52:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - As the fight to stop GOP obstruction in the Senate comes down to the wire Senate offices are getting buried under tens of thousands of letters, the senators themselves are seeing TV ads demanding an end to the "silent" filibuster," and a huge labor-led coalition has managed to spur one million calls into the Capitol between yesterday and today.

The AFL-CIO, which is part of the coalition, asked this morning that people continue to call into the office of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (1-866-937-5062) and tell him to publicly support strong rules reform by co-sponsoring Senate Resolution 4, introduced by Sens. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M. Their measure would force senators who want to filibuster to do it in the traditional way - by speaking on the floor. Secret silent filibusters and holds on nominations are the order of the day today under Republican rule.

An alternative measure put forward by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Carl Levin, D-Mich., would not end the silent filibuster, which, reform advocates say, is the thing that has allowed Republican minority to block any and all progressive legislation for the last few years.

By early this afternoon one million signatures in support of reform were delivered to 16 Senate offices. A variety of organizations today have also delivered CD's to senators burned with signatures from their home states. In addition to the AFL-CIO and the Communications Workers of America, the union that started the campaign, the coalition includes the Alliance for Justice, Common Cause, the United Auto Workers, Credo, Rebuild the Dream and many other groups.

More than 30 organizations today sent out emails all across the country. Labor and its allies say the filibuster issue is critical because reform of the process is the only way to pass any legislation important to workers and their families. "There is no other way we can win legislation to protect workers rights, paycheck fairness, women's' rights, gun control or any other important legislation," said Larry Cohen, President of the CWA.

"The U.S. Senate is broken - we can fix it," say the CWA ads that ran all morning today on network interview shows and cable stations. The massive ad campaign costs in excess of $300,000, according to the union.

"As climate change threatens the world we leave to our children, and good U.S. jobs move overseas, time in the Senate ticks by. As women earn less than men for the same jobs, time in the Senate ticks by. It keeps ticking by with no results. Because the system is broken. But we can fix it and make the Senate work for us again, if our senators vote to end the silent filibuster and for some common -sense reforms."

CWA spokespeople say that there are more than 50 groups, in addition to themselves, that are part of the www.fixthesenatenow.org coalition.

"The last hundred hours until Jan. 22," are critical, Merkley told a press conference in Washington.

There were 391 filibusters in the last Congress, killing legislation such as equal pay for equal work. In the Democratic-run 111^th Congress, a huge big business campaign backed a successful GOP filibuster that killed the Employee Free Choice Act, a bill designed to level the playing field between workers and bosses in union organizing drives.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kent., and his caucus control just 45 of 100 seats in the Senate. They lost ground in the recent 2012 elections but, unless filibuster reform succeeds, they will be able to block action on anything they desire to block.

Photo: Gray skies of GOP obstruction cover the U.S. Capitol in Washington. J. Scott Applewhite/AP