People Before Profit blog

Move underway to expand early voting in Missouri

Mon, 03 Feb 2014 15:59:00 +0000

St. LOUIS - Voters here in the Show Me State may have a special reason to get out the vote this fall, as a coalition of faith groups, community organizations, students, small businesses and unions are busily collecting signatures to qualify an early voting initiative to be placed on the November ballot.

The initiative would expand early voting in Missouri to six weeks, while simultaneously, making accessible the names and addresses of registered voters who have already cast their ballot.

Many community groups, unions, and other democratic organizations, consider this initiative a game-changer. Not only will grassroots organizations be able to mobilize registered voters over a longer period of time to cast ballots, but they will also be able to check and see who has actually voted - thereby focusing their voter turnout energies on members and households in target districts.

Seen by most as a considerable expansion of democracy, the initiative will help eliminate long lines on election day - especially in understaffed and over-crowded precincts - while ensuring that those individuals who may need to cast a provisional ballot will have the time to double check on their voting status and address other problems.

Especially significant is the impact the early voting initiative - if passed - will have on working class, African American, women, senior, student, and disabled voters, all groups historically disenfranchised. Additionally, with a six week early voting window, it will be easier for all voters to cast ballots - as they will be able to better arrange their work schedules, child care needs, and rides to the polls, for example.

According to Richard Von Glahn, organizing director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, "Low wage workers, folks working two or more jobs - sometimes working from 6 a.m. to noon at the first job, and then 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the second" understandably have a hard time making it to the polls. "This initiative will help make sure they are able to vote."

Not only will the ballot initiative increase voter turnout during the up-coming November mid-term elections - as advocates of expanding democracy will work overtime to ensure its passage - but it will also increase voter turnout during the all-important 2016 presidential election.

"In 2013 over one third of registered voters did not vote," Von Glahn added, "which suggests there is something wrong with a system that offers the right, but not the ability for people to participate meaningfully in the democratic process."

Some supporters even speculate that the initiative will increase the Democratic turnout by 2 or 3 percentage points, possibly giving progressive forces just enough of an edge to turn Missouri Blue.

The ballot initiative process in Missouri is one of the most successful tactics employed by progressive forces here in the Show Me State, as the far-right Republican controlled House and Senate have repeatedly blocked legislative avenues for the expansion of democracy.

Instead, they are more focused on trying to pass so-called voter I.D. laws, which would disenfranchise tens-of-thousands of voters, especially seniors, students and African Americans.

Currently, 32 states and the District of Columbia, have early voting. While the dates in-which early votes can be cast differ from state-to-state - some begin as early as 45 days before the election, while others as late as the Friday before an election - the average early voting start-time is 22 days before the election. And at least 12 of the 32 early voting states require that vote centers be open on at least one Saturday or Sunday during the early voting period.

Furthermore, 27 states and the District of Columbia offer "no excuse" absentee voting, thereby allowing any registered voter for any reason to request an absentee ballot.

Over the next few months Missourians will need to collect over 200,000 signatures to qualify the ballot initiative with the Secretary of State's Office. However, if they are successful and the initiative is put on the November ballot, it will likely pass, as voters overwhelmingly - even republican voters - support expanding access to our sacred franchise.

And years from now 2014 may be seen as a turning point for Missouri politics - a turn away from voter disenfranchisement and towards expanding democracy.

Photo: AP

Will Facebook die out by 2017?

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 15:20:00 +0000

According to a new study, Facebook, one of the world's most popular social networks, may be about to go the way of the dinosaur. Researchers at Princeton University published a report Dec. 22 about a model they devised predicting that Facebook will lose 80 percent of its users by 2017. Based on data that reflected the number of times "Facebook" was typed into Google Search (the number has declined since December 2012), researchers inserted that information into a modified statistical model called SIR for the spread of infectious disease. The results showed that Facebook may fizzle out like MySpace in the near future.

The researchers believe the comparison to the process of disease is an accurate one, because users typically join social networks when their friends do, and leave when their friends do. This is similar to being infected with a disease and recovering from it, they note. The model was first applied to MySpace, which they consider an exemplar for the average longevity of a social network.

"Ideas, like diseases, have been shown to spread infectiously between people before eventually dying out, and have been successfully described with epidemiological models," wrote John Cannarella and Joshua A. Spechler, researchers with Princeton's Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. "The SIR model is applied to search query data for 'Facebook,' which is just beginning to show the onset of an abandonment phase. Extrapolating the best fit model into the future predicts a rapid decline in Facebook activity in the next few years."

According to the LA Times, however, MySpace may not be the best "test subject" to juxtapose with Facebook. "At its peak, MySpace had 75.9 million monthly active users," the Times article noted. "Facebook, meanwhile, said it had 1.19 billion active members in September. Facebook has reached levels MySpace never hit. With so many users, losing 80 percent would mean that 952 million active users would have to stop visiting the popular social network by 2017. Facebook would have to average losing 317 million users annually for three years - that's about the population of the U.S."

Few deny that Facebook's popularity is waning - its attempts to copy aspects of Twitter, like incorporating hashtags, are further indicative of this. But many consider it unlikely that the social network will see that large of a drop in usership in a mere four years' time. The base decline is still likely to continue, many believe, but at a slower rate than the SIR model predicts. The general idea, however, that Facebook is essentially doomed, may be correct.

"Social networks are made to dissolve," Charlie Jane Anders wrote on io9. "You don't want to get stuck with the same version of your friend network indefinitely, or get trapped with the exact same identity forever. It's often kind of a relief when you quit using an old social media site, because you get to start over from scratch." Some question whether there's even a slight chance that Facebook could disprove this rule and become the first "evergreen network."

But there's another fact counting against Facebook, which is that no website has really maintained dominance or mass popularity for longer than two decades. Google, for example, did not become truly dominant until around 2004. Facebook has already "lasted a long time, in Internet years," according to Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age. In order to survive for many more years, it would need to become as prevalent as email, he believes, which is highly unlikely.

People's loyalty to Facebook seems even flimsier when the issue is presented against the backdrop of modern civil liberties issues, like NSA surveillance and the watchful eyes kept on users' Facebook accounts by police, employers, and other authority figures. Rushkoff remarked, "People will get scared that using these things will get them 'suspected.' That will make people use them in less and less 'real' ways, eventually leading to their demise." Many people are increasingly concerned about how their Facebook content matters in the long run, he suggested. "We haven't really yet seen the full consequences in job hunting, mate-acquisition, mortgage applications, and so on."

Rocco Pendola, writer for financial news site TheStreet, said, "Facebook is a sustainable fad. Im other words, it serves a purpose. It has a brighter future than its bandwagon-jumping critics think." Will it begin to fade by 2017? It won't likely happen quite that quickly, Pendola believes, but it will happen, regardless. "When I claim Facebook will die, I'm talking five, 10, maybe 20 years from now. In our world, that's an eternity."

Photo: Facebook

Wisconsin moves from progressive “dairyland” to “plutocrats’ paradise”

Fri, 31 Jan 2014 13:39:00 +0000

Wisconsin used to have a reputation as a "progressive" state, but now that is just a footnote in the history books. Wisconsin now boasts a governor, Scott Walker, who is attempting to launch a presidential campaign based on his reputation for union-busting, and a state legislature that draws up proposed legislation to satisfy the needs of a single multimillionaire.

Many who read this must be scratching their heads. Wisconsin?! Isn't that the birthplace of a whole host of pro-worker reforms from unemployment compensation to worker's compensation? The answer is "yes." But a new era of reaction has been opened in the Badger State.

A reactionary is someone who analyses the current crisis and comes to the conclusion that our societal ills, our homeless, our jobless college grads, are not created by a system in which the "haves" exploit and punish the "have-nots," but rather that progressive social change is the culprit in all of our problems. In the mind of the reactionary, the solution lies in the simplicity of the union-free, women in the kitchen, kids praying in public school, gays in the closet, African Americans as a permanent underclass, immigrants on the other side of the border, "good ol' days." They intend to restore that golden age of "the mighty crush the weak" by repealing all the safeguards and social safety nets that liberal reformers and working people fought for to protect themselves from the ravages of what Republican Texas Gov. Rick Perry hypocritically called "vulture capitalism."

It was Wisconsin Gov. Walker who struck the first blow. It only took Walker a matter of a few months to strip public workers of their collective bargaining rights. He hatched his plan at a meeting of the Wisconsin Republican leadership that took place in the basement of the governor's mansion in Madison. When Walker first proposed destroying 50 years of workers' rights in one fell swoop, even many of the Republicans were aghast. He sought to put a little steel in their spine by holding up a picture of Ronald Reagan and invoking that president's attack on PATCO, the air traffic controllers union, as a model. A typical reactionary, yearning for the good old days of anti-Soviet war-mongering, arms race, and counting ketchup as a vegetable in school lunch programs.

Walker got his way in the end. But the reactionaries were not done. They wanted to return to the days when the wealthiest in Wisconsin dictated what bills were drafted into law. Michael Eisenga, a Wisconsin multi-millionaire businessman, felt the courts had ordered him to pay too much in child support. So, what is an honest citizen like Mike to do but to request, and get, a piece of legislation introduced that caps the level of assets examined for child support purposes at $150,000. Pretty convenient if you are Mr. Eisenga, and worth in excess of $30 million.

Of course it is true that Mike could use a little extra pocket change. You see, he has been fined by the U.S. Department of Justice for violating minimum wage laws. He has also had to pay fines to Wisconsin's Department of Financial Institutions as well as its Department of Revenue, not to mention the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. But it wasn't these dollars that his state legislator, Joel Kleefish, was concerned with. The money state Rep. Kleefish was more familiar with were the contributions Eisenga made to himself, his wife, Rebecca Kleefish (who happens to be the lieutenant governor), and to Walker as well. The latter clocked in at $15,000. So, in Wisconsin, when you spread that kind of money around you can call up the State Capitol building, get your legislator on the line and have legislation made to order, just as easy as a college kid ordering a pizza. Too bad for Mr. Eisenga that the working people of Wisconsin raised hell and legislator Kleefish withdrew the bill. Better luck next time, Mike.

Robert LaFollette Sr., the famous progressive known as "Fighting Bob" who served as both Wisconsin's governor (1901-1906) and U.S. senator (1906-1925), in his memoirs described his first campaign and struggle against the moneyed interests this way: "I felt I had few friends, I knew I had no money, could command the support of no newspaper, but in the end I was determined that Wisconsin would be made free, and in the end, it was so."

The working people of Wisconsin are going to have to summon that same courage that motivated "Fighting Bob," or soon they will have to change the motto on the license plates of Wisconsin from "America's Dairyland" to "Plutocrats' Paradise."

Photo: Wikimedia (CC)

Could medical marijuana turn Florida blue in 2014?

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 15:06:00 +0000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - This past Monday, the Florida Supreme Court approved a ballot measure to make medical marijuana legal in the state. The ruling was split 4-3 between liberal and conservative judges. Now Florida's voters will decide the issue this November.

As recently as December, the ballot initiative looked doomed with only roughly 120,000 of the 683,000 needed petition signatures collected. But with one week still to go, United for Care turned in 1.1 million signatures, with the needed amount verified last week.

United for Care's website says the "United for Care Campaign is run by People United for Medical Marijuana (PUFMM) - an organization formed by Kim Russell, whose grandmother - ill with glaucoma - would not break the law, despite the medical benefits that marijuana could offer her condition."

United for Care is chaired by attorney and activist John Morgan, and managed by Ben Pollara, a "veteran in Florida political affairs and advocacy." According to the organization, "Recent polling shows that over 70 percent of Floridians support the legalization of medical marijuana in our state."

But when looked at with the 2014 elections in mind, the ballot initiative may also serve as a "get out the vote" tool. David Adams and Zachary Fagenson at Reuters write: "Democrats believe it could energize their base in a midterm electoral season that generally results in low turnout, while polls show even a majority of Florida Republicans support medical marijuana use."

They go on to say the current tea party favorite Republican Gov. Rick Scott, who is running for re-election in the Sunshine State, strongly opposes the ballot initiative and stated that he will vote against it. Gov. Scott's main challenger, and former Florida governor, Charlie Crist supports medicinal marijuana and has been a public proponent of the effort to get the initiative on the ballot for 2014. The fight for medicinal marijuana "could set the stage for a political battle in a state that is both a harsh enforcer of drug laws and a major pot producer," the Reuters commentators write.

Reid Wilson at the Washington Post writes that many Republicans fear the medicinal marijuana initiative is nothing more than a "Trojan horse for the Crist campaign." According to Wilson, Republicans fear that the amendment will push turnout among younger progressive voters, who obviously will be voting Democratic in November.

With Florida's gubernatorial race this November being the only one in a big swing state, the medicinal marijuana amendment may bring about a Democratic victory with the election of former governor Crist. That would be a big blow to Republicans leading up to the 2016 presidential campaign.

Photo: Medical marijuana cultivation in Oakland, Calif. Rusty Blazenhoff CC 2.0

“Organize, organize, organize”: 16,000 boost Women’s Economic Agenda

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:07:00 +0000

Sixteen thousand participants, in a post-State-of-the-Union phone conference Wednesday night, discussed a Women's Economic Agenda for the nation. With passion and the wisdom that comes from experience, working women from across the country related their experiences of trying to decide whether to pay the rent, buy food, or pay medical bills with paychecks that are 77 percent that of men; for women of color the disparity is sharper. They also spoke of needing support in fighting for their rights on the job.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Reps. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., and Donna Edwards, D-Md., opened the discussion on behalf of women Democrats in Congress by noting that current policies do not reflect the way women and their families live their lives. They summarized proposed legislation that will benefit working women and their families.

Lilly Ledbetter, for whom the Fair Pay Act of 2009 is named, told her now famous story of how a jury awarded her pay and retirement benefits lost due to 20 years of pay inequity, only to have the U.S. Supreme Court overturn the verdict, saying she should have made inquiries earlier to see she was receiving equal pay. Because of her fight, the Equal Pay Act, known as the Lilly Ledbetter Act, was passed in 2009, but it did not overturn the court's decision.

More is needed, the women said. Even though the Equal Pay Act is supposed to assure equal pay for equal work it is often not enforced, and women who demand enforcement risk being fired, demoted or passed over for promotions.

Participants said that, though they aware that the Family and Medical Leave Act allows them to take 12 weeks of unpaid sick leave or unpaid leave to care for ill or injured children, they often face financial disaster if they take unpaid time off. One woman pointed out that only the U.S. and one other country, Papua New Guinea, do not provide paid maternity leave.

Child care is a huge financial burden for most families, the cost often equaling one parent's pay. One woman spoke of finding enough in grant money to pay for books and college tuition, then taking out a loan of $30,000 to pay for day care for her child while she finished her college degree. Another woman, noting that not all day care facilities are safe, told of her husband finding his son lethargic at the end of the day at day care. At home he was found to have a high fever. Emergency room personnel diagnosed him with pneumonia and hospitalized him.

The stories women told of trying to provide for their families, make sure their children were in affordable, safe, reliable, nurturing day care centers that will set them on a course to eventually be successful students, while frequently caring for two generations - their children, and aging parents - were compelling. Their stories showed the need for policies that address the issues working families face. President Obama's State of the Union speech was quoted: "It's time to do away with ... policies that belong in a 'Mad Men' episode."

To rectify the situation and make life bearable for women and working families, the Women's Economic Agenda includes the following proposed legislation:

* Amending the Family and Medical Leave Act to include mandatory paid leave for childbirth, child-rearing and caring for a sick or injured relative.

* Passing the Child Care Access and Refundability Expansion Act, HR 3740, introduced by Rep. Donna Edwards, which would make critical changes in tax law regarding deductions for child care costs.

* Passing the Paycheck Fairness Act, which would end secrecy regarding individual employees' pay and require that employers prove that pay is not gender-based.

* Improving the Family and Medical Leave Act so that all workers earn paid sick leave. A plan, to be administered by Social Security, to provide partial income protection for 12 weeks through paycheck deductions (about $1.50 per paycheck) has been introduced by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

The campaign is titled: "When Women Succeed, America Succeeds: An Economic Agenda for Women and Working Families."

Conference participants were urged to contact lawmakers and urge them to support the Women's Economic Agenda, and, further, to "organize, organize, organize" others in their communities, workplaces and social groups to take action.

Photo: Women organizing: Steelworkers Local 3657 Women of Steel attend the One Billion Rising rally in Pittsburgh, Pa., Feb. 14, 2013. United Steelworkers

Fake checks and Internet scams top 2013 fraud list

Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:13:00 +0000

WASHINGTON (PAI) - Fake checks and Internet scams again topped the list of most-frequent frauds, the National Consumers League reports. But in 2013, it adds, telemarketing scams are moving up.

In annual data compiled from its fraud hotline, NCL reported that fake checks accounted for almost one in every four (24.23 percent) of scams last year. But Internet scams (23 percent) and prizes and sweepstakes (22.76 percent) were not far behind.

Telemarketing is the first contact point with consumers, whom the scammers then steered to the Internet or elsewhere, NCL said. "For years, the most frequent way that consumers reported coming into contact with scammers was via websites or email. More than 36 percent of complaints to www.Fraud.org indicated that the phone was the initial method of contact, up from just over a quarter of complaints in 2012," NCL reported.

The frequent contact from scammers and the variety of ways they try to fleece consumers should put people on their guard, says NCL Executive Director Sally Greenberg. That's especially true as reports keep surfacing of the private sector's inability to protect consumers' information, she adds. NCL's anti-scam kit is on www.Fraud.org.

"Worry about consumers' vulnerability to fraud attacks has never been so great, with new headlines about the growing millions of Americans whose personal information has been stolen appearing every day," Greenberg says.

Many of the scams are intertwined. For example, though Internet scams finished second overall, 33.8 percent of the Internet scams involved fake checks. And another 33 percent involved merchandise bought on the web but never delivered.

A new twist in scams is that a second set of scammers then calls consumers offering - for a fee - to recover funds lost to the first scam. Those recovery/refund scams accounted for 1.1 percent of all calls to NCL's fraud hotline.

"Losing money to a scammer is bad enough. Unfortunately, consumers who fall victim to con artists often find their way on to lead lists that scammers buy, sell and trade amongst themselves.

"Scammers using the 'refund and recovery' fraud will pitch victims through phone calls and direct mail claiming they can recover their lost money. The catch is the victims need to pay a fee to 'recover' the losses. In fact, the pitch is just another scam designed to get even more money from victims. In 2013, this scam was the fastest-growing type of non-Internet scam reported to NCL's fraud.org campaign."

Photo: AP

Closing wealth gap tops Obama’s State of the Union

Wed, 29 Jan 2014 13:34:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - President Obama, in his 2014 State of the Union speech here last night, defined narrowing of the unprecedented wealth gap in America as a major task facing the nation.

He delivered what was essentially a call for progressive approaches on a host of issues that he passionately argued were needed to keep alive the "American dream," while having to navigate through political channels heavily circumscribed by far-right Republican obstructionism.

"No one who works full time should have to live in poverty," he declared.

To that end, the president announced he has signed an executive order requiring contractors at federal buildings to pay at least $10.10 an hour to anyone they hire from here on out.

The executive action by the man who is technically the boss of all federal workers affects future contractors, not present ones. Combined, contractors currently employ 2.2 million workers at federal government facilities, most of whom make the minimum wage, still only $7.25 an hour. They toil in serving food, cleaning floors and a host of other manual tasks.

Sarita Gupta, executive director of Jobs with Justice, was ecstatic as she listened to the president's speech in a room at AFL-CIO headquarters here. "We are thrilled that he will use his executive power to lift so many out of poverty," she said.

While the president pledged to do what he could by executive action he called upon the Congress to act also so that the minimum wage can be raised for all Americans. "Join the rest of the country," he said to Congress. "Say Yes. Give America a raise."

Democrats in the chamber rose to their feet in applause.

When the speech was over, however, Republicans began blasting the president for operating an "imperial presidency." GOP House Majority Leader John Boehner said the president should not be proposing or doing anything without congressional approval. Progressive lawmakers, however, scored the GOP on the issue.

"So much of what the president has tried to do whether it's raising the minimum wage or immigration reform has been blocked. He has a responsibility to act and they have left him no choice," said Ohio's Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown.

"Not one in the Republican caucus will come to meet the president half way," said Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. "When he put forward a stimulus package much smaller than what he actually wanted and when he backed a version of health care reform that included many Republican ideas, still not one Republican came out to back him."

AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka praised the president for "discussing the need to create good jobs by investing in our country - investing in education, rebuilding our infrastructure, technology and manufacturing - and addressing our energy challenges by creating green jobs."

But he warned that much more had to be done. "We can't create good jobs if our trade policies turn around and ship those jobs overseas. We have to have trade that works for workers, not just for global corporations," said Trumka. Agreeing with the president, Trumka said, "Now it's time for Congress to take action and raise the minimum wage for all Americans, to literally put their money where their mouths are on dangerous levels of inequality in America. The minimum wage hasn't been raised since 2007. It's time we finally raise it to $10.10 an hour."

"We will continue to push our nation's leaders and corporations to put an end to poverty wages in our country," Trumka added.

The president said more needs to be done to end the wage gap between men and women. He noted that although women are half the workforce they get only 77 cents on each dollar paid to men. "In 2014 this is an embarrassment," he declared. When he called out loud for equal pay for equal work, even many Republicans stood to applaud. "I just hope they all vote with us on equal pay," said Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar after the speech.

The president called upon Congress to extend the federal unemployment benefits recently lost by millions of the long-term unemployed and he didn't hesitate to name names.

"Extend the benefits that you allowed to expire," he demanded of the Republican-controlled House. "The long-term unemployed need our help now but as a nation we need them even more for the long term future. We need everyone on board to have a strong economy. You can do it. Give these people that chance." Again his supporters in the chamber rose up in applause.

Liz Shuler, the AFL-CIO's secretary treasurer, noted that youth unemployment is an issue she would have liked to see addressed more strongly. "Youth unemployment rates are double the average," she said, "and we have to get serious about creating jobs for them."

On another topic, "If we are serious about economic growth," the president told the Congress, "Fix our broken immigration system."

He did not specify that lawmakers should pass the compromise bill crafted in the Senate, a bill that would provide a path to citizenship for 11 million undocumented workers in the country. He also did not mention ending deportations. "Every day more than a thousand people are being torn from their families and this must be stopped," said Tefere Gebre, the AFL-CIO's executive vice president, after the speech.

The president also tackled the issue of voting rights. He noted, essentially, that a country serious about being a democracy cannot allow people to lose the right to vote. He called for passage of the Voting Rights Amendment bill of 2014, a bipartisan attempt to preserve the Voting Rights Act gutted by the Supreme Court and to stop attacks on voting rights by tea party Republicans in many states.

On foreign policy he declared that the country cannot afford to remain on a "permanent war footing" and that ultimately, "adherence to our constitutional values" will go further than just military action in guarding national security. He highlighted the coming end to the longest war in U.S. history - Afghanistan.

He said that this would require reform to ensure that NSA surveillance programs do not violate privacy rights and that Congress should act to finally shut down Guantanamo. He also vowed to curb what many consider immoral and illegal drone attacks.

Most dramatically, he warned Republicans who have been threatening to sabotage the administration's nuclear arms talks with Iran: "If Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now to derail these talks I will veto it."

The president said his administration's use of diplomacy has had a number of good results including elimination of chemical weapons by Syria and rolling back of nuclear weapons development by Iran. "Leadership is determined more by the ability to free people from want and fear than it is by just imposing military strength," Obama said.

The president spent some time on energy policy and climate change, threading the political needle by trumpeting rising clean energy production, lower carbon pollution, higher fuel efficiency, and at the same time increasing oil and gas drilling on federal lands while keeping natural resources "pristine." Throwing down the gauntlet to climate deniers, he said, "[T]he debate is settled. Climate change is a fact."

On health care the president noted the recent rapid growth in numbers signing up for the Affordable Care Act, noting that nine million have now gotten insurance through new private plans or Medicaid expansion in the states.

He introduced a woman who signed up on Jan.1 and got insured. A few days later she had a health emergency and needed expensive surgery which, had she been uninsured, would have bankrupted her.

Then he asked Republicans to stop introducing bills to kill the Affordable Care Act. "Let's not have another 40-something votes to repeal a law that's already helping millions of Americans like Amanda. The first 40 were plenty," he said.

Photo: Larry Downing/AP

Medicaid fight in Virginia takes off

Tue, 28 Jan 2014 14:11:00 +0000

The new Democratic governor of Virginia, Terry McAuliffe, is pushing hard for Virginia to join 26 states and the District of Colombia which have signed onto the Affordable Care Act's (ACA's) Medicaid Expansion Program.

But although Democrats occupy all three top executive offices of state government (besides McAuliffe, Ralph Northam was elected lieutenant governor and Mark Herring state Attorney General in November), Republicans have a solid majority in the House of Delegates (the lower house of the Virginia legislature) and a decision of the majority in the Virginia Senate depends on a recount of Northam's former Senate seat, which was won by Democrat Lynwood Lewis by only 9 votes.

The Republican leadership is solidly against Medicaid expansion. Nevertheless, McAuliffe says he may push for executive authority to implement Medicare expansion, if the legislature does not act.

Virginia politician brag about theirs being a prosperous state with a low unemployment level (5.4 percent). However, this seeming prosperity is obtained at the cost of low wages and benefits for many workers. Virginia is a so-called "right to work state" with an extremely low level of unionization (4.4 percent in 2012, compared to a national average of around 11 percent).

The average weekly wage in Virginia is higher than the national norm, but this is deceptive. The higher wage levels are all concentrated in the Washington D.C. suburbs and exurbs in Northern Virginia and a few other places, and result to a large extent from economic activities of the federal government and its contractors. In much of the rest of the state, including the depressed coal mining areas of Appalachia and rural, agricultural communities, wages are low.

In other words, Virginia is a state with a large number of working poor.

One of the things that this implies is that many workers in Virginia do not have access to workplace-sponsored health insurance, a thing generally associated with strong unions and higher wages. This means that the Medicaid expansion, covering poor and disabled people, was meant for places like Virginia.

The Republican legislative leadership sees Medicaid expansion as a wasteful giveaway that might spoil Virginia's attraction for investors. Like the right in other areas of the country, they also take the attitude that the poor have only themselves to blame for their poverty and get too much government help as it is. And they have invested so much political capital in attacking "Obamacare" that switching to supporting Medicaid expansion might seem like a climb-down.

It is no wonder that Virginia is in 48^th place in state spending for Medicaid, with a million of its 8.3 million residents lacking health insurance. Should Medicaid be expanded in Virginia, about 400,000 of these would be qualified for coverage. Not only labor but the state Chamber of Commerce supports expansion. The sequester cut federal help to health care institutions, which see Medicaid expansion as making up for that loss. As many as 30,000 jobs in the health care field could be created via Medicaid expansion, increasing the income tax flow to both state and federal governments at a very low cost.

During the 2013 Virginia elections for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and the House of Delegates, gubernatorial candidate McAuliffe and other Democratic Party candidates ran on a platform that included Medicaid expansion under ACA, which had been opposed by then Governor Bob McDonnell and the Republicans. If the Democrats get a majority in the Senate, they can make headway there, but in the House of Delegates, there will be a real problem.

On Monday January 20, Governor McAuliffe went on the offensive. He announced that if the legislature's body working on the issue, the Medical Innovation and Reform Commission (MIRC), does not, by the time the legislative session ends in March, authorize expanding Medicaid to 400,000 more people, the legislature should authorize him to do the job.

The governor's statement immediately generated a hostile response from Republicans, who essentially said that they want the task to stay in the hands of the MIRC as a way of killing Medicaid expansion.

This seems to indicate a prolonged standoff. But a new study by the state's office in charge of Medicaid, released on Thursday, may give McAuliffe more ammunition. It shows that the expansion of Medicaid would save the state almost a $1 billion through 2022, instead of costing it $137 million as previously thought. Under the law, the federal government pays for the whole of Medicaid expansion for the first three years, and the states kick in up to a maximum of 10 percent thereafter.

The Republican Chairman of the House of Delegates' Appropriations Committee, Delegate Chris Jones, told the media that he had not had a chance to study the new report, but that he would oppose Medicaid expansion anyway, on principle.

Image: Virginia AFL-CIO

Dark-money groups building campaign for "right to work" in Pa.

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:42:00 +0000

KUTZTOWN, Pa. - The never-ending push for right to work (for less) legislation in Pennsylvania is on the move again, but this time there's more of a tangible campaign targeting the conservative base. For 14 straight years, State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe has introduced some form of right to work legislation, but this year's legislation was introduced by State Rep. Bryan Cutler (Lancaster, Pa). Last January, Jen Stefano from the Koch brothers-funded Americans for Prosperity in Pennsylvania held a press conference with Rep. Metcalfe and announced that the legislation will become law. Currently, it appears that dark-money groups tied to right-wing think tanks like The Franklin Center and Greenhouse Solutions are teaming up with a conservative activist from southeastern Pennsylvania, and are astroturfing a social media campaign by using Facebook and Twitter accounts to push anti-union news and rhetoric from "independent" media outlets.

The players in this story are Simon Campbell - a conservative grassroots activist from Yardley, Pa., dark money think tanks, and astro-turfed media and social media outlets. Simon Campbell is a local conservative activist from Bucks County. He jumped on the scene in 2005 when he was elected to the Pennsbury School District. The cause-celebre he ran on was a teacher bashing and anti-teacher strike platform. While sitting on the Pennsbury School Board, Campbell started Stop Teachers Strike. In 2013, Campbell's four-year term on the local school board was up and he and his colleagues were sent off board. Weeks after the election, Campbell founded a 501.4(c) organization called Pennsylvanians For Union Reform, and thanks to his non-profit social welfare status, Campbell's group is able to receive a whole lot of dark money. Campbell's resume as a right-wing activist has him giving speeches at luncheons or sitting on training sessions at Koch-funded think tanks like the statewide Commonwealth Foundation and Americans for Prosperity.

Then there's a growing social media campaign. It appears that Campbell has been running a Pennsylvanians for Union Reform Facebook page since June 2013, and has amassed over 20,000 followers. That's either one hell of a grassroots campaign or Campbell's group has a few thousand sitting aside for social media promotion. The page regularly posts stories from Pennsylvania media outlets that deal with union issues, but the majority of the posts come from two "independent" media outlets, Media Trackers and Watchdog Wire. Out of the two media outlets, Media Trackers is more savvy when it comes to hiding their funding sources and who is actually writing their articles. According to their website, Media Trackers describes itself as follows:

"Media Trackers is dedicated to media accountability, government transparency, and quality fact-based journalism. Our site examines stories published in the mainstream media, explores claims made by some of the more partisan political groups, and provides the facts on the issues, people and elections that matter."

A 2012 Mother Jones article described Media Trackers as:

"Conservatives have their think tanks, dozens of them at the state and national level. They also have a corporate-funded legislation mill in the American Legislative Exchange Council. What conservatives lacked, Ryun told the donors, were nimble attack blogs that could quickly capitalize on the latest missteps by big-government politicians or the "liberal" media - essentially hard-hitting, opposition-research-style shops that prize scoops, speed, and scandal over policy briefs and press conferences. His pitch: Create a network of one- and two-man digital media outlets with low overhead, rapid response, and a nose for controversy.

The donors loved it. They ponied up seed money in the low six figures, and Ryun's conservative attack machine, Media Trackers, was born. Bonus: As a nonprofit, Media Trackers can keep the identities of those donors secret."

To obtain their non-profit status, Media Trackers changed their name to Greenhouse Solutions during the 2013 IRS scandal, claiming that a liberal sounding name will ease the process. When looking for Media Trackers' journalists or blog staff, some of their writers were from the Heartland Institute, a Rick Perry adviser, and a former journalist with the Washington Examiner.

The second fake independent media outlet involved in this campaign is Watchdog Wire, whose Twitter account describes it as a "project of the Franklin Institute." Watchdog Wire's media outlet is run by the Franklin Center's communications department. Under the Franklin Center's staff page, it lists Watchdog Wire's staff. The Franklin Center also has ties to two Pennsylvania groups, the Commonwealth Foundation, a right-wing think tank, and the Pennsylvania Independent, one of those "independent media" outlets. Sourcewatch describes The Franklin Center's ties to statewide think tanks like the Commonwealth Foundation:

"Franklin Center Director of Communications Michael Moroney told the Center for Public Integrity (CPI) in 2013 that the source of the Franklin Center's funding "is 100 percent anonymous." But 95 percent of its 2011 funding came from DonorsTrust, a spin-off of the Philanthropy Roundtable that functions as a large "donor-advised fund," cloaking the identity of donors to right-wing causes across the country (CPI did a review of Franklin's Internal Revenue Service records).^[18] Mother Jones called DonorsTrust "the dark-money ATM of the conservative movement" in a February 2013 article.^[19]Franklin received DonorTrust's second-largest donation in 2011.^[18]

The Franklin Center also receives funding from the Wisconsin-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation,^[20] a conservative grant-making organization.^[21]

The Franklin Center was launched by the Chicago-based Sam Adams Alliance (SAM),^[22] a 501(c)(3) devoted to pushing free-market ideals. SAM gets funding from the State Policy Network,^[23] which is partially funded by The Claude R. Lambe Foundation.^[24] Charles Koch, one of the billionaire brothers who co-own Koch Industries, sits on the board of this foundation.^[25] SAM also receives funding from the Rodney Fund."

What we are witnessing are the cogs turning in the right-wing infrastructure gearing up for an attack on public sector workers in 2014. There has been a quiet 14-year movement to make "right to work" a possibility in Pennsylvania, and now the volume is being ratcheted up a few notches. We are witnessing a "grassroots," [supposedly] social welfare, non-profit group that has the potential to collect dark money, run a social media campaign that is pushing for one issue: screwing workers' rights. The social media campaign, run by Pennsylvanians for Union Reform, is constantly pushing anti-union rhetoric from dark money-dominated non-profit media outlets, like Media Trackers, or the Koch Brother-funded Franklin Center's communication's department at Watchdog Wire. This is how the right-wing infrastructure, with all their minions, all their think tanks and all their communications departments, is going to try to undercut labor laws in Pennsylvania just like they did in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, and Florida in 2011.

This article originally appeared at Raging Chicken Press.

Photo: Union workers protest Right to Work in Indianapolis. Darron Cummings/AP

Edward Snowden holds Twitter Q&A session

Fri, 24 Jan 2014 16:35:00 +0000

Whistleblower Edward Snowden, who uncovered the National Security Agency's invasive domestic surveillance program, took questions from Twitter users on Jan. 23, tackling queries about civil liberties, whether all spying is inherently wrong, and more. Users flocked to the social network, following the hashtag #AskSnowden. Many people are growing increasingly concerned about what they view as an assault on their privacy, with the NSA having collected phone and email records from millions of average Americans.

One of the issues on which Snowden commented was that of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board's criticism of NSA spying. The Board (PCLOB) is an independent agency within the U.S. government's executive branch, which ensures that civil liberties are not trampled upon during implementation of laws and policies connected to terrorism.

Snowden remarked, "The federal government's PCLOB report on the NSA's massive phone surveillance today (which stated the NSA has spied on at least 120,000,000 American phones) stated: 'We are aware of no instance in which the program directly contributed to the discovery of a previously unknown terrorist plot or the disruption of a terrorist attack.' When even the federal government says the NSA failed to uncover even a single 'plot,' it's time to end 'bulk collection,' which is a euphemism for mass surveillance. There is simply no justification for continuing an unconstitutional policy with a zero percent success rate."

When asked if democracy could recover from the damage the NSA has done to the civil liberties of American citizens and "netizens," Snowden replied, "Yes. What makes our country strong is our system of values, not a snapshot of the structure of our agencies or the framework of our laws. We can correct the laws, restrain the overreach of agencies, and hold the senior officials responsible for abusive programs to account."

"Not all spying is bad," he added measuredly, in a reply to another question. "The biggest problem we face right now is the new technique of indiscriminate mass surveillance, where governments are seizing billions and billions and billions of innocents' communication every single day. This is done not because it's necessary, but because new technologies make it easy and cheap.

"I think a person should be able to dial a number, make a purchase, send an SMS, write an email, or visit a website without having to think about what it's going to look like on their permanent record. It's not good for our country, it's not good for the world, and I wasn't going to stand by and watch it happen, no matter how much it cost me."

One of the topics Snowden seemed to steer clear of was President Obama's Jan. 17 speech on NSA spying. Many felt that his talk of reforming the NSA's surveillance policy was not bold and directive enough. According to a national survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 50 percent claimed they didn't even know about the president's proposed reforms, and 73 percent said the reforms will make no difference to protections on people's privacy.

Wikileaks founder and publisher Julian Assange commented on the speech, remarking that at least whistleblowers like Snowden "have forced this debate." However, he added, "This president has been dragged, kicking and screaming, to the [Jan. 17] address. He's been very reluctant to make any concrete reforms."

Others believe the president is attempting to walk a middle ground, and that his idea for reforms would have "data still consolidated in one place, but searches [that] will require judicial approval or a 'real emergency.' "

But a middle ground may not be enough. Said Snowden, "This is a global problem, and America needs to take the lead in fixing it. The NSA and the rest of the U.S. intelligence community are exceptionally well positioned to meet our intelligence requirements through targeted surveillance - the same way we've always done it - without resorting to the mass surveillance of entire populations.

"When we're sophisticated enough to be able to break into any device in the world we want to (up to and including Angela Merkel's phone, if reports are to be believed), there's no excuse for wasting our time collecting the call records of grandmothers in Missouri."

Photo: AP

Moral Mondays expanded in North Carolina

Thu, 23 Jan 2014 14:52:00 +0000

On Feb. 8, the Moral Monday movement, which showed massive momentum in 2013, will return with its biggest event yet, the Moral March on Raleigh. While the state of North Carolina has been moving in a more Democratic direction in recent years in presidential elections, with Barack Obama winning the state in 2008 and coming just two percentage points of winning it again in 2012, extremist Republicans have taken control of the governor's mansion and the state Assembly.

The Moral March on Raleigh will call out North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, state House Speaker Thom Tillis (R), and state Senate Leader Phil Berger (R) and their extreme policies, which have included attacks on voting rights, education, the environment, health care and women's rights. Organizers expect tens of thousands of North Carolinians to stand up for their rights and fight back against these extreme policies on Feb. 8.

The Moral Monday movement was organized by the Rev. William Barber II, head of the North Carolina NAACP, which staged protests in Raleigh and throughout the state last year. The events were launched in conjunction with another organization headed by Barber, the Historic Thousands on Jones Street (HKonJ) People's Assembly Coalition, and have been supported by more than 150 other organizations. The 13 Moral Monday events in Raleigh in 2013 led to nearly 1,000 arrests for civil disobedience, while events in dozens of other cities around the state helped raise awareness about the strange games afoot in the state capital.

Kenneth Quinnell wrote this article which appeared this week in the AFL-CIO Now Blog

Photo: Thousands take part in a Moral Monday demonstration in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tim Wheeler/PW

Thousands in Seattle march on MLK Day for $15 wage

Wed, 22 Jan 2014 14:22:00 +0000

SEATTLE - More than 5,000 protesters marched through downtown Seattle on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day chanting, "Raise the minimum wage now!" and holding placards with the message "$15 NOW!"

The crowd was a rainbow of races and nationalities; African American, Asian American, Latino, Pacific Islander, and white all marching on the theme, "Rise Up! Restore the Dream."

Union school teachers marched against "high stakes" tests that high school students and teachers in Seattle went on strike against last fall; Sierra Club members opposed to global climate change marched against the coal trains energy monopolies plan to route through Seattle on their way to China; peace marchers carried a huge balloon in the shape of a missile emblazoned with the words, "Abolish Nuclear Weapons."

But biggest of all were the banners and placards reflecting the surging battle in Seattle to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour.

Thousands of union members dressed in their union caps and jackets marched with their children behind the banner of the King County Labor Council -Unite-Here; International Association of Machinists; Ironworkers; United Food and Commercial Workers; Carpenters; and many more.

The crowd staged a rally in Westlake Park in downtown Seattle at the conclusion of the march.

Jenette Sanchez, employed by a property management firm in Ballard, was there with her two children. "Rent for a studio apartment in Ballard starts at $1,300 a month in a newly constructed building," Sanchez told the People's World. "And the rents are just going up. There is a lot of gentrification in that part of Seattle. I couldn't afford those higher rents myself if I factor in rent and health care insurance for myself and my two children."

Standing nearby with her husband and children was Shantel Patu, executive director of Urban Family Center, a non-profit organization that assists low income earners in Seattle.

"I think the people not only deserve to be in community with each other, they deserve to be able to provide for their families as well," she told the PW "The cost of everything is going up, food, rent. The only thing that is not going up is wages."

Speaking from the platform was socialist Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant, elected last fall largely on the basis of her call for a $15 minimum wage in Seattle.

She reminded the crowd that Dr. King died leading the "Poor People's Campaign" half a century ago. "There were 40 million poor people 50 years ago. Has it gone down since then?" she thundered.

The crowd roared back "No!"

She charged that poverty has surged, especially among youth and single mothers, as the 1 percent billionaires raked in all the increased wealth leaving the poor with shrinking incomes.

"We're talking about building a movement, a fight for the 99 percent," Sawant said. "all the people who have been marginalized.... I am not going to be able to build in your neighborhood. You must build the movement in your neighborhood."

Before the march, the crowd packed the Garfield High School gym for a rally. King County Executive Dow Constantine presented a citation honoring King County Councilmember, Larry Gossett, for his decades of leading the struggle for progressive change that included the fight to change the name of King County---named for a former slaveowner---to Martin Luther King. Jr. County. Gossett is the chairperson of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration Committee and has built the King celebration here into one of the biggest in the nation.

Newly elected Mayor Ed Murray commented on the Seahawks victory over the 49ers a day earlier here. He told the crowd he won bets with the mayors of New Orleans and San Francisco that Seattle's football team would win. Now he is betting the Mayor of Denver that the Seahawks will defeat the Broncos in the Superbowl. "Am I going to win?"

The crowd roared "Yes!"

But then Murray added, "We should be a leader not just in football but also in affordable housing and the minimum wage."

Again the crowd roared agreement.

Rep. Adam Smith, D-Wash., who represents parts of King County and including SeaTac, where he grew up, said, "Who would have imagined that SeaTac would be leading the nationwide movement to raise the minimum wage."

He was referring to a ballot initiative approved by SeaTac voters last fall to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour---partly struck down by a pro-corporate judge. The ruling is being appealed.

Washington State's minimum wage, highest in the nation, is now $9.32 per hour, rising Jan. 1 from $9.19 an hour due to a cost-of-living escalator. Thirteen other states have already raised their minimum wage this year or will in the months ahead.

The federal minimum is now $7.25 per hour. Democratic senators plan to push for an increase to $10.10 per hour in 2014, a key issue in the 2014 elections.

Rep. Smith said his father toiled as a baggage handler at SeaTac Airport earning a union wage with benefits. "Today, a worker doing the same job, earns less than my dad earned. We are headed in the wrong direction. Income inequality is the biggest problem we have."

Photo: Tim Wheeler/PW

Corrected 1/28/14: An earlier version of this article incorrectly spelled Councilmember Kshama Sawant's name.

Hartford rising for Community Bill of Rights

Wed, 22 Jan 2014 13:39:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Holding hands and singing, "we shall overcome," community leaders, activists, and parents of public school students gathered here at J.C. Clark Elementary and Middle School on Martin Luther King Day to call for a "Community Bill of Rights" that would address the triple evils of "racism, militarism, and consumerism" King warned of.

The multi-racial rally, called in the spirit of Dr. King's 1964 poor people's campaign, was held in Hartford's North End, one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the nation. The 2011 Census reports that 36 percent of the largely African American and Latino population live below the official poverty level, blocks away from the headquarters of the world's wealthiest insurance companies.

"Today we honor Dr. King, and the inspiring work that he did, by making a commitment to righting societal wrongs," declared Rev. A.J. Johnson of Urban Hope Refuge Church. He called for ordinances and legislation to address the needs of single parents and people returning from prison in the community.

Hartford Rising, the coalition that organized the rally, is hosting a meeting at Rev. Johnson's church on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 6 p.m. to begin drafting a Community Bill of Rights to be delivered to the Hartford City Council and all elected officials.

The social contract will seek to address the city's high employment, disparities in civil rights, income inequality, and lack of a quality public education for all its students.

Hartford's official 13.1 percent unemployment rate is twice the city's unemployment rate in 1964. Real unemployment in the North End is estimated at more than 50 percent, including discouraged workers who have stopped looking and part time workers who need full time jobs. For youth, it is much higher.

Rob Harrison, an alumni of Clark School, was at the rally because he wants to see jobs with livable wages and decent benefits that can make a strong, thriving community. "We are coming together because we want change," he said calling for "systems that work."

Parents, teachers and paraprofessionals all spoke on behalf of the need for improved public schools. State Rep. Edwin Vargas, a past president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, said he is excited about Hartford Rising because "our communities have been pitted against each other for profiteering." He said "neighborhood schools should get the same attention and services that the so-called model schools are getting."

Joshua Hall, vice president of the Hartford Federation of Teachers, holding his small son, said people are coming together so that little ones like his son "can grow up in a world and community that is safe and nurtured with the best education possible."

"We believe that mass incarceration is shattering our communities," said Kennard Ray, political and legislative director of Working Families Party. "That is why we are committed to insuring that Hartford's ban-the-box law actually protects ex-offenders from discrimination in hiring."

City Council Minority Leader Larry Deutsch, Working Families Party, welcomed the Bill of Rights initiative and urged that demands, not just requests, be brought to elected bodies.

A video with highlights of the rally is posted at Hartford Rising.

Photo: Joelle Fishman/PW

Call in: New developments in international socialist and communist movement

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 13:54:00 +0000

At tonight's monthly People's World teleconference, Susan Webb, co-editor of the People's World, will talk about new developments in the world communist and worker's movement.

Webb represented the CPUSA at the 15^th Meeting of Communist and Workers Parties Nov. 2013 in Lisbon, Portugal. She will discuss the issues and answer your questions.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis of 2008, Communist and workers' parties worldwide have had varying experiences, and are employing various strategies and tactics and drawing different conclusions about how to advance the struggle for social justice and socialism.

Hear about new approaches taken by Brazilian, South African, and Cuban Communist Parties. What's the difference in respective approaches of Communist Parties of Greece and Cyprus?

What can we learn? What is the position of the Communist Party USA?

Find out. Call in tonight, January 21, 2014, at 8 pm. ET, 7 pm CT, 6 pm MT, and 5 pm PT. Dial 605-475-4850 and enter the code 1053538# after you hear the prompt. Don't miss out!

Court strikes down FCC rules, threatening “net neutrality”

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 12:07:00 +0000

The U.S. Court of Appeals struck down the "net neutrality" rules established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) last week in the case of Verizon v. FCC. Net neutrality is the policy that required broadband providers to treat all Internet traffic equally regardless of the source or consumer.

The Preserving the Open Internet order - which was adopted by the FCC in December, 2010 - mandated broadband providers disclose information regarding their network and services, prohibited blocking lawful content, and forbade "unreasonable discrimination" regarding data or services. Many advocacy groups and progressive politicians at the time criticized the rules for not going far enough to limit corporate control of the Internet.

The FCC website states, "the 'Open Internet' is the Internet as we know it. It's open because it uses free, publicly available standards that anyone can access and build to, and it treats all traffic that flows across the network in roughly the same way."

Verizon, one of the big cable television and telephone monopolies that provide broadband Internet access, appealed the FCC ruling, leading to this week's decision.

Tuesday's ruling effectively allows Internet Service Providers (ISPs) such as Time Warner Cable, Verizon, etc. to make deals with content providers like Netflix or Facebook to provide faster or more reliable service. Broadband providers could even block or limit Internet content that competed with the providers own services or with their media partners. The Court ruled that the FCC had no jurisdiction to regulate ISPs but upheld transparency rules and the commission's ability "to promulgate rules governing broadband providers' treatment of Internet traffic."

A wide range of organizations, businesses and individuals from across the political spectrum have spoken out against the ruling. Groups like the Free Press (which maintains the net neutrality clearinghouse Save the Internet), the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Voices for Internet Freedom, a coalition of organizations in communities of color fighting to protect the open Internet, have all noted the danger of the Court's ruling.

Many labor and civil rights groups have supported the idea of the Internet as an essential utility and called for guaranteeing equal access and broadband development into under-served communities and regions.

Journalists and consumer advocates worry that big companies could gain great advantage in reaching consumers by paying for digital access lanes, leaving independent media stuck in digital gridlock.

Proponents of net neutrality say the implications could be even more dire, saying ISPs could also establish "tiered service," slowing service for basic customers and giving priority to data for premier customers able and willing to pay for improved service.

As many people across the country turn to ISPs for phone service, news, and other essential services, the end of net neutrality could spell an end-run along public utility regulations that have existed in communications networks for nearly a century.

Consumer advocates have said this week that the FCC can still make new rules the ensure net neutrality and the continue to regulate ISPs as utility providers.

Barbara Stripling, president of the American Library Association, said in a press statement, "The court's decision gives commercial companies the astounding legal authority to block Internet traffic, give preferential treatment to certain Internet services or applications, and steer users to or away from certain web sites based on their own commercial interests. This ruling, if it stands, will adversely affect the daily lives of Americans and fundamentally change the open nature of the Internet, where uncensored access to information has been a hallmark of the communication medium since its inception."

Photo: Save the Internet blog

Pennsylvania's GOP Gov. Corbett a “no show” on schools

Tue, 21 Jan 2014 11:58:00 +0000

PHILADELPHIA - Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, struggling to rescue his re-election campaign, made news here today. Headlines this morning announced that the Governor will propose a $200 million increase in education funding for public schools across the state in his annual budget address Feb. 4. However, the news met with more skepticism than approval.

The reports suggested that the funding would likely come from reductions elsewhere in the state budget rather than from new revenue. While the Governor's office was not releasing "any details of the proposal," sources speculated that $100 million would come from "reform" in the state and public school employee pension funds.

Such proposals have already been widely panned as "robbing Peter to pay Paul" schemes. A Pennsylvania State Education Association (PSEA) spokesperson observed that the proposed increase would still leave the state's education spending around $700 million below the annual levels of 2010-2011, the year Corbett was elected.

Corbett's political stock appeared to take another hit before the morning was over when it developed that he had canceled a widely publicized appearance at the city's prestigious Central High School. The cancellation was announced to a crowd of several hundred demonstrators who had gathered outside on the school grounds to protest the Governor's appearance at an assembly program. Parent activist Helen Gym energized the crowd when she opened the rally by announcing that she had just learned that Corbett had "bailed" and had decided not to show up.

The protest rally was organized by a coalition of education and community groups and school employee unions. The coalition has conducted a high profile and sustained campaign to bring attention to the devastating program cuts which have followed in the wake of the state budget reductions during Corbett's one term in office.

A notable feature of the coalition has been the activism of local clergy and they were out in force this morning. Reverend Alyn Waller of Enon Tabernacle Church in North Philadelphia noted the diversity of the crowd saying, "We are demonstrating our ability to come together around issues. This is not a black problem or a white problem; it is not Christian, Muslim, or atheist problem." His message for Corbett: "We want the billion dollars back. We have demonstrated today that we can pull people together who have the ability to vote you out!"

Coalition members distributed literature at the rally documenting the staff and program cuts to the three schools that Corbett was expected to visit during the day. None of the schools has a functioning library or any librarian to staff one. Central High, for example has cut its full time staff from 154 to 112, or over 20 percent since 2011. It has cut its counseling staff from eight to two, or 75 percent. And, as speakers noted, this was at one of the school district's elite special admission schools. Neighborhood schools have in many cases fared even worse, and nearly 30 have been closed.

Teachers union (PFT) President Jerry Jordan told the crowd that Corbett's actions in office had "gutted" the state funding formula established in 2008 designed to help poorer districts improve their educational programs. Several speakers echoed the theme that the problem is statewide and not confined to Philadelphia. The press has reported that a total of some 20,000 teachers and staff have been laid off statewide, and that many of Pennsylvania's 500 school districts had eliminated or scaled back counseling, athletic and early childhood programs.

Jerome Mondesire, head of the Philadelphia chapter of the NAACP told the crowd that his three grown children had attended the schools that Corbett was slated to visit and that his son had asked him, "Dad, what are you going to do about this?" His answer was to come and speak at the rally and urge everyone to make sure to work and vote in the November election.

A field of eight Democrats is vying in the May primary election to challenge Corbett in November. To date they have run constructive campaigns and have concentrated their fire on the Governor rather than each other.

Before the day was over, in a further blow to Republican hopes, the news came that a Commonwealth Court judge had thrown out the state's controversial voter ID law, ruling that it unfairly targeted elderly and low income groups who tend to vote Democrat.

Photo: Ben Sears/PW

Youth battle for social change in St. Louis

Fri, 17 Jan 2014 15:19:00 +0000

ST. LOUIS - In a society where the national student debt totals $1.1 trillion, it is more important than ever to lift young activists up and support them in their efforts to organize and create social change. Young Activists United St. Louis (YSTL), a St. Louis non-profit, does just that.

Periodically, YSTL recognizes a new young leader as director of the organization. The year 2014 marks a change in leadership from UMSL student Alice Floros to student and Show Me15 fast food Organizer, Rasheen Aldridge.

"What's so great about YSTL is that they help you develop into an organizer, whether you're already active or you're like me, and didn't even know what organizing was a year ago," Rasheen Alridge remarked in his speech at the organization's ceremoniously themed "New Year, New Organizer" fundraiser at Blank Space on January 11.

YSTL, which celebrated its second birthday in June, has named many accomplishments within the past year. Focusing on higher education issues, the organization launched its student debt campaign in the fall of 2012. The campaign began with a student debt conference in which Missourians of all generations gathered to talk about student debt, tuition hikes, and financial literacy in schools. Subsequently, YSTL organized several actions around student debt.

Another point of pride for the organization is the time and resources that it puts into young leaders. Over the past year members attended trainings that included the National Student Power Convergence, a direct action training by United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS), and the Midwest Student Debt Conference.

YSTL has also given students a platform to talk about their personal experiences with higher education issues. In 2013 member Emily Koehler, accompanied by members of the United States Student Association, attended a meeting with Sallie Mae CEOs and Executives to present demands about improving conditions for student borrowers.

Koehler has student loan debt from Sallie Mae, and has used her involvement with YSTL to become a part of a larger activist movement.

"Young Activists United makes it a priority to not only develop young leaders in St. Louis, but also presents them with opportunities to collaborate and advance across movements," she says.

The recent year also marks a growth in media coverage for the organization and its members. Both Koehler and member Derek Wetherell received national attention for their student debt stories in a recent Wall Street Journal article, while YSTL Campus Coordinator Courtney Hayes shared her experience in the Riverfront Times.

In the coming year, Aldridge plans to continue to expand YSTL's membership. "I'm excited for the new year and some big plans that we have in the works," he says. "I'll be focusing on recruiting more Community College based students from STLCC, Harris-Stowe, and UMSL."

YSTL will also be partnering with Missouri Jobs with Justice to gather signatures for an early voting ballot initiative, and will be working on voter registration at college campuses.

To find out more about YSTL you can follow them on Twitter, Facebook, or check out their website.

Photo: Elyse Vesser

GOP tries to pit immigrants against unemployed

Fri, 17 Jan 2014 14:07:00 +0000

Senate Democrats were unable to get cloture Jan. 14 on a bill to extend federal unemployment benefits for people who have run out of eligibility without having been able to find work (the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act, S 1845).

Cloture (closing of debate) for this bill would have meant an up-down vote on the bill in the Senate, and failure to get it means the bill can be filibustered. Cloture requires a three-fifths vote, 60 votes, but the motion got only 55 yeas (52 Democrats, 1 Republican and 2 Independents) as opposed to 45 nays (44 Republicans and one Democrat). This leaves at least 1.3 million long-term unemployed in the lurch. However, the effort will continue after the Martin Luther King holiday and beyond, if necessary.

One maneuver that some Republicans tried, and will try again, has raised especial indignation. This was a proposal by Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., to play off the interests of the unemployed against those of undocumented immigrants and their families. This is not exactly a new tactic for Republicans and the right, but in Ayotte's proposal there is a new twist: to deny the Child Tax Credit on federal income taxes to people who don't have Social Security numbers.

Undocumented immigrants cannot be issued Social Security numbers, but in the interests of maximizing tax revenues, the Internal Revenue Service allows them to obtain and use another number, the Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN, to put on their 1040s and other tax documents. Undocumented immigrants like to do this because it shows that they are doing their best to pay their federal income taxes, a factor in their favor if they have, at some point, a chance of legalizing their status in the country. It also helps to document the fact that undocumented workers do indeed pay taxes. If eventually an immigration reform bill permitting mass legalization of the undocumented is passed by Congress and signed by the president, records of having done their best to pay their federal income taxes could be a major factor in determining who gets legalized and who not.

Undocumented workers are also enabled thereby to pay billions into the Social Security and Medicare systems, even though they are not eligible for benefits from them.

Ayotte's proposal would specifically prevent people who file their taxes using the ITIN from claiming the Child Tax Credit. This would severely impact, to the tune of an estimated $1,800 per year, families in which one or both breadwinners are undocumented (the average household income for undocumented immigrants is currently estimated at about $21,000). And Ayotte and her colleagues know perfectly well that there are a great many families, especially but not exclusively in the Latino, Asian and African immigrant communities, which are "mixed status." Affected would be the household budgets of the estimated 4 to 5 million U.S. citizen children whose family breadwinners are undocumented.

The Ayotte proposal, which has come up in various forms before, was presented in the service of the GOP idea that if long-term unemployment payments are extended, they must be balanced off by cuts in other budgetary items. Raising taxes on the upper-income strata is of course not acceptable to these lawmakers, any more than is the idea of cutting the bloated military budget or subsidies to massive agribusiness corporations.

Photo: AFL-CIO Facebook page

Oklahoma LGBT activists with a potential big win

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 13:43:00 +0000

On Tuesday, January 14, many LGBT and equality activists received a big but gleeful surprise when U.S. District Court Judge Terence C. Kern ruled the Oklahoma state amendment limiting marriage as a "union of one man and one woman" unconstitutional at the federal level.

Judge Kern found this statement within the state constitution to be in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which has been in effect since 1868. Even though the Fourteenth Amendment has clearly been a part of our constitution for over a century, it has taken a considerable amount of time for this decision to come, given how the almost decade old ban became official in November 2004.

It's not yet sunny skies and smooth sailing in the Sooner state, however. Citing the halting of same-sex marriages in Utah, Kern has declared the ruling stayed pending appeal. This means that the opportunity for same-sex marriages in Oklahoma is not yet guaranteed in the near future.
If the same-sex ban is proved unconstitutional in both Utah and Oklahoma, it will be a hard fought and long awaited victory for the many LGBT members of these states, although the LGBT community still faces discrimination in many other fields and in many cases have no legal defense when discrimination occurs.
To back up this point, a study concluded that among homeless youth, 40 percent of them identify as LGBT, highlighting the high levels of discrimination still present that will have to be resolved, even if marriage equality is achieved.

Despite this, many activists are still optimistic and see the ruling as progress. A change such as this in the constitution to one of the "Bible Belt" states shows continued momentum from the progress that was made in 2013 and in previous years. This also leaves many hopeful that 2014 with be another step forward towards marriage equality in the United States, although marriage equality alone will not be enough to address the many problems still on hand for those who are a part of the LGBT community.

Photo: via hrc.org

Amiri Baraka: 1934 - 2014

Thu, 16 Jan 2014 11:50:00 +0000

Amiri Baraka, one of the outstanding African American cultural figures of his generation, died last week at Newark's Beth Israel hospital; he was 79. A poet, playwright, critic, and revolutionary activist, Baraka helped shape American political and cultural life since the late 1950s. For over 50 years he and his wife Amina Baraka played pivotal roles in African American culture, thought, and political activism.

Born into a working-class Newark family, Baraka graduated high school with honors and won scholarships to Rutgers and Howard University. After a short stint in the armed forces, where he was forced to leave after being accused, falsely, of communism, he turned his talents to poetry and writing.

A wordsmith of extraordinary power, Baraka helped birth the Greenwich Village beat movement and then founded, along with Ishmael Reed, Larry Neal and Askia Toure, the Black Arts Movement which gave expression to the liberatory impulses of the African American equality movement of the early 1960s. Even more so than its predecessor, the Harlem Renaissance, the Black Arts Movement became the property of a whole generation of writers, artists and musicians whose influence endures.

Baraka was shaped by and helped shape the main currents of his day. Like W.E.B. Du Bois, his views evolved. Close family friend and poet Sonia Sanchez says his wife Amina sparked this process. Sanchez remarked, "One of the things that Brother Baraka told me is that how he really became very much involved ... was through Amina. Sister Amina began to question where they were with their politics. She began a very involved study in terms of communism. It was not a movement by himself but it was of the two of them."

His views traversed the political universe, ranging from an early left liberalism to cultural nationalism to a communist outlook influenced by an admiration of the achievements of China. He later criticized the nationalist views of his younger days including anti-Semitism.

A central concern throughout was the equality and dignity of African Americans, which he viewed as taking the form of self-determination. He helped lead the Congress of African Peoples.

Baraka insisted on political action throughout his life and was one of the founders, along with Richard Hatcher, Ron Daniels and others, of the National Black Political Assembly which gathered 3,000 participants in Gary Indiana, in 1972. Electoral activism was an essential part of a wider united front effort that he viewed as essential to social transformation. No single group, Baraka believed, could achieve revolutionary change alone. Touting the effectiveness of united front coalitions, he often in recent years pointed to the election of Barack Obama.

He participated in the new communist movements of the 1970s and was a founding member of the Black Radical Congress which brought together a cross section of left, feminist, LGBTQ, and revolutionary nationalist groups.

Amiri Baraka was a force in Newark politics and helped elect the city's first black mayor, Kenneth Gibson. Baraka later remarked that his embracing of Marxism was sparked by disappointment in Gibson's terms in office and recognizing class struggle in the black community.

His son, Ras Baraka, serves on the Newark City Council and is a candidate for mayor. Amiri's daughter, Shani, and her partner Rayshon Holmes were murdered in 2003.

Baraka's poems, plays and stories span some 30 works relentlessly giving voice to aspirations of the poor and the oppressed. He won an Obie for his "Rolling Dutchman" play and was a two-time recipient of the American Book Award. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, which noted, briefly, that he was a self-described "revolutionary optimist."

He was named Poet Laureate of New Jersey in 1992, a position abolished by the New Jersey legislature after one of his poems accused Israel of foreknowledge of 9/11.

Baraka, a writer with a biting wit and a rare intelligence, insisted on a truthful art that reflected and helped challenge the contradictions of real life. If his art was controversial it was because life itself is controversial. But it was art at its best.

Ishmael Reed, remembering him this week, said Baraka was one of those once-in-a-generation writers. "He did for the English syntax what Monk did with the chord. He was an original," Reed said.

Photo: Wikipedia (CC)