People Before Profit blog

Arizona protests include civil disobedience

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:57:00 +0000

TUCSON, Ariz. -- Thousands turned out in Phoenix and around the state of Arizona to both celebrate the recent court decision on SB 1070 ,and to protest those remaining sections not included in the injunction.

Major protests took place in several venues, including here in Tucson.

Civil disobedience was a major pat of the actions.

In Phoenix, arrestees at the Federal Courthouse included Alfredo Gutierrez, a former state senator, who was a Democratic candidate for governor, narrowly defeated by Janet Napolitano in the 2002 Democratic primary, and Dan O'Neal, an Arizona Progressive Democrats of America leader.

Dozens were arrested for blocking the streets in front of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Phoenix offices.

Peter Morales, national president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, and local United Food and Commercial Workers organizer Martin Hernandez were among those arrested protesting the anti-immigrant Arpaio.

At a press conference following his release, Hernandez said, "These laws create fear in the community, and they also create worker rights violations."

Arpaio had announced plans for major raids in Latino communities to coincide with the first day SB 1070 was to go into effect. But protesters managed to postpone his racist raids by blocking buildings for most of the day.

Besides the civil disobedience, thousands more rallied at the state Capitol.

In Tucson there were protests, CD and prayer vigils.

Protester stood vigil for 26 hours at the State Office Building downtown Tucson, scene of weekly demonstrations throughout the month of July, culminating at rush hour on July 29 when, with hundreds of protesters watching from all four corners, young protesters moved to block the intersection with 20 foot signs.

After an hour's standoff, the police moved in and made about a dozen arrests.

An SB 1070 supporter was also arrested for attempted intimidation during the downtown Tucson protests, after harassing peaceful demonstrators for about a half an hour, reports bans ethnic studies, producer of cable TV show "The Latino Doctrine."

"The crowd began cheering and singing in unison as the gentleman was taken away in the police cruiser," Maldonado said.

Earlier in the day, protesters dumped tar and tires to block Interstate 19 in a symbolic gesture. I-19 is the route taken when deporting immigrants from Phoenix or Tucson.

Tucson protesters welcomed the court decision as a major victory, but are still protesting the sections of the law left intact, and the continued racist attacks on immigrants and the Chicano communities, like the current law that bans ethnic studies.

Photo: From the Phoenix protest, July 29 (anitasarkeesian/CC)

SB 1070 protested across the U.S.

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:04:00 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO - Immigrant rights activists around the country demonstrated July 29, the day Arizona's anti-immigrant SB 1070, took effect, despite a temporary ban on enforcement of several of the law's most onerous provisions.

Arizona's capital, Phoenix, was the site of a number of protests. "It's a good day to be arrested. We are going to challenge this law. We are going to keep up the fight," former Arizona state Senate Majority Leader Alfredo Gutierrez said when he was detained after participating in civil disobedience.

After spending the previous night in a protest outside the state capitol, hundreds of demonstrators started the day with an early morning prayer service before marching to the capitol and to the office of notoriously anti-immigrant Sheriff Joe Arpaio in downtown Phoenix, where dozens were arrested.

Though the demonstrations delayed the action for several hours, Sheriff Arpaio launched his 17th anti-immigrant sweep through Maricopa County later in the day.

In Tucson, where a series of protests centered on the State Building, more than a dozen demonstrators were cited and released after they blocked downtown streets.

Among many actions around the country, demonstrators gathered in Raleigh and Charlotte, N.C., Providence, R.I., McAllen, Texas, Los Angeles and San Diego, Calif. In Brooklyn, N.Y., a coalition of immigrant rights organizations marched across the Brooklyn Bridge.

In San Francisco, protesters including members of the Board of Supervisors, the head of the labor council and Assemblyman Tom Ammiano gathered outside the office of Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown to protest the Arizona law. They also urged Brown to let the city - long a "sanctuary city" for immigrants - opt out of the federal "Secure Communities" program, under which local police send fingerprints of jailed individuals to be matched against a federal database so immigration authorities can identify undocumented immigrants alleged to have committed crimes elsewhere.

San Francisco County Sheriff Mike Hennessy, with support of the Board of Supervisors, had asked Brown to let the city opt out of the program. Brown turned down the request, saying Secure Communities "serves both public safety and the interest of justice."

As the group gathered in the foyer of Brown's 11th floor office to speak with an aide, one of the most moving testimonials came from a young woman who said she is an undocumented student. Since she came to the U.S. at age 15, she said, "I have seen so much separation of families, separation of children from their parents." Immigrants, often forced by social and economic factors to take the difficult step of leaving their homelands, "really contribute to this country," she said. Anti-immigrant laws and decisions will not halt immigration, she said, "immigration will only stop when we address what causes it to happen."

In Oakland, as immigrant rights supporters gathered at Fruitvale BART plaza in the heart of a largely Latino community, Netza spoke of his situation as he pursues a university education under the state's AB 540 law, which lets undocumented graduates of state high schools attend public colleges for in-state tuition rates.

One of the biggest challenges, he said, is paying for college. Though he has a scholarship, many others do not, he said. AB 540 students are barred from applying for Pell Grants and other financial aid, he said, and with fees rising every year, some face costs as high as $20,000 a year - "an incredible amount for someone in my situation."

Netza said he would like to see President Obama "set aside a day to talk about immigration reform, because that would not only benefit me and my fellow students, but my whole family, and others." He also urged passage of the DREAM Act, a citizenship path for undocumented youth long resident in the U.S., which, among other things, would make financial aid a possibility for such students.

Photo: (Marilyn Bechtel/PW)

Birthday wishes for Medicare at 45: “everybody in”

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 17:32:00 +0000

CLEVELAND -- July 30 was a bright sunny summer day here in Cleveland and dozens gathered in Public Square to launch balloons in celebration of the 45^th anniversary of Medicare and call for extending the program to all Americans.

Speakers at the event hailed the expansion of benefits under the health reform law passed earlier in the year. This includes new preventive care programs under Medicare, the federal health insurance system for seniors, and expanded coverage for low income families under Medicaid.

The crowd cheered as state Rep. Mike Skindell described his continuing efforts to pass House Bill 159 to provide Medicare for all Ohio residents.

"We need to cover everyone," he said "and eliminate deductibles and co-pays."

Steve Inchak, representing Congressman Kucinich, cosponsor of federal Medicare for All legislation, blasted the current U.S. system "based on profit."

Medicare, he said, is an intergenerational compact in which younger, healthier workers support retirees.

"Where would the elderly be" he asked, "without Medicare? We should be a nation that takes care of each other."

Medicare, he said, reduces the cost of health care for seniors from $1000 to $100 a month and administrative costs are only 3% instead of 14% for private insurance.

An immediate step to strengthen coverage would be to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies.

Beth Thames, representing U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, described the senator's efforts to obtain a public insurance option and expand Medicare during the fight for health care reform. The new law, she said, extended the life of the Medicare trust fund to 2029.

Beverly Charles, representing Congresswoman Marcia Fudge, said Medicare was 45 years old and still going strong.

"Eighty-five thousand seniors in District 11 depend on it," she said.

Dr. George Randt, president of Physicians for a National Health Program said that the U.S. health care system surpasses other countries in only one area.

"We spend the most money per person per year. And yet one-third of the people are not covered and we are 37^th in the world in the overall outcome. We are the highest in preventable deaths of any industrialized country," he said.

"Tell the deficit hawks," he said, "the way to save money is to extend Medicare to all. We need to bring everybody in and leave nobody out."

The Cleveland event was one of dozens of similar celebrations throughout the country. Many were initiated by the Alliance of Retired Americans.

Writing in Huffington Post, Alliance President Barbara Easterling called the anniversary "a milestone for a true American success story that has helped reduce senior poverty by two-thirds."

The alliance now is gearing for events nationwide to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of Social Security Aug. 14.

Together with the AFL-CIO and 60 other groups, the alliance has formed a coalition to fight back against attempts to cut the two programs. This is particularly directed at the Federal Commission of Fiscal Responsibility which many fear may recommend such cuts when it issues its report on reducing the deficit in December. The fact isSocial Security has no impact on the federal budget since it is entirely self-funded and increased Medicare costs are due to rising health care costs generally.

Photo: Seniors and many others celebrated Medicare's 45th birthday in Cleveland, July 31. (Debbie Kline)

Arizona’s Grijalva closes office after bullet shatters window

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Democratic Rep. Raul Grijalva, an outspoken opponent of Arizona's immigration law, closed his office in Yuma yesterday after a bullet went through and shattered one of its windows.

The Tucson office was also closed due to threats there.

No one was hurt in the attack, which followed a court ruling that delayed implementation of what immigrant rights activists consider the most objectionable parts of the new law.

"A shattered window and a bullet inside the office were found earlier today. Police are investigating the incident and have not released details about a potential motive," Grijalva's office said. "Rep. Grijalva intends to open the office again as soon as possible."

Opponents of the new anti-immigrant law held protests in Phoenix and around the state, even after a judge blocked the most controversial parts of the law including requirements that police investigate immigration status of those stopped for other infractions and requirements that people carry proof of immigration status or citizenship.

Grijalva had called for a boycott of his state but rescinded that call after the judge's ruling.

Right-wing threats of violence against elected officials and ugly town hall meetings occurred during and in the aftermath of the health care reform fight in Congress, but subsided afterwards.

Grijalva is co-chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and has been an active proponent of immigration, health care and financial reform, among other causes.

Right-wing hate blogs directed at Grijalva have, among other things, suggested that he "go back to Mexico."

Grijalva, like many in his family, trace their ancestry back through people who have been citizens of the United States for 10 to 15 generations.

Grijalva said late yesterday on C-Span that right-wing terror attacks would not deter him from remaining steadfast for immigration reform.

"On a personal level it's been a pain. On a political level, it's a risk. The smart thing, I'm told, is to stay out of this issue. The smart thing is to just talk about enforcement, and rail against the gods because there is no enforcement. But for me, the right thing to do, given what I think are the implications of the law in Arizona on a national level, was to take it up, period."

"You could be a Latino in Arizona," Grijalva said, "a citizen for 10 or 15 generations, but suddenly with this new law you became a suspect. This is an affront to many, many people."

Suspected right wingers shattered windows at four Democratic offices during the health care debates in New York, Arizona and Kansas, and ten members of Congress reported threats at that time.

Photo: Rep. Raul Grijalva

Illinois juvenile jails woefully under staffed, report says

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:15:00 +0000

According to a report released Thursday, July 28, by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice, the state's eight juvenile detention centers have "serious deficiencies" when it comes to treating some of Illinois' most troubled youth.

"Often there is no assessment or an inadequate assessment of youth mental needs," said Edward Loughran, executive director of the Council of Juvenile Correctional Administrators to the Daily Herald.

Loughran one of the study's leaders added, "We saw a real shortage of well-trained behavioral health staff skilled in identifying and helping with behavioral health problems in the facilities."

Loughran added what's needed is staff at these centers to able to develop relationships with youth that is therapeutic and positive.

The study was in response to two youth suicides while being detained in 2008 and 2009. It was carried out by the Models for Change Initiative, a multi-state juvenile justice systems reform effort funded by the MacArthur Foundation.

Seven experts from around the country led the report based on one-day visits to the state's eight facilities and interviews with employees and youths.

They note there are problems from the moment a youth walks in the "jailhouse door" until well after he/she walks out in the way Illinois treats juvenile offenders.

The centers are not adequately screening and treating mentally ill youth, the report finds. Of those in custody 70 percent of kids have mental health needs, according to the study. And more up-to-date tools are needed. For instance, mental health workers used suicide risk methods and substance abuse surveys developed for adults rather than adolescents and some date back 15-20 years.

Experts contend a counselor's caseload of about 66 youths is way too large to provide effective treatment, and Illinois doesn't generally involve families in treatment plans until release from custody is imminent.

The recidivism rate for juvenile offenders remains high as a result - 35 percent of those released from the centers end up back in custody or in an adult prison within one year.

Ultimately, the report concludes, the facilities are underfunded and poorly staffed and in some instances the caseloads are "unmanageable and a barrier for meaningful treatment to occur."

However, it's unclear how many new staffers are needed, how much the reports recommendations will costs and where the funds will come from to improve the dire needs of troubled youth within the system.

Illinois officials, including Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, are considering shifting the Department of Juvenile Justice, which oversees the centers, under the overall umbrella of concerns overseen by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.

However experts predict such a move would repeat the mistakes of the past when juvenile justice was part of the Illinois Department of Corrections and only lead to another large bureaucracy for youths to get lost in.

The juvenile justice agency was spun off from the Department of Corrections four years ago due to similar issues, chronic underfunding and inadequate rehabilitation programs.

News of the report comes amid a major state budget crisis for Illinoisans as hundreds of human services including community programs for teens continue to be slashed due to the country's poor economy in recent years.

"A more progressive, best-practice approach would be to fund local, community-based services capable of meeting the behavioral health needs of justice-involved youth, while keeping them in their communities and maintaining public safety," says the report.

Increased staffing, improved training, better programs to prevent juvenile crime and to provide "aftercare" for those who exist the system is what's needed, notes the report.

Experts claim a poll commissioned as part of the review illustrates broad support for such reforms:

84 percent agree, "Incarcerating youth offenders without rehabilitation is the same as giving up on them."
85 percent favor redirecting money now spent on incarceration to counseling, education and job-training programs.
59 percent favor community supervision for non-violent juvenile offenders, as opposed to incarceration.

Meanwhile Kurt Friedenauer recently announced he's resigning as director of the Department of Juvenile Justice.

In the past he has argued the state's failure to support the department has made it nearly impossible to deliver state-of-the-art mental health treatment to Illinois' most troubled youths.

The Chicago Tribune notes he was disappointed the reports review team did not dig deeper. He said he had hoped the team would have evaluated the department's psychiatric treatment and use of medication.

Friedenauer said that the proposed merger with DCFS "was not and is not the basis" for his resignation. He wants to pursue other career opportunities, he said.

Photo: Illinois Youth Center Chicago is one of eight centers maintained by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice.

Bill would make oil companies pay, but Republicans say no

Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:33:00 +0000

After shelving climate change legislation last week in the face of a wall of Republican and oil industry opposition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on July 27 presented a new limited energy bill that includes no curbs on carbon and other global warming emissions. But Republicans, and some Democrats, don't like this bill either.

The new bill, the Clean Energy Jobs and Oil Company Accountability Act, S 3663, would require oil companies to fully pay for oil spill damage, provide incentives for home energy efficiency and electric and natural-gas powered vehicles, and fund land and water conservation and cleanup.

Reid hopes to open Senate debate on the bill on Monday, and hold a test vote on closing debate on Wednesday. But even this stripped down energy bill is facing opposition from Republicans and some Democrats, and could fall short of the 60 votes needed to end debate and move to action on the bill.

Michael Brune, the Sierra Club's executive director, called it "imperative" that the Senate pass the bill before its August recess, to promote investment in energy efficiency and to "hold BP and future polluters fully responsible for the cost of damage and clean-up of their environmental disasters."

But if it fails the cloture vote, Reid is expected to set the bill aside to allow consideration of Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination before the Senate recess, The Hill reports.

The House begins debate on the bill today. (Aug. 2 update: The House passed the bill on Friday, 209-193, after Gulf Coast Democrats won an amendment ending the federal moratorium on deepwater drilling for oil companies that met new safety requirements.)

According to The Hill, Republicans and oil-state Democrats "particularly object" to language that would remove the current liability cap for oil and gas companies, not only for future spills but also retroactively to cover BP's role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Right now, under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, enacted after the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the coast of Alaska, a company's liability to pay for economic damage caused by oil spills is capped at $75 million.

Reid's bill also beefs up regulation of the oil industry's response to spills.

In the House, along with Republican opposition about 30 oil-state Democrats are said to oppose removal of the liability cap.

One compromise being discussed involves setting up a cleanup fund that all companies would contribute to, or a fund just for smaller companies. Other possible compromises include lifting the liability cap retroactively to apply to BP's Gulf disaster but keeping the cap for the future, or raising the cap but not eliminating it entirely.

Brune warned that efforts to weaken the bill involve alternatives that are "nothing but a love letter to the oil industry."

Other progressive activists said congressional Democrats have to take a much stronger approach on green energy and climate change. They complained that the shelved climate bill, known as the Kerry-Lieberman bill for its key sponsors, Sens. John Kerry, D-Mass., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., had too many giveaways to the oil, coal and nuclear industries.

Ilyse Hogue, MoveOn.org's political advocacy and communications director, called the Kerry-Lieberman bill "a corporate bill" that "couldn't pass because the base wasn't ever fired up about it from the start."

"The enthusiasm gap was due to the Democrats beginning negotiations with a series of giveaways to corporate interests in an attempt to appease Blue Dogs," she told The Hill.

Brune praised Reid's new bill for taking a step toward reducing oil consumption and carbon pollution by providing incentives for electric vehicles and natural gas-powered trucks. The bill's Home Star program, which would provide rebates for homeowners for purchasing energy-saving fittings for their homes, will also create tens of thousands of badly needed jobs, he said.

The bill restructures the Interior Department and its Department of Ocean Energy, which gained notoriety under its previous name - the Minerals Management Service. The restructuring aims to ensure that the agency actually does its job of regulating the oil and gas industry, instead of partying with the industry as it did under the Bush administration.

The bill would also fully fund the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the next five years.

Brune said the Sierra Club also supports the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic Resources (CLEAR) Act, HR 3534, which would impose strict requirements on the oil industry to prevent oil well blowouts like BP's Deepwater Horizon catastrophe.

But these bills, Brune said, "are not a substitute for a bold and comprehensive plan to increase the supply of clean energy and to break America's oil addiction."

Similarly, David Foster, executive director of the labor-environmental BlueGreen Alliance, said his members "appreciate the efforts of Majority Leader Reid and Senate Democrats to pass legislation that addresses the issues brought to attention by the spill in the Gulf of Mexico and that includes the Home Star program, which will create good jobs and produce energy savings."

But, Foster warned, "America needs serious action on clean energy, or we risk losing millions of clean energy jobs to our foreign competitors."

He called for the Senate to pass "comprehensive legislation - including an economy-wide cap on emissions, a federal Renewable Electricity Standard, strong efficiency measures, transportation investments, and worker training - that will position the United States to create and preserve millions of jobs building the clean energy economy."

Photo: A demonstration in New Orleans in May protests BP's "oil flood" polluting the Gulf of Mexico. http://www.flickr.com/photos/infrogmation/4658845796/ cc 2.0

In wake of judge’s ruling, immigrant rights protests continue

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 16:51:00 +0000

Federal Judge Susan R. Bolton ordered the delay of the implementation of major parts of the controversial Arizona anti-immigrant law, SB 1070, the day before the law was scheduled to go into force -- July 29. Suits by the U.S. Department of Justice, the American Civil Liberties Union, the Mexican American Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF) and an individual Arizona policeman had called for the law to be struck down as unconstitutional.

The Obama administration suit had asserted that the Arizona law interfered with the federal authority to regulate all matters concerning immigration by requiring police officers to check the immigration status of anybody whom they stopped for any reason, if they had reason to suspect that the person might be in the country illegally.

Among other things, the administration argued in Judge Bolton's court that for Arizona, possibly followed by other states, to do this would overburden the resources of the federal agency that deals with undocumented immigration, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and force it to adopt priorities for arrests and deportations determined by the states and not those mandated by the federal government.

The administration also argued that the Arizona law would interfere with U.S. diplomatic relations with Mexico and other countries, another federal prerogative.

Arizona had argued that the federal government already works with Arizona and other states to deport people identified by state and local police through the federal 287 g and Secure Communities Programs shows that the state is only trying to help the feds.

In her injunction, which is not a final ruling on the constitutionality of SB 1070, Judge Bolton went beyond what the administration had emphasized, and also highlighted the danger that the law would lead to harassment of legal residents and U.S. citizens whom police might "suspect" were undocumented.

So she enjoined Arizona from enforcing three parts of SB 1070 until a final ruling is made:

The requirement that police ask for immigration documentation from all people they come in contact with if they have a reason to suspect they may be undocumented.
The stipulation that immigrants in Arizona must carry papers proving their right to be in the country at all times.
The prohibition on undocumented immigrants soliciting employment on the street.

However, she allowed a part of the law to go into force which forbids cities in Arizona from acting as "sanctuaries," where local officials will not cooperate with immigration enforcement efforts.

The ruling was sharply criticized by Arizona Governor Brewer and other Republicans, as well as some conservative Democrats. Arizona will appeal the law.

It remains to be seen what impact the ruling will have on other states that have been contemplating similar laws.

Though the ruling was widely hailed as a victory by the immigrants' rights movement, protests and lobbying continue toward the goal of a comprehensive immigration reform that would allow an estimated 11 to 12 million undocumented immigrants in the country to gain legal status.

On Wednesday, July 28, several hundred children and adult supporters, singing, "Born in the USA, don't take my mama and papa away," marched in front of the White House to highlight the plight of U.S. citizen children whose non-citizen parents have been deported, or who are in danger of deportation. It is believed that there are about 4 million minor U.S. citizen children of undocumented immigrants in the country.

The marchers were demanding a moratorium on such deportations until a legislative solution is in place. Among the marchers was 10 year old Saul Arellano, son of Elvira Arellano who spend a year in sanctuary in a Chicago church to protest immigration policies.

Also present was 13-year-old Kyle Segura, whose sister was killed while serving in the U.S. military, and whose father now faces deportation.

The march, organized by La Familia Latina Unida, CASA de Maryland and other groups from a dozen states, was addressed by political leaders, including U.S. Representative Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill.

Gutierrez praised the DREAM Act, which allows for legalization of undocumented youth who attend college or serve in the military, and the AgJobs Act, which would facilitate legalization of some farm workers, but pointed out that many would not be covered by these acts and promised to go on fighting until a comprehensive reform is achieved.

Photo: A file photo of Elvira and Saul Arellano in sanctuary in Chicago.

Factory-scale medical pot production set

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:23:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - With a City Council vote July 27, Oakland became the first U.S. city to authorize industrial-scale production of medical marijuana.

The plan, to take effect in January, calls for licensing four production facilities to grow, package and process medical marijuana, and includes labor, environmental and product safety standards.

The facilities are to be sited in industrial areas of the city. To qualify for a permit, applicants must meet guidelines for cutting electric power usage, greenhouse gas emissions and pesticide use. The facilities must pay the city $211,000 in annual permit fees, carry $2 million in liability insurance and be ready to pay up to 8 percent of their gross sales in taxes.

Supporters cite the problems of regulating and taxing existing growers, and safety issues when pot is grown indoors with improperly wired fans and lights.

Opponents worry that small growers will be driven out of business and that large-scale growing could hurt the environment, reduce quality and cut the number of strains that are grown.

Supporters also see industrial marijuana production as an important revenue source for the cash-strapped city.

Though pot is illegal under federal law, California is among more than a dozen states now allowing its use for medical purposes. California's Prop. 215, passed in 1996, lets patients and their designated primary caregivers to possess and cultivate marijuana for their personal medical use with a California-licensed physician's prescription.

The Obama administration has said it will not make enforcing the federal ban a priority when dispensaries operate within California law.

Alongside several medical marijuana dispensaries, the city also boasts the nation's first-ever "cannabis college," Oaksterdam University in downtown Oakland, which opened in 2007 "to provide students with the highest quality training for the cannabis industry." The school, which says its faculty includes "the most recognized names in the California cannabis legalization movement," says thousands of students have taken classes there, hoping to enter "the budding cannabis job field."

In May, Local 5 of the United Food and Commercial Workers union announced that nearly 100 workers at Oaksterdam University and its subsidiaries had voted overwhelmingly for union representation.

Calling the state's medical cannabis industry "a huge enterprise," Local 5 said it plans to continue organizing efforts throughout the rest of the industry, and said it hopes the employer neutrality that obtained during the initial campaign will continue.

Statewide, the UFCW is supporting Prop. 19, on the November ballot, to legalize possession of up to one ounce of cannabis for pot users ages 21 and older, and to allow local governments to regulate and tax it. The measure would ban providing marijuana to minors, and bar smoking in public, on school grounds and around minors. It would leave it to cities and counties to regulate retailers.

Prop. 19 doing well in the polls, 52 percent in favor, 36 percent opposed. At the same time, opinion is sharply divided among political leaders and activists. San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who supports medicinal pot, calls the ballot measure "flawed public policy." State Attorney General and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jerry Brown expresses concerns about state-federal conflicts. U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer both oppose the measure.

The California Democratic Party and California Labor Federation are staying neutral.

On the other side of the ledger, the California Young Democrats are endorsing Prop. 19, as are the state NAACP and U.S. Representatives George Miller, Pete Stark and Barbara Lee - all Democrats. A number of retired law enforcement officials and judges also favor legalization.

Meanwhile, other California communities are also looking to pot as a revenue source. Berkeley has placed an initiative on the November ballot, to approve six large medical cannabis production facilities, which must meet basic environmental and organic standards. Sacramento voters will decide on a business tax on medical marijuana. And Richmond is considering allowing large-scale medical pot production.

Photo: A ribbon-cutting ceremony with Oaksterdam University founder Richard Lee, far left, and Oakland City Councilmember-at-large Rebecca Kaplan, far right. (Ryan Van Lenning/CC)

Netroots Nation 2010: Continuing to fight for change

Thu, 29 Jul 2010 12:54:00 +0000

Thousands of progressive bloggers and social media activists met at the annual Netroots Nation gathering in Las Vegas, Nevada July 22-25 and left determined not to allow the gains of 2008 to be lost in this year's elections.

Netroots Nation (NN), formerly known as the YearlyKos Convention, began 5 years ago as a way to gather those using the new communications technology to amplify their impact on public policy debate.

Today the gathering embraces trade union, civil rights and immigration rights, environmental leaders and policy makers and is a must stop for progressive elected officials and candidates, as well as Democratic Party leaders.

NN 2010 consisted of over 100 panels, caucuses and workshops ranging from the economic and environmental crises to the fight for net neutrality to the 2010 elections and how social media activists could effect change in each area.

President Barack Obama delivered a surprise greeting via video clip, which was enthusiastically welcomed. Obama said he shared the frustration with the slow pace of change felt by many participants. But he recounted all that had been accomplished despite fierce Republican obstruction.

"We're moving America forward and when we've come this far we can't afford to slide backward," Obama said, "Let's finish what we've started."

Van Jones of the Center for American Progress and formerly green jobs advisor in the White House delivered one of the keynotes. He warned participants of the danger of Republicans retaking power in November and what it would mean for the future of a progressive agenda.

"We have a ferocious backlash that will stop at nothing to bury everything you fought for and believe in," said Jones. "You didn't lay down for 8 years when people you didn't believe in were in office. Don't expect other people to lay down for you."

Jones urged participants to develop a new economic vision that would "put America back to work and pull America back together" while exposing the ugliness of the ultra right.

Jones said it is "baffling" that liberals are mad at Obama. "When you guys get mad at the president, I can't stand it," Jones said. "Barack Obama, President Obama, volunteered to be the captain of the Titanic after it hit the iceberg."

The conference also heard from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev. Both addressed disappointment among that more progress hadn't been made and described the reality of the current political balance in Congress.

"The leverage has changed," Pelosi said, citing passage of health care and financial regulatory reform. "This doesn't happen in a Republican Congress. We must understand what is at risk when we go into these elections 100 days from tomorrow."

One of the major keynote sessions concerned "Building a Progressive Economic Vision" that included Deepak Bhargava Director of the Center for Community Change, Harvard law Professor and Chair of the TARP Congressional Oversight Panel, Elizabeth Warren and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Warren described the unraveling of regulations on Wall Street and how it coincided with the decline in incomes of American workers. Banks knew they could profit because families had to borrow to maintain their living standards.

Warren said the new finance reform legislation was the strongest in three generations and President Obama led all the way in establishing the new Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. Warren is under consideration to lead the new agency.

Trumka said the backbone of the strong post-World War II economy was manufacturing. Since the mid 1970s worker productivity has continued to rise but wages have stagnated. Meanwhile wealth has increased 400% among the top 10%, he said.

"It's been a conscious decision and strategy to put us on a path of low wage and high consumption growth," he said. Trumka called for rebuilding the manufacturing base by rebuilding the nation's infrastructure along green lines.

Trumka called for a financial transfer tax on Wall Street that would create $250-300 billion that could be spent on jobs creation.

"We figured out how to bail out banks and pay for wars. It's time for Wall Street to start to pay their fair share," he said. "We don't have a deficit crisis, we have a jobs crisis. 60% of the projected deficit comes from one thing - the George W. Bush tax cuts to the rich."

Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., also gave a major greeting and recounted how the movement was built to oust the right wing from power. "Finally we got to the tough part (winning in 2008). We now have to fight twice as hard to keep what we won, let alone to build on it.

Franken, a former television comedian and talk show host on Air America, quoted Democratic Party strategist Paul Begala who said, 'this is a movement, not a monument. You can't sit around and admire it.'

Obama draws line in the sand on Bush tax cuts for the rich

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:52:00 +0000

President Obama vowed at a closed-door White House meeting with Congressional leaders yesterday, July 27, that Democrats will end the Bush tax cuts for the rich and continue the middle class tax cuts they enacted last year.

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the GOP House Minority Leader clashed with the president, saying the tax cuts for the rich should be extended.

Obama said that the Republicans enacted tax cuts for the wealthy ten years ago, knowing they would help fuel deficits that would be left for another administration.

"I wasn't there," Mr. Boehner claimed. "I didn't structure that deal."

The room reportedly fell silent as the Congressional leaders digested the statement by Boehner who was first elected in 1990. "How long have you been here?" a Democrat asked Boehner, as the room broke out into laughter.

The Republicans in the room claimed that failing to extend the tax cuts for the wealthy would kill jobs provided by their companies but the president said most small business owners would not be affected since they do not have high enough income to be taxed at the two highest rates.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs later told reporters that the president believes the tax cuts for the richest households - those individuals making more than $200,000 a year and couples with more than $250,000 - "are tax cuts that, based on our fiscal situation, simply can't be afforded."

New national polling shows large majorities against extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. In some polls even 40 percent of Republicans favor allowing the cuts to expire.

"That suggests that 40 percent of Republicans, who have been hearing the deficit hysteria since Barack Obama took office, are smarter than your average congressional Republican," wrote Joan McCarter of Daily Kos.

"Where was the growth that was supposed to happen after the Bush tax cuts?" asked Matt Yglesias of Thinkprogress.org yesterday. "The era during which Bush's tax policies prevailed was the first in which median household income declined...the worst peak-to-peak economic performance ever, followed immediately by the worst recession since World War II."

There is word on Capitol Hill, however, that not all Democrats can be counted on to back Obama's proposal for a permanent extension of the middle-class tax cut.

The Hill reported that an aide to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Democrats were looking at "other options," including temporary extensions of the tax cut that would last more than a year.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., has backed Obama's policy of extending the middle-class tax cuts permanently.

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., recently said he was "open" to a temporary extension of those cuts "that could set the stage for broader tax reform."

Photo: Pres. Obama meets with bipartisan members of Congress: House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, July 27, in Washington. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP)

Judge’s ruling on SB 1070 hailed as first step

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:41:00 +0000

A federal judge has blocked some of the most controversial elements of Arizona's immigration law, granting a preliminary injunction Wednesday, July 27, that prevents local police from questioning people about their immigration status.

The blocked provision required police to "make a reasonable attempt to determine the immigration status of a person stopped, detained or arrested" if the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the person is in the U.S. unlawfully.

U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton's ruling from Phoenix was in response to a motion by the federal government and came a day before the law SB 1070 goes into effect.

Bolton delayed parts of the law that required immigrants to carry their papers at all times, and made it illegal for undocumented workers to solicit employment in public places - a move aimed at day laborers. Bolton also blocked police from making warrantless arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants.

"Preserving the status quo through a preliminary injunction is less harmful than allowing state laws that are likely preempted by federal law to be enforced," said Bolton.

"There is a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens," she wrote. "By enforcing this statue, Arizona would impose a 'distinct, unusual and extraordinary' burden on legal resident aliens that only the federal government has the authority to impose."

She added, "Requiring Arizona law enforcement officials and agencies to determine the immigration status of every person who is arrested burdens lawfully-present aliens because their liberty will be restricted while their status is checked."

Linton Joaquin, general counsel with the National Immigration Law Center, in a statement said, "With today's ruling, Judge Bolton enjoined the most egregious provisions of SB 1070, a dangerous enactment that threatens the fundamental rights of countless Arizonans and visitors.

"Other states following in Arizona's misguided footsteps should consider themselves forewarned: Attempts to trample on the constitutional rights of communities of color in this country must not be permitted. We look forward to showing, through our lawsuit, that this pernicious law should be taken off Arizona's books permanently."

Less controversial parts of the law including those dealing with smuggling will still go into effect. Other provisions of the law are procedural and slight revisions to existing Arizona immigration statute.

The ruling is sure to set up a lengthy legal battle through the court system and is expected to end up before the Supreme Court in the next few years.

Republican Gov. Jan Brewer signed the measure into law in April and said the state will likely appeal Wednesday's ruling.

However critics say the law would lead to racial profiling, conflict with federal immigration laws and disrupt local police from dealing with more serious crimes. They note the measure would legalize open harassment of all Latinos, legal or not. People should not fear being stopped based solely on their looks or how they speak, critics said.

Since the bill was signed seven lawsuits have been filed against it challenging its constitutionality. The Justice Department also filed suit after President Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the law.

Federal authorities said the law before the ruling would create a patchwork of immigration laws nationwide that would complicate U.S. foreign relations. Federal lawyers said the law is disrupting U.S. relations with Mexico and other countries and would burden the agency that responds to immigration-status inquiries.

For years immigrant rights activists have said what's really needed is for Congress to work together and pass comprehensive immigration reform in order to address a broken system. If not, more of same is expected including draconian anti-immigrant laws like Arizona's and anti-worker policies nationwide, they add.

Other's note Wednesday's decision will continue to make immigration reform a hot-button issue as the midterm elections approaches.

Brewer is running for another term in November.

Her opponent Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat, told the New York Times, "Rather than providing the leadership Arizona needs to solve the immigration problem, Jan Brewer signed a bill she could not defend in court which has led to boycotts, jeopardized our tourism industry and polarized our state."

Speaking to the Washington Post he added, "Jan Brewer played politics with immigration, and she lost. It's time to look beyond election year grandstanding and begin to repair the damage to Arizona's image and economy."

Meanwhile many argue despite the recent news immigrants in parts of Arizona are being swept up in droves. The Associated Press notes the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office -where Phoenix is located - has already forced the deportation of 26,146 immigrants since 2007, without the new law, totaling a quarter of all the deportations in the U.S.

Photo: A woman is led away after being arrested protesting against SB1070 Arizona immigration law in front of U.S. District Court, July 22, in Phoenix. (Ross D. Franklin/AP)

House to vote on crack-cocaine sentencing laws

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:10:00 +0000

The House of Representatives may take action this week to drastically reduce inequality in sentencing between crack and powder cocaine users.

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 would eliminate mandatory minimums for crack possession, impose stiff penalties on big drug traffickers, and reduce the sentencing disparity between crack and powder cocaine.

Currently "a person with five grams of crack cocaine - the weight of two sugar packets - receives the same five-year mandatory minimum sentence as someone with 500 grams of cocaine, which is about a pound."

Harsh laws were passed in the 1980s at the height of the crack epidemic imposing stiffer penalties for the new and cheaper form of cocaine.

The Washington Post recently editorialized that the "The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 brings fairness and sanity to this 20-year saga."

Most users of crack were Black and Latino. Mandatory minimums for crack possession led to extreme overcrowding in prisons and jails across the country. Class and racially-based patterns were apparent.

The old law "resulted in misdirection of federal enforcement resources to focusing on low-level dealers rather than the pursuit and prosecution of high-level traffickers.

According to the Sentencing Project, 55 percent of federal crack cocaine defendants are street-level dealers whereas only 1.8 percent are high-level suppliers." Civilrights.org notes that over 80 of those serving sentences for crack possession are African American.

Domestic and international drug suppliers will now be targeted. "The Fair Sentencing Act empowers a federal judge to fine a major drug trafficker $10 million on each count (if it is only his first offense), or $20 million on each count if he has any kind of drug conviction. These new fines - probably the harshest in the history of criminal law - both simplify getting the assets and ought to encourage the Justice Department to target drug lords who can pay such fines."

The new bill is the result of an agreement reached in the Senate where Republicans have long been an obstacle to sentencing reform. Senators Dick Durban, D-Ill., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., jointly co-sponsored Fair Sentencing Act, which passed by the Senate earlier in the year.

Benefits of the new legislation include reduced spending, to the tune of $ 42 million over the next five year and reduction in the transmission of HIV/AIDS. HIV prevention advocates have pointed out that "mass imprisonment is fueling the spread of HIV in this country. Obama's new National HIV/AIDS Strategy also notes the links between imprisonment and HIV."

Civil rights advocates note that some racial sentencing disparities persist in the new legislation but see it as an important step in the right direction.

Photo: (blmurch/CC)

Louisiana deals with new oil spill

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:05:00 +0000

A new oil spill endangered the Louisiana marshes, July 27, a day after BP announced that Tony Hayward was leaving the company's CEO post, effective Oct. 1.

The spill was first reported Tuesday morning after a barge hit a wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico on the border of Louisiana's Plaquemines and Jefferson parishes, just 65 miles south of New Orleans.

Oil gushed from the well, 20 feet into the air, all day today. The well is sais to be also leaking natural gas. There were no official estimates of how much oil is leaking from the well.

A report on WWLTV in the afternoon said the oil was leaking into Bayou St. Denis, that it was not clear who owned the well and that a contractor who handles wild wells was on the way. Cleanup workers were booming up the area by mid-afternoon. Responders included the U.S. Coast Guard, Jefferson Parish police and fire officials and local boats.

Residents have been reporting an oil sheen in Mud Lake, north of Barataria Bay. This is an area that it was hoped could be protected from the BP oil rig disaster.

Mud Lake is part of a network of bayous and lakes north of Barataria Bay, an ecologically important coastal estuary where workers and volunteers had thus far been able to fight off wave after wave of oil spewing from the Deepwater Horizon well.

Officials expressed hope the new spill could be contained before tomorrow.

Evacuations are occurring in the bayou and civilian boats are being kept away.

Councilman Chris Roberts of Jefferson, La. said he had reports of oil in the marshes around his town and that skimmers were already at work trying to contain it. "There's a pretty good amount of oil flowing out there," Roberts said, though the precise amount is not known.

There were no reported injuries when the barge struck the wellhead.

One of the most serious problems connected with the new spill is that it has forced a halt to water traffic leading into Barataria Bay, the area through which oil-fighting equipment was moved inland to avoid last week's Tropical Storm Bonnie. The new spill could hamper efforts to redeploy that equipment to fight the old spill.

"We are now left vulnerable until we can reopen traffic and get resources back out there," Roberts said.

Photo: Oil spews from an abandoned wellhead in Barataria Bay on the coast of Louisiana, July 27. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

Americans with Disabilities Act hits 20 year mark

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:54:00 +0000

Here's a brief summary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. It was passed July 26, 1990, and became effective on January 26, 1992. The law is made up of five titles that ban discrimination against disabled people within the United States.

To start off the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act right, President Barack Obama signed an executive order establishing the federal government as a "model employer" of people with disabilities.

"We're going to boost recruitment, we're going to boost training, we're going to boost retention," Obama said from the White House. "We'll better train hiring managers. Each agency will have a senior official who's accountable for achieving the goals we've set. And I expect regular reports. "

The Department of Justice will issue two new rules protecting disability-based discrimination. This will prohibit disability-based discrimination by 7 million private businesses and more than 80,000 state and local government entities.

The department is also trying to make it easier for 9-1-1 call centers to accept text or video messages from disabled people. Movie theaters should also offer ways to offer movies with closed captioning. The use of more accessible office equipment and furniture, including accessible medical exam tables, chairs and scales and ATMs with audio could also be helpful.

"Our goal is to help level the playing field with disabilities to ensure that everyone has an opportunity," said Kareem Dale to the Washington Post. Dale is legally blind.

Eighteen months from now for the first very first time, recreational facilities such as amusement parks, gyms, swimming pools and arenas must be constructed so that it is compliant with the new 2010 standards. This will also apply to all new buildings that are built.

"Equal access. Equal opportunity. The freedom to make our lives what we will. These aren't principles that belong to any one group or any one political party. They are common principles. They are American principles," Obama said.

While the act has been "transformational" for tens of millions of people, more still needs to be done.

According to a press release from the Kessler Foundation and the National Organization on Disability many Americans with disabilities "are still struggling with many of the same lifestyle and economic issues they confronted in 1990 when the ADA became federal law."

Workplace discrimination still happens regularly and unemployment rates among those with disabilities are much higher than their non-disabled peers, experts say.

Photo: President Barack Obama greets guests attending a commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the law designed to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities and to make buildings more accessible by wheelchair, on the South Lawn of the White House, July 26, 2010, in Washington. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

White Sox fans say "Danks" you for the win

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 16:36:00 +0000

The Chicago White Sox have had a couple of rough games due to poor pitching performances recently but that all changed Monday night, July 26, when they brought their game against the Seattle Mariners.

John Danks got off to a hot start giving up zero runs in the first two innings. However he wasn't so lucky in the third. Outfielder Michael Saunders hit a double. Catcher Rob Johnson bunted to advance Saunders to third. A single followed it from shortstop Jack Wilson, allowing Saunders to score.

The Chicago White Sox weren't nervous though and they rallied back. Shortstop, Alexei Ramirez hit a single than stole second base. Outfielder, Juan Pierre singled allowing Ramirez to score. Just like that the Sox came back and tied the game 1-1, but they weren't done yet. Third baseman Omar Vizquel also singled, allowing Pierre to score and the Sox took the lead 2-1.

"Whenever you score runs off (Mariners') Felix Hernandez, arguably the best pitcher in baseball, it's nice," Danks said to the Associated press after the game. "Watching him throw, he had Nintendo stuff out there. I can't imagine trying to hit some of the stuff he was throwing out there, but these guys do a good job and we have 100 percent confidence in these guys. We know they're capable of scoring runs."

Danks on the other hand wasn't too bad himself giving up only one run in eight innings pitched. He improved to 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA in his last nine outings. Danks is 3-0 with a 1.14 ERA in three starts against Seattle this season.

"He's got a huge heart," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said to AP. "This kid, just every time he's out there, he just fights every pitch."

The bottom of the sixth inning was all about the Sox. First baseman Paul Konerko hit a solo home run. Outfielder Carlos Quentin was walked. Designated hitter Mark Kotsay, hit what appeared to be a home run to deep right but was robbed by outfielder Ichiro Suzuki who showed us why he is a nine-time Golden Glove winner.

"That was pretty good," Mariners' pitcher Hernandez said to AP. "That was a good play. He saved me two runs right there. In this ballpark, any fly ball could be out."

That didn't discourage the Sox though. Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski hit a double followed by another, giving the Sox insurance runs.

When you thought things couldn't get any better for the Sox or if you're a Mariners fan, any worse for Seattle. They did!

Quentin singled to shallow center. Andruw Jones came in as substitute runner for Quentin. Kotsay followed with a base hit. Brent Lillibridge came in for him as a pinch runner. Then Pierzynski hit a sacrifice fly allowing Jones to score. Then Ramirez at bat singled, scoring Lillibridge giving the Sox what would be their final lead at 6-1.

Relief pitcher Sergio Santos came in to close out the game and Chicago went on to advance a 6-1 record against the Mariners this season.

As a side note, some fans credited the win to a streak started by the People's World. The People's World held its fifth annual "Night out with the Sox" on July 26. "We've been doing this for five years and each time the Sox win!" said event organizer Pepe Lozano.

Photo: Chicago White Sox starter John Danks pitches against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning of baseball game, Tuesday, July 20, 2010, in Seattle. (Ted S. Warren/AP)

Seattle City Council honors Will Parry

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:43:00 +0000

SEATTLE-The Seattle City Council honored veteran trade union activist, Will Parry, July 19, for his "lifelong commitment, and work, to achieve social and economic justice for all the residents of Seattle."

With the entire City Council listening, President Richard Conlin read the proclamation hailing Parry for his "leadership, optimism, and humility" especially in founding the Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans (PSARA).

Conlin then stepped down from the council platform walked over and handed the document to Parry as a crowd of PSARA friends and co-workers applauded. Parry thanked the council, pointing out that his great grandfather, Byron Phelps, served as mayor of Seattle and his father, as president of the Seattle City Council.

Parry joked that his record in the low-hurdles set in 1937 at Queen Anne High School mentioned in the proclamation still stands because they later changed the way it is measured.

He voiced pride at PSARA's role in defending the vital needs of senior citizens in Washington State, adding, "I'm not through yet as long as I can string two words together, grammatically."

Parry was the first president of PSARA, and now is the editor of the PSARA's newsletter, Retiree Advocate.

Robby Stern, the current PSARA president said, "This public recognition of Will is richly deserved. Will has been an optimistic and determined advocate for progressive change for more than six decades. His leadership has sustained PSARA as a vibrant and cutting edge force in our community. We are pleased that the Seattle City Council is recognizing Will's continuous effort to make our community, our state, our country and our world a kinder and more just place."

Parry told the World he is as active as ever. He is a lifelong reader of the People's World, a member of the Communist Party of Washington State and an outspoken advocate of socialism. His current focus is the defense of Social Security.

When he spoke at the July 18 People's World picnic here in Seattle, he pointed out that Social Security is now celebrating its 75^th anniversary, "the greatest government program ever enacted."

He blasted "that damnable Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Accountability" appointed by President Obama and co-chaired by retired Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, a rightwing Republican and Democrat Erskine Bowles. Both propose cuts in Social Security in the name of reducing "budget deficits," even though the Social Security trust fund is running a two trillion dollar surplus and adds nothing to the deficit.

The commission is the brain child of hedge-fund billionaire Pete Peterson, a fanatical advocate of Social Security privatization.

Parry pointed out the commission held 20 field hearings across the nation to drum up support for draconian budget cuts and attacks on Social Security in the name of deficit reduction.

"They stacked the deck but the instant polls they conducted right after the hearings showed no tide of support for Social Security privatization, cuts in cost-of-living adjustments that undermine benefits or extending the retirement age. That is very encouraging."

Photo: Will Parry, center front, receives a proclamation from the Seattle City Council for his work in the labor union movement and among retirees. (Alliance of Retired Americans)

American-made streetcars: Portland company rebuilds lost industry

Wed, 28 Jul 2010 15:25:00 +0000

(Apollo News Service) United Streetcar, a union company in Portland, Ore., and wholly owned subsidiary of Oregon Iron Works, has built the first American-made streetcar in over half a century. United Streetcar already has a deal in place to build thirteen of its streetcars for the cities of Portland and Tucson, Ariz.

The initial streetcar was unveiled in July 2009 in a ceremony attended by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who called Portland the transportation, streetcar and livable community capital of the United States. "I believe this is the dawn of a new era for public transportation in the United States," said LaHood. "A new opportunity to claim ‘Made in America.' It's a chance to generate good-paying union jobs right here in the region."

United Streetcar, LLC was formed in 2005 after Chandra Brown, the company's president and a vice president at parent company Oregon Iron Works, made the startling discovery while talking to friends that modern streetcars were not manufactured in the United States - or at least not by American companies - and hadn't been for 58 years. Given the variety of complex products that Oregon Iron Works has manufactured since 1944, Brown was sure that the company could handle streetcars as well.

United Streetcar's ultimate goal is to provide modern streetcars to cities nationwide - Portland and Tucson are just the start. "Knowing the huge success of the Portland streetcar line, we were positive that streetcars were on the brink of exploding into a large and extremely viable market," said Brown, a 15-year veteran of Oregon Iron Works. "We thought that a separate website and company specific to streetcars would be the best way of reaching out around the country in this new marketplace."

Brown added that more than 65 U.S. cities are currently looking into implementing streetcars. Portland, though, is leading the way in public transportation.

United Steetcar's product is truly American-made. To meet "Buy America" requirements, at least 60 percent of the components had to be domestically produced by American companies. Brown says that United Streetcar's product is approximately 70-percent U.S.-made, with components coming from vendors in more than 20 states. The steel streetcar shell was fabricated in Portland; a company in Pennsylvania finished the trucks; a company just down the freeway from Portland provided the fiberglass; and the seats came from Michigan.

One part of the streetcar that is not American-made is the propulsion system, because currently there is no domestic manufacturer of streetcar propulsion systems. But this will soon change. In April, United Streetcar and the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon received a $2.4 million Federal Transit Administration grant to work with Rockwell Automation to develop a domestically produced streetcar propulsion system. Once an American propulsion system is ready for order, the content of United Streetcars vehicles will be 90 percent U.S.-made.

"Instead of outsourcing jobs, we are ‘insourcing' jobs, bringing them back to the States," Brown said. "This is key to keeping Portland's manufacturing industry thriving, as well as promoting American-made products."

Photo: ApolloAlliance.org

NAACP takes lead on Oct. 2 jobs march

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 15:23:00 +0000

Mobilization is under way for a massive national march and rally Oct. 2 in Washington, where tens of thousands will demand jobs, immigration reform and full funding for public education and health care.

The demonstration is being organized by a wide coalition of civil and immigrant rights organizations, labor and faith-based groups and community leaders. Leading groups include the NAACP, the National Council of La Raza, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the AFL-CIO and the United States Student Association. Nearly 200 groups have endorsed the event.

The march is in part a response to the tea party movement's extreme racism, expressed by its radical members recently - especially its blatant attacks against the Obama administration.

NAACP President Ben Jealous is calling the march "One Nation" with the tag line "Working Together." It will be a mass gathering of civil and human rights organizations, but also grassroots citizens from every walk of life, religion and race, he said.

"If any of us are going to get our agendas through, if we're going to get the rights for workers down South to organize by passing the Employee Free Choice Act, if we're going to get jobs created, if we're going to get real resources for schools and teachers' jobs around the country, if we're going to get comprehensive immigration reform through, then we've got to all work together, all for one and one for all," he told the Charlotte Post.

Organizers note that since President Obama's 2008 election a series of victories have taken effect for working families, including the stimulus package and the Lily Ledbetter Act for fair pay for women. They point out that it was a broad coalition of groups that rallied together to support passage of the health care bill.

They say it shows that even during hard economic times, civil rights groups, student activists and union members can rally together and make up the winning formula to pressure Congress to pass major reforms that benefit working people.

But it has also became increasingly clear that racist attacks have escalated against the sweeping changes.

And joblessness continues with no letup, hurting all Americans and hitting communities of color especially hard. The jobless rate for African Americans is 15.4 percent and 12.4 percent for Latinos, compared with 8.6 percent for whites, they note.

"This is why we are calling for a great march on Washington," Jealous told the recent NAACP national convention. "The NAACP, along with allies and partners, will show America that the solid majority of this nation is ready and willing to fight back and ensure that all of the change that we voted for becomes a reality for all of our children. That ‘America the Beautiful' belongs to us. And that justice and freedom keeps moving forward."

Organizers say the Oct. 2 demonstration will focus on pressing for more government spending on job creation. They hope it will be a show of force to remind lawmakers and the White House that people demand economic recovery and real change.

"People are very excited," said Jealous. "The march is part of a broader civic engagement strategy to make sure we hold the people that they've elected accountable and making sure we get all the change that we voted for."

Jealous said the march will also be a rallying force aimed at encouraging voters to make their voice heard at the ballot box come November.

"We will be in Washington on October 2 and we will be at the ballot box on November 2," he said.

Photo: NAACP President Benjamin Jealous addresses a press conference during the NAACP convention this month. (NAACP)

Green jobs lose out as Senate shelves energy bill

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 14:45:00 +0000

Steelworkers and environmentalists had a lot riding on the energy bill that was shelved last week.

Steelworkers union members had sent more than 100,000 letters to Congress urging "strong clean energy jobs legislation." Wilma Buckley, a USW member from Collierville, Tenn., said the energy bill was "an opportunity to make America a leader in building the components for the emerging clean energy economy."

USW Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson pointed out that "every wind turbine has 250 tons of steel and 8,000 parts. Solar panels, energy-efficient windows and numerous other clean energy products use glass, aluminum, steel, paper products and other materials."

But last Thursday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that the Senate's Democratic leadership was putting off action on comprehensive energy and climate legislation because they "didn't have the votes." The legislation, which would impose modest caps on greenhouse gas emissions, came up against an army of oil and coal industry lobbyists and a wall of opposition from Senate Republicans, joined by some Democrats, particularly from coal states.

Senate leaders are not expected to take up the bill again this year.

Instead, the Obama administration will move ahead on using its regulatory powers to curb emissions under the Clean Air Act.

For example, the Environmental Protection Agency has said it will begin to issue curbs on power plants and factories next January.

After the announcement that the bill was being pulled back, David Foster, executive director of the labor-environmental BlueGreen Alliance, said in a statement, "As China speeds ahead in the race for clean energy, the opportunity to create millions of clean energy jobs in America is stalled due to obstruction by Senate Republicans."

"America has been put on the sidelines as the rest of the world leads the transition to a clean energy economy and reaps the jobs that come with it - jobs that could and should be American jobs," Foster said.

League of Conservation Voters President Gene Karpinski called the shelving of the bill "disheartening." In a message to the group's members, Karpinski noted that the House had passed the "landmark" American Clean Energy and Security Act last year, and the hope was that the Senate would pass a companion measure. "It's deeply disappointing," he said, "that Big Oil, Dirty Coal and their allies in the Senate, led by the Republican leadership, continue to stand in the way of creating a clean energy economy that creates jobs, makes America more energy independent and protects the planet." He said environmentalists will continue the fight for clean energy legislation, and for the federal government to use the tools it already has to reduce emissions and clean up our air.

Karpinski also said it's clear that the November elections will be critical for ensuring clean energy supporters in the House are re-elected, and sending "new pro-environment champions to the Senate."

The Washington Post, in an editorial last week backing strong EPA action in the absence of federal legislation, noted that the regulatory process will be "messier" than legislation, involving case by case review of polluting sources, complicated lawsuits and "high risk that regulations will change from president to president."

For those very reasons, some industry groups have supported energy legislation. They include many of the nation's utility companies. Utilities like Duke Energy and Exelon say legislation would provide a predictable operating framework for them to invest and expand their operations. "There's a lot of capital sitting on the sidelines just waiting for more regulatory clarity," Lewis Hay, CEO of Juno-Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy Inc., told Bloomberg News.

That capital investment would spur jobs, Foster noted.

"Comprehensive clean energy and climate change legislation will spark the creation and preservation of millions of jobs, jumpstart whole new industries, and establish the U.S. as a global leader in the production of clean energy technologies," he said.

Photo: At a Capitol Hill press event, Wilma Buckley, Steelworkers Local 7655 Rapid Response Coordinator, reads one of several thousand letters she collected from USW members employed at Carrier Corp., Collierville, Tenn., urging action on "clean energy jobs legislation." (BlueGreen Alliance)

Right-winger Rand slips in Kentucky polls

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 11:22:00 +0000

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The latest poll, conducted by Kentucky-based CN/2 and published on its website July 22, indicates far-right Republican senatorial candidate Rand Paul holds a slight lead over Democrat Jack Conway.

Overall, 41% of people said they would vote for Paul, 38% for Conway, and 19% were undecided.

Moderate voters preferred Democrat Conway, 52% to 18%, likely due to Rand Paul's right-wing extremism.

The poll variation was 3.46 points, so the race is essentially even.

Out of the 803 likely Kentucky voters polled, 618 people were ages 50 and up, while only 28 people under the age of 30 were polled.

Furthermore, only 47% of people find Rand Paul "favorable," whereas 50% of people find Conway favorable.

More women lean towards voting for Conway, 43%-36%. Men, however, lean towards Paul 47%-33%.

By district, Paul holds a slight lead in every district besides District 3 (Metro Louisville and Jefferson County) and District 6 (Lexington, Richmond, and Frankfort).

A quick interpretation of this data would show that large, urban areas prefer Conway; whereas rural areas favor Paul.

Dr Paul recently came under fire because as it turns out, his certification to practice ophthalmology came from a fictional certification board, the National Board of Ophthalmology, a board that he himself created. He anointed himself as the president of the board. His wife (who isn't a doctor) is the vice-president.

"When you step back and look at it at arm's length, the race is up for grabs because the middle is up for grabs," said Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism at the University of Kentucky and former political writer for the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Photo: Rand Paul (Wikipedia/CC)