People Before Profit blog

Post-election, secretive Republican front group exposed

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 10:42:00 +0000

Shrouded in secrecy, hundreds of right-wing Republican state lawmakers joined powerful corporate executives and lobbyists for three days in Washington, D.C., yesterday for the yearly "States and Nation Policy Summit" of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

In meetings closed to the public and press, they will fashion a slate of bills for the 2013 state legislative sessions aimed ultimately to maximize corporate profits and power, at the American people's expense.

However, with a changed political post-election landscape favoring President Obama and Democrats in Congress and some state governments - on top of an energized labor and people's movement including in Republican controlled states - ALEC's agenda is likely to be more forcefully challenged.

ALEC was the main behind-the-scenes force in recent years in promoting state laws suppressing voting rights, undermining collective bargaining rights, privatizing public schools and prisons, and weakening clean air and clean water regulations, according to the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) and Common Cause.

ALEC came under particularly intense scrutiny surrounding its political agenda and tax-exempt status during its national drive earlier this year to promote the "Stand Your Ground" gun law that for weeks shielded the killer of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin from prosecution.

And this was before rightwing Republicans took a trouncing in the November elections, in which labor, other social movements and public interest groups played major roles.

All of which increases the chances that these powerful people's movements will potentially work more closely with watchdog public interest groups - like the CMD and Common Cause - that have been a thorn on ALEC's side.

This becomes all the more important as efforts are being explored to coordinate ALEC's policy aims at the state level with federal congressional Republican ultra right aims.

The Huffington Post reported in September that the ultra right Heritage Foundation hosted a policy gathering for both current ALEC members and the Republican Study Committee -- a group of staunchly conservative House Republicans -- in hopes of beginning a partnership between the two organizations at the state and federal levels.

In a joint press release on the eve of the ALEC summit, CMD and Common Cause indicated they expect that, with public pressure many legislators will shy away from ALEC's controversial agenda and improper lobbying activity, this coming year.

Since the launch of ALECexposed in 2011 by CMD, along with the role of muck racking liberal media outlets and journalists and public interest groups, over 70 legislators have indicated that they have left ALEC, according to the two watchdog groups.

To add to ALEC's problems, in the 2012 election at least 117 ALEC members lost their seats, CMD and Common Cause said.

In addition to the exodus of lawmakers, more than 40 companies have severed ties with ALEC this year as journalists and groups including CMD and Common Cause connected the dots between ALEC and bills and resolutions affecting both federal and state laws. They include General Motors, General Electric, Amazon.com and Bank of America, CMD and Common Cause reported.

In their press release, CMD and Common Cause announced they had obtained new documents and reports that shed more light on the inner workings of ALEC.

The two watchdog groups revealed that ALEC's legislative leaders in each state have a "duty" under its public bylaws to get ALEC "model bills" introduced and enacted.

CMD and Common Cause charge that ALEC continues to insist that "it does no lobbying, even as it brings hundreds of legislators to DC to sit with corporate lobbyists and executives to craft legislation."

ALEC's most recent IRS Form 990, for 2011, indicates that while classified as a "charity" and enjoying the tax-exempt status that accompanies that designation.

But, the two public interest groups revealed that ALEC spent nearly $5 million on closed-to-the-public conferences with state legislators and "task forces" geared to advancing hundreds of corporate-drafted "model" bills.

The new documents acquired through state freedom of information requests strengthen Common Cause's case that ALEC is "a lobby masquerading as a charity," the watchdog groups said.

Common Cause is pressing a tax "whistleblower" complaint with the IRS seeking to revoke ALEC's tax exemption.

"Buying Influence," an October 2012 report by CMD and Common Cause documents how ALEC's corporate backers have funneled an estimated $4 million into "scholarships" since 2006 to pay for the travel and hotel expenses of state legislators attending ALEC meetings with corporate lobbyists. ALEC corporate backers include drug companies, big tobacco and telecomm giants.

By paying for the junkets through ALEC, the companies can take advantage of their tax exemption to claim the expense as a tax deduction, effectively shifting the cost to taxpayers, the watchdog groups said.

Photo: RJ // CC 2.0

Massey manager charged with hiding cause of mine deaths

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 13:01:00 +0000

In April 2010, 29 mine workers were killed in an explosion in what's known as the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in Raleigh County, W. Va. Today, federal prosecutors charged Massey Energy mine manager David C. Hughart with covering up defiance of safety regulations and resulting dangerous conditions from government inspectors. The Charleston Gazette reports that this is the "first time in their probe of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster that prosecutors have filed charges alleging Massey officials engaged in a scheme that went beyond the Raleigh County mine...."

But in new court documents, U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin and Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Ruby allege a broader conspiracy by as-yet unnamed "directors, officers and agents" of Massey operating companies to put coal production ahead of worker safety and health at "other coal mines owned by Massey."

It is the first time in their probe of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster that prosecutors have filed charges alleging Massey officials engaged in a scheme that went beyond the Raleigh County mine where 29 workers died in an April 2010 explosion.

Reposted from AFL-CIO NOW blog

Photo: Gary Quarles, Clay Mullins and Betty Harrah hold pictures of their loved ones killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, at a June 7 news conference in Washington. Haraz N. Ghanbari/AP

New House committee chairs reflect GOP’s concept of diversity

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 13:03:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, demonstrated the difficulty his party has with the concept of diversity yesterday when he announced the names of the 19 people who will chair all of the major committees in the new Congress.

They are all white men and most of them are millionaires.

Rep, Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the defeated vice presidential candidate, will continue to chair the powerful House budget committee, despite having exhausted the six-year term limit. The GOP lifted the rules to allow him to continue in that post.

They did not change the rules however when it came to a woman. The one female chair that House Republicans have, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida, has to step down because her term is up.

The failure to include even a single woman or member of a minority group surprised many in the Capitol here who noted they would have expected something different from a Republican Party that had just been so soundly rejected by women and minority voters.

"One would think House Republicans would learn from their mistakes," a senior Democratic aide told the Huffington Post. "But they elected a roster of committee chairs that represent their ranks: old white men."

Democrats have not yet announced who will be the ranking members of their party on each of the 19 House committees but at least nine or 10 of the 19 are expected to be women, African American or Latino.

Either Reps. Nita Lowey nor Marcy Kaptur, Democrats of N.Y and Ohio respectively, is slated to take the most powerful Democratic House Committee post on the Appropriations Committee.

Rep. Maxine Waters (Calif.), an African American, will take over as the ranking Democrat on Financial Services with Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who is also African-American, maintaining his top slot on the Judiciary Committee.

Floridians rally to end occupation of Gaza

Wed, 28 Nov 2012 09:07:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla. - This past Sunday, about 100 Floridians from throughout central and south Florida gathered at Orlando's Lake Eola park to hold a demonstration calling for the end of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

The demonstration was planned and organized by the Florida Palestine Network in response to the Israeli offensive in the Gaza strip. The offensive, dubbed "Operation Pillar of Defense" by the Israeli Defense Forces, began on the Nov. 14 with the assassination of Ahmed al-Jabari, a high ranking member of Hamas's military wing.

Turnout for the event was hampered by the calling of a ceasefire Nov. 21, but organizers of the event stressed the importance of going forward as planned and maintaining pressure on Israel until the occupation of Palestinian territories is relinquished to the Palestinian people.

In addition to hampering turnout, the ceasefire also appears to be responsible for the canceling of an expected counter-demonstration is support of the Israeli government.

On hand were representatives from multiple organizations, including chapters of the Students for Justice in Palestine from Tallahassee, Tampa and Miami, along with the Gainesville chapter of Students for a Democratic Society.

Meeting on the park green at the intersection of Robinson and Eola, speakers testified to the struggle of the Palestinian people under the Israeli occupation. Speakers noted the lengths to which the Israeli government is willing to go to weaken the people of Gaza, including strictly rationing the amount of food allowed through the embargo to Palestinians despite the fact that nearly 10 percent of children under five years old in Gaza suffer from chronic malnutrition.

Recent Florida State University graduate and former organizer for the Obama campaign C.J. Canton criticized the president's seemingly unconditional defense of Israel. Canton also raised a common theme of the demonstration, saying that the assembled demonstrators needed to impress upon the Democratic Party that the support of those who care for Gaza is not to be unconditionally expected at election time.

Speaking in opposition to the official line of the Israeli and U.S. governments, event organizer Rasha Mubarak eloquently declared that, "Israel has a right to exist, but not as they presently do, by occupying a people and treating the Palestinians as less than human."

The demonstrators marched in a circuit from Lake Eola through the center of downtown Orlando under a small escort of officers from the Orlando Police Department, including at least one undercover officer known to have surveilled local events held by Food Not Bombs and the Occupy movement.

Despite a nearly empty downtown and a general lack of media presence, the demonstrators were able to bring their message to curious onlookers relaxing in the park. Chanting slogans such as "1,2,3,4 end the occupation, end the war," the supporters of the Palestinians were a living testament to the fact that there is a sizable and active American opposition to the Israeli occupation.

Petition drive seeks freedom for Oscar Lopez Rivera

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 13:34:00 +0000

ORLANDO, Fla.-Supporters of Oscar Lopez Rivera have kicked off a petition drive asking President Barack Obama to grant clemency to the Puerto Rican independentista, who has served more than 31 years in federal custody, making him the longest-held political prisoner in the island's history. Lopez will turn 70 on Jan. 6.

Supporters of Lopez, including his niece, spoke at an event organized by the Orlando chapter of the National Boricua Human Rights Network on Nov. 19 and held at the Asociacion Borinqueña in east Orlando. The NBHRN works for the decontamination of former U.S. Navy facilities on the island of Vieques, the release of all Puerto Rican political prisoners, and an end to political repression and criminalization of progressive forces in the Puerto Rican community.

"This is a humanitarian effort on behalf of those in the international community who would like to see Oscar free once and for all," said Zoraida Rios-Andio, vice chair of the Central Florida chapter of the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights

"It's embarrassing for our country [for the president] to go speak about political prisoners [in other countries] and yet keep in prison someone who has contributed immensely to the Puerto Rican community, not only in Chicago but across the U.S., and who inspires all of us," said New York State Assemblyman Jose Rivera, a Democrat who represents parts of the Bronx.

So far, Lopez's supporters have collected almost 100,000 signatures. The deadline to sign the petition and send it to the NBHRN is Dec. 15.

*Lopez's supporters hope a delegation can meet with the Obama administration sometime in January to make the case for early release for someone whom many Puerto Ricans consider an inspirational figure for his struggle and sacrifice on behalf of independence for their homeland.

The petition to President Obama points out that "three U.S. presidents have exercised the constitutional power of pardon to commute the sentences of men and women in U.S. prisons for Puerto Rican independence: President Truman in 1952, President Carter in 1979, and President Clinton in 1999. We are mindful that all of Mr. Lopez' co-defendants have been released, and most of them live in Puerto Rico, where they are well respected, productive members of our civil society. ...

"We are always hopeful when we hear expressions by your administration that political prisoners in other countries should be released, as we eagerly await application of this policy to Oscar Lopez Rivera's case right here at home."

At his first federal parole hearing in 2011, Lopez was denied the right to call witnesses and to have legal observers and family members present, while the government called 11 witnesses who sought to implicate Lopez in acts in which he was not involved. His next parole hearing will not be until 2026, when he will be 83.

"On behalf of our family we really want to thank everybody that has shown solidarity in the release of our uncle, Oscar Lopez," said his niece, Lourdes Lugo Lopez.

"It's been 31 years of not having him for celebrations as well as to mourn," said Lugo, noting that many of Lopez's relatives, including his mother and sister, have died during his lengthy incarceration.

Lugo urged Lopez's supporters to contact the White House asking for clemency for Lopez. "Call the president and say, 'I heard about Oscar. Why is he in prison?'" she said.

Lopez's release enjoys wide support in Puerto Rico, not only from pro-independence forces, but from the Senate and House, the Bar Association, former governors, unions, religious denominations, and community activists, among other sectors. Lopez also has growing support among sectors of the Latino and Puerto Rican communities in the U.S.

Lopez, born in San Sebastian, P.R., moved to Chicago when he was a teenager. In the 1960s he was drafted into the U.S. Army and served in Vietnam, where he earned a Bronze Star. After he returned home, he became a community activist, working on issues of poverty, discrimination, education, and police brutality in Chicago's Puerto Rican neighborhoods.

According to the NBHRN, Lopez "was arrested in 1981, accused of being a member of a clandestine force seeking independence for Puerto Rico, and sentenced to 55 years for seditious conspiracy. He was not accused or convicted of causing harm or taking a life.

"In 1988, as the result of a government-made conspiracy to escape, he was given an additional 15 years."

"From 1986 to 1998, he was held in the most super maximum security prisons in the federal prison system," says the NBHRN, "in conditions not unlike those at Guantanamo under which 'enemy combatants,' are held, conditions which the International Red Cross, among other human rights organizations, have called tantamount to torture."

In prison Lopez has run educational programs for other inmates out of his cell and has become an accomplished artist. An exhibit of his drawings and paintings, Not Enough Space, was shown throughout the U.S., Puerto Rico and Mexico.

Other speakers at the event included the Rev. Roberto Morales, of St. John's Episcopal Church in Kissimmee, Fla.; Denise Diaz of Central Florida Jobs with Justice and the Central Florida Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (national and Central Florida LCLAA have both passed resolutions calling for Lopez's release); and Rico Picard, of community group Frente Unido 436.

Letters of support only (no money or printed materials) may be sent to Oscar Lopez Rivera:

Oscar Lopez Rivera # 87651-024

FCI Terre Haute

P.O. Box 33

Terre Haute, Ind. 47808

Insurance companies getting FEMA to pay their post-Sandy bills

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:43:00 +0000

BROOKLYN, N.Y. -- Anger is growing here as thousands in the New York area are told by their insurance companies that they're not covered for damages resulting from Hurricane Sandy.

Adding insult to injury, the insurance companies are apparently benefitting from the quick response to the crisis by the Obama administration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency inadvertently footing the bill for claims denied by the insurers.

Bobby McCann's brother Mike, who lives in the devastated Breezy Point neighborhood, was told by his insurance company that his storm insurance was no good because the damage to his house was caused by flooding, not by a hurricane or a tropical storm.

"My brother should be covered," said McCann last Friday night as he put down his quart container of beer at Farrell's Bar in Brooklyn's Park Slope. "The company says that because he don't have flood insurance he's s-t out of luck," McCann said, "but he had storm insurance and that should be all there is to it."

As many as a quarter million homeowners in flood-prone areas of the city of New York and Long Island may be in the same situation.

While the insurance companies have been denying claims since the storm hit, that's how many homeowners have applied for the emergency housing money that the Obama administration made quickly available. Unlike in the Bush administration response to Hurricane Katrina, where such aid was often delayed for months or didn't reach some areas at all, FEMA's emergency housing funds were available here just days after Sandy crashed on shore.

The purpose of FEMA's emergency housing money is to allow people whose homes are uninhabitable to temporarily rent new living quarters but because insurance companies are failing to pay damage claims, homeowners say they are using some of that FEMA money to pay for repairs.

The result is more and more people here expressing outrage at insurance companies they once saw as guarantors of their security in the event of a catastrophe and now see as greedy profiteers shirking their responsibilities.

When Mike McCann had returned to his Breezy Point home after the storm he said he was glad that he was, at least, better off than many of his neighbors. He was not among the hundred-plus families whose homes had either burned down completely or among those whose homes were otherwise totaled by Sandy. All Mike had to contend with was half of an entire wall that was missing and huge pieces of wood and other debris from outside that were now sitting inside his home.

McCann's policy covered wind damage and objects falling on the house but the insurer told him that the damage incurred at his place was not from wind, but from water and that the wood and other debris sitting in his house had not fallen on top of the house but had, instead, been forced through the wall by water. The adjuster said the determination was made based on how the wall had collapsed. The debris from outside, the adjuster said, could only have ended up inside the house as the result of having been pushed through the wall by floodwater.

Homeowner insurance policies, according to storm victims who have lost property, often cover damage caused by "falling objects." It is apparently up to insurance company investigators to decide whether an "object" that has damaged a house actually fell on top of the house or ended up inside the house as the result of some other process.

Allstate, the company famous for the refrain, "You're in good hands," is one of numerous companies that insured Sandy victims, including victims who say their claims have been denied. No one at Allstate would respond officially when asked to comment.

Chet Held, president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 130, in New Orleans and a life-long fisherman on the Louisiana Bayou, said that the experience people in the Northeast are having with insurance companies is similar to what people experienced on the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina.

"My home was under water up to the roof after the Hurricane," he said. "The adjuster told us that they would cover only the top 12 inches of the attic because the damage to the rest of the house was not from the hurricane or the wind, but from flood water."

"It was a shame, what happened," Held added. "Some people who had no insurance whatsoever actually did better when the government-funded Louisiana Recovery Authority came on the scene. They got more help from the state agency than people got from their insurance companies."

"I would never have thought they would do this to my brother," said Bobby McCann at Farrell's Bar as he picked up his container of Budweiser. "For 15 years Mikey paid his premiums every month thinking he was covered and his family was safe. There's not much you can do about the weather but how could a country allow an insurance company to get away with something like this?"

Photo: Carlo Popolano stands outside his home in Coney Island's Sea Gate community, after it was damaged in superstorm Sandy. Bebeto Matthews/AP

$27 million granted to hire New York's unemployed for Sandy relief

Tue, 27 Nov 2012 12:35:00 +0000

NEW YORK -- The massive destruction by Hurricane Sandy literally destroyed whole communities. Thousands of private homeowners and renters who live in shorefront areas in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut have lost virtually everything

Residents of Rockaway NY and areas of Queens and Brooklyn who live in public housing still do not have power and heat.

On Long Island, communities look almost as bad as New Orleans after Katrina.

People in many of those areas recently held protests to demand that their power be restored and that they get more help with the clean up, and with food, water and heat.

Despite the massive efforts of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the thousands of volunteers from organizations including unions, individuals who have come in to help, the pace is far too slow.

There has already been one snowstorm and another is due. In a month the coldest time of the year for the northeast will arrive. People are asking, "How can we survive?" Clearly, the government needs to take emergency measures to meet this desperate crisis.

This situation to too big and too costly for private, profit-making companies to handle. It calls for the federal government to take a more urgent, decisive and dramatic action. In an earlier article we called for the massive hiring of the unemployed to get the job done and help the region's economy at the same time.

Well, a few days ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York State has received a $27,792,296 National Emergency Grant from the federal government to hire unemployed New Yorkers (unemployed prior to or as a direct result of Hurricane Sandy) to help clean up and rebuild communities destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The grant will make it possible to hire 5,000 youth and unemployed workers to work in the devastated areas. The workers will be paid $15 an hour and there will also be a job-training component for young workers.

Cuomo stated, "The funding will not only provide young people and the unemployed with the opportunity to participate in cleaning up and rebuilding communities devastated by the storm, but it will provide valuable work experience and on-the-job training that can be useful in future careers."

The program will be run by the New York Department of Labor and they are mandated to work with communities to identify cleanup areas, assign workers to job sites and administer the funds. The Department of Labor will also work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to organize a local program to hire local people who will replace FEMA workers -- many of whom are from out of state.

Those New Yorkers who are interested in being hired should contact their congressperson or the New York State Department of Labor. The following is from the NYSLD WEB site:

"Workers who lost their jobs as a direct result of Hurricane Sandy or workers who were unemployed prior to the storm are eligible to apply. Employment funded by this grant is temporary. Job seekers interested in this program should fill out and submit the online registration form.

The Obama administration does not want a repeat of what Bush did in New Orleans.

Although the wages to the clean up workers could be higher, and there may be concerns about union protection and benefits, the unemployed welcome this proposal and it is surely an important beginning.

"One of the ways to help New York recover is to engage New Yorkers themselves in rebuilding their communities" said, federal coordinating officer Michael Byrne. He added, "We will have a stronger recovery if those working on the recovery are personally vested in its success."

This program opens the door politically to the need for a nationwide program to rebuild our country's infrastructure through public works. Many progressive are calling for a "New New Deal." Obama's "American Jobs Act" and a number of job creation bills pending in Congress must be passed and acted on immediately. This program needs to spread to other states ravaged by Sandy.

The Republicans who only wanted to bring down Obama are now talking compromise. Some have withdrawn from the Grover Norquist's no tax pledge. They say they want compromise but their priority is still to get the best deal possible for the 1%.

The people voted in the last election to go "forward." That means tax the rich, transfer military spending to peoples needs, create millions of jobs for the unemployed and rebuild the country. This is something to fight for that will benefit everyone It's time to call your member of Congress and the administration to not compromise our survival and do the right thing.

Photo: A structural engineer working for the New York City Buildings department snaps a photograph of a red-tagged, severely damaged house in the Rockaways in the Queens borough of New York, Nov. 19. Kathy Willens/AP

“Latino voters have a check to cash” for immigration reform

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:27:00 +0000

Latinos influenced the election outcome in a big way this year, helping to ensure President Barack Obama's second term. Bound up with the huge and unprecedentedly strong surge of support among Latinos was both Obama's embrace of immigration reform and perceived anti-Latino racism on challenger Mitt Romney's part.

On Nov. 9, United We Dream, an umbrella group of pro-immigration reform advocates, emphasized the Romney-Latino disconnect, saying in a statement, "The anti-immigrant agenda has lost. Mitt Romney's low Latino voter turnout is directly related to his anti-immigrant stance."

Daniel Rodriguez, a UWD coordinator, added, "Latino voters were driven to the polls this year because they supported a student's goal to be the first one in their family to go to college, a worker's right to be treated with respect, a family's dream to stay united in the only country they call home."

"Latino voters have a check to cash in 2013," he continued. "Congress and our president have the opportunity to revive the American dream for another generation by strengthening an immigration system that currently leaves our country broken."

The display of strength by Latinos and their allies points to a much stronger possibility of comprehensive immigration reform.

Some Republicans quick to understand that their party cannot win if it is perceived to be an anti-immigrant organization, have received the message.

"We're going to have to give them amnesty," Newt Gingrich, the extreme conservative who challenged Romney in the GOP primaries, said on Fox News Nov. 9.

Exit polls showed that many Latinos were driven to vote by their concern for immigration issues.

"I canvassed with one very important person in my mind, my daughter, Izabel," said Sonia Martinez, of Together Colorado, at a press conference. "I wanted to make sure voters [knew] what was at stake."

Immigration reform advocates were not only turned off by Romney's message, but were inspired by Obama's actions as president, which included Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals. DACA, announced this past summer by Obama, allows DREAM Act-eligible youth the opportunity to secure their place in the U.S. for two years, and is renewable. However, because most immigration issues are a prerogative of Congress, Obama was not able to offer a path to citizenship.

Even still, many Republican initiatives on immigration seem to be more window dressing than substance. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., yesterday said that he was devising legislation that would help those eligible for the DREAM Act, the still unpassed legislation that would allow a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants brought here as children who either are in college or the military.

However, Rubio's plan reportedly mirrors another Republican initiative, the Achieve Act, introduced by Sens. John Kyl and Kay Bailey Hutchison, of Arizona and Texas respectively. If this act were passed instead of the DREAM Act, a smaller number of undocumented immigrants could gain legal status, and for those who do, there is no clear path to citizenship.

The Achieve Act has been roundly denounced by immigrant-rights advocates.

On this issue, the Republicans are out of touch. Most Americans favor a path to citizenship, and immigration activists are continuing to fight for comprehensive reform, starting with the DREAM Act.

United We Dream is hosting a conference of more than 500 activists Nov. 30 to Dec. 2 in Saint Louis, Mo., and from there they plan to build their post-election strategy.

Photo: A young undocumented immigrant holds up her DACA identification card, via United We Dream.

2013: The post-election agenda

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:33:00 +0000

The economy is framing everything in the post-election period - and not only for the short term. Here's why.

While some pickup in economic activity has occurred since the crash in 2008, overall employment gains and economic growth have been fitful and anemic.

It's hard to see where the dynamism is going to come from anytime soon without the entry of the federal government on a scale that only a few in Washington are ready to embrace.

Debt and bubble-driven growth, which drove the last economic expansion (1992-2007), is not an option.

Further, there will be no help from our global partners. Europe is reeling. And China is not positioned to carry the rest of the world on its shoulders. Its growth has slowed too and it's feeling the contradictions that come from its deep integration into the capitalist global economy.

Crises are supposed to be capitalism's mechanisms to clear away the debris that inhibits a revival of production, profits, employment and growth on a wider scale. But that scenario doesn't appear to be in capitalism's future.

Instead, slow growth and high unemployment seem like the "new normal." And, always lurking in the background is the danger of deeper crises.

All of which begs the question: Are we entering a new era of capitalism, characterized by overproduction, hyper-intense monopolistic rivalry, and long-term economic stagnation on a world scale?

My initial read (more in-depth study is required) is that we are entering such an era. That would go a long way in explaining why big capital is in such a frenzy to impose a new model of political and economic governance on the working class and people - one that is stripped of social obligations to its citizens, "free" of unions and activated civic organizations, unchecked by weakened democratic institutions, and shorn of any barriers to its global accumulation strategy.

The dream of the 1 percent is to return to the Gilded Age when neither the people nor nature had any rights that capitalism had to respect.

The outcome of the 2012 elections has made the realization of the 1 percent's dream more difficult, but it has by no means settled the question. Don't expect big capital to throw in the towel.

While it supported Romney, its claws are in the sides of both parties and in every branch of government. The state remains a capitalist state.

Faced with this reality, the option for the working class and people in the near and medium term isn't to retreat from electoral and political struggle. Instead, working people need to further expand their independent and mass presence in the electoral and political arena (as well as other arenas) of struggle, where advanced democratic solutions to the capitalist crisis can be fought for and won. For example: expansion of voting rights; curbs on the financial power of big capital; investment in meaningful and massive jobs creation; protection of the equality and rights of women, immigrants, workers, people of color, gays and lesbians; steps toward greening and de-militarizing our economy and society; protection and expansion of public services, education, health care and retirement security.

These struggles will lead us to the longer-term option: socialism - reshaping our society into one in which working people and their allies govern in the interest of the immense majority. A society that puts people and nature before profits.

Photo: theaction.org on Facebook

N. Calif. registered nurses still fighting Sutter takeaways

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 10:53:00 +0000

BERKELEY, Calif. - For the seventh time since fall 2011, registered nurses were walking picket lines at eight Sutter Health facilities in northern California Nov. 20 and 21. Nurses at two non-Sutter hospitals in San Jose joined them for one day.

The strike affected some 3,300 nurses, members of the California Nurses Association, and hundreds of technical workers who belong to a CNA affiliate, the Caregivers and Health Care Employees.

It was the second such strike this month.

At issue are sweeping cuts in patient care protections and nurses' contract standards demanded by Sutter, though it is one of the nation's wealthiest hospital chains.

Nurses on the line cited some 84 proposed takeaways, including services benefiting the community, as well as issues relating to nurses' contract standards. Among them: ending charge nurses' ability to address staffing shortages, elimination of paid sick leave and ending health benefits altogether for nurses working less than 30 hours per week.

The union says several Sutter hospitals have reached agreement with nurses after withdrawing concession demands.

The California Nurses Association notes that Sutter has accumulated nearly $4.2 billion in profits since 2005, according to its own audited financial statements. The health giant paid 28 top executives over $1 million in compensation.

Oil platform explosion: Another disaster in the Gulf

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 13:27:00 +0000

It seems that, for the Gulf Coast, which has already endured the tragic BP oil spill, the hits just keep on coming. A November 16 oil platform explosion and fire left 11 workers injured, one confirmed dead, and one still missing. It also left oil sheen on the already-polluted Louisiana water.

The platform, located 20 miles southeast of Grand Isle, La., was owned by Black Elk Energy, a Houston-based oil and gas drilling company. The accident was attributed to a mishap with a welding torch being used to cut an oil line. Aside from the oil sheen near the platform, there were no reports of a major leak.

The workers, all from the Philippines, were working for oil contractor Grand Isle Shipyard, Inc. - a company that was fined and cited for violations by the federal Labor Department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 2008. That was due to a 2007 incident in which two employees died after inhaling poisonous hydrogen sulfide. They were exposed to the gas after their respirators were disconnected. Grand Isle was fined $7,000 for that accident.

Grand Isle is also facing a separate lawsuit by a group of former workers who said they were confined to cramped living quarters and forced to work long hours for little pay. Grand Isle reportedly didn't pay them properly for overtime, and may have violated other fair-labor standards.

This latest incident in the Gulf is an unpleasant reminder that oil companies show no compassion for workers, or for the environment. Notably, this disaster occurred just days after the U.S. Department of Justice called for BP to pay up $4.5 billion in fines for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, with other penalties against the oil giant still pending. Though Black Elk Energy is a smaller company, it is clearly no less negligent than its larger counterparts, proving once more that Big Oil will cause damage to people and ecosystems time and again.

Frances Beinecke, president of nonprofit environmental group National Resources Defense Council, remarked, "Though the BP criminal case is settled, today's hazard makes clear that the hazards of oil and gas drilling are not in America's rear view. It is a sad reminder that offshore drilling is an inherently dangerous business. Workers and communities are put in harm's way every day, and will continue to be as long as we prioritize this risky energy development. Our leaders must keep that squarely in mind when considering where and how to allow further drilling along our coasts."

Perhaps most disturbing of all to Louisianans is the fact that what Black Elk has done is simply pile another disaster on top of the aftermath of BP's spill, which could continue to have negative effects on health and the environment for years to come.

David Camardelle, mayor of the town of Grand Isle, lamented the lack of environmental progress, noting, "We can put robots on Mars, but we can't tell how much BP oil is still out in the Gulf. Something's wrong with that."

Kindra Arnesen, wife of a fisherman in Buras, La., felt that there were still plenty of accidents-waiting-to-happen in the Gulf, and questioned what - if anything - Big Oil has learned after the BP disaster. "This may have been a fluke accident," she said, "but it makes me wonder - what really has changed in the oil industry since the BP explosion? It just seems like we should be doing something better."

Photo: Tar balls found near Grand Isle, La., believed to be the remnants of the 2010 BP spill. Mac MacKenzie/Ecowatch.org

Today in history: President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 15:03:00 +0000

One of the best-known speeches in American history, it was delivered by Lincoln in the midst of the Civil War, on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

It was a carefully crafted address: In just over two minutes, Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality from by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom," that would bring true equality to all of its citizens, ensuring that democracy would remain a viable form of government.

Lincoln had issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863. Would the promise of "all men are created equal" be realized? It was not clear in 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was first elected. It was not clear in 1865, just after Lincoln's re-election as the Civil War was finally coming to a close after four long years and 600,000 dead.

Lincoln worried the Emancipation Proclamation would not be enough to guarantee an end to slavery. An amendment to the Constitution would be the only way slavery could be abolished forever from American soil, he said. So began the struggle for votes in the House of Representatives to pass such an amendment in January 1865, just after Lincoln was re-elected.

This intense political period is the setting for Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln," based on Doris Kearns Goodwin's "A Team of Rivals."

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings: Listen to David Kurlan read the speech from "Heritage USA, Vol. 2, Part 2: Documents and Speeches" and remember those lost in the Civil War.

The Blue and the Gray (1982) - Gettysburg Address

Clip is from a civil war mini-series starring Gregory Peck as Lincoln.

Barbara Russum, Teresa Albano and Wikipedia contributed to this article.

Photo: The only known photograph of President Lincoln giving his Gettysburg speech, taken by photographer David Bachrach. Lincoln is seated on the right at the end of the dais, facing the crowd. Wikimedia Commons: This image is in the public domain because its copyright has expired.

Occupy Sandy builds on longstanding progressive tradition

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 09:59:00 +0000

Some people were shocked when Occupy Wall Street - a protest movement that aimed to expose the excessive power of the financial industry and its corrupting influence on government - suddenly came to life through grassroots efforts to bring relief to individuals and communities devastated by Hurricane Sandy.

This was not the first time that a radical movement known for its uncompromising and confrontational stance toward government and corporate power decided to provide direct services to individuals who suffered extreme hardship as a result of the conditions those movements exposed.

During the early 1930s, the American Communist Party - whose first response to the Great Depression was huge hunger marches on city halls and private charities demanding "work or wages" - began to shift to neighborhood-based action to aid individual families. In 1931, the Communist-led Unemployment Councils began organizing people to put back the furniture of families evicted for non-payment of rent and organize huge protests against police and marshals who returned to finish the eviction.

These anti-eviction protests, starting small, kept thousands of people in their apartments in cities from New York to Chicago to San Francisco, and in some communities like the Bronx, made it virtually impossible for landlords to evict tenants.

Then, in 1933, when the Roosevelt Administration appropriated billions of dollars to create relief programs for the unemployed, the Unemployed Councils - and its later manifestation, the Workers Alliance - became an informal bargaining agent for unemployed individuals and impoverished families at city relief offices, helping them get the aid they were entitled to and upon occasion leading sit-ins at relief offices if they were denied it.

These protests helped the Communist Party build a strong base of respect, if not loyalty, in many working class neighborhoods and proved a tremendous asset in having unemployed workers and their families organize on the side of industrial unions when they fought for union recognition, rather than providing a core of strike breakers.

Now lets jump ahead 30 years to the Black Panther Party. The BPP's claim to fame was organizing armed surveillance of police who patrolled Black communities, and insisting on the right of people in Black communities to bear arms in self defense. These BPP policies were the ones that created the greatest controversy and attracted the greatest attention, but within two years of the Party's founding, it was organizing free breakfast programs for children all around the nation, and creating pioneering health care programs in underserved Black communities, a strategy documented by Alondra Nelson in her brilliant book Body and Soul. While some sections of the BPP suffered fierce government repression and others self-destructed, these service programs had a lasting positive impact on many of the communities they organized in.

These two historic examples should be borne in mind by those who might be prone to criticize the Occupy Movement for providing services to those in need rather than concentrating all their energies on attacking the underlying conditions that lead to massive levels of suffering. They are making a turn to communal action and mutual aid that the most effective radical organizations in American history all employed at key points in their history. And which helped insure that their contribution to progressive change in America would be deep and lasting.

This article was reposted from The Contributor.

Photo: An example of the damage left by Hurricane Sandy. ItsDemiMondaine/Flickr

Latinos: integral to the winning electoral coalition

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:00:00 +0000

Pouring out in record numbers for President Barack Obama, Latinos added a strong voice to the broad labor-led, rainbow coalition that clinched the president's re-election last week.

Latinos voted for President Obama over Republican Mitt Romney by 71 to 27 percent, according to an analysis of exit polls by the Pew Hispanic Center.

In 2008, Obama received 67 percent of the Latino vote. This year, Romney's 29 percent Latino vote was lower than Republican presidential candidates received in 2008, 2004, and 2000.

As with the general electorate, polls revealed that immigration isn't the top issue that drove most Latinos to the polls; jobs and the economy are.

But immigration is a litmus test for many Latino voters - and for good reason.

Sixty percent of those polled by impreMedia and Latino Decisions said they knew an undocumented immigrant.

That is likely to include millions of Latino voters who were once undocumented immigrants and are now naturalized U.S. citizens (beneficiaries of former "amnesty" programs) or have relatives, friends or neighbors who are undocumented immigrants.

Many Latinos became more enthusiastic about the president after his June announcement he would no longer deport some young undocumented immigrants who fit the general requirements of the Dream Act, which enjoys the overwhelming support of Latino voters. (Though the president and most Democrats support it, Republicans have consistently blocked the Dream Act from becoming law).

Romney, on the other hand, took a hard-line on immigration, calling for "self-deportation" - essentially forcing undocumented immigrants to leave by making their lives hard - and for vetoing the Dream Act.

"Romney during the primaries put himself into a corner," said Lawrence Benito, CEO of the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. "He went to the right of everyone in the Republican field, even respected conservatives, and the Latino and the immigrant community was not fooled."

A number of significant breakthroughs in this election reflected a marked growth in progressive trends among Latinos as well as among the general electorate on issues particular to the Latino community.

In the national exit poll, when asked what should happen to unauthorized immigrants working in the U.S, 77 percent of Hispanic voters said these immigrants should be offered a chance to apply for legal status while 18 percent said they should be deported.

But just as significant was the response among all voters, given the barrage of anti-immigrant state initiatives and the vitriol coming from the Republican camp.

Nearly two-thirds of all voters said undocumented immigrant workers should be offered a chance to apply for legal status, while 28 percent said they should be deported.

Hispanics made up a growing share of voters in Florida and two other key battleground states won by the president, Nevada and Colorado. Exit polls showed 34 percent of Florida's Hispanic voters were Cuban, while 57 percent were non-Cuban.

This year, in another breakthrough, the Pew Hispanic Center said Cuban voters in Florida broke in favor of the Democratic presidential candidate for the first time in more than five decades, going for President Obama by 49 percent to 47 percent for Romney.

This reflects a growing progressive trend among the new generation of Cuban Americans, decidedly breaking with those elements of the reactionary oligarchy and dependent rightwing sectors that settled in Miami and drove much of Florida's politics after the 1959 Cuban revolution.

A growing Puerto Rican population in central Florida also contributed to the president's improved showing among Hispanic voters.

The Pew Center's analysis also shows that as a group, non-white voters made up 28 percent of the nation's electorate, up from 26 percent in 2008. Republicans flaunted their "unprecedented" efforts in 2012 to win the Latino vote, including wider get-out-the-vote efforts and more Spanish-language advertising.

Romney's son Craig, fluent in Spanish, appeared on his father's behalf before Latino audiences, as did Senator Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and several other Latino Republicans. Those "unprecedented" efforts failed miserably, as the election results showed.

Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, a pro-immigrant advocacy group, said, "Today our nation witnessed the strength of democracy in action. An extraordinary number of voters, including record numbers of Latino, Asian and New American voters, went to the polls clamoring for practical solutions that honor our values and move our nation forward."

Photo: Associated Press

Mitt’s missing gifts

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:37:00 +0000

Mitt's right. Obama won because of "gifts."

Okay, maybe Mitt was trying to say President Obama bought the election, so I guess he wasn't really right. The gifts I am talking about come at birth or are developed in one's upbringing. I am talking about gifts like empathy, compassion and charisma.

Those are gifts that Mitt was shortchanged on. It wasn't Mitt's fault, he had a privileged upbringing. When Mitt thinks about healthcare, education and other human needs, he is only thinking of the bottom line. That's the gift Mitt brings to the table. If you are a shareholder in a business then you want Mitt Romney at the helm, he will look out for your interests. Your profit margin will be more important than the needs of the people who do the work that fattens your bank accounts.

In case you haven't heard, in a conference call with big donors yesterday, Mitt Romney blamed his loss on President Obama giving "gifts" to constituencies.

From The Times' report: "With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest was a big gift," Mr. Romney said. "Free contraceptives were very big with young, college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents' plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008."

The president's healthcare plan, he said, was also a useful tool in mobilizing black and Hispanic voters. Though Mr. Romney won the white vote with 59 percent, according to exit polls, minorities coalesced around the president in overwhelming numbers: 93 percent of blacks and 71 percent of Hispanics.

"You can imagine for somebody making $25,000 or $30,000 or $35,000 a year, being told you're now going to get free healthcare, particularly if you don't have it, getting free healthcare worth, what, $10,000 per family, in perpetuity - I mean, this is huge," Mr. Romney said. "Likewise with Hispanic voters, free healthcare was a big plus. But in addition with regards to Hispanic voters, the amnesty for children of illegals, the so-called Dream Act kids, was a huge plus for that voting group."

Mitt thinks that when President Obama fought to allow young adults to stay on their parents' healthcare plans that he was "gifting" them in exchange for their vote. You see Mitt didn't "have" to pay for his healthcare when he was in school or just starting out. I'm not saying that he didn't pay. I would have to see his tax returns to know, but if Mitt got sick when he was young, he didn't have to go without healthcare because his parents could afford the best doctors money could buy. Most of us understand that the people who will be staying on their parents' healthcare plan need to be there. For many people, no insurance means suffering through illnesses because they can't afford a visit to the doctor. It wasn't a bribe Mitt, it was a promise delivered.

When it comes to interest rates on student loans, I don't think George Romney charged interest to Mitt. That is, if Mitt ever borrowed money from his dad as he suggested to students as a way to start a business. That lack of empathy explains why Mitt thinks that relief on student-loan interest rates is a bribe. In my opinion, Obama did not go far enough on student loans, but if he wanted to buy votes he would have given everyone a Pell grant.

Mitt also thinks that immigrants and minorities think that Obamacare was a handout to them. He expressed that attitude in his famous 47% speech. Mitt wrote minorities and young people off months ago, Obamacare was again a promise kept. It is not free healthcare. Young people who are not on their parents' plan have to buy in. The mandate is not popular with young people, but they didn't see anything better from Romney and Ryan.

The timing of the action on Dream Act may have been suspect. To be fair though, Obama supported the Dream Act and tried to get it through Congress before this year. Again a promise kept. Obama didn't keep all his promises to immigrants, besides, those taking advantage of the Dream Act didn't vote, they are on a path - but not citizens yet.

I don't think the actions that Mitt Romney cited in his call with major donors were "gifts" from Obama, they were promises kept. We all know who would be getting "gifts" if Mitt Romney won the election. Many of them were on that conference call.

Scott Galindez was formerly the co-founder of Truthout, and is now the political director of Reader Supported News. This is republished from Reader Supported News. Photo: Ten thousand Obama campaign volunteers celebrate the president's re-election at Chicago's McCormick Place, Nov. 6 (PW/Teresa Albano).

Campaign to save Social Security, Medicare from budget-cutters

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 11:24:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Diane Fleming first encountered Social Security when she was three years old. Now she's 70, and one of hundreds of people descending on Congress to make sure Social Security and Medicare stay alive and unchanged despite pressure for slashes from business, Republicans and budget-cutters.

"My father died when I was three. Because of Social Security (survivors) benefits, my Mom, my younger sister and I survived," even though they had to move in with her grandparents, Fleming told a packed hearing room on Capitol Hill.

"Now my mother is 91, and though she's in good health, there's no way she could live without Social Security."

The same thing goes for Fleming herself. A longtime Machinist who worked as a reservations agent and in ticketing for United Airlines for 39 years, Fleming was looking forward to a secure retirement with a good - and paid-for - pension.

Then, several years ago, United filed for bankruptcy protection. Its cash went to top executives. They used bankruptcy to dump United workers' pensions on the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp., resulting in huge cuts in monthly pension payouts to veteran employees such as Fleming. It's a fate millions of workers have suffered as companies went belly-up, even before the Great Recession hit.

"I lost my full pension and had to take early retirement and survive on Social Security and a reduced pension," Fleming says. So she came to D.C. to ensure Social Security stays intact for her, her mother, and 56 million other current recipients.

Fleming now also works for the labor-backed Alliance for Retired Americans, one of a wide range of organizations that banded together on Nov. 15 to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid from the budget-cutting negotiations between Congress and the White House.

Those talks are aimed at avoiding the year-end "fiscal cliff" of budget cuts and tax hikes that, starting Jan. 1, could throw the nation back into recession. One recent estimate said first-year cuts and hikes alone would take $609 billion out of the economy.

Republicans who rule the House and hamstring the Senate seized upon the talks to demand cuts in what they call "entitlements"-the programs people depend on.

In response, the pro-program groups, which also include the AFL-CIO, the Service Employees and the National Organization for Women, sent their members around Congress to lobby lawmakers to oppose any cuts. They got an enthusiastic reception from congressional Democrats, including those who spoke at the Nov. 15 event, organized by strongly pro-worker Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind.-Vt.

And the lawmakers organized their own coalition to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, Sanders told the crowd.

"You're going to find a lot of well-paid lobbyists here in the halls" of Congress who earn six or seven figures to represent millionaires and billionaires," the fiery Sanders declared. "So it's delightful to welcome you, representing the middle class."

The organizations and individuals lobbying from the outside, and the coalition talking to their colleagues on the inside, make the point that Social Security contributed "not one penny" to the government's tide of red ink, as one speaker said. Its trust funds, Sanders said, have enough money "to pay 100% of benefits" through 2040. That $2.7 trillion surplus includes federal IOUs to Social Security, however.

The Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare and the health care law, added eight years - to 2024 -- to the life of the Medicare trust fund, he said.

But there's a way to ensure Social Security survives for 75 years, Sanders declared: Remove the current cap, $106,800, on the amount of individual earnings subject to Social Security payroll taxes. That would force the rich to "pay their fair share" for the nation's retirement system.

Those twin goals of protecting the retirement programs from the budget cutters and shoring them up for future recipients - including the young - prompted Fleming and her colleagues to walk the halls of the House and Senate. But one lawmaker told them their work couldn't stop there.

"I don't know everyone in your church, your synagogue, your mosque," said Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. "You do" and must go back home and convince others to join the cause in grass-roots lobbying. "This will take a 'big lift' from all of us. We have to build a coalition in size like those that got Social Security and Medicare in the first place."

Fleming is ready to do so. So were the others in the jam-packed hearing room.

"When you get angry about something, do something about it!" she declared. "They're trying to hold us down with fear and doubt," she said about the coalition that wants to cut Social Security and Medicare while claiming to "save Social Security" from future red ink. "Let's have none of that. Let's rage."

Photo: National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare, Facebook page.

SOA Watch meets with White House deputy advisor: Lessons learned

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 13:45:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, met with a delegation from the SOA Watch movement here Nov. 13.

SOA Watch worked hard to meet with McDonough because he is a critical aide to the president and he has a deep Catholic justice background. A grad of College of St. Benedict and Georgetown, Denis comes from a big Catholic family, which includes two priests.

Participating for SOA Watch were Congress Representative James McGovern, Father Roy Bourgeois, Adrianna Portillo-Bartow, Sister Marie Lucey, Father Charles Currie and [article author] Bill Quigley.

McDonough admitted he has in the past been a supporter of SOA-WHINSEC but wanted to hear more from the movement. Family members and even former teachers have talked to him about closing the school.

Click here to read the full article.

Photo: Demonstrators hold crosses with names of victims of torture and violence at the hands of soldiers trained at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, formerly called School of the Americas, at a 2009 protest at Fort Benning, Ga., where the school is located (alexis.lassus/CC ).

Lesson for the day – stop Fat Cats from robbing our schools

Thu, 15 Nov 2012 12:52:00 +0000

CHICAGO - "Okay class, today's lesson is about TIFs - money that should go to schools, libraries, and parks, but that are also wanted by Fat Cats like Penny Pritzker," said Kimberly Walls, a Chicago Public School (CPS) teacher to a group of children sitting in a circle before her.

Walls, a member of the Chicago Teachers Union, was conducting her lesson in no ordinary classroom. The space happened to be the lobby of the lavish Hyatt Hotel off the Miracle Mile, which a flash mob of 200 teachers, parents and students crashed on Veterans Day to dramatize how CPS is being robbed of public funds.

TIFs - or Tax Increment Financing - is a method powerful financial interests have devised to divert public monies to private coffers.

The protest also demanded a moratorium on school closings, privatization, and so-called "turnarounds," where the entire staff of a school is fired.

The Hyatt and Pritzker were targeted because the billionaire owner from one of America's richest families sits on the unelected Chicago Board of Education. The Hyatt received $5.5 million in TIF funds to build a new hotel in the Hyde Park neighborhood.

"They take the money and put it into the Hyatt and then we have broken public schools," Walls carefully explained to the children. "They decided to privatize public schools so they could have more TIF money going toward Fat Cat Penny Pritzker."

"Class, what is our lesson for today? We are not going to allow Fat Cat Penny Pritzker to sit on the Chicago Board of Education. We are not going to allow our Aldermen to sit and let the TIF funds be mismanaged any more," she said.

Walls and others said the solution is to elect teachers and parents and community advocates for quality education to an elected school board.

"We want our money back," chanted the crowd.

"We're here on Veterans Day to honor those that fought for us and that's what we're prepared to do - fight for our kids," said April Stogner, a parent and member of Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO). Stogner was one of ten parents and community activists arrested at City Hall on Nov.1 to protest school closings and privatization.

Stogner called to order a "people's trial" of the BOE. She read a list of charges that included 17 years of top down management that ignored the voice of parents, students and teachers impacted by decisions, destabilizing neighborhood schools and a lack of accountability to the public.

To each charge, the crowd yelled, "guilty!"

Stogner said the punishment would be to replace the appointed board with an elected representative body that would carry out a policy that protects public education and involves educators and the community.

"I'll do anything for my children's education, even getting arrested again if that's what it takes," said Stogner.

Photo: John Bachtell/PW

Bringing Obamacare to life

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 13:21:00 +0000

Health care reform is on track now that President Obama has been reelected. But the struggle to fully implement the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is heating up on two fronts: expanding Medicaid coverage to people not eligible now, and setting up state health insurance exchanges to provide information and help to individuals and small businesses buying health coverage.

Some states are already well along in the process, while others waited to see how the election would come out. Still others are resisting setting up exchanges and expanding Medicaid. http://www.ncsl.org/issues-research/health/state-actions-to-implement-the-health-benefit-exch.aspx

Last summer's Supreme Court decision upholding Obamacare left it up to the states, whether to expand Medicaid coverage to people with incomes up to 133 percent of the poverty level, or about $14,000 a year for individuals and $29,000 for a family of four. Millions of uninsured people nationwide could be covered under the Medicaid expansion.

Governors in several states, including Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Texas, have said they won't expand Medicaid, even though the federal government will pay all the costs for newly eligible people for the first three years, and 90 percent permanently.

Some are getting push-back from reform supporters in their states. According to the Associated Press, Louisiana's Republican Governor Bobby Jindal, who called the program too expensive even though the feds will pay most of the cost, and said private insurance would do a better job, is now being pressed by the state's Democratic Party and others to change his mind.

In Florida, Republican Gov. Rick Scott and legislative leaders are thinking twice about the issue, the Miami Herald reported. Scott, who had earlier said expanding Medicaid was too expensive, acknowledged in a Nov. 9 statement, "Just saying 'no' is not an answer." Meanwhile, all of the state's hospitals and many physicians want to see Medicaid expanded.

Undermining the argument about excessive cost, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities issued a report last summer, showing that state costs for implementing the ACA will be small.

"The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that expanding Medicaid will add very little to what states would have spent on Medicaid without health reform, while providing health coverage to 17 million more low-income adults and children," the report said.

And what states pay to cover uninsured poor people will also go down as fewer people are without coverage.

Many states are also still deciding whether to set up their own health insurance exchanges.

The exchanges will offer a choice of different health plans to individuals who buy their own coverage and to businesses with less than 100 workers. The exchanges will certify the plans they offer, and help will be available to people who cannot afford coverage.

The National Conference of State Legislatures says that as of last month, 15 states and the District of Columbia plan to run their own exchanges, while seven want the federal government to run the exchange in their state, and three want to partner with the feds. Half the states have still not decided.

California, the first to start setting things up, announced late last month that its exchange will be called "Covered California." The legislature will hold a special session next month focusing on implementation.

In a post-election blog post, Anthony Wright, executive director of Health-Access California, said thousands of Californians with pre-existing conditions now won't have to worry their coverage will be taken away, and millions more will be able to get full Medi-Cal (state Medicare) coverage.

Wright also noted that no U.S. senator who voted for the ACA lost on Nov. 6. In California's Congressional delegation, he said, no Obamacare supporter lost, but three opponents were poised to do so - two of them to doctors.

Photo: March 2012 demonstration in favor of Obamacar. SEIU International // CC 2.0

Voter suppression scandal rocks Arizona

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:42:00 +0000

TUCSON, Ariz. - Like their fellow citizens across the country, Arizonans went to the polls and voted on Nov. 6. Unlike other Americans, Arizonans were not able to wake up the next morning to news of the state's election results. Two days after the polls closed, state election officials admitted that at least one-third of the vote had yet to be counted, and now, a full week after Election Day, 20 percent of ballots remain uncounted. Voters say it's a scandal.

About two-thirds of uncounted ballots are mail-in ballots. Most of these have finally been counted and they generally boosted the Democratic candidates, like congressional candidates Ann Kirkpatrick and Kyrsten Sinema, each leading their right-wing opponents by three points. If elected, Kirkpatrick regains a seat in Congress she lost in 2010, and Sinema wins in Arizona's newest congressional district. In addition, Sinema would make history as the first bisexual elected to Congress.

Democratic Senate candidate Rich Carmona who was tailing Republican Rep. Jeff Flake by six points on Nov. 7 is now less than four points behind, and is said to be reconsidering his concession.

This week they will be counting the remaining 20 percent of the ballots consisting mostly of provisional ballots. These are ballots from people who showed up at the polling places, but were not on the list of eligible voters. These votes may lean even more heavily towards the Democrats.

In the Phoenix area, community, labor, and Chicano organizations, which have been working hard to defeat Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, are crying foul. They accuse election officials in Maricopa County of causing this scandal with efforts at voter suppression. The movement registered over 34,000 new Latino voters in Phoenix. They claim that it's these voters and other poor and working people who were forced to vote provisionally, or denied a vote altogether.

One Arizona, a coalition of Latino voting organizations, is asking for a federal investigation into reports of widespread irregularities. Protesters are gathering every day at the Maricopa County Recorder's office demanding that all votes be counted.

Arizona law requires counting to be completed within 10 days following the elections. It looks like they won't make it.

Meanwhile, the race for Arizona's 2nd CD, previously represented by Rep. Gabby Giffords, is tied and awaiting some 20,000 provisional ballots to be counted. It's so close that it will probably require a mandatory recount.

Photo: "Look Out! Hispanic Vote Power Will Kick You Out!" Flickr