People Before Profit blog

Connecticut leaders to receive People’s World awards

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:23:00 +0000

NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Three leaders have been named as recipients of the Amistad Award to be presented here by the People's World on Sunday, Dec. 5.

John Olsen, Carmen Boudier and Juan Figueroa lave long been in the forefront of struggles for jobs, health care and basic human needs, workers' rights, equal representation, voting rights and peace. From the picket line to the voting line, they have each exemplified the strength and unity that it takes to keep our country moving forward.

The annual awards will be presented at a special anniversary concert, "Voices for Jobs, Equality & Peace.....A concert for people's needs not corporate greed." Jazz and Latin music, labor songs and spoken word will be presented by an array of artists including Bill Collins of the Rabble Rousers, Hermanos Son, a jazz set with Jeff Fuller, William Fluker and friends, Richard Hill, Baub Bidon, DJ Bell and Ken Brown.

The post-election event is dedicated to expanding grass roots action to achieve good jobs, equal rights and a redirection of funds to meet the needs of local communities and youth.

John Olsen has devoted his life to the cause of working people since he started out as a member of the Plumbers Union. During his tenure as president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO he has been instrumental in winning legislation, union contracts and elections that have expanded opportunity and raised the quality of life for workers and their families

Carmen Boudier, president of the New England Health Care Employees Union, District 1199, first joined the union when she organized the nursing home where she worked. She has led many ground-breaking organizing drives and contract battles including the current six month strike against Spectrum Health Care.

Juan Figueroa has been a pioneer for Latino representation and civil rights in many capacities at the state and national level. His leadership of the Universal Health Care Foundation put Connecticut in front with the passage of Sustinet. He was the first Puerto Rican candidate for Governor of Connecticut in the 2010 Democratic primaries.

To make reservations and order tickets at $10 each, or $5 for students and limited imcome, contact ct-pww@pobox.com or call 203-624-8664.

GOP poised to pull lifeline from jobless

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 15:25:00 +0000

CHICAGO - It's the first week of the Christmas season, but millions looking for work in the "second Great Depression" are losing their only lifeline - unemployment benefits that expire Nov. 30.

Volunteers at the Unemployed Action Center in this city's Bridgeport neighborhood talked with a 60 year-old unemployed man who showed up at their office Nov. 29.

"I'm desperate," he told them. "My benefits run out tomorrow and I can't find any work. I'm $1,400 behind in my rent and I don't know how I'm going to come up with the money. My landlord has been lenient, but how long can that go on? What will I do for the two years between now and when I'm eligible for Social Security?"

Republicans blocked an extension of unemployment benefits before Congress recessed for the Thanksgiving holiday. If Congress fails to immediately extend benefits more than two million jobless workers will lose their lifeline in December.

With Congress back in session, the GOP is continuing to block the extension of jobless benefits and, moving from obstruction to what many are calling destruction, is calling for an end to ongoing infrastructure development, including high-speed and commuter rail and alternative energy. GOP leaders also made it clear Nov. 29 that they will block any new efforts to stimulate the economy.

Opposition to extension of jobless benefits is a shift even for Republicans who, since the 1950s, have often voted to extend those benefits when the jobless rate was higher than 7.2 percent.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, unemployment benefits prevented more than 3.3 million Americans, including one million children, from falling into poverty last year. Labor Department reports indicate that jobless benefits last year were a key stimulus by returning two dollars for every dollar spent into the economy and by saving and creating as many as 2 million jobs for other people.

"The Republican approach has shifted from hoping conditions don't improve to taking steps to ensure conditions don't improve. We've gone from Republicans rooting for failure to Republicans trying to guarantee failure," wrote Steve Benen Nov. 28 in the Washington Monthly Political Animal blog.

"If a major, powerful political party is making a conscious decision about sabotage, the political world should probably take the time to consider whether this is acceptable, whether it meets the bare minimum standards for patriotism, and whether it's a healthy development in our system of government," he continued.

"The fact is that one of our two great political parties has made it clear that it has no interest in making America governable, unless it's doing the governing," wrote Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman Nov. 28.

While the GOP plays with the lives of the jobless to push its right-wing agenda, unions have taken a prominent place among those helping the unemployed this holiday season.

Some 150 union volunteers, under the auspices of the Union Organization for Social Service, provided Thanksgiving Day food in Cherry Hill, N.J., for 700 unemployed men and women and their children.

The Laborers' Community Service Agency in Portland, Ore., is giving away $40 Safeway gift cards to workers who have lost jobs.

In Green Bay, Wisc., Local 1319 of the Steelworkers is supplying food to local food banks.

America West flight attendants, represented by the Flight Attendants - Communications Workers of America, are holding holiday food drives for unemployed flight attendants. "After furloughs and foreclosures, some of our members cannot afford to feed themselves or their families," said Erin McLoughlin, a spokesperson for the union.

The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor is collecting and sending food and toys to the families of 4,000 unemployed construction workers. The food and toys are being collected by grocery workers, truck drivers, sanitation workers, teachers, firefighters, hotel workers and others.

"We are glad to have the opportunity to show support and solidarity with these unemployed construction workers," said Maria Elena Durazo, secretary-treasurer of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. "However, what these highly skilled tradesmen and women really need are good jobs that will produce the infrastructure and public transportation system that Los Angeles needs."

Broad coalition urges passage of DREAM Act

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 13:30:00 +0000

With comprehensive immigration appearing less and less likely during the lame duck session of Congress, many are pushing for passage of the DREAM Act this month as an important partial measure. Supporters of the law include a broad coalition spanning from the left to the right, including the labor movement, immigration reform advocates, non-partisan students' organizations and the Obama administration, as well as self-identified conservatives.

Speaking on a media conference call organized by Conservatives for Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Monday, Nov. 29, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan urged passage of the bill, which would provide an estimated 65,000 immigrant youth with the opportunity to access higher education and a path to legal status through public service.

"I just think for our young people, for our country, for our country's economy, we desperately need to pass the DREAM Act," Duncan told reporters. "I don't think we can afford to wait."

In addition to being an important Obama administration agenda item, passage of the bill has personal significance for Duncan. He said it stems from his days as CEO of Chicago Public Schools when he watched hardworking young people complete high school with good grades and great potential, but then be denied access to college because of their immigration status. "These are great young people, absolute assets to their communities and to the country who have nowhere to go," he said.

Partisanship and ideology have no role in getting the DREAM Act passed, Duncan explained. Speaking of his own efforts to lobby members of Congress for passage, he said, "I try to make this very human to them. I try to talk to them about some of the students I've worked with, what they were overcoming in their own lives. This has to be bipartisan. We have to take the politics out of it."

"We have to educate our way to a better economy," he continued. "We have to find ways to expand educational opportunities, not deny it."

He stated that the administration is working hard, pressing members of Congress this week for passage of this bipartisan bill, including the 11 Republican members of the Senate who have endorsed or co-sponsored the bill in the past. "I simply see no reason why it can't have bipartisan support today," Duncan added.

Former Bush administration Commerce Secretary Carlos M. Gutierrez said, "This is as much a human issue as it is an economic issue."

Gutierrez noted that passage of the DREAM Act shouldn't be a substitute for comprehensive reform. "This needs to be positioned as a first step in a comprehensive solution," he said. "We need to keep that bigger picture in mind."

Notably, conservative support for the DREAM Act has met with hardline resistance in the Republican Party. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., for example, misleadingly stated that the DREAM Act would provide amnesty to criminals and would overlook fraud and abuse by non-citizens.

Despite the obvious fact that the bill would provide a path to legal status for immigrant youth who are in the circumstances they are in by no choice of their own, other Republican Party leaders and media mouthpieces like Glenn Beck have chosen instead to promote fear and hatred of immigrants.

The United States Student Association urged its members and supporters to pressure Congress to pass the law. In a recent e-mail, the USSA provided online tools for writing letters to the editor, signing a national petition and blogging in favor of passage. The group also provided a telephone hotline directly to members of Congress in both houses.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka called on Congress to pass the law. "Now is the time to pass the DREAM act and give hope to our nation's youth," he said. "Every year, thousands of students graduate from high school and are barred from serving in the military or attending college - solely because of their immigration status."

Image: Korean Resource Center // CC BY-SA 2.0

Seniors joining Nov. 30 call-in to Senate: Hands off Social Security

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 12:07:00 +0000

SEATTLE - "This is a brutal time and it is a time to fight back!" With those words, Robby Stern, president of the Puget Sound Alliance of Retired Americans, urged participants in a Nov. 18 legislative conference at the Greenwood Senior Center to protest cuts in Social Security as well as deep cuts in education, health care and other vital programs by the state legislature.

Stern hailed the organization's monthly newsletter, The Senior Advocate, and its editor, Will Parry, for helping the entire Washington State labor movement and senior movement mobilize for the fightback.

Jeff Johnson, a leader of the Washington State Labor Council, echoed the call. "We have a big fight going on at the federal level," he said. "All of us are going to call in on November 30."

Johnson was referring to a National Call-in Day to U.S. senators planned for Tuesday, Nov. 30, protesting proposed cuts in Social Security. The Alliance of Retired Americans, the AFL-CIO, and other defenders of Social Security are sponsors of the call-in.

"Our goal is to shut down the switchboards on Capitol Hill with the message: 'Do not cut Social Security! Do not raise the retirement age!'" Johnson said. "Social Security did not create this deficit. It was caused by tax cuts for the rich and two unpopular wars ... and dammit, they better not fool around with Social Security!" The crowd burst into applause.

Johnson, who takes office as president of the state labor council in the new year, was referring to the federal deficit reduction commission, whose co-chairs propose to raise the retirement age to 69, cut benefits by 35 percent and slash cost-of-living increases even though Social Security adds not a penny to federal deficit. The Senate leadership has promised an up or down vote on the commission's proposals during the post-election lameduck session. A recent poll shows that 80 percent of the people are opposed to cuts in Social Security.

Washington State Sen. Ed Murray, who will serve as the state Senate's Ways and Means Committee chair when the legislature convenes in January, pointed out that the Evergreen State faces a $5.7 billion deficit. Voters in the Nov. 2 midterm election rejected every measure that would have increased tax revenues, including I-1098, the "Bill Gates Tax the Rich" ballot initiative. With sales tax revenues sharply lower due to the economic recession, Murray said, "Every single program you care about is going to have to be cut under this scenario. There are hundreds of millions of dollars in these loopholes and exemptions. We closed some of them in the last session. We can close more of them."

The Puget Sound Alliance for Retired Americans is proposing to close corporate tax loopholes to avert savage cuts in human needs spending.

But because of a right-wing ballot initiative passed Nov. 2, it will take a two-thirds majority vote of the legislature to terminate the loopholes and exemptions. The other alternative is to put it on the ballot for a vote in November 2011.

Murray assailed the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling. "You all saw the commercials targeting Sen. Patty Murray funded by anonymous donors," he said. "They were orchestrated by the likes of Karl Rove. It is Watergate flooding into our political system. Congress must address this. Thirty years of right-wing government-bashing has really paid off for them." Yet Democratic Sen. Patty Murray (no relation to State Sen. Ed Murray) won reelection by 100,000 votes.

Treasure Mackley, legislative representative of the Service Employees International Union, urged support of HB 3162 to create a state bank in Washington State modeled on the State Bank of North Dakota. The bill was introduced in the last session of the legislature by State Rep. Bob Hasegawa and five other legislators. "Wall Street banks have cut back on lending and small businesses are forced to use credit cards so they are scaling back," Mackley said. A state bank in the Evergreen State could provide hundreds of millions of dollars to fill this void, she added.

Michelle Friedman, a fair housing advocate, told the meeting that 30,000 people in Washington lost their homes in foreclosure and another 41,000 are facing foreclosure in the coming year. "These homeowners are victims of predatory lending," she said. "Mandatory mediation is a step in the right direction. More than 60 percent of those facing foreclosure are able to stay in their homes when they succeed in negotiating with their bank."

The Puget Sound ARA adopted a legislative agenda that includes passage of a mandatory mediation bill to reduce the foreclosure plague, support for creation of a state bank, and a "focus on budget and revenue issues to minimize the human toll" by closing the 567 corporate tax exemptions and loopholes that cost the state hundreds of millions in lost revenues each year.

Photo: Alliance for Retired Americans

Connecticut to Congress: "Keep the promise on Social Security"

Mon, 29 Nov 2010 10:44:00 +0000

HARTFORD, Conn. - A week after being re-elected as chair of the House Democratic Caucus, Rep. John Larson joined with retired union members at the state capitol who were calling for the protection and expansion of Social Security.

"Working people want America to keep its promise on Social Security," said Cal Bunnell, president of the Connecticut Alliance for Retired Americans (ARA), which convened the pre-Thanksgiving event.

In reply to the report from the National Fiscal Commission, which proposes cuts to Social Security, John Olsen, president of the Connecticut AFL-CIO pointed out that seniors receiving Social Security are living on an average of $13,000 a year, hardly enough to make ends meet.

"It is insane to think about destroying this safety net," he said. "If it were not for Social Security, 30.8 percent of older Connecticut residents would have incomes below the poverty line."

A report released by Social Security Works this summer detailed the significant amount of $8.4 billion that Social Security benefits bring to the local Connecticut economy each year, equaling 4 percent of the state's GDP. The report further pointed out that without Social Security, the number of older women living in poverty would jump from 8.9 percent to 46.6 percent in Connecticut.

"We reject the toxic twisting of facts designed to divide the generations and convince the American people to tamper with Social Security, a successful government program that has kept millions of Americans out of poverty for the past 75 years," said Mary Elia, Organizer for the Connecticut ARA.

While Larson lauded Social Security as the best government program which keeps seniors out of poverty, he did not reply to questions from the media about whether or not he would consider raising the age level or other proposals from the Deficit Commission. Instead, Larson said that he would look at all proposals, but was committed to keeping Social Security intact.

Nationally, ARA is sponsoring a call-in day to Congress on Tuesday, November 30 around the theme "Don't Carve Up Social Security!" A special toll-free number will be available on that day across the country so there will be no cost for those who want to make it clear to elected officials that cuts to Social Security are off limits. The number is 1-866-529-7630.

Speaking at the state Capitol press conference, Bette Marafine of the Connecticut ARA called on Congress to "Stop making Social Security the scapegoat for the deficit. Social Security is the most fiscally responsible and prudently managed part of the government." She noted that raising the payroll tax cap on Social Security taxes for the wealthiest Americans is a prudent way to keep the system strong and viable for the future.

State Senator Edith Prague reminded everyone that Social Security is solvent now, and the economic conditions in 20 years cannot be predicted.

Photo: Rep. John Larson (Art Perlo/PW)

Unions were California’s election game-changer

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 12:05:00 +0000

OAKLAND, Calif. - Employing a dynamic multi-prong approach that reached 2.8 million non-union voters in addition to 2 million union members, California's labor movement was the game-changer in the state's Democratic election sweep.

Rebecca Greenberg, the California Labor Federation's communications organizer, reported on the federation's website that organized labor combined direct union member-to-member contact, public actions, airing of TV ads, and targeted outreach to non-union voters in multiple languages - both through its own structures and labor-supported independent expenditures campaigns.

Art Pulaski, the labor federation's executive secretary-treasurer, credited the "grassroots campaigning" with "unparalleled intensity" by nearly 30,000 union volunteers aware of the high election stakes in which Republicans openly attacked "working people's ideas" and their unions.

Except for the still-to-be decided state attorney general's race, Democrats took all statewide races, including the offices of governor and state insurance commissioner previously in Republican hands.

In the congressional and state legislative races the two major parties ended up with the same number of seats as before, with Democrats having the majority in both cases.

Mike Garcia, spearheading SEIU's "Cambiando (Changing) California" campaign that targeted Latinos, said labor's election activities were "the most unified, cooperative and strongest effort I have ever experienced."

Pooling their resources, two or more unions teamed up to take responsibility for different pieces of what was one single overall thrust.

During the summer, labor-supported independent expenditure efforts combined to reach key constituencies with TV ads and through targeted communication to voters, singling out Meg Whitman, the multi-billionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate, who by election night would spend a record $180 million.

At the same time, labor launched several media-grabbing public actions wherever she would appear publicly, tagging her as "Queen Meg."

These labor initiatives are credited with holding down Whitman's poll numbers during the summer before Jerry Brown, her Democratic opponent with far less cash on hand, unleashed his campaign in September when voters start paying closer attention.

On Labor Day, the labor movement fully launched its multi-pronged offensive.

The unions reached out to their members by phone, at their homes and work-sites.

Through the "Million More Voters" micro-targeting program to non-union voters, labor focused on the rural Central Valley and urban Inland Empire, "swing areas of the state," as well as with key groups like blue-collar workers, Latinos and Asian Americans.

"It has helped us really understand a big portion of the electorate who are working class people but who are not our members," said Pulaski referring to the micro-targeting program that the federation used for the first time in this election.

Micro-targeting, or direct marketing data-mining techniques, is nowadays being used with increased frequency by election campaigns to identify and track potential supporters.

Employing message research techniques, sophisticated Internet outreach, targeted phoning and mailing, and member-to-member contact, labor reached a record 4.8 million union and non-union voters - in English and Spanish, and in four Asian languages.

While not by itself, this approach combined with TV ads aired by labor-backed independent expenditure campaigns contributed to the advantage Brown had over Whitman among Latino voters, which went from 14 points on Labor Day to 34 points on Election Day, and to high overall Latino turnout.

By election night Brown would trounce his opponent by 13 points and U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer defeated her opposition by 9 points. Both remained neck and neck with their Republican counter-parts during the earlier campaigning.

DREAM Act hunger strike in 15th day

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 11:49:00 +0000

SAN ANTONIO - Thirteen Texas students carrying out a hunger strike here have reached their 15th day. They are pushing for Congress to pass the DREAM Act.

The bill (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) was first introduced into Congress in 2001.

The hunger strike at the University of Texas in San Antonio is part of a series of strikes, rallies and candlelight vigils at universities across the state.

The actions have inspired the parents of a student, Yasmina, to join in the hunger strike.

With the hunger strike reaching its 15th day, the students have brought a sense of urgency and a deeper level of commitment to the movement, as undocumented students are coming out into the open, risking deportation and possibly death.

The United Methodist Church and First United Unitarian Church of San Antonio have lent support, in addition to a number of community organizations.

Thirty Texas Catholic nuns from various orders and congregations sent a letter to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, calling on her to meet with the hunger strike students.

Some years ago Sen. Hutchison supported the DREAM Act. Not so in the Congress of 2010. People here feel she might change her mind and support the bill again, as she is retiring at the end of this term.

The nuns wrote to the senator, "These young people like other figures in our nation's history are standing up for something they believe in ... making enormous sacrifices to secure a remedy for some 210,000 fellow students in Texas and 2 million similar students nationwide."

The letter continued, "A number of these students have been pursuing ‘constructive' methods for promoting comprehensive immigration reform including the DREAM Act for the past 10 years."

The Catholic sisters asked Hutchison to meet with the students and engage in "open dialogue" with them, "not admonish them."

On November 18, a group of undocumented youth met with Sen. Hutchison and brought a message from the San Antonio hunger strikers.

She refused at that time to make a statement of support for the DREAM Act, claiming her interest in a visa process instead of legislation. One youth, Jose Torres-Don, said, "We have lobbied the senator for years, she knows our circumstances and we will not be used as a political football."

Readers can follow the strike daily or write to the young people directly at dreamactutsa.blogspot.com or e-mail allwehaveisnow@gmail.com.

The public is urged to contact Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison and ask her to meet with the striking students.

Jobless cry: "Save our holiday, extend UI benefits!"

Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:35:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Angry but undaunted, the labor movement called for a flood of emails, letters, personal visits and petition signatures demanding that the “lame duck” lawmakers on Capitol Hill approve an extension of unemployment benefits before they adjourn for the holidays in December.

Chicago Jobs With Justice members collected signatures on a petition to “Save the Holidays” in the Loop demanding that Congress act during the lame duck session to extend benefits for the two million jobless workers facing termination of their weekly checks. In a YouTube video John Bachtell said it is “outrageous” that Republicans are determined to extend tax cuts for millionaires while denying lifeline benefits to the unemployed during Thanksgiving and the holiday season.

Jobless workers and their labor movement allies are urging supporters to call the Capitol switchboard 1-877-662-2889 and ask to be connected to their Representative and Senators to tell the lawmakers to act now to extend the benefits.

The movement is reacting to the House vote 258-154 with Republican voting to block “fast track” extension of the benefits. It was 17 votes shy of the supermajority needed to break the Republican stonewall.

Earlier this month, Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO staged a picketline outside the office of House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, to protest his role in blocking “fast track” House approval of extended UI benefits.

UCubed, a pro-labor website announced an “Unemployment Insurance Lobby Day on Dec. 1” in Washington, D.C. with thousands of jobless workers and union members expected to descend on lawmakers offices to demand a full-year extension of jobless benefits.

“Unless Congress reauthorizes the current program before it expires on Nov. 30th, jobless benefits will be cut off for about 2 million workers by the end of December,” UCubed stated.

Unemployment benefits run out Nov. 30 for 800,000 jobless workers. An additional 1.2 million unemployed will exhaust their benefits before the end of the year – a grim Thanksgiving and holiday prospect for these workers and their families.

Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., said, “The message to 4 million Americans will be that the Republican Party doesn’t care whether you have a Christmas or a way to fund your mortgage or a way to put food on the table for the next three months.”

House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said, “The American people, struggling with high unemployment, continue to look to their leaders for a lifeline until they get back to work. Today Democrats voted to extend unemployment insurance … unfortunately, Republicans did not. Our first priority is to create jobs…Unemployment insurance is a proven economic booster, returning $2 into the economy for every $1 invested. We will continue to work for an emergency short-term extension to get families through the holidays.”

But a group called the “99ers” consisting of 3-5 million jobless workers who have exceeded the 99-week statutory limit on unemployment compensation is urging passage of HR-6419, a bill to provide a full year of extended benefits which they would be eligible to receive. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., according to a staffer, is “working around the clock” to build support for the “Americans Want to Work Act” that would add 20 weeks of unemployment benefits in states with an unemployment rate of 7.5 percent or higher. At least 100,000 unemployed join the ranks of the “99ers” each week.

A recent study by the U.S. Labor Department finds that unemployment insurance is even more effective than previously thought in stimulating the economy. Key findings include:

* For every dollar spent on UI benefits, economic activity increases by $2.

* During each quarter of the recent recession, UI benefits kept an average 1.6 million other Americans on the job.

* At the height of the recession, UI benefits saved 1.8 million jobs from being lost and kept the unemployment rate 1.2 percentage points lower.

* UI benefits reduced the fall in the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 18 percent. GDP was $175 billion higher in 2009 than it would have been without these lifeline benefits.

TSA airport checks: making sense of the furor

Tue, 23 Nov 2010 14:17:00 +0000

Civil liberties advocates, libertarians and some passengers are raising a storm of protest over stepped up screening of airline passengers at major U.S. airports. Some are calling for a "national opt-out day" on Wednesday, possibly causing airport hassles the day before Thanksgiving.

Yet most travelers appear to be taking the procedures in stride.

The Transportation Security Administration began the new measures a few weeks ago. They involve use of full-body scanning machines, and more intense pat-downs for those who decline to go through the machines, or for those whose scans show something needing another look.

The new measures were adopted in the wake of the "underwear bomber" episode last Christmas, in which a passenger tried to detonate plastic explosives hidden in his underpants

Many travelers say the scans and pat-downs are not a big inconvenience and the stepped-up measures are unavoidable, the Associated Press reported.

"Whatever keeps the country safe, I just don't have a problem with," Leah Martin, 50, of Houston, told the AP at the Atlanta airport on Monday.

Administration officials say that fewer than 3 percent of passengers are receiving pat-downs

However the American Civil Liberties Union says it has received hundreds of complaints about the procedures.

The Electronic Privacy Information Center has filed a lawsuit against the TSA, saying the body scanners violate Fourth Amendment privacy protections and federal laws. The group says there are numerous technical security concerns about the equipment, and called on the TSA to suspend further installation and contracting for the machines until these problems are resolved.

EPIC has also filed a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the Homeland Security Department, seeking records about possible radiation emissions associated with the full-body scanners.

Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., a physicist who chairs the Congressional Biomedical Caucus, has raised concerns about the health effects of the body-imaging technology.

However polls indicate that most of the public objections are about the more intrusive pat-downs. A majority supports use of the scanning machines, the same polls show, although that could change.

Two House Democrats, Rep. Bennie Thompson, Miss., and Rep. Sheila Jackson-Lee, Texas, sent a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole urging him to reconsider the new pat-down procedures. The two lawmakers criticized the way the agency rolled out the new procedures, saying that "the TSA should have had a conversation with the American public" and should have ensured that "these changes do not run afoul of privacy and civil liberties."

Ricky McCoy, a TSA screener and president of a union local in Illinois and Wisconsin, told the Associated Press that screeners have faced a difficult atmosphere since the pat-downs hit the news headlines. In several instances officers have been punched, pushed or shoved after they explained to passengers what would be happening, McCoy said.

"We have major problems because basically TSA never educated the public on what was going on," he said. "Our agency pretty much just threw the new search techniques out there."

Travelers with disabilities and people with medical devices or special health issues may be particularly negatively affected by the new procedures.

Laura Seay, an assistant professor of political science at Morehouse College who travels frequently for work, told the New York Times she wore an insulin pump and was disturbed to find that she would have to undergo a pat-down every time she flew because the device showed up on the full-body scanner. After experiencing that pat-down for the first time at Washington National Airport, she told the Times, "It definitely made me uncomfortable. I don't think anything improper was done, but it's very invasive and the thought of going through that every time I fly is discouraging."

Some commentators are skeptical about the amount of attention being given to the issue.

"Somewhat lost in all the hullabaloo is the fact that two-thirds of Americans either rarely or never fly, but they don't host cable TV or radio talk shows," Philadelphia Daily News reporter Will Bunch notes in his blog. He wonders if the furor is related to "right-wing distrust of all things governmental, especially in the Age of Obama" combining with "left-wing suspicions about homeland security engendered during the Bush years."

Josh Marshall, who runs the liberal TalkingPointsMemo blog, finds it ironic that right-wingers are jumping onto the issue. He observes that "the folks getting the most ACLU-ey about this are the ones who were the most gung-ho about warrantless wiretaps, torture, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and (hopefully to them) Syria and Iran too."

The government has a complicated problem: how to balance real and pressing security needs, effective procedures, and the right to privacy and freedom to travel. President Obama, asked about the issue last week, said the TSA has to "constantly refine and measure whether what we're doing is the only way to assure the American people's safety." The agency, he said, also has to "think through, ‘Are there other ways of doing it that are less intrusive?'"

Photo: Denver airport. Inha Leex Hale CC 2.0

Republican stalling on START is recipe for gridlock

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 15:22:00 +0000

If the Senate decides to vote on the new START treaty with Russia, it will likely garner enough votes for passage, an expert with a top Washington think tank predicted Monday, Nov. 22.

"The (Obama) administration is really determined to move forward on this and it is putting a great deal of pressure on those members of the Senate who are likely to vote in favor of the treaty," said Kay King, vice president of Washington Initiatives at the Council on Foreign Relations, on a conference call with reporters.

If the Senate refuses to consider the treaty, however, its chances for passage in the next Congress are considerably reduced. "It's prospects diminish because you're going to lose a lot of very knowledgeable Senators about the treaty," King continued, adding that a failure to affirm the treaty would damage U.S.-Russia relations.

She said that the Senate, even in a "lame duck" session, has a Constitutional duty to consider treaties placed before it. This particular treaty has gone through all of the parliamentary processes, including 18 Senate committee hearings, since its submission to the Senate by the Obama administration earlier this year.

The treaty would reduce the U.S. and Russian long-range nuclear missile stockpiles by 30 percent to 1,550 each.

Despite a year's worth of work on addressing concerns with the treaty and preparing for a vote, Republican Senators are trying to delay the process until the next session of Congress. "That is baffling," King said. She noted that Senate rules allow one Senator to block progress and create gridlock in that body.

Republicans who have yet to be seated in the Senate are demanding the treaty be held over for their votes, presumably to block its passage. King argued that this demand is unreasonable considering the treaty was submitted and the hearings were held in the current session. Sitting Senators are the most knowledgeable about the treaty and have the Constitutional right to vote on its passage. "They really ought to be the Senate that votes on this particular treaty," she said. Waiting until the next session is simply a recipe for more gridlock.

Other observers also say the essence of the Republican's argument is ludicrous. By their logic, the Senate should never vote on any bill, treaty or appointment.

Image: endless lazlo // CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Dr. Margaret Burroughs, 1917-2010: What will your legacy be?

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 13:12:00 +0000

CHICAGO - A founder of one of the oldest African-American history museums in the country has died.

A spokesman for the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago, Raymond Ward, says Margaret Burroughs died in her sleep at her Chicago home Sunday morning, Nov. 21.

The Associated Press reports President Barack Obama said in a statement that Burroughs was "widely admired for her contributions to American culture as an esteemed artist, historian, educator, and mentor."

Burroughs founded the museum with her husband and others on Chicago's South Side in 1961.

The museum has pieces of art, exhibits on civil rights and a display on Chicago's first black mayor, Harold Washington. It was named after Jean Baptiste Point du Sable, widely regarded as Chicago's first permanent resident.

The following is a brief biography of Burroughs, along with her poem, "What Will Your Legacy Be?" originally published by the People's World in 2007.

Internationally prominent as an artist, educator and writer, Margaret Burroughs is renowned as the founder, along with her late husband, Charles, of the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago. Opened as a modest display in the couple's South Side house in 1961 as the Ebony Museum of African American History, the collected artifacts expressed Burroughs' commitment to exploring and sharing the cultural heritage of African Americans.

Born on Nov. 1, 1917, in St. Rose Parish, La., Margaret Burroughs graduated from Chicago Teachers' College in 1937 and then received an MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 1948. During the '40s she taught art in Chicago elementary schools, and published her first children's book, "Jasper, the Drummin' Boy."

In 1967, she and Dudley Randall edited an anthology called "For Malcolm: Poems on the Life and Death of Malcolm X" and published several volumes of her own poetry.

Burroughs' art works have been exhibited internationally.

In her biography of Burroughs, writer Marion Tumbleweed Beach describes this vibrant, gifted woman as an "African American and citizen of the world ... a universal woman with golden fingers that capture time, human passions and record the landmarks of the triumphs, foibles, and calamities of the African American people. These golden fingers can sketch, chisel, tie, brush, carve, mold, or write while she sits visiting with friends, attending meetings in a corporate board room, on an airplane, train, or even on the back of a camel. She has a high level of controlled energy that enables her to create quality art while making it all look so easy to do."

Although Burroughs has worked in sculpture, painting and many other art forms throughout her career, it is her exceptional skill as a printmaker that has earned her a place within the history of art. For many years, she worked with linoleum block prints to create images evocative of African American culture.

Burroughs' work has been featured in exclusive shows at the Corcoran Art Galleries in Washington, D.C., and at the Studio Museum in New York. She has served as art director for the Negro Hall of Fame and has illustrated many books. She did her own illustrations for her celebrated poem "What Shall I Tell My Children Who are Black?"

In 1975 she received the President's Humanitarian Award and in 1977 was named one of Chicago's Most Influential Women by the Chicago Defender. February 1, 1986, was proclaimed "Dr. Margaret Burroughs Day" in Chicago by Mayor Harold Washington. She continued to remain active in the institutions that she created in her lifetime.

At 90, she visited Venezuela, in part to witness the Bolivarian Revolution and its impact on Afro-Venezuelans.

Burroughs wrote the poem "What will your legacy be?" for all young people to consider the dignity and contributions African Americans have given to humanity - and to consider their own contribution to society.

"I wish my art to speak not only for my people but for all humanity ... my subject matter is social commentary and seeks to improve the condition of life for all people," Dr. Burroughs once said.

***

What Will Your Legacy Be?

Legacy? Legacy?

Do you know what the word "Legacy" means?

Well, if you don't know, let me tell you what the dictionary says it means.

Legacy: property or money left to someone by a will; something handed down from those who have gone before; a legacy of honor, our legacy, of freedom.

In this poem, I'm not referring to material things like property or money, either of honor or of freedom.

I am referring to what a person has done with this life that God has given to him or her.

Yes, I want to know what will your legacy be? This is a question that I would like to put to each and every one of you?

What will your legacy be?

When you have finally cast off these mortal coils?

When you have crossed the great divide?

What will your legacy be?

When you can no longer run life's race.

When you no longer have a place; when you have at last completed the circle round and when an escape is no longer to be found.

What will your legacy be?

When you walk into the unknown all by yourself and alone,

What will your legacy be?

Stop for a moment and listen to me and answer this question if you can.

What will your legacy be?

When you must cross that great divide into an area from which none can hide. When you, alone, with no one by your side with no friend to lead you or to hold your hand?

What will your legacy be?

What deeds have you done in your lifetime which will be left for you to be remembered by?

Will it be just a gray decaying tombstone standing alone in a cemetery or will it be, as it should be some act, some service or some deed that will insure that you will be remembered on and into the eternity of life's game?

I ask you. What will your legacy be?

Will it be the fact that you helped somebody along the way, during the time while you were here on earth?

What will your legacy be?

Will it be similar to the legacies left to our generation by people like Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Ida B. Wells, Mary Bethune and so many others who made of their lives a bridge for us to cross over on and whose lives were an inspiration for us of today to make of our lives bridges for future generations to cross over on?

What will your legacy be?

Legacy! Legacy!

Let us stop for a moment and recall some of our people who left their lives as legacies to us, and who always will be honored and remembered. They were people like:

Harriet Tubman: her legacy was the work that she did on the underground railroad in which she brought hundreds of our ancestors out of the bonds of slavery; and,

Frederick Douglass: his legacy was the work that he did to help abolish slavery; and, fought against the evil of black men being lynched in this country; and,

Mary McLeod Bethune: her legacy was that she worked for the education of our youth by starting on faith, a small school which grew to be a great university; and

Dr. Martin Luther King's Jr.: his legacy was that he devoted his life to fighting for full equality for our people; and,

Sojourner Truth: her legacy was her fight for the liberation of and full equality for all women in our country; and,

John Brown: his legacy was that he sacrificed his life for an end to slavery and for freedom of our people; and,

Bessie Coleman: her legacy was that she became the first woman in America, black or white, to acquire a pilot's license; and,

Paul Robeson: his legacy was that he was a renaissance man. He was a concert and folk singer, an athlete and a linguist and that he fought for the liberation of all oppressed people all over in the world; and poets,

Langston Hughes and Margaret Walker: their legacies were the many inspirational poems that they wrote which expressed the soul of our people; and

Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois: his legacy was his life long struggle for the liberation of our people in his actions, his speeches and his writings; and,

Dr. Carter G. Woodson: his legacy was the fact that he early brought to the attention of the world the numerous and significant contributions of people of Africa and African descent to the attention of the world; and,

Booker T. Washington: his legacy was the fact that he worked for the education of our people when he founded and opened Tuskegee Institute in Alabama; and,

George Washington Carver: his legacy was his significant and important accomplishments in the field of science; and,

Jean Baptiste Point DuSable: his legacy was the fact he, a black man, was the first person to settle in the area that became Chicago and grew into a great trading center from the little post that DuSable of African blood started over 100 years ago; and, last but not least,

Charles Gordon Burroughs: his legacy was the first black history museum in the world which he as co-founder started in his living room at 3806 South Michigan Avenue in Chicago.

This act inspired many who were interested in the recognition and preservation of black history to the point that today there are over 100 black history museums in our country.

These are just a few as you well know.

There are many, many others who like these, left, though their contributions in their lifetime, their legacies as bridges for us to cross over on. So, I ask you, what will you leave as your legacy, as a bridge for those now and those coming on to cross over on. What will your legacy be?

I ask you, what will your legacy be? Do you know? How you thought about it? Do you have an answer? What will you leave as your legacy? If you have no answer, if at this point, you cannot say: Hearken! Listen to me! This is the moment. This is the prime moment for you to think and to get to work and identify what you will leave as your legacy for you to be remembered by. You are here. You are still here, alive and quick and you have time. You have time on your side. You have time to begin even now so get busy and do something to help somebody. To improve the conditions of life for people now and for those who come after. To build institutions to educate and broaden the minds for people now and for those who came after and to make your life a contribution that will be your legacy. Do this and your name will be remembered from now on and into eternity.

What will your legacy be? Hopefully, it will not be just a gray and decaying tombstone.

Think now! Act now! To insure that your legacy will be a positive contribution to humanity and you will be remembered, yes you will be remembered, on and on and in eternity as God wills it.

Photomontages by PW graphic artist Marguerite Wright.
Sources: Chicago Public Library, Historymakers.com, Dr. Margaret Burroughs

Republicans have a money problem

Mon, 22 Nov 2010 11:19:00 +0000

In the 2010 mid-term elections, there was no mandate. The majority did not believe the ultra right had the right answers. The economy made all the difference. Republican candidates claimed that they had effective ways of significantly cutting government spending, reducing government debt, and creating jobs. They lied.

When asked what programs they would cut, Republicans refused to name any. The reasons became clearer as Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., admitted, “Anybody who’s a Republican right now, come June, is going to be accused of hating seniors, hating education, hating children, hating clean air and probably hating the military and farmers, too.”

Kingston, a fiscal conservative, is one of the few Republicans willing to chair the House Appropriations Committee, the committee in charge of spending programs. Kingston explained, “So much of the work is going to be appropriations related. There’s going to be a lot of tough votes. So some people may want to shy away from the committee. I understand it.”

To distract from the looming national outrage, the GOP has proposed eliminating earmarks, even though most earmarks are needed (regardless of which party secures them). Savings from this action would amount to less than one-half of one percent of federal spending, but much of that small percent is crucial to both urban and rural America. Earmarks fund research programs, rural roads, water and sewer infrastructure, technical schools, and rural hospitals and clinics.

Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., writes that earmarks fund flood control, energy production, carbon sequestration, control of rural disease, disability recovery, road and bridge construction, and children crisis centers. GOP cost-cutting plans would harm the nation, and so would GOP proposals to reduce the deficit.

To be fiscally responsible and to meet urgent necessities means ending corporate welfare, taxing the wealthy, and cutting war spending. Ending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy would provide a 10-year savings of $780 billion. Cap-and-trade environmental protection would save $19 billion. Failure to retain estate taxes would cost the federal treasury $14.8 billion. Democratic Party proposals to cut military spending would save $960 billion.

Instead, Republicans campaigned against health care reform, even though those reforms cut the deficit by $130 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Sen. John Kyl, R-Ariz., not only calls for increasing the debt by repealing health care reform, but he also calls for increasing the debt by $14 billion by increasing military spending.

In a further insult, the GOP refuses to extend jobless benefits to those whose unemployed insurance has expired. If GOP plans are carried out, by the end of the year millions of jobless will be without income.

The AFL-CIO calls for a tax credit for businesses to create jobs in the United States, investments in the nation's infrastructure of roads, bridges, schools, and energy systems, extending unemployment insurance benefits to those who have lost their jobs and are unable to find new ones. Polls show that 89 percent of all voters (87 percent of Republicans) favor tax credits for job creation, 77 percent (73 percent of Republicans) favor rebuilding infrastructure, and 65 percent (47 percent of Republicans) favor extending unemployment insurance.

Voters overwhelmingly reject the Republican agenda. Eighty-two percent oppose privatizing Social Security, 63 percent oppose tax cuts for the wealthy, 68 percent oppose raising the Social Security age, 72 percent oppose eliminating the Department of Education, 75 percent oppose reducing the minimum wage, and 85 percen opposed allowing health insurance denials for pre-existing conditions.

AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka told reporters after the elections that the vote “was about jobs, plain and simple. It was a mandate to fix the economy and create jobs. He added that here is what it wasn't: It was not an endorsement of tax cuts for the wealthy or for undermining Social Security or the minimum wage.

Kevin B. Zeese, executive director of Prosperity Agenda, testified in a congressional hearing this past summer that “expanding Medicare to cover all Americans will save money and improve health” and “Social “Security is essential to most Americans and is a contract between the government and the people that should not be broken.”

Republican politicians, including several Republican governors, complained bitterly about the stimulus while taking credit for jobs funded by the stimulus. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger not only accepted the stimulus money, but, proudly proclaimed, “I have been the first governor of the Republican governors to come out and to support the stimulus money because I say to myself, this is terrific. Anyone that says that it hasn't created the jobs, they should talk to the 150,000 people that have been getting jobs in California.”

Concerning the hypocrites who opposed and then took credit for the stimulus, Schwarzenegger said, “Well, you know, to me I find it interesting that you have a lot of Republicans running around and pushing back on the Stimulus money and saying this doesn't create any new jobs, and then they go out and they do the photo ops and they are posing with the big check and they say, 'isn't this great?'”

Photo by US Forestry Service – Northern Region, cc by 2.0

Hundreds remember ReeAnne Halonen, 1943-2010

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:22:00 +0000

SEATTLE - ReeAnne Halonen got her last wish. A Dixieland band on Nov. 14 led family and friends with trumpet and trombone blaring in a funeral procession up the street to a park two blocks from her home on 73rd Street.

Her daughter, Angela Halonen Webb, named the hastily organized volunteer musicians the "73rd and Chaos Brass Band," because ReeAnne often wryly referred to her home as "73rd and Chaos."

ReeAnne Halonen was born April 13, 1943, daughter of Taimi and Oiva Halonen, legendary Finnish American Communist Party leaders in Seattle. She died Oct. 18 after a year-long battle with cancer. A music lover, she had asked that her memorial be a celebration in song, a hootenanny, a jam session. She got both.

The band played again that afternoon to a standing crowd that packed the Central Area Senior Center. Her sister, Kae Halonen, Kae's husband Sam Stark, veteran union leader Will Parry, People's Worl writer Tim Wheeler, Imogene Williams and Marion Burns led the crowd in singing "Which Side Are You On", "This Land is Your Land" "Simple Gifts" and "We Shall Not Be Moved."

Parry explained to the crowd that Florence Reece scrawled "Which Side Are You On" on the back of a calendar moments after the Harlan County sheriff raided her home in Kentucky looking for her husband, a coal miner union organizer. "Taimi and Oiva knew which side they were on and so did ReeAnne," Parry said.

One speaker after another remembered ReeAnne Halonen's motherly protective embrace. Her son, Mance, recalled that their home in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle was always open to lost or homeless youth who showed up on ReeAnne's doorstep.

Childhood friend Pat Johnston, a gifted contralto, recalled visits to the Halonen house in her childhood, singing together with ReeAnne as Oiva, despite his deafness, accompanied them on the piano. In ReeAnne's memory, she sang "Shenandoah" and led a singing group, Sankofa, in "Amazing Grace."

Kae Halonen told the crowd she and ReeAnne were "red diaper babies" who came of age during the Cold War. Her father, Oiva, a Spanish Civil War veteran, was a blacklisted shipyard machinist hauled before the House UnAmerican Committee (HUAC). The witch-hunters reviled Oiva as a "menace" to national security but Kae remembered her father as a gentle union man, and her mother as a steadfast fighter for peace, equality, and socialism. It was from them that ReeAnne inherited her warm, open-hearted love of humanity, Kae said. ReeAnne Halonen was also a supporter of the People's World, attending PW fundraisers every year at Gennessee Park and at the Seattle Labor Temple, bringing with her many of her lifelong friends.

Luis Benito, one of the jazz musicians, a playwright, told the crowd that ReeAnne was a foe of apartheid arrested at the South African consulate in the mid-1980s.

She co-wrote a play with Kevin Frye titled "Paper Daisies" about HUAC's harassment of Seattle Women Act for Peace, a group her mother helped lead. The play was performed at the Seattle Community Center to such acclaim it went on the road.

"Politics to ReeAnne was life, and living itself," he said. "Politics to ReeAnne meant justice, equality, compassion, and empathy - all the time, whatever the time, wherever you are, whatever you are doing." He called it, "a very, very, human form of politics" adding, "ReeAnne was one of those rare people who makes the rest of us better...ReeAnne's capacity to love is endless."

Photo: Tim Wheeler

Republicans kill Paycheck Fairness

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:05:00 +0000

WASHINGTON - Advocates for women's equality denounced the unanimous Republican vote in the Senate Nov. 17 that killed the Paycheck Fairness Act. The measure would have strengthened enforcement of women's right to equal pay.

"Senate Republicans today disrespected America's working women by voting to prevent any debate on the Paycheck Fairness Act," said AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.

Terry O'Neill, president of the National Organization for Women, blasted the Senate Republicans, saying the vote "does not bode well for the next two years."

The measure failed by two votes to reach the 60-vote supermajority needed to break a Republican filibuster.

GOP Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine and Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, who voted for the Lilly Ledbetter Act in January 2009, voted against Paycheck Fairness. Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson was the only Democrat who voted with the Republicans.

Trumka charged that in blocking a vote on the House-passed bill, Republican senators "encourage discrimination against women in the workplace." Women earn 77 cents for every dollar earned by male workers, a differential that fattens corporate profits while slashing wages for all workers, women and men alike, by driving down prevailing wages.

"Efforts like this legislation to close the income gap in our country are an essential component to long-term economic recovery," Trumka added. But, he said, the Republicans "in the cold pursuit of their political goals and interests of their Wall Street allies ... have one message to the elderly, the unemployed, the uninsured, and now even women: 'NO.'"

The vote came on the same day that a survey was released showing the prevalence of employers keeping wages and salaries secret, one of the main strategies employers use to conceal paying women workers less than men doing the same work. The survey and report was prepared by the Institute for Women's Policy Research.

The institute's president, Heidi Hartmann, said, "It took Lilly Ledbetter most of a decade to find out she was being paid less than men doing the same job."

Employers impose the secrecy by threatening to punish or fire any worker who shares information about his wages with other workers.

The Paycheck Fairness Act would have made it a federal crime for an employer to fire or punish workers who share information about their wages and benefits.

"Women are now half the paid workforce," O'Neill said. But as the recession continues, "an unprecedented number of women are family breadwinners due to deep unemployment rates among men - making pay equity essential not only to the economic security of families but also to the nation's economic recovery."

She added, "The National Organization for Women is deeply concerned that women's rights will come under attack in all the areas where we have been working so hard" including economic justice, reproductive freedom, promoting diversity and ending racism, winning LGBT rights, stopping violence against women and achieving constitutional equality.

President Obama said he was "deeply disappointed" that the bill was killed. Newly reelected Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said the Republicans had a chance "to do the right thing, work with Democrats to reduce wage inequality for women. They spurned it."

In Sarah Palin’s Alaska, rival Lisa Murkowski triumphs

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:36:00 +0000

It's now official. Republican write-in candidate Lisa Murkowski beat the tea party/Republican candidate Joe Miller for Alaska's U.S. Senate seat. Miller won the Republican primary with former governor Sarah Palin's backing.

A cabal, beginning with Palin, plus arch-conservative Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and like-minded others painted Murkowski as a social liberal and Wall Street supporter. Her sin? Murkowski acknowledged global warming as a problem. (For more insights, read, "Why Alaska Native Democrats voted for Murkowski" )

That sent Palin -- and the energy companies - into a fury, especially when Murkowski had the audacity to meet with President Obama to discuss compromises on a cap-and-trade bill.

Despite that Murkowski was a reliable vote against Obama on many other issues, she was open to voting for cap-and-trade legislation. And that's a sin the tea party/GOP and their Big Oil/Energy backers could not tolerate.

When Miller beat Murkowski in the primary, she said, "The Alaska Republican Party has been hijacked by the Tea Party Express, an outside extremist group."

It's expected Murkowski will continue in the Republican Party, although she will buck DeMint and minions. The first sign of this independence is her position on earmarks. Murkowski said she opposes measures to prohibit the directing of federal funds to her state's projects (earmarks), despite DeMint's efforts to enact a ban.

The Murkowski victory and aftermath is just the most recent window into the power struggles shaping up in the Republican Party. Many ultra-conservatives, like Karl Rove, don't want Palin anywhere near the 2012 nomination. Many think she is politically toxic.

Palin endorsed 64 candidates in the 2010 election cycle. Of those, 10 lost in the primaries. Out of the 54 remaining, 32 won and 20 lost, and two (Minnesota governor and New York 25) are still too close to call. Not a stellar record, but some would claim not too bad either.

However of the 32 Palin-endorsed 2010 election winners, 14 of them are characterized as GOP establishment, not tea party-linked candidates.

Save for Marco Rubio of Florida and Rand Paul of Kentucky - both of whom had bases outside of the tea party/Palin realm - Palin-backed candidates lost all the other big Senate races.

Of the rest - some are considered "tea party" candidates when they are Republican incumbents, like Rick Perry of Texas and Michelle Bachman of Minnesota.

Palin's endorsements seemed to help a much smaller fraction of races than the raw numbers show.

Plus, her endorsements were politically toxic when it came to the big prize: the Senate.

When Delaware's Christine O'Donnell won the GOP primary in September, political analysts, including this website's John Wojcik, predicted the tea party/Palin/DeMint candidates would cost the GOP the Senate.

That's exactly what happened. O'Donnell, Sharron Angle and now Miller all went down to defeat, crushing the GOP's hopes of a total takeover.

Murkowski hasn't minced words when it comes to Palin. She told Politico she would not support a Palin candidacy for president because she lacks the "intellectual curiosity" for the job.

And she has some strong words for DeMint too. Murkowski said DeMint is out to further his own agenda and powerbase, at the expense of the Republicans overall. "Does he want to help the Republican majority, or is he on his own agenda, his own initiative?" she asked, and then answered, "I think he's out for his own initiative."

Media Matters reports the inner GOP power struggles are intensifying. Rove criticized Palin and her new show, Sarah Palin's Alaska, saying it doesn't fit into "the American calculus of 'that helps me see you in the Oval Office'."

Schakowsky issues progressive deficit plan

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 17:10:00 +0000

A congressional progressive, arguing that the national debt cannot be eliminated without solving the unprecedented jobs crisis in America, issued a counter-plan to that advocated by the presidential deficit commission.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., herself a member of the president's deficit commission, unfurled a plan on cable TV Nov. 16 that would reduce the deficit by $427.75 billion in 2015. Her plan would surpass Obama's $250 billion target and is designed to bolster rather than penalize the country's working-class majority.

In a bold way the Schakowsky plan addresses the jobs crisis, which the debt panel co-chairs' plan released last week failed to do.

Her proposal raises taxes on the rich, preserves Social Security benefits that are currently paid out and calls for a $200 billion stimulus to create jobs.

The plan also achieves $110.7 billion in defense spending cuts by slashing unnecessary weapons systems, reducing troop levels and a variety of other measures.

Unlike the commission leaders' plan, hers taxes companies that outsource jobs and taxes corporate capital gains and dividends the same way regular income is taxed. The Schakowsky proposal also raises revenue by letting the Bush tax cuts expire for the rich on Dec. 31.

The congresswoman's long standing as a member and leader of the Progressive Caucus with strong ties to labor and civil rights organizations is quickly giving her plan major credibility.

A third plan released today by Alice Rivlin, another commission member, goes in the opposite direction, cutting even more services and programs than does the Simpson-Bowles plan. While the Rivlin plan provides more in "savings" than the draft proposal from the panel's chairmen it more severely cuts and limits the future growth of Medicare and Medicaid and reduces future retirees' benefits except for the lowest income people. The plan cuts $1 trillion from domestic programs between now and 2020.

Advocates of a path to deficit reduction that doesn't ignore the jobs crisis are among those who have already praised the Schakowsky plan.

"This is a serious proposal, and should be given as much consideration as the Bowles-Simpson plan," said the Wonk Room's Pat Garofalo. "Schakowsky has shown that it is feasible to balance the budget without blowing a huge hole in discretionary spending and she does it while also taking into account the threat of climate change and the revenue cap-and-trade can generate."

The Schakowsky plan includes the raising of $52 billion by implementing a cap and trade system.

On the same day that Schakowsky released her plan, Leo Gerard, president of the Steelworkers union, strongly condemned the report put forward last week by the chairmen of the president's commission.

He called it a "Saturday night special pressed to the temple of the American middle class. Turn over your money and your benefits or your country will die. You gotta delay retirement, get less from Social Security, pay more for health insurance and give up your precious few income tax breaks like the one that helps you pay your mortgage."

Gerard continued, "The deficit, the Social Security shortfall, difficulties with Medicare - they could all be solved if the nation returned to taxing policies that existed under Republican President Dwight Eisenhower." He noted that taxes on the rich fluctuated between 81 percent in 1940 and 70 percent when Ronald Reagan began slashing them in 1980.

The congresswoman's plan includes a proposal to bring the public option back into the health care reform law which, by itself, would cut the deficit by $17 billion.

It brings $132 billion into the Treasury from increased taxes corporations would pay.

When she released her plan Schakowsky said the Bowles-Simpson proposal "would have serious consequences for lower and middle-class Americans, and that is why I cannot support it. I am releasing my own plan today because I believe there is a better way to achieve our goal - one that protects the poor and the middle-class."

Image from Rep. Schakowsky's official website.

LGBT students bullied - by their schools

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 16:19:00 +0000

No one ever said going to school was fun, but for many LGBT students, it can be a downright nightmare - or even impossible.

For two students at Del City High School in Oklahoma, the latter appears to be the situation. According to KWTV, neither student will be allowed to graduate because of their sexuality.

Melissa McKenzie alleges that she was kicked out of DCHS after administrators found she had moved out of her family's house to live with her girlfriend. School administrators apparently refused to readmit her unless she moves back in with her parents - though, at 18, she is legally an adult.

McKenzie's Facebook page implies that, after the expulsion, she went through some emotional turmoil. A few days ago, she changed her status to "single."

Her former classmate, Kelsey Hicks, dropped out of school about a month ago. After thinking about it, she decided she wants to return to school to pursue a diploma. She dreams of becoming a firefighter and, to pursue that career, she needs to graduate.

Hicks told KWTV that she was not allowed to return to Del City because of her "lifestyle," saying, "The principal will say 'Well, you're gay. You're not going to do anything with your life. You might as well just drop out now.' It's stuff to put you down that makes you want to drop out."

Both students said they were kicked off the school's softball team for the same reason.

"I played softball since I was 14. Softball was my life," Hicks said.

Other students said that they had experienced the same sort of harassment and homophobia from some - but not all - faculty and staff.

"He had found out that I was gay, and he was on my case about every little thing," Britney McDowell, another DCHS student, said of the softball coach in the same news segment. She added that the coach told her that gay and lesbian students have "an unhealthy lifestyle."

School officials denied that there were any complaints filed. The students said that they had, however, contacted members of the school board. Those officials who spoke to the World on condition of anonymity said that the students' statements were either false or exagerated. One of the officials said that the district worked to foster a tolerant environment, but that she could not comment on the students' cases, out of privacy concerns. She said she felt hamstrung by the situation.

"It's really not fair," the official said. "Some people are putting out false information, and all we can do is say that they are false. They don't have to abide by the same privacy concerns we do."

According to the Advocate, the school department released a statement saying, "It is the policy of the Mid-Del Public School District not to discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age in its programs, services, and activities."

Absent from that list, notably, is sexual orientation.

While some have questioned the veracity of the students' stories, a number of LGBT-rights advocates say that it is troubling enough that there is no policy on record prohibiting discrimination against students based on their sexuality.

In an unrelated case, Clint McCance, a board member of the Midland School District in Arkansas, attracted controversy Oct. 25 for posting anti-LGBT hate speech publicly on Facebook. Even worse, the tirade was in response to a wave of suicides by young gay men, all of which were linked to anti-gay bullying.

"Seriously [sic] they want me to wear purple because five queers committed suicide," McCance posted. "The only way im wearin [sic] it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant [sic] believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves [sic] because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE."

In the comments under his original post, McCance also said that he would disown his children were he to find out that they were gay. Further, he wrote, "I like that fags cant [sic] procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids [sic] and die."

In response, more than 70,000 people joined a "Fire Clint McCance" Facebook group. But the school district did not fire him. Instead, he was allowed to resign, which he did Oct. 29.

According to Joe Solomonese of the Human Rights Campaign, "What remains troubling is that Mr. McCance focused his regret on particular word choices, not the animus behind those words. We hope he will take this time to reflect not only on the language he used but on what he can do to make the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people better."

Activists say that though there has been an increase in efforts to stop bullying and homophobia, more needs to be done.

Image: David Michael Morris // CC BY-SA 2.0

The GOP doesn’t care about hungry families

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 14:31:00 +0000

One in four children are in danger of going hungry every night says the U.S. Department of Agriculture in a new report on “food insecurity.” The report, tallying numbers for 2009, indicates the rate has not changed for the second year in a row. For both years, 45 million people in the U.S. went to sleep on an empty stomach.

The numbers tell a terrible tale of undernourished bodies and minds, the long-term consequence of which will be felt for decades.

As the report on American hunger hit the news, Congress in its lame-duck session is under pressure to pass the Hunger Free Kids Act, already approved by the Senate but still requiring a thumbs up from the House. The $4.5 billion bill, however, due to GOP demands, will be paid for cutting back a food stamp increase approved last year in the economic recovery act.

Yes, that’s right: some hungry families will go hungry, so that other hungry children can eat. Perhaps this make sense to the corporate fat cats and their Tea Party fan clubs and their “get-a-job” mentality.

It doesn’t to us. For every one job offered today, there are five job seekers, according to government reports, to say nothing of the tens of millions who are not in the official job market.

Recently Over 1,100 heath and children’s and nutrition organizations sent a letter to Congress demanding that the Hunger Free Kids Act be passed.

The Obama administration has promised that should this happen, administrative and other measures will be taken to put the money back before the cuts go into effect in 2013. Included in this pledge a goal to increase access to Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program resources, the official name given now to the food stamp programs.

The Obama administration’s goal of ending child hunger by 2015, a once realizable objective, may now fall to the unfortunate compromises made to pass this and other necessary legislation. This issue will grow far worse when the Tea Party moves in to Washington in January.

But the fight will not be forgotten; the lesson will be learned. The battle for tomorrow is being shaped by the cuts to help the hungry today.

Residents protest “Brighton Beach” stereotypes

Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:41:00 +0000

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - The Russian-speaking residents of Brighton Beach are often portrayed in popular movies and television shows as drug pushers, alcoholics and Mafioso. Now neighborhood residents and their allies are fighting a much more extreme version of that caricature, in the form of a new Lifetime Television series.

The show moving the community to action is simply called "Brighton Beach," and has been marketed as a New York Russian version of MTV's infamous "Jersey Shore."

"Jersey Shore" is much like MTV's "The Real World," in that it portrays a number of real-life people who agree to move into a single house. However, instead of being from different walks of life as in "Real World," "Jersey Shore" characters are all from the same background.

All of the characters, including "Snookie" and "The Situation," fall into the category of "guido," a derogatory name for Italian Americans that the show's characters proudly use.

Lifetime's "Brighton Beach" series promises to be a Brooklyn Russian version of that - and the stereotypes, producers boast, will be rampant.

"There will be plenty of vodka, techno music and guys wearing Adidas pants, leather jackets and gold chains, and driving souped-up cars," said Elina Miller, the show's producer, as quoted in The Hollywood Reporter.

The Russian-speaking community here includes people from Russia, the Ukraine and Belarus, but also numerous other places, such as Uzbekistan and other Central Asian nations formerly part of the Soviet Union. Their population is now more than 300,000 million in the New York metropolitan area, and 1.5 million nationally.

Still, says John Lisyanskiy, founder of the Russian-Speaking American Leadership Conference, the community has rarely "been depicted as anything more than thugs, criminals and outcasts."

"As you set out to air the show, we ask that you formally break with Jersey Shore's form of tasteless exposé and elevate the material to depict Russian-speaking Americans accurately and without ethnic bias," reads a letter sent to Lifetime Television by Lisyanksiy on behalf of his organization.

"We do so not as crusaders for censorship," the message continues, "but as concerned citizens of immigrant descent, fighting to prevent the air of intolerance from shrouding our long and proud American legacy."

Also signing the letter "in support" were dozens of others, from newspaper publishers and other business leaders to members of Congress and Bill de Blasio, the city's public advocate.

"Jersey Shore" has attracted its own share of controversy. Given the show's sky-high ratings, millions of people routinely tune in, but many have objected to its content. Some have done so simply out of annoyance with the characters' antics (Snookie was recently acquitted in real life of charges of "criminal annoyance"), while others have had more serious objections.

According to a report earlier this year in The Guardian, Italian American organizations protested the show's stereotyping of Italians as hedonistic "guidos" and "guidettes."

The Russian-speakers hope they will be more successful with "Brighton Beach."

Photo: A store in the real Brighton Beach. Urmet CC BY-ND 3.0

House GOP freshman: I want my government health care, now!

Tue, 16 Nov 2010 16:29:00 +0000

A right-wing Maryland medical doctor, elected to the House after campaigning against "Obamacare," shocked everyone at a closed orientation session on Capitol Hill this week by putting up a fuss when he learned his government health care plan will take a month after he is sworn in to take effect.

Republican Andy Harris, who earns a comfortable living injecting countless Medicare patients with pain medicine just before they are operated on, threw a major tantrum about having to wait for his government-run health care plan.

Harris, who defeated freshman Democrat Frank Kratovil in Maryland, was told that his health care policy would take effect on Feb. 1, 2011, 28 days after his Jan.3 swearing-in. Congressional staffers who saw the exchange reported what they saw to various media outlets.

"He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care," said one staffer.

The closed-door session on benefits drew 250 newly elected representatives and their family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium Nov. 15.

The aide said he was struck by the fact that the good doctor-turned-congressman then made a request for something that sounded a lot like the public option he had denounced as a "gateway to socialism." Harris asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap!

"This is the only employer I've ever worked for where you don't get coverage the first day you are employed," he said.

Prior to his election to Congress, Harris was a Maryland state senator who worked at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore and several hospitals in that region.

Harris was either unaware that under COBRA law he can pay a premium to extend his current health insurance an additional month or, if aware, not happy to have to go the route taken by millions who lose or change jobs.

Making the hypocrisy even more blatant, Harris relentlessly attacked Kratovil on health care throughout the campaign. The fact that Kratovil was a conservative Democrat who twice voted against health care reform apparently made no difference to Harris.

The doctor tried to excuse this in a campaign statement issued just two days before the election, reading, "Although he voted against Obamacare [sic], Mr. Kratovil refuses to commit to its repeal. Dr. Harris understands that the Obama-Pelosi-Hoyer agenda threatens to pull the plug on America's long-term health. In Washington I will never vote to raise taxes, I will fight to repeal health care reform, and I will work to balance the budget."

On the Senate side, meanwhile, the opening guns of the GOP attack on healthcare were expected to be fired Nov. 16, when Republican senators on the Finance Committee planned to interrogate Donald Berwick, the president's pick to run the government's Center for Medicare and Medicare Services.

Berwick is a recess appointee whose nomination by the president was held up because he has, in the past, said he admires Britain's National Health Service. Republicans, during the summer, called him "Obama's rationer in chief."

Ever since his recess appointment by Obama in July, Republicans have demanded Berwick appear for a hearing.

Republicans have told the press they would go after Berwick for his "professed love" for Britain's health system, and demand clarification of his role in shaping the system in that country. Queen Elizabeth II granted him an honorary knighthood in 2005 for his decades-long effort to improve the system - an honor that makes Republicans suspicious.

"He'll be asked about what exactly he did for the U.K. government to be knighted," Mark Hayes, a recent health policy adviser to Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, told Politico. "For him to have that level of recognition conveyed on him, people will want to know that."

Image: Though millions of people want health care reform, Republicans want to discard it - except for themselves. SEIU Local 775 NW // CC BY-NC-ND 2.0