Friday, July 31, 2009

Senate Stops Funding Abstinence Only Programs!

OR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 30, 2009
4:38 PM

CONTACT: ACLU

Rachel Myers, (202) 675-2312; media@dcaclu.org

Senate Committee Votes to End Funding for Failed Abstinence-Only Programs
Bill Puts Teens' Health Above Politics and Ideology, Says ACLU
WASHINGTON - July 30 - The Senate Appropriations Committee today voted to end funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and to put resources into programs that can help teens make healthy and responsible decisions about sexuality.

"After more than a decade, Congress has finally begun to put teenagers' health above politics and ideology. By removing funding from abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, the Senate Appropriations Committee showed its willingness to put an end to a sorry chapter in our public health policymaking," said Michael Macleod-Ball, acting Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "The Committee's actions represent a looming victory for young people, parents and advocates of science-based approaches."

Today's vote comes on the heels of an equally significant vote in the House of Representatives. Last week, under the leadership of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Rep. David Obey (D-WI), that chamber approved a spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services that also eliminated funding for current abstinence-only programs. Both the House of Representatives and the Senate Appropriations Committee instead supported the president's proposal for a teen pregnancy prevention initiative to fund evidence-based programs shown to positively affect teen behavior.

"Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa and Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii should be commended for moving the Senate in this new direction. We are pleased that the Committee has joined President Obama in rejecting ideologically based abstinence-only programs that censor information, promote gender stereotypes, marginalize gay and lesbian youth and jeopardize the well-being of young people," said Vania Leveille, ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The federal government has an obligation to support programs that provide accurate, age-appropriate information that can protect teenagers' health and ability to achieve in school and beyond."

The spending measure next goes to the Senate floor, where misguided efforts to reinsert funding for abstinence-only programs are possible. A vote by the full Senate is not expected until the fall.

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

Monday, July 27, 2009

The Continuing Disenfranchisement of Millions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27, 2009
1:10 PM


CONTACT: US Senator Russ Feingold
Zach Lowe (202) 224-8657
Feingold, Conyers Continue Effort to Restore Voting Rights for Millions of Americans

WASHINGTON - July 27 - U.S. Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) are continuing their effort to restore voting rights for million of Americans. Feingold and Conyers reintroduced the Democracy Restoration Act, legislation that would reinstate the right to vote in federal elections for millions of Americans with a conviction in their past who are out of prison, living in the community. In America today, more than five million citizens are unable to vote due a felony conviction, nearly three-quarters of whom are no longer in prison. Feingold and Conyers' bill would allow these Americans to exercise their right to vote if they are no longer incarcerated.

"Voting helps to build a sense of civic responsibility and commitment to community; denying this fundamental right does nothing to help people with a conviction in their past become better citizens," Senator Feingold said. "The expansion of voting rights to the poor, women, minorities and young people is one of the greatest stories in our country's history. We should continue this legacy by expanding the right to vote to those who have fully paid their debt to society."

"There is a growing nationwide movement to restore voting rights to people who are out of prison, living in the community. Those calling for change include law enforcement officers, religious leaders and elections officials," said Erika Wood, Director of the Right to Vote Project at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University. "The Democracy Restoration Act will eliminate the last blanket barrier to the franchise in our country."

Feingold and Conyers' bill builds on a growing enfranchisement movement. In the last decade, 20 states have reformed their laws to expand the franchise or ease voting rights restoration procedures. Most recently, the state of Washington enacted a law easing the restoration of voting rights for people who are no longer in custody. According to the Brennan Center for Justice and the Sentencing Project, 5.3 million American citizens are not allowed to vote because of a felony conviction. Nearly four million people of them are no longer, or never were, in prison, and approximately two million have completed their entire sentence, including probation and parole.

An electronic copy of this press release is available here: http://feingold.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=316228

The New Face of the "Delinquent"

From Racewire:

Zoot suit riots, West Side Story, Bloods and Crips—America has long had a fascination with the deviant teen. While the dramatic narrative has always been threaded with race and class struggle, the gender dimension of youth “delinquency” is often pushed into the backdrop.

According to the Government Accountability Office’s recent report on programs dealing with “girls’ delinquency,” girls and boys are on surprisingly divergent trajectories in their dealings with law enforcement:

from 1995 through 2005, delinquency caseloads for girls in juvenile justice courts nationwide increased 15 percent while boys’ caseloads decreased by 12 percent. Also, from 1995 through 2005, the number of girls’ cases nationwide involving detention increased 49 percent compared to a 7 percent increase for boys. More recently, in 2007, 29 percent of juvenile arrests—about 641,000 arrests—involved girls, who accounted for 17 percent of juvenile violent crime arrests and 35 percent of juvenile property crime arrests.

Moreover, the GAO found, there’s a severe lack of research on what programs are effective at reducing or preventing delinquency among girls.

According to a 2001 American Bar Association report, “multiple stressors” drive young women into criminal justice involvement, including physical and sexual abuse, separation from parents, mental health issues, and problems in school. One study found that girls are disproportionately incarcerated for nonviolent “status” offenses, like prostitution or running away—that is, “criminal” behavior that might in fact be a desperate response to abuse, poverty or other problems not within their control. In addition to often entering the system in a very vulnerable state, girls are routinely subjected to abuse while incarcerated. And, reflecting general racial patterns in the criminal justice system:

African American girls make up nearly half of all those in secure detention and Latinas constitute 13%. Although whites constitute 65% of the population of at-risk girls, they account for only 34% of girls in secure detention. Seven of every 10 cases involving white girls are dismissed, compared with 3 of every 10 cases for African American girls.

Yet the public dialogue on women of color and juvenile justice is prone to many blindspots, due to stereotypes and distorted perceptions about gender dynamics. In a Justice Department paper on female gang involvement, researchers wrote:

Autonomy and male dominance, which are ongoing issues for all female gangs, tend to vary with ethnicity. For example, gender expectations in each ethnic group might suggest that African American and white female gang members would be more autonomous and Latinas more subordinate to males. They usually are, but not always. In other words, there is no universal ethnic continuum. Indeed, some factors related to female autonomy and male dominance affect gang members regardless of ethnicity. Male unemployment and the incarceration of the many males who are convicted of illegal economic activities remove males from both Latino and African American households. As a result, women must rely on their own resources to support themselves and their children.

The juvenile justice system pits society's belief in law and order with its compassion for young people in tough circumstances, and that tension amplifies every underlying inequality. The lack of knowledge about girls caught up in the system not only deprives them of critical support and interventions; it also reveals how little we understand about the interplay of gender, race and culture in our homes and neighborhoods.

Sunday, July 26, 2009

Some Irony from Bill Maher

From the Huffington Post. Original article here.

New Rule: Not Everything in America Has to Make a Profit

How about this for a New Rule: Not everything in America has to make a profit. It used to be that there were some services and institutions so vital to our nation that they were exempt from market pressures. Some things we just didn't do for money. The United States always defined capitalism, but it didn't used to define us. But now it's becoming all that we are.

Did you know, for example, that there was a time when being called a "war profiteer" was a bad thing? But now our war zones are dominated by private contractors and mercenaries who work for corporations. There are more private contractors in Iraq than American troops, and we pay them generous salaries to do jobs the troops used to do for themselves ­-- like laundry. War is not supposed to turn a profit, but our wars have become boondoggles for weapons manufacturers and connected civilian contractors.

Prisons used to be a non-profit business, too. And for good reason --­ who the hell wants to own a prison? By definition you're going to have trouble with the tenants. But now prisons are big business. A company called the Corrections Corporation of America is on the New York Stock Exchange, which is convenient since that's where all the real crime is happening anyway. The CCA and similar corporations actually lobby Congress for stiffer sentencing laws so they can lock more people up and make more money. That's why America has the world;s largest prison population ­-- because actually rehabilitating people would have a negative impact on the bottom line.

Television news is another area that used to be roped off from the profit motive. When Walter Cronkite died last week, it was odd to see news anchor after news anchor talking about how much better the news coverage was back in Cronkite's day. I thought, "Gee, if only you were in a position to do something about it."

But maybe they aren't. Because unlike in Cronkite's day, today's news has to make a profit like all the other divisions in a media conglomerate. That's why it wasn't surprising to see the CBS Evening News broadcast live from the Staples Center for two nights this month, just in case Michael Jackson came back to life and sold Iran nuclear weapons. In Uncle Walter's time, the news division was a loss leader. Making money was the job of The Beverly Hillbillies. And now that we have reporters moving to Alaska to hang out with the Palin family, the news is The Beverly Hillbillies.

And finally, there's health care. It wasn't that long ago that when a kid broke his leg playing stickball, his parents took him to the local Catholic hospital, the nun put a thermometer in his mouth, the doctor slapped some plaster on his ankle and you were done. The bill was $1.50, plus you got to keep the thermometer.

But like everything else that's good and noble in life, some Wall Street wizard decided that hospitals could be big business, so now they're run by some bean counters in a corporate plaza in Charlotte. In the U.S. today, three giant for-profit conglomerates own close to 600 hospitals and other health care facilities. They're not hospitals anymore; they're Jiffy Lubes with bedpans. America's largest hospital chain, HCA, was founded by the family of Bill Frist, who perfectly represents the Republican attitude toward health care: it's not a right, it's a racket. The more people who get sick and need medicine, the higher their profit margins. Which is why they're always pushing the Jell-O.

Because medicine is now for-profit we have things like "recision," where insurance companies hire people to figure out ways to deny you coverage when you get sick, even though you've been paying into your plan for years.

When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what's in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

If conservatives get to call universal health care "socialized medicine," I get to call private health care "soulless vampires making money off human pain." The problem with President Obama's health care plan isn't socialism, it's capitalism.

And if medicine is for profit, and war, and the news, and the penal system, my question is: what's wrong with firemen? Why don't they charge? They must be commies. Oh my God! That explains the red trucks!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Go Chi-Town, GO!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2009
10:28 AM

CONTACT: Farm Sanctuary
Tricia Barry, 607-583-2225 ext. 233, tricia@farmsanctuary.org
Farm Sanctuary Applauds City of Chicago for Passing Nation’s First Ever Green Food Resolution
America’s “Second City” Beats New York to the Punch to Become First City to Pass Healthy Food and Climate Legislation
Historic Passage Marks First Victory in Leading Farm Animal Protection Organization’s Campaign to Introduce Ecologically Sustainable Food Resolutions in Cities Nationwide

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. - July 23 - Farm Sanctuary, the nation's leading farm animal protection organization, today thanked the City of Chicago for passing the nation's first ever Green Food Resolution, urging that sustainable plant-based food be made readily available to all the city's residents, and signaling a milestone first victory in Farm Sanctuary's campaign to introduce Green Food Resolutions in cities across the U.S.

The precedent-setting vote took place Tuesday after Alderman Margaret Laurino of the 39th Ward, presented the groundbreaking resolution before the City Council's Committee on Energy, Environmental Protection and Public Utilities. After testimony in favor of the proposal from Liz Mills, the Executive Director of Irving Park Carlson Ministries, a local ministries group that provides food for low-income residents, the committee unanimously voted to pass the resolution.

"We applaud Alderman Laurino and the City of Chicago for being the first city in the nation to address head on the impact our food choices have on the numerous health and environmental problems plaguing our nation," said Gene Baur, president and co-founder of Farm Sanctuary. "By promoting access to healthy, plant-based food, Chicago has proven they are second to none in protecting the health of their citizens, the environment and the billions of animals raised for food in deplorable conditions on factory farms each year."

In light of increased public interest in eating more local and sustainable plant-based foods, Farm Sanctuary has launched a campaign to introduce similar Green Food Resolutions in cities throughout the U.S. Through Farm Sanctuary's Advocacy Campaign Team (ACT), advocates are reaching out to their local city governments to introduce resolutions similar to the one passed in Chicago, and seeking wide support for the expansion of farmers markets, community supported agriculture (CSA) programs, community gardens and other venues that provide healthful plant-based foods.

On June 30, New York City Council Member Bill de Blasio introduced a similar groundbreaking resolution for New York City calling for a citywide FoodprintNYC initiative to reduce the city's climate foodprint, which is a more significant contributor to greenhouse gas emissions than all transportation systems combined, and create greater access to local, fresh, healthy plant-based food, especially in low-income communities, as well as city-run institutions. So far, 11 City Council members have signed on as co-sponsors.

Earlier this year, President Obama showed support of local gardens to promote healthy food by announcing the establishment of an edible garden on the South Lawn of the White House. In addition, the new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Tom Vilsack announced his intention to create community gardens at every USDA facility around the world, starting with the "People's Garden," located on the grounds of the USDA.


Farm Sanctuary is the nation's leading farm animal protection organization. Since incorporating in 1986, Farm Sanctuary has worked to expose and stop cruel practices of the "food animal" industry through research and investigations, legal and institutional reforms, public awareness projects, youth education, and direct rescue and refuge efforts. Farm Sanctuary shelters in Watkins Glen, N.Y., and Orland, Calif., provide lifelong care for hundreds of rescued animals, who have become ambassadors for farm animals everywhere by educating visitors about the realities of factory farming.

Friday, July 24, 2009

Right to Know Case

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 23, 2009
2:56 PM


CONTACT: Earthjustice
Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice, (202) 667-4500, ext 235
Judge Rejects Industry Legal Filings in Toxics Right-To-Know Case
Household cleaner giants violated court procedure, case postponed until October

NEW YORK - July 23 - A New York State Supreme Court judge today rejected legal briefs filed by household cleaning giants Procter & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Church and Dwight and Reckitt-Benckiser in a right-to-know case filed by environmental and public health advocates.

Oral arguments in the case were scheduled to begin today. But during a pre-hearing conference, Justice Richard Braun stated that lawyers for industry had violated court procedure, filing a motion-to-dismiss brief that exceeded the maximum page limit. Justice Braun tossed the brief and rescheduled oral arguments in the case for October 15.

The manufacturing giants are refusing to follow a New York state law requiring them to disclose the chemical ingredients in their products and the health risks they pose. Independent studies show a link between many chemicals commonly found in cleaning products and health effects ranging from nerve damage to hormone disruption. With mounting concern about the potential hazards of chemicals in these products, advocates are defending consumers' right to know and asking companies to follow the law.

Ingredient disclosure requirements are virtually non-existent in the United States. The exception is a long-forgotten New York state law which requires household and commercial cleaner companies selling their products in New York to file semi-annual reports with the state listing the chemicals contained in their products and describing any company research on these chemicals' health and environmental effects.

The first-of-its-kind lawsuit could have national implications and comes as momentum builds nationally and internationally for toxics chemical reform. On the domestic front, advocates are awaiting Congressional re-introduction of the Kid Safe Chemical Act which would force the chemical industry to prove the safety of a chemical before approving it for use in products. And internationally, companies are preparing to comply with similar European regulations (known as REACH) already taking effect.

The nonprofit public interest law firm Earthjustice brought the court case on behalf of a coalition of state and national groups, including Women's Voices for the Earth, Clean New York, Environmental Advocates of New York, New York Public Interest Research Group, Riverkeeper, Sierra Club, and American Lung Association in New York.

See if the manufacturers of your favorite cleaning products have complied with the law

Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America (From the Sentencing Project)

Dear Friend,

A new report released by The Sentencing Project finds a record 140,610 individuals are now serving life sentences in state and federal prisons, 6,807 of whom were juveniles at the time of the crime. In addition, 29% of persons serving a life sentence (41,095) have no possibility of parole, and 1,755 were juveniles at the time of the crime.

No Exit: The Expanding Use of Life Sentences in America represents the first nationwide collection of life sentence data documenting race, ethnicity and gender. The report's findings reveal overwhelming racial and ethnic disparities in the allocation of life sentences: 66% of all persons sentenced to life are non-white, and 77% of juveniles serving life sentences are non-white.

Other findings in the report include:

* In five states - Alabama, California, Massachusetts, Nevada, and New York -at least 1 in 6 prisoners is serving a life sentence.
* Five states - California, Florida, Louisiana, Michigan, and Pennsylvania - each have more than 3,000 people serving life without parole. Pennsylvania leads the nation with 345 juveniles serving sentences of life without parole.
* In six states - Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, and South Dakota - and the federal government, all life sentences are imposed without the possibility of parole.
* The dramatic growth in life sentences is not primarily a result of higher crime rates, but of policy changes that have imposed harsher punishments and restricted parole consideration.

The authors of the report, Ashley Nellis, Ph.D., research analyst and Ryan S. King, policy analyst of The Sentencing Project, state that persons serving life sentences "include those who present a serious threat to public safety, but also include those for whom the length of sentence is questionable." One such case documented is that of Ali Foroutan, currently serving a sentence of 25 years to life for possession of 0.03 grams of methamphetamine under California's "three strikes" law.

The Sentencing Project calls for the elimination of sentences of life without parole, and restoring discretion to parole boards to determine suitability for release. The report also recommends that individuals serving parole-eligible life sentences be properly prepared for reentry back into the community.

-The Sentencing Project

For the NYTimes article on the report read here. Some highlights include:

Two-thirds of prisoners serving life sentences are Latino or black, the report found. In New York State, for example, 16.3 percent of prisoners serving life terms are white.

California’s prison system, the nation’s largest with 170,000 inmates, also had the highest number of prisoners with life sentences, 34,164, or triple the number in 1992, the report found.
In four other states — Alabama, Massachusetts, Nevada and New York — at least one in six prisoners are serving life terms, according to the report.

Seven prison systems — Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Pennsylvania, South Dakota and the federal penitentiary system — do not offer the possibility of parole to prisoners serving life terms.
That policy also extends to juveniles in Illinois, Louisiana and Pennsylvania. A total of 6,807 juveniles were serving life terms in 2008, 1,755 without the possibility of parole. California again led the nation in the number of juveniles serving life terms, with 2,623.
“The expansion of life sentences suggests that we’re rapidly losing faith in the rehabilitation model,” said Ashley Nellis, the report’s main author.
Despite all of this information about the horrors of the death penalty, Senator Jeff Sessions decided to dishonor Matthew Shepherd's life and death by tacking on an amendment to the Matthew Shepherd Hate Crimes Prevention Act that could make some perpetrators of hate crimes punishable by death. The ACLU has come out in opposition to the proposed amendment. (Read their statement here)
Read the amendment here.

(Racewire article on it here
and Washington Blade article on it here.)

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Support Leonard Peltier! And Navajo Nation Victory

Call to action from Racewire:
Leonard Peltier, a member of the American Indian Movement, was wrongfully convicted in 1977 of killing two FBI agents in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. He is an artist, poet, writer, Nobel Peace Prize nominee, and activist. After serving more than 30 years in jail, he will go before the U.S. Parole Board on Tuesday, July 28, 2009.

Leonard is now more than 60 years old and is struggling with various medical issues that clearly indicate he does not pose any threat to society. Releasing him is not just a humanitarian issue, it’s true justice.

You can show your support for Leonard’s parole by signing the parole petition here.

Find out more about Leonard Peltier and other actions in support of his parole here.

Also, Commondreams reports that historic legislation took place this week when the Navajo Nation Council voted to create the Navajo Green Economy Commission:

Reportedly the first green jobs bill among the First Nations, the Navajo Nation Green Economy Commission will create the infrastructure to qualify for federal money already earmarked for green job development, and focus on small-scale, community developments for a more sustainable and green economy.

The vote on Tuesday took place after a remarkable 14 month green march by green jobs advocates, after the original bill was tabled last spring. According to the Navajo Green Jobs Coaltion, supporters from across the reservation gathered in front of the Navajo Nation Education Building and peacefully marched a quarter of a mile in green "Green Jobs" shirts to the Navajo Nation Council Chambers in Window Rock, AZ. Supporters greeted Council Delegates while filling up the front row seats of the council chambers. Multi-generational supporters sat in to encourage and ensure that their community representatives pass the legislation.

With a reservation unemployment rate at 44 percent, and the median family income at $11,885, the green jobs initiative couldn't have come at a more timely moment.

"A green economy is not a new concept to Navajo. There are many green business opportunities that fit perfectly with our culture. We must once again hearken to such processes to truly build our own economy that puts high value on our tradition - old and modern economic pursuits. In this way, we will build a vibrant economy for the future generations while honoring our great ancestors. Today's decision is a critical first step towards making this dream a reality," said Tony Skrelunas, the former Executive Director of the Navajo Nation's Division of Economic Development and a member of the Coalition.

"The passing of this legislation is monumental because it is a catalyst for economic development on the Navajo Nation with Navajo traditional values & community at it's core," says David Johns of the Dine' Haatali Association Vice-President (Navajo Medicine Men Association).

Read the full article here. Read more about Navajo Green Jobs here.

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

CEPR Statement on the Increase of the Minimum Wage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 20, 2009
4:09 PM
CONTACT: Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR)
Alan Barber, (202) 293-5380 x 115


CEPR Statement on the Increase of the Minimum Wage
WASHINGTON - July 20 - Congress did not foresee the current economic crisis when it scheduled three annual minimum wage increases starting in 2007. But for struggling working-class families and the economy as a whole, the increase could not come at a better time.

When the federal minimum wage rises by 70 cents to $7.25 an hour on July 24th, it will raise the pay of the lowest-paid workers and boost the economy. The economic boost comes because workers who benefit from the increase will spend it in their local communities. According to an estimate by the Economic Policy Institute, the modest 70-cent increase will generate $5.5 billion in consumer spending over the next year - providing a boost to the economy without any increase in government spending.

Moreover, because they're more likely to be struggling to make ends meet, low-wage workers are even more likely to spend an increase in their pay than better-paid workers, making the minimum wage increase a fairly efficient form of economic stimulus.

When President Franklin Roosevelt proposed the first federal minimum wage law in 1937, he noted that "one-third of the population" were "ill-nourished, ill-clad, and ill-housed" and argued that America should be able insure to "all our able-bodied working men and women a fair day's pay for a fair day's work."

More than 70 years later, the federal minimum wage and regular increases in it, serve the same basic values of economic fairness and decency. Nearly all of the benefits of the current minimum wage increase will go to working-class families, typically headed by workers with high school degrees and some post-secondary education or training, but no college degree. Most of these families live above the stingy federal poverty line-but they don't live very far above it, and they struggle on a daily basis to meet mortgage or rent payments, put food on the table, gas in their cars, and pay for child care and doctor's visits.

The minimum wage increase has these broad benefits because it helps both the more than 2.2 million workers currently earning it and a significant portion of the roughly 7.8 million workers with wages just above it. This happens in part because businesses often are concerned to insure that more senior workers earn at least a $1 or more above just-hired workers who are paid the minimum.

Another historical continuity is the role that the minimum wage has played in ensuring that women and young people are paid fairly. Before the federal minimum wage was enacted, several states had minimum wage protections that applied only to women and young people (including, at that time, children). In 1923 and 1936, the Supreme Court struck down state laws of this sort, but then reversed course in 1937-the so-called "switch in time that saved nine" because FDR had threatened to add members to the Court if it continued to strike down New Deal legislation-to uphold Washington State's law.

The minimum wage remains an essential labor market protection for women and younger workers. Despite progress in the latter half of the 20th century, full-time working women are still paid about 80 cents for every dollar a full-time working man is paid. More than half of all minimum wage workers are adult women; if teenage girls are included, then women make up fully two-thirds of all minimum wage workers. As a result, even though they apply to both men and women, increases in the minimum wage help to reduce the gender wage gap.

While significant, this month's increase in the minimum wage will still leave a full-time worker receiving it with income far below what they need to make ends meet. Of course, what it takes to "make ends meet" is subject to much debate among experts, but regular Americans have a more definite opinion. Surveys conducted by Gallup over the last several decades have asked people to name the minimum amount of money that a family of four would need to "get along in your local community." For much of the 1950s and 1960s, the typical response to this question was around $32,000 in today's dollars. In 1969, a woman working in a minimum-wage job and supporting two children earned an amount not far below this basic "get-along" standard (adjusted for family size).

Today, such a worker would be nowhere near it. In 2007, the "get-along" amount was $45,000. Even after this week's increase, a minimum wage worker will still earn less than $15,000 a year. Moreover, most will have no health insurance, no retirement plan, no paid vacation, or even sick days.

The increase in the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour is an important, albeit very modest step on a path that leads to a fair and more inclusive economy for all. Along the way, it will increase the pay and consumption spending of the most cash-strapped working families in the United States, giving the economy a small but much needed boost.

Congress was prescient in passing a minimum wage increase that would go into effect in the midst of a recession and financial muddle, when the economy needed it most. But we cannot count on this always happening. The service and clerical workers, who together make up more than 80 percent of minimum wage workers, should not have to wait for an act of Congress to get a raise. Indexing the minimum wage to half the average hourly pay of production and nonsupervisory employees will allow the minimum wage to rise in line with the pay of other workers. At the same time, it will enable the minimum wage to function as an automatic economic stabilizer, putting a floor under consumption and giving a much-needed shot to the economy.

The following experts are available for comment:

Eileen Appelbaum: CEPR Advisory Board Member
Dean Baker: Co-Director, CEPR
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The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) was established in 1999 to promote democratic debate on the most important economic and social issues that affect people's lives. In order for citizens to effectively exercise their voices in a democracy, they should be informed about the problems and choices that they face. CEPR is committed to presenting issues in an accurate and understandable manner, so that the public is better prepared to choose among the various policy options.

Monday, July 20, 2009

Anti-Homelessness in Our Cities

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP) and the National Coalition for the Homeless (NCH) released a report last week, Homes Not Handcuffs, tracking the criminalization of homelessness as a growing trend across the country. The report focuses on specific city measures from 2007 and 2008 that have targeted homeless persons, such as laws that make it illegal to sleep, eat, or sit in public spaces. The report includes information about 273 cities.

Los Angeless is ranked the country's meanest city (for a full article on information about LA read this article from Reuters). Some examples of why are:
"L.A.'s so-called Safer City Initiative was singled out in the groups' report as the most egregious example of policies and practices nationwide that essentially punish people for failing to have a roof over their heads.

Others include making it illegal to sleep, sit or store personal belongings on sidewalks and other public spaces; prohibitions against panhandling or begging; and selective enforcement of petty offenses like jaywalking and loitering."

Across the board, though, according to their survey:

• 33% prohibit “camping” in particular public places in the city and 17% have citywide prohibitions on “camping.”
• 30% prohibit sitting/lying in certain public places.
• 47% prohibit loitering in particular public areas and 19% prohibit loitering citywide.
• 47% prohibit begging in particular public places; 49% prohibit aggressive panhandling and 23% have citywide prohibitions on begging.
The trend of criminalizing homelessness continues to grow. Based on information gathered about the 224 cities that were included in our prohibited conduct charts in both our 2006 report and this report:

• There has been a 7% increase in laws prohibiting “camping” in particular public places.
• There has been an 11% increase in laws prohibiting loitering in particular public places.
• There has been a 6% increase in laws prohibiting begging in particular public places and a 5% increase in laws prohibiting aggressive panhandling.

The resulting legal penalties compound other barriers, say the report's authors, since a criminal record makes it even harder for a homeless person to reemerge from destitution. As more formerly working- and middle-class families spiral toward homelessness, the irony of these “quality of life” ordinances grows starker.

But the criminalization of the homeless, who happen to be disproportionately people of color, isn't just an unfortunate sign of the times.

For a more detailed report from Racewire read here.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Obama/Obama administration support of Bush programs - Will this madness really continue?

Obama apparently supports and is continuing Bush policies of targeted assassinations, wiretapping, torture, and military tribunals.

AWESOME.

The cool thing though, is:
Your mobile device could be your most effective weapon against police brutality. The NAACP’s “rapid response” system, unveiled at the group’s annual convention this week, retools the Copwatch concept for the Digital Age.

Through your mobile device, you can upload images and video footage of police misconduct incidents, enabling witnesses to broadcast local news about abusive cops to the NAACP’s central database and information network. Some of the documentation could be aired instantly to raise awareness and mobilize the public. The system also allows witnesses to feed background information to the organization, which could inform investigations into patterns of civil rights violations.

Announcing the launch of the program, NAACP President Benjamin Jealous said:

Research has shown that there are many barriers to reporting incidents of police misconduct, including intimidation at police departments and a lack of trust in the integrity of the system, among other reasons. This breakdown leads to an absence of public safety and a deterioration of the quality of life in many communities of color. But public safety is a civil and a human right; and so we want a more accurate count of these incidents .

Rapid Response builds on more ad-hoc forms of media activism. Earlier this year, the spontaneous cell phone video of the Oscar Grant shooting sparked national outrage and a grassroots movement. In addition to YouTube agitation, more comprehensive multimedia initiatives could take online organizing to a new level.

The Tactical Technology Collective presents some case studies of projects that fuse activism with interactive web tools. New media has enabled live tracking of violence in Kenya and the Google mapping of toxic clean-up sites. The image above comes from a mapping project documenting clashes between police and protesters in Brighton.

Powerful institutions have long wielded technology as a force of repression. Activism in the Information Age is generating new ways to bear witness to injustice, and maybe even stop it.

(From Racewire)

Let's resist!

Thursday, July 16, 2009

Mistreating Our Soldiers/Vets

There has been increasing coverage of our collective failure to provide for soldier and veteran needs, physical and psychological. As Obama steps up the war in Afghanistan and begins one in Pakistan, it also appears to some (or at least this article in Commondreams) that he is adopting or continuing a colonialist strategy in Iraq. It baffles my mind that as our leaders repeatedly commit soldier-power to more and more troubled regions of the world that don't want us there, they don't think it necessary to also provide for the impact of those violent situations in any way. One major oversight is how soldiers and veterans are treated. How are we surprised about the atrocities at Bagram, at Abu-Ghraib, etc etc etc on and on and on (in all armies, everywhere!) when young, un- or under-trained and un- or under-equipped men and women are put in frightening situations where they are taught to dehumanize the enemy, shoot anything that moves, and they see their friends and comrades dying around them. It is so disgraceful and honestly, every time I read one of these articles I just want to cry.

Recently, there are reports of US soldiers being exposed to extremely dangerous chemicals (remember Erin Brokovich? Yep, that same thing) in Iraq and then being told that their health complaints are the normal reactions of their bodies to being in the deserts. The AP reported (in this article I found on Commondreams) on ill, dying, and dead soldiers that were protecting workers in one specific region of the desert:

The area, as it turned out, was contaminated with hexavalent chromium, a potent, sometimes deadly chemical linked to cancer and other devastating diseases. No one disputes that, but that's where the agreement ends. Among the issues now rippling from the courthouse to Capitol Hill are whether the chemical made people sick, when KBR knew it was there and how the company responded.

The case has raised broader questions about private contractors and health risks in war zones, says Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., who plans hearings on the matter: "How should we treat exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals as a threat to our soldiers? How seriously should that threat be taken? What is the role of private contractors? What about the potential conflict between their profit motives and taking all steps necessary to protect our soldiers?"

Dozens of National Guard veterans have sued KBR and two subsidiaries, accusing them of minimizing and concealing the chemical's dangers, then downplaying nosebleeds and breathing problems as nothing more than sand allergies or a reaction to desert air.


The AP also reported yesterday that the violent actions of GIs when they get home is tied to experiences in combat. NO WAY.. really?? These young men and women are not getting the help they need, indeed they are sometimes discouraged from seeking psychological treatment, and then SHOCKER they can't readjust to society. WHY ARE WE SURPRISED? Why, the bigger question remains, are we not providing for them? How are these soldiers serving life sentences for committing murder upon their return, when the government goes unpunished?

The NYTimes published a really good piece a couple of weeks ago reporting on the shocking depth of these inadequacies. Worth reading.

Sorry for ranting. Peace.

Israeli Soldiers Come Clean

An article efrom Commondreams has more information, but this letter from Jewish Voices for Peace sums it up too:

The Israeli group Breaking the Silence has just released a collection of testimonies (1) by Israeli soldiers that took part in the Gaza attack last December and January.
This is not the first report documenting the horrors inflicted on the civilian population in Gaza. Less than two weeks ago, for example, Amnesty International produced a report documenting Israel's use of battlefield weapons against the civilian population trapped in Gaza. (2)
Today Israeli soldiers corroborate charges that the military repeatedly violated international law.
You know what? You feel like a child playing around with a magnifying glass, burning up ants. Really. A 20-year-old kid should not be doing such things to people.

The soldiers testify about their use of human shields (3), their use of phosphorus over civilian populations, and about the sheer magnitude of the destruction.
Why fire phosphorus? Because it's fun. Cool.

It looked awful, like in those World War II films where nothing remained. A totally destroyed city.

The soldiers also relate efforts of the military rabbinate unit to make the attack a holy war between "the sons of darkness" and "the sons of light."

[They told us] No pity, God protects you, everything you do is sanctified.

The list goes on.

Now we have heard from both Gazans and Israeli soldiers, all telling a similar story.
Generous US aid - American tax dollars - made this possible. American-made weapons were used to attack Gazan civilians, productive factories, schools and administrative buildings.
The British government has canceled a number of weapons contracts with Israel.
Isn't it time for members of the U.S. Congress to pay attention? Demand an investigation now into the use of US tax monies to fund war crimes in Gaza.

Sydney Levy
Jewish Voice for Peace

(1) Breaking the Silence Testimonies
http://www.shovrimshtika.org/news_item_e.asp?id=30
(2) Amnesty International Gaza report
http://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/report/impunity-war-crimes-gaza-southern-israel-recipe-further-civilian-suffering-20090702
(3) Ha'aretz: Israeli soldier: "We used Gazans as human shields."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1100300.html
Original article removed from Ha'aretz, but available in full here: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/14/18607903.php )
(4) BBC Breaking the Silence on Gaza Abuses
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8151336.stm

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Hunger and Farming

Last week, Anuradha Mittal, in a Commondreams article asked the question: What will the G8 Summit do, exactly, about hunger? She points out:
With hunger framed as a crisis of demand and supply, the proposed solutions have come to primarily focus on boosting agricultural production through technological solutions like genetic engineering (GE) and chemical inputs or/and on removing supply-side constraints to ensure access to food through liberalization of agricultural trade. This framework was used, for instance, to explain the 2008 food crisis and has permeated international efforts geared towards challenging hunger without questioning the policies promoted by the same donor countries and the multilateral institutions they control, over the last three-four decades that undermined food security in the developing countries in the first place. Their faulty analysis yields an incomplete understanding of the causes of world hunger and hence, broken solutions...
Assertion that free trade will help solve hunger is however based on amnesia. Liberalization of agricultural markets has yet to deliver on the promised or expected gains in growth and stability in the developing world. In a submission to the Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD) in May 2009, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, pointed to the multilateral trading system as being "heavily skewed in favor of a small group of countries, and in urgent need of reform." (TWN, 2009) He was referring to the heavily subsidized agriculture in the rich countries which has helped them secure markets by flooding developing countries with cheap farm imports, making subsistence farming uncompetitive and financially unstable.


Meanwhile, a USA Today article from yesterday talks about young people taking responsibly food production into their own hands and buying small plots of land to start small organic farms. Not exactly the fast lane to ending world hunger, but an interesting step towards responsible consumption and production.

Obama is asserting that accessible education is the primary way to fight social ills, with his proposed education plan that would help displaced workers go to college. His goal of spending $12 million to boost the U.S. network of community colleges, combined with new loan legislation, should help provide training for workers who are out of jobs and for young people entering a difficult job market, Obama says. For the complete article in the NYTimes, read here. I don't want to be cynical but I certainly want more information...

Lastly, I am really concerned about the continued controversy over mountaintop removal in Appalachia. An article in Tricities (which I read on Commondreams) talks about the film "Coal Country" that engages with the negative effects of coal mining in Appalachia. Mari-Lynn Evans, the executive producer of the film, asks the important question:
“Why are these people [in the Appalachian region] the poorest in the United States of America when they are living on land that is the richest in the United States of America? It seems obvious from that alone that there is a problem. ... We’ve got to figure out how Appalachia is going to flourish in a future that does not involve coal.”
This, in my mind, is directly connected to world hunger and poverty. How ironic (or predictable, depending on how you look at it) that some of the geographical areas richest in resources are the most impoverished and hungry? In the U.S. that clearly follows too. I just grew up knowing, accepting, that Appalachia was poor. Never once was I taught to ask why??!? WHY is it so poor when it has so much to offer?

Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Food, Food, and the Environment

Jonathan Owen of the Independent UK recently wrote an article saying that the worsening effects of climate change will lead to a total collapse of "civilization" as we know it. He notes that with the increased number of crises sure to come from climate change, peace will be invariably more elusive.

Ronnie Cummins at Commondreams has me convinced that food production is an essential component to making real change in this article. Organic farming and food production is definitely a priority, but interestingly enough, Cummins argues that a major obstacle to organic farming is companies like Whole Foods Market, who trick consumers into buying their expensive products which are often not organic at all but only "natural" - an evasive term that means nothing at all. Worth checking out.

Also disturbing is the fact that increasing numbers of crops are actually being destroyed in the name of food safety. The SF Chronicle published an article yesterday talking about the hysteria behind E coli scares and other food safety epidemics that are leading to the widespread destruction of crops, ponds, and other natural habitats.

We really need to get our acts together and support responsible consumption, clearly.

Monday, July 13, 2009

A New Take on the Israel-Palestine Situation

In light of a Human Sciences Research Council report confirming the situation in the Occupied Territories as officially an apartheid and increasing tensions in the region, Russell Nieli has an idea. I'm still thinking about the implications but it is refreshing to hear someone with a plan - a new plan - that acknowledges some basic truths about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. I found it here on Tikkun, but apparently it is the second part of a speeech he gave. The full talk can be accessed here. The Tikkun link also gives his thought process and basic premises he was working with in formulating this plan - worth checking out. I wonder whether Obama would consider such an idea or what his real vision for peace is. Michael Lerner at Tikkun writes about how Obama may be changing the message towards Israel from Bush's blank check, but he's not doing enough. He calls for some basic actions and for Obama to pack a tougher punch. I definitely agree... Obama has a responsibility to push for real change in the region. It feels to me, time and time again, that Israel is cutting off its nose to spite its face - how do these "world powers" not think that allowing basic resources and human rights to all people - giving all people a sense of security, a sense of community - will not be the most basic foundation to peace?!

Anyway here is the Nieli idea:

None of the major proposed solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian problem offers a way out of the continued bitterness, suspicion, violence, and ill-will between the two parties. To achieve a just and lasting settlement, we must find an outside-the-box alternative to the major peace proposals that have been considered so far.

After years of reflection, I have become certain that "two-state condominialism"-a solution involving a rigid political separation of two peoples within a unified, binational, settlement territory-offers the clearest vision of hope for both Palestinians and Jews.

I know there are immense problems and hurdles to be overcome to enable the realization of the condominial arrangement I describe here. But they are far less intractable, in my opinion, than those involved in the realization of a separationist scheme. The peoples, economies, natural resources, and infrastructures have become intimately intertwined in Palestine/Eretz Israel, so powerful irredentist feelings would inevitably emerge on both sides of any rigid territorial divide. A condominial arrangement would also be more easily realized than the increasingly popular "one-state solution," which I consider to be a complete non-starter politically for the Israelis, both now and in the foreseeable future.

The condominial formula I propose here would enable both peoples to realize simultaneously most of their respective national dreams. It is a win-win situation that gives both peoples powerful incentives to cooperate with one another to make the arrangement work.

Two States in a Single, Binational Settlement Community

The two-state condominial arrangement starts out with the creation of a democratic Palestinian state (composed of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem) much like that suggested in other two-state proposals with the boundaries of the Palestinian state roughly determined by the pre-1967 Green Line. The Palestinian state ("Palestine") would have most of the features of a democratic nation-state, but from the outset it would be an ethnically defined state, a state of the Palestinian people, whereby a close parallel was maintained to the definition of Israel as a state of the Jews. As part of the fundamental agreement, all current Israeli Arabs would be required to transfer their citizenship, national identity, and national voting rights-but not their residence-to the new Palestinian state. Israeli Arabs would retain their permanent right to live in Israel and they would also retain their current benefits under the Jewish welfare state (or be adequately compensated for the loss of them by another arrangement, such as a lump sum payment), but they would become citizens of-and permanent voting members of-the Palestinian state, not Israel.

Both Palestinians and Jews under the condominial proposal would be granted the right to settle anywhere within the territory of either state. Together the two states would thus form a single, binational settlement community. Palestinians would have the right to settle anywhere within Israel, just as Jews would have the right to settle anywhere within the territory of the Palestinian state. Regardless of which of the two states they live in, all Palestinians would be citizens of the Palestinian state, and all Jews would be citizens of Israel.

The states themselves, Israel and Palestine, would have the right-and, indeed, the moral obligation-to set up a dense network of support facilities to care for the economic, cultural, religious, and welfare needs of any citizens living in the territory of the neighboring state. Each state, in other words, would have extensive extra-territorial rights and obligations vis-à-vis its citizens in the neighboring state. The arrangement would be something like that which the U.S. government routinely maintains toward many of its government employees and other citizens living in foreign countries with an extensive American military and diplomatic presence (e.g. West Germany during the Cold War). The Palestinian state would have the obligation to care for its citizen population living in Israel, just as the Jewish state would have the obligation to do the same for Israeli citizens living in the Palestinian state. In any event, Palestinians moving into Israel and Jews living within the Palestinian state would have no claim to any of the welfare and other benefits provided by the territorial state wherein they reside.

As part of the fundamental agreement, the Palestinian state would be required to acknowledge the special Jewish character of the state of Israel, and Israel would be required to acknowledge the special Palestinian-Arab identity of the state of Palestine, with both states acknowledging the right of all Palestinians and all Israelis to reside anywhere within the joint settlement community formed by the combined territories of the two states.

This is just a rough sketch of what a condominial arrangement would entail. In the pages that follow, I lay out in more detail how such a solution could work, and address practical issues such as the settlement community's taxation structure and the sharing of water resources.

The Story Behind the Condominial Proposal

As a third-generation Italian American raised in the suburbs of New York City among many Jewish classmates, neighbors, and friends, I was deeply moved from an early age by what some call the "Jewish narrative"-like the Leon Uris/Otto Preminger version of Exodus. As a graduate student in Princeton's Politics Department in the 1970s, I began extensive readings about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Those readings were almost entirely in Jewish sources, but they nevertheless made me more understanding of, and more sympathetic toward, the Palestinian Arab viewpoint. This situation left me internally divided-torn between two seemingly irreconcilable narratives, each of which I knew to be of central importance to the peoples involved, both of whom have experienced more than their share of historical suffering and travail.

The result of my inner ferment was a series of proposals I made in print in the early 1990s that I originally called "two-state binationalism," but which I am now calling "two-state condominialism," a term which better captures their overall meaning and structure.

I encourage readers who finish this article to go to the Tikkun website and read my full talk to get a sense of the fatal weaknesses from which, in my view, the major competing peace proposals variously suffer.

Moving Beyond the Pessimism of Realpolitik

At its most basic, the Palestinian-Israeli dilemma can be stated very simply with two points:

1) As a final or end-game outcome, no solution to the conflict over historical Palestine will ever be acceptable to the Arab side if that solution denies to the Palestinians (especially to those who have suffered so long in Gaza and the refugee camps of the frontline states) a right of return to the land that is now Israel-a land which, in their view, was callously and unjustly taken from them by the convergent activities of British imperialists, Jewish settler-colonialists, reactionary Arab leaders and collaborators, and an American-supported Zionist army.

2) Within present political structures and under present conditions of politics and history, no Israeli government in its right mind would ever allow any sizable number of Zionist-hating Palestinians to re-enter Israel and become citizens of a democratic Jewish state.

This is the stark reality of the current situation. Thus stated, one can see why so many observers, and not just those on the fringes of the Kahanist right, believe the situation to be unsolvable. Several years ago, I was discussing this issue with Professor Robert Gilpin, who at the time was the chief international relations theorist in Princeton's Politics Department. After surveying with skepticism some of the more common proposals for peace in the Mideast, Bob turned to me and said, "You know, Russ, there just may not be a peaceful, long-term solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict." Bob's comment at the time struck me as terribly deflating and unduly pessimistic, but also, I must say, as possibly realistic given the track record of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks over the years.

Professor Gilpin is usually identified with the school of international relations associated with the term Realpolitik-a school which stresses the dominant role in the relations between nation-states of military power, economic interests, self-promoting and self-aggrandizing behavior, and national security concerns. Those in this school see themselves as hard-headed "realists" who seek to view the world as it is, not the way they might like it to be, or the way wishful thinking might conceive it to be. Such "realists" typically view their opponents as well-meaning but fuzzy-headed "liberals" or "idealists" ignorant of how the real world works.

Upon critical examination, it's true that the major proposed solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian problem appear doomed to failure. Saying this, however, does not mean that nothing will work. My alternative proposal requires a bit of creative thinking, but I have become ever more convinced that only a creative outside-the-box solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict offers any hope of long-range success.


Also, to read Michelle Chen at Racewire on the HSRC report on apartheid from June 11 click here.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Take Action for Global Labor

From LabourStart

JUST ANOTHER COG IN THE MACHINE

"A union can make a big difference to people's perceptions of a job," says John Wood of the Trades Union Congress in Britain. And he's made this clever little video which has got to be seen by anyone who needs a union in their workplace but doesn't yet know that:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLGoKqPAhSk

Spread the word - forward this message.

INDONESIA: NESTLE WORKERS NEED YOUR SUPPORT

Since 2007, the union at the Nescafé factory in Panjang has been struggling to negotiate two basic improvements to their contract. Nestlé refuses and has attempted to undermine the union's legitimacy by intimidating members and leaders, attempting to establish a rival organization and pressuring workers to join it. For nearly two years workers have resisted. You can support then by sending a message to Nestlé:

http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/campaigns/show_campaign.cgi?c=410

INDONESIA: DONATIONS NEEDED FOR LOCKED-OUT TOSHIBA WORKERS

The International Metalworkers' Federation is asking for donations in support of struggling Toshiba Indonesia union members who have been locked out of the plant with no wages or healthcare benefits since April. More than 700 workers went on strike after the company refused to recognize the collective labour agreement signed both by the union and management and fired 15 elected union leaders. For more details and to make your donation, please go here:

http://www.imfmetal.org/index.cfm?c=20041&l=2

PAKISTAN: VICTORY AT UNILEVER

A settlement between the IUF and Unilever has secured the creation of new permanent positions for all the union-supported Action Committee members at the company's factory in Rahim Yar Khan:

http://www.iuf.org/cgi-bin/dbman/db.cgi?db=default&uid=default&ID=6016&view_records=1&ww=1&en=1

COLLECTIVE BARGAINING FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY

This week's Book of the Week is a tremendous resource for unions facing health and safety issues. To learn more and order your copies, go here:

http://www.labourstart.org/bookshop/?p=71

Friday, July 10, 2009

Fun Events in Phillyyyy via D. Stein

AndalaLucha

Friday July 10: Defenestrator Dance Party

Please come and help us celebrate our 45th issue of printing news of rebellion and struggle by dancing your ass off at the Ninja House.

Ninja House, 4707 Hazel Ave. in West Phila

10pm till ??

with DJs Andalalucha, DJ Alex and Sweet and Aggro

$5 -$2500 at the door.

we'll bring the bar.

Saturday July 11th: Prometheus Dance Party at Cha-Cha Razzi
Here's the facebook event invite
and become a fan of Prometheus Radio Project on facebook

amc dance party flyer

Dance your liver out

Saturday, July 11, 2009
10:00pm- 2:00am

Cha-Cha’ Razzi
1918 Bancroft Street (Off Mifflin BTW 16th & 17th in South Philly) View map
DJs:
Andalalucha (Philly/NYC)
Radiorios (NYC)
Precolumbian DJ (Philly)
In Da Nile(DC)

DANCEHALL//BAILE//FUNK// BHANGRA//DISCO//HIP HOP
MIDNIGHT RAFFLE with THESE PRIZES:
*Marvelous Records gift certificate
*Mill Creek Farm T-Shirt
*Emma Luv dresses
*Burt's Bees gift basket
*Prometheus swag bag
AND MORE TBA

Beers from PHILADELPHIA BREWING COMPANY

All proceeds support the Prometheus Radio Project, West Philly's own Media Robin Hood, "freeing the airwaves from corporate control

So we can go to the Allied Media Conference and do a radio electronics workshop and also a two day live broadcast!"


CONSPIRING FOR CHANGE: the politics of protest in the post 9-11 world
A benefit for the RNC8 and the SF8

Friday July 10th at 6:30 p.m.
@ the Rotunda, 4014 Walnut St.
$8 - $800,000 suggested donation, no one turned away

Join us for an evening of inspiration and resistance! The War on Terror has entangled long histories of state violence with new forms of repression. From yesterday’s COINTELPRO to today’s PATRIOT ACT, the government has attempted to criminalize U.S. political movements in the courts, in the media, and on the streets. This event brings together longtime activists locally and from around the country to discuss the use of conspiracy and terrorism charges against contemporary organizers, to connect legacies of social justice struggles, and to chart paths of opposition.

There will also be artwork by local Puerto Rican artists Danny Torres and Ismael Avila and the first Philadelphia showing of the exhibit Voices Outside: Artists Against the Prison Industrial Complex, a portfolio created by artists in the Justseed’s Artist Cooperative.


THE CASES
The San Francisco 8 are the eight Black community activists – Black Panthers and others – who were arrested January 23, 2007, in California, New York, and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer. Similar charges were thrown out thirty-five years ago after it was revealed that police used torture to extract confessions when some of these same men were arrested in New Orleans in 1973. The original charges against them came out of COINTELPRO, and the reopening of the case was made possible by the PATRIOT act. After more than two years, preliminary hearings in the case begin in July 2009. For more info check out www.freethesf8.org

The RNC8 are the eight activists facing conspiracy and terrorism charges for their work organizing against the 2008 Republican National Convention in Saint Paul, Minnesota. They were arrested before the convention even began, and charged with “conspiracy to riot in furtherance of terrorism,” making them the first people ever charged under Minnesota's version of the PATRIOT act. They are not being charged with actually doing anything, but face the possibility of several years in prison for publicly organizing against the RNC. For more info check out www.rnc8.org

This event is being put on by the Philadelphia RNC8 support committee, and is also sponsored by the National Boricua Human Rights Network, the Philadelphia National Lawyers Guild and the Defenestrator.

For more information contact NErnc8support@riseup.net

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Gotta Talk About Healthcare

I know, I know - two posts in one day?! All my readers out there (chuckle, chuckle, I think I have three readers) I'm just whirling with how much there is to talk about right now in our crazy effed up world.

Healthcare and the proposed reforms in Congress and being put forth by the Obama administration is a huge topic that has direct (and immediate!) consequences for all of us, but of course is so convoluted sometimes it's hard to understand what's going on (at least for me). I found this article in Tikkun, a great leftist Jewish publication, which basically explains the difference between single-payer and public options for the new healthcare program, and makes a convincing argument for the single-payer plan. Even if you disagree, it's full of really important explanatory stuff so check it out.

Also from Tikkun -- I read this Op/Ed by Michael Lerner arguing basically for the abolition of the system as it exists today and a complete overhaul. My father told me that it's not realistic, we have to work with what we have and we can't just change it overnight --- I don't buy it. I love the idea of the government subsidizing medical education (med school, nursing school, chiropractic school) and then doctors etc being paid less. It seems to me that the quality of care WOULD go up, rather just the quantity, and that it would be a step towards a more equal society in any case. I also appreciate Lerner holding us all accountable for fighting for this change, and debunking the Obama-does-no-wrong mania that seems to have spread over our country. Anyway, the Op/Ed is long but worth reading, for sure.

Racewire also reported yesterday on the "Uncharitable compromises" that the emerging health plan is making:
The hospital lobby has generously agreed to more than $150 billion in “cost savings” to help lower the cost of the health care overhaul—a buy-in from industry that, like the overtures of Wal-Mart and Big Pharma, could make the compromise legislation much easier for interested parties to swallow.

But a chunk of the savings will come at the expense of charity care—free services that hospitals provide to people too poor to afford treatment otherwise.

Bloomberg News reports:

"The deal also calls for a phasing in of $50 billion in cuts to payments the hospitals get for treating a large number of uninsured patients, starting in 2015, according to the lobbyist. The White House, without giving precise figures, said those reductions would be “more than offset” by the increasing number of people who will be insured after the overhaul."
Charity care folds into the tattered safety net serving marginal, underserved and uninsured populations, in which people of color are dramatically overrepresented. Some states have special mandates for hospitals to provide charity care, but studies show that the implementation of these policies has been spotty.

As they work to slash charity care payments, hospitals are also lobbying against tighter standards for providing these services, opposing a proposal to make them commit a certain amount to charity care as a condition of tax-exempt status.

Jonathan Cohn at TNR wonders, “Insofar as the savings come from reduced payments for charity care--payments that now flow through Medicaid--is this a case in which suburban and speciality hospitals actually do just fine but charity hospitals take a hit?”


For the complete Racewire article read here.

WHAT A MESS. That's the only thing I know for sure. I can't help but be pessimistic that our government will once again find a way to make this a giant failure that doesn't lead to real change or help the people who need it most - this seems to be a trend in Obama policies thus far. I'm also concerned that the American people seem so uninformed about what's going on... WE are the people who will this reform will impact. Congress already has GREAT coverage. So why are they making these decisions again?

A Call for Action on E-Verify from Julianne Hing at Racewire

Call Your Senator Today: We Deserve More Than Flawed, Unjust E-verify
Time to pick up the phone, folks. Senator Jeff Session’s amendment to the Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Act of 2010 (H.R. 2892) would make E-Verify mandatory for all federal contractors is up for a vote today. If implemented, the notoriously error-ridden system would affect 4 million people in this country.

Find your senators’ information by clicking here. Call right now and let your senators know that employer sanctions in the form of E-Verify don’t protect workers from exploitation or even accurately identify those without papers.

From the National Immigration Law Center:

The amendment would:

• Make the notoriously flawed E-verify program permanent.
• Require all federal contractors and subcontractors to use the program to verify all employees including existing employees.
• Harm U.S. workers, citizens and non-citizens alike, who are falsely denied work.

2. Tell them:
• You OPPOSE the Sessions amendment (#1371) to make E-Verify permanent and mandatory for federal contractors.
• You SUPPORT having a real debate about immigration issues and the only way for that to happen is by starting comprehensive immigration reform this year.


For more information about the problems with E-Verify, see http://www.nilc.org/immsemplymnt/ircaempverif/e-verify-facts-2009-01-29.pdf.

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

The Yes Men Withdraw Film from Israeli Film Festival

Andy Bichlbaum & Mike Bonanno withdrew their celebrated new film from an Israeli film festival in protest of Israeli policies. Their letter was published On Common Dreams here. More info on the film here.

Dear Friends at the Jerusalem Film Festival,

We regret to say that we have taken the hard decision to withdraw our film, “The Yes Men Fix the World,” from the Jerusalem Film Festival in solidarity with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.

This decision does not come easily, as we realize that the festival opposes the policies of the State of Israel, and we have no wish to punish progressives who deplore the state-sponsored violence committed in their name.

This decision does not come easily, as we feel a strong affinity with many people in Israel, sharing with them our Jewish roots, as well as the trauma of the Holocaust, in which both our grandfathers died. Andy lived in Jerusalem for a year long ago, can still get by in Hebrew, and counts several friends there. And Mike has always wanted to connect with the roots of his culture.But despite all our feelings, we cannot abandon our mission as activists. In the 1980s, there was a call from the people of South Africa to artists and others to boycott that regime, and it helped end apartheid there. Today, there is a clear call for a boycott from Palestinian civil society. Obeying it is our only hope, as filmmakers and activists, of helping put pressure on the Israeli government to comply with international law.

It is painful to do this. But it is even more painful to hear Israeli policies described as “fascist” – not just from the ill-informed and the clueless, not just from the usual anti-semitic morons, but from well-informed Jewish activists within Israel. They know what they’re talking about, and it’s painful to think that they could be right.

As we’re sure you know and deplore, the Israeli government has recently authorized the construction of new units in an illegal West Bank outpost – one that is illegal even according to Israeli law. On Monday, nine Palestinians were injured as Israeli authorities demolished their East Jerusalem home. Tuesday, the Israeli navy stopped a ship from delivering medicine, toys, and other humanitarian relief to Gaza, and detained over twenty foreign peace activists, including a Nobel Peace laureate. Meanwhile, a UN commission was in Gaza investigating much worse abuses committed early this year.

Whatever words are applied to such actions, our film mustn’t help lend an aura of normalcy to a state that makes these decisions. For us, that’s the bottom line.

There is certainly another way to do things in Israel/Palestine, and that is what we must fight for, however feeble our means. As for our film, there is another way for it to be seen in Israel… and in Palestine, so that the people most in need of comic relief, who would never have been able to see it at the Jerusalem Film Festival anyhow, will be able to see it too. Within the next few months, we will make this happen.

To those who want to see our film, savlanut and sabir (patience)! And for all the rest of us, a little LESS patience, please.

L’shanah haba’ah beyerushalayim,

Andy and Mike,
The Yes Men
www.theyesmen.org

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Upcoming Events in the Phila Area

Summer 2009 Events from the Brandywine Peace Community

Friday, July 3, Noon — Independence Day eve, join with peace and anti-war activists, anti-violence and gun control advocates, justice seekers, community and earth partners, celebrating our freedom and independence, by making a declaration for justice and peace for today. "And Now, DECLARE PEACE!" Demonstration with speakers, music, and public declaration at Independence Mall, Market Street, between 5th & 6th Streets, followed by bell-tolling vigil to stop the wars and end the violence, handgun to H-Bomb.

Memory, Hope, Nonviolent Action at Lockheed Martin, and Peace...August 6 - 9, 2009, Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima & Nagasaki (August 6 - 9, 1945).

Thursday, August 6, Hiroshima Day —- Lockheed Martin, Mall & Goddard Boulevards, Valley Forge, PA (behind the King of Prussia Mall).
8a.m. - Noon, Vigil for Peace;
Noon - Hiroshima Day Ceremony and Nonviolent Action, including civil disobedience. Those interested in participating in the civil disobedience, call the Brandywine Peace Community by July 25 for preparation and planning information.

Sunday, August 9 — Nagasaki Day, 7:30p.m. Candlelight Peace Dedication in front of SS Peter & Paul Roman Catholic Cathedral, 18th & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, in memory of the Urakami Cathedral, ground zero of the Nagasaki bombing. Co-sponsored by Phila. Catholic Peace Fellowship.

In its 3rd decade...Join Us at the area's longest running on-going gathering for peace and justice, the Brandywine Peace Community Monthly Supper/Program, 4:30PM, 2nd Sunday of the month (except August), University Lutheran Church, 3637 Chestnut Street, Phila., PA (bring main dish, salad, or dessert to share). Programs begin at 5:30PM.

July 12 — Special showing of "The Day After Trinity: J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (1980), the acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film documentary about Oppenheimer, the scientific head of the Manhattan Project and the first steps into the nuclear age.

First Fridays, 7 p.m., at the Peace Center of Delaware County/Springfield Friends Meetinghouse, 1001 Old Sproul Road, Springfield, Delaware County, with light refreshments and after-film discussion. Co-sponsored by the Brandywine Peace Community. For more information or directions, www.delcopeacecenter.org, or call 610.544.1818

Skip the Independence Day blockbuster and spend an evening at the Peace Center of Delaware County with "THE VISITOR".

JULY 3 — "THE VISITOR", 103 minutes, rated PG - 13 for some profanity, Directed by Thomas McCarthy ("The Station Agent" ) and starring Richard Jenkins in his Best Actor Oscar nominate role, and Hiam Abbass.

"THE VISITOR" is a simple drama, both poignant and compellingly subtle, that focuses on a lonely man in late middle age whose life changes when he is forced to face issues relating to identity, immigration, and cross-cultural communication in post-9/11 New York City

(5p.m - Cook-out at the Peace Center of Delaware County, prior to the screening of The Visitor. RSVP by calling Brandywine Peace Community, 610-544-1818.)

As the world remembers the anniversaries of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, August 6 and 9, come to the Peace Center of Delaware County on August 7 to see where and how it all began.

AUGUST 7 — "FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY" (1989), 127 minutes, directed by Roland Joffee (The Killing Fields, The Mission). Starring Paul Newman as General Leslie R. Groves and Dwight Schultz as J.Robert Oppenheimer, with John Cusak, Laura Dern, and Natasshia Richardson. Rated PG -13

"FAT MAN AND LITTLE BOY" dramatically and with precise historical detail tells the story of the Manhattan Project, which developed and built the world's first atomic bombs. In thematic narrative, the film introduces us to the project and people which developed the horror of nuclear weapons, from the inception of the Manhattan Project to the "Trinity" test blast. We are left to imagine at film's end the horror of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings and the world of threatened nuclear annihilation in which we still live.

6pm, large pictorial display from Japan of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings, their after-effects, and the continuing threat posed by nuclear weaponry.

Brandywine Peace Community
P.O. Box 81, Swarthmore, PA 19081
(610) 544-1818
brandywine@juno.com
www.brandywinepeace.com

Monday, July 6, 2009

SF8 - Charges dropped!

"Finally, after years of unified resistance by the brothers and a the building of massive support, California State prosecutors were forced to admit that they have insufficient evidence against the San Francisco 8."

read more here

Friday, July 3, 2009

Amy Goodman: Undo the Coup!

Undo the Coup
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20090630_undo_the_coup/
Posted on Jun 30, 2009

By Amy Goodman

The first coup d’etat in Central America in more than a quarter-century occurred last Sunday in Honduras. Honduran soldiers roused democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya from his bed and flew him into exile in Costa Rica. The coup, led by the Honduran Gen. Romeo Vasquez, has been condemned by the United States, the European Union, the United Nations, the Organization of American States and all of Honduras’ immediate national neighbors. Mass protests have erupted on the streets of Honduras, with reports that elements in the military loyal to Zelaya are rebelling against the coup.

The United States has a long history of domination in the hemisphere. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton can chart a new course, away from the dark days of military dictatorship, repression and murder. Obama indicated such a direction when he spoke in April at the Summit of the Americas: “[A]t times we sought to dictate our terms. But I pledge to you that we seek an equal partnership. There is no senior partner and junior partner in our relations.”

Two who know well the history of dictated U.S. terms are Dr. Juan Almendares, a medical doctor and award-winning human rights activist in Honduras, and the American clergyman Father Roy Bourgeois, a priest who for years has fought to close the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas (SOA) at Fort Benning, Ga. Both men link the coup in Honduras to the SOA.

The SOA, renamed in 2000 the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC), is the U.S. military facility that trains Latin American soldiers. The SOA has trained more than 60,000 soldiers, many of whom have returned home and committed human rights abuses, torture, extrajudicial execution and massacres.

Almendares, targeted by Honduran death squads and the military, has been the victim of that training. He talked to me from Tegucigalpa, the Honduran capital: “Most of this military have been trained by the School of America. ... They have been guardians of the multinational business from the United States or from other countries. ... The army in Honduras has links with very powerful people, very rich, wealthy people who keep the poverty in the country. We are occupied by your country.”

Born in Louisiana, Bourgeois became a Catholic priest in 1972. He worked in Bolivia and was forced out by the (SOA-trained) dictator Gen. Hugo Banzer. The assassination of Archbishop Oscar Romero and the murders of four Catholic churchwomen in El Salvador in 1980 led him to protest where some of the killers were trained: Fort Benning’s SOA. After six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter were murdered in El Salvador in 1989, Bourgeois founded SOA Watch and has built an international movement to close the SOA.

Honduran coup leader Vasquez attended the SOA in 1976 and 1984. Air Force Gen. Luis Javier Prince Suazo, who also participated in the coup, was trained at the SOA in 1996.

Bourgeois’ SOA Watch office is just yards from the Fort Benning gates. He has been frustrated in recent years by increased secrecy at SOA/WHINSEC. He told me: “They are trying to present the school as one of democracy and transparency, but we are not able to get the names of those trained here—for over five years. However, there was a little sign of hope when the U.S. House approved an amendment to the defense authorization bill last week that would force the school to release names and ranks of people who train here.” The amendment still has to make it through the House-Senate conference committee.

Bourgeois speaks with the same urgency that he has for decades. His voice is well known at Fort Benning, where he was first arrested more than 25 years ago when he climbed a tree at night near the barracks of Salvadoran soldiers who were training there at the time.

Bourgeois blasted a recording of the voice of Romero in his last address before he was assassinated. The archbishop was speaking directly to Salvadoran soldiers in his country: “In the name of God, in the name of this suffering people whose cry rises to heaven more loudly each day, I implore you, I beg you, I order you: Stop the repression.”

Almost 30 years later, in a country bordering Romero’s El Salvador, the U.S. has a chance to change course and support the democratic institutions of Honduras. Undo the coup.

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

From the Sentencing Project

Last week, I participated in an historic event convened by the Congressional Black Caucus on the 25th Anniversary of the Sentencing Reform Act.

Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, before a standing-room-only audience of federal judges, public defenders, members of Congress and formerly incarcerated persons, eloquently and forcefully advised Congress to fix the broken system of federal mandatory minimum sentences.

Attorney General Eric Holder addressed the forum and called for reform of federal crack cocaine penalties "this year." He also detailed the priorities of a new Sentencing and Corrections Working Group charged with creating a system that:

* protects the public
* is fair to both victims and defendants
* eliminates unwarranted sentencing disparities
* reduces recidivism, and
* controls the federal prison population.


I don't have to tell you that these are principles The Sentencing Project has been advancing for more than two decades. We applaud the commitment of the Attorney General and the Obama Administration to enact these necessary reforms.

I want you to know that The Sentencing Project will be working to ensure that policymakers have the information and analysis they need about the impact of criminal justice policies, and understand that Americans are counting on them to fix the broken system of justice that has been damaging communities and families for far too long.

We can create criminal justice policies that are based on facts and evidence about what will improve public safety, and that will ensure fairness and justice for all.

You can help us continue to fight for a justice system that's worthy of each and every one of us. Please consider making a secure, online contribution to The Sentencing Project today.

Thank you for your support.

Marc Mauer
Executive Director

p.s. You can read my commentary to the Attorney General's proposals on the University of Pittsburgh School of Law's blog here.