Stop Bitching & Start a Revolution!

OpEdNews

Original Content HERE

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November 3, 2008

An Open Letter to Naomi Wolf

By: chris rice

Photograph: "Stop Bitching & Start a Revolution" A. Golden, eyewash design - c. 2006.

"There are 10 steps to close down a democratically functioning society -a blueprint that ALL 'would-be dictators' have followed." ~ Naomi Wolf.

Such a blueprint exists for Revolution as well.

We don't usually think of it this way, but the Founding Fathers used many non-violent protests before engaging the British in battle: The Boston Tea Party, petitions to parliament, stamp tax protests and demonstrations.

Another part of the 'blueprint' is information. The Founding Fathers wrote books, ("Common Sense", "The Rights of Man", etc), newspaper articles, and published, published, published, letters to statesmen and diplomats, leaflets, etc.

Starting with these two points, VoteStrike.com is calling upon citizens to stop funding their own destruction:

Seventeen Simple Non-Violent Resistance steps to stop fueling the money changers and corporate controllers of our great country.

1. Stop using credit cards - every transaction generates an automatic 1-2% fee to the banks from the store you're buying from. Also, stop using bank ATM's which generate extra fees to your account.

2. BOYCOTT Mobil/Exxon, Shell, Texaco, Chevron, BP - use small independent stations. Also, REDUCE GAS CONSUMPTION. We MUST stop fueling the original BIG MONEY MONOPOLIZERS! Learn to be a http://www.hypermiling.com/.

3. Do your very best to stop using and throwing away PLASTIC! - It's a petroleum derivative. Buy milk in cartons. Recycle every bit of plastic you must use and return all plastic bags to the grocery store, including plastic bread bags and what your newspapers are wrapped with.

4. CANCEL cable television. (WE ARE TOTALLY ADDICTED TO 350 CHANNELS of SPORTS, MOVIES, PORN, NEWS. And as long as they can entertain us, we have no need to think.)

5. MOVE MONEY OUT OF BIG INTERNATIONAL FRANCHISED BANKS: Bank of America; HSBC (Bank of China); CITIBANK/CHASE, etc. Move to local credit unions or smaller local banks. Keep cash at home, at least to cover immediate expenses for a few months, in a safe deposit box.

6. STOP DONATING MONEY TO MOVEON, ACLU, politicians, mega- churches - Instead, donate food directly to pantries or money directly to people you know that need it. Cut out the middlemen that are taking millions and using it to gain power, not to 'do good'! Help a poor person or relative weatherproof their home or give them energy efficient light bulbs.

7. CUT ENERGY USE AT HOME AND AT WORK. Best thing people can do against big oil and dirty coal is also good for your own monthly costs. Help cut energy expenses also for local businesses, schools, and public buildings by turning lights off in empty rooms and bathrooms- instead of having that money go to the corps that are polluting and earning billions off of us and our community members.

8. BUY LOCAL! Support your community businesses, owned and operated by your neighbors. And look for product labels. When it's possible, only buy MADE IN USA!

9. START PAYING OFF ALL YOUR DEBT. Don't fall prey to ultra-consumerism. We are CONSTANTLY bombarded with advertising to BUY BUY BUY! We don't need all that STUFF! Put your money to good use: if you have a mortgage, secure your home first. Pay down the principle by adding any extra money each month- this saves thousands over time! Once it's paid off, no matter how deep recession/depression gets, your home is pure CAPITAL.

10. MAXIMIZE YOUR 401K to only what your company matches. Choose a treasurey money market fund, not a stock fund that you may not understand. 401K's have big penalty fees if you need to withdraw it early, so keep this in mind. Paying off a mortgage has equal value protecting you in retirement.

11. GROW some of your own food when possible. Plant an apple or pear or cherry tree (or all three). These mentioned grow even in colder climates. If you have the blessing of a large garden, learn to plant vegetables. Once grown, this produce is CAPITAL. Trade and/or sell it locally.

12. BUY SMALL CARS! (or used) Unless you have 6 children, you have no need for a gas-guzzling SUV.

13. SHOP GARAGE SALES for things you need, and exchange goods/services on "http://www.craigslist.org.

14. IF YOU HAVE EMPLOYER PRIVATE INSURANCE- LIKE BLUE CROSS- USE IT- GO GET YOUR MAMMOGRAM OR COLONOSCOPY, ANNUAL CHECK UPS AND PAPS.-GET YOUR FLU SHOT THAT IS FREE !!! **IF YOU HAVE MEDICARE OR MEDICAID OR STATE JOB INSURANCE- KEEP UP ON PREVENTIVE CARE BUT DON'T ABUSE IT!**

15. BUY NECESSITIES and GAS in the lower income areas near you, so the tax revenue goes to that area, not the higher income regions where it's not needed.

16. RECYCLE and make your own COMPOST. Make efforts to reduce trash and weight of trash- which not only helps the environment, but cuts expense for trash in your town. The more trash weighs the more taxpayers pay. Demand your public works enforce recycling and composting of yard waste.

17. REDUCE MEAT CONSUMPTION- which is a huge corporate factory lobby for DC (unless locally raised beef).

STEP TWO - PUBLISHING INFORMATION:

We all owe a great debt of gratitude to people like Naomi Wolf, Alex Jones, Lou Dobbs, Dennis Kucinich and Ron Paul for getting this info out to us, and their only reward will be an FBI file. And to great website like OpEdNews for publishing and interviewing Naomi Klein, Naomi Wolf, and many others. We also owe the Youtubers and Diggers who blast this info out everyday.

But now, We have enough information. Our government systems are so corrupt that both leading presidential candidates from both leading parties must campaign on the promise of 'change', and to clean up or fix Washington DC. So the facts are no longer secret, the truth is out.

AND, THE TIME FOR ACTION IS HERE.

It is now time to act upon the facts given us and organize a resistance. We don't have to re-invent the wheel -just follow the blueprint. Organizing requires a journal as Ghandi mentioned. OpEdNews.com is just such a journal. Please donate articles, protest news, action alerts, and when possible, even money, to OpEdNews.com and consider it to be our publishing arm. (Power to the A.R.M.)

Publishing actions / strikes to ourselves though would be fruitless. The only way to create a broad movement is to control the media, and with a small group of dedicated activists, that's a definite possibility. If as few as one thousand people committed to writing / posting articles and Youtube videos, and those same thousand people were to rate, comment, Digg, StumbleUpon, etc., each others work the same day they were published, we would hit the front pages of every social network out there, reaching a large enough audience to have direct actions, strikes and shut downs. (To participate in this project contact the author at realchange@votestrike.com)

Next step in the 'blueprint' is organizing locally to demand national action. The easiest way for you to find a local group is simply to go to http://votestrike.ning.com and fill out a profile with your zip code. We'll contact you with the necessary information for local activists and activities. Or, help organize a Strike group in your town. Please contact the author for details.

As these local groups grow and develop, we will be able to move to the next steps of the blueprint.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

March on Washington: March 13-16, 2009.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

SEC Report: Employees Browsed Porn, Ran Private Businesses

Original Post: Jake Bernstein, ProPublica - December 19, 2008 5:01 pm EST
Photographs: A. Golden, eyewash design, c. 2008.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a drubbing [1] these days for its abject failure―despite detailed tips [1]―to catch Bernie Madoff in what appears to be the biggest Ponzi scheme in our nation’s history.

Now, thanks to little-noticed report [2] from the agency’s inspector general, we have a detailed glimpse into other bad behavior by some SEC employees.

The report [2], released the day after Thanksgiving, reveals that some employees at the agency were clearly preoccupied with matters other than their mission [3] of "protecting investors and maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets." The semi-annual report to Congress, which covers the period from this past April to September, details among other things a handful of employees circumventing internal controls to download porn. Let’s pause for some detail:

[Investigators] uncovered evidence that an employee who was still in his probationary period had used his SEC laptop computer to attempt to access Internet websites classified as containing pornography, resulting in hundreds of access denials. The OIG investigation also disclosed that this employee successfully bypassed the Commission’s Internet filter by using a flash drive.

Presumably, that’s not the kind of initiative the SEC is looking for.

There were also more serious misdeeds raised by the report. For example, there is the case of the senior-level commission employee who "clearly and purposefully identified herself as a Commission employee when dealing with brokers about a family member’s account," making the broker in question feel like she was trying to "intimidate and bully him." The OIG referred the matter to management for "disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal." By the end of the period covered in the report, management "had not proposed or taken action."

There are other examples where the punishment was less than fulsome.

Investigators found employees in separate offices operated private photography businesses out of the commission:

An employee repeatedly and flagrantly used Commission resources, including Commission Internet access, e-mail, telephone and printer, in support of his private photography business for several years.

The IG’s office recommended "disciplinary action up to and including dismissal." In turn, the report notes, "management suspended the employee from duty and pay for nine calendar days."

When asked about the report, Deputy Director for Public Affairs John Heine said, "In each of these [cases] there is some sort of response from the Commission. We don’t have anything to say beyond that."

The report reveals also that two commission staffers employed as attorneys didn’t have active bar memberships. One attorney let his bar license lapse in 1994. The report said one of the lapsed lawyers "submitted a declaration in Federal court, in which he stated that he was an attorney employed by the SEC. We referred the potential false statement or perjury to the applicable United States Attorney’s office." (The office declined to prosecute.)

The IG also found that the commission did not have a sufficient system in place to "prevent and detect insider trading on the part of Commission employees or violations of the Commission’s rules."

The agency’s information management also comes in for criticism. An employee survey conducted by the inspector general revealed that employees failed to enter data into a computer system used to manage investigations. The system known as the HUB was launched in August 2007 after the Government Accountability Office had highlighted [4] major problems with the SEC’s previous case management and tracking system. The IG semi-annual report also reveals that the commission lacks "an inventory of its laptops and was unable to trace ownership of laptops to specific individuals."

Here at ProPublica we’ve just begun working our way through the fascinating 95-page document [2]. Take a look at it yourself and let us know what you find [5].

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

*NEW LIPAN APACHE BOOK... COMING: FEB. 2009!*

But...you can order from University of New Mexico Press or Amazon before the release!

The Lipan Apaches: People of Wind and Lightning
Thomas A. Britten

Despite the significant role they have played in Texas history for nearly four hundred years, the Lipan Apaches remain among the least studied and least understood tribal groups in the West. Considered by Spaniards of the eighteenth century to be the greatest threat to the development of New Spain's northern frontier, the Lipans were viewed as a similar risk to the interests of nineteenth-century Mexico, Texas, and the United States. Direct attempts to dissolve them as a tribal unit began during the Spanish period and continued with the establishment of the Republic of Texas in 1836.

From their homeland in south Texas, Lipan migratory hunter-gatherer bands waged a desperate struggle to maintain their social and cultural traditions amidst numerous Indian and non-Indian enemies. Government officials, meanwhile, perceived them as a potential danger to the settlement and economic development of the Rio Grande frontier. Forced removal from their traditional homelands diminished their ability to defend themselves and, as they attached themselves to the Mescalero Apaches and the Tonkawas, the Lipans faded from written history in 1884.

Thomas Britten has scoured U.S. and Mexican archives in order to piece together the tangled tribal history of these adaptable people, emphasizing the cultural change that coincided with the various migrations and pressures they faced. The result is an interdisciplinary study of the Lipan Apaches that focuses on their history and culture, their relationships with a wide range of Indian and non-Indian peoples, and their responses to the various crises and burdens that seemed to follow them wherever they went.

Thomas A. Britten is assistant professor of history at the University of Texas, Brownsville. He is also the author of A Brief History of the Seminole-Negro Indian Scouts. He is a specialist in twentieth-century Indian history.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

NY could lose 150,000 jobs if Big Three fail

NY could lose 150,000 jobs if Big Three fail.

Story: Daniel Massey
Photo: "Plastic Auto on Grassy Knoll", A. Golden, eyewash design - c. 2005.

The tremors from a shutdown by the automakers would reverberate throughout the state’s economy, according to Rep. Carolyn Maloney.

A shutdown of the Big Three automakers would ripple throughout New York and cause as many as 150,000 job losses statewide, a new report by U.S. Rep Carolyn Maloney shows.

General Motors and Ford directly employ almost 3,000 workers at three production factories across the state, but the effects of a failure in Detroit would spread throughout the state economy and cause the largest single-year job loss since 1991, the report shows.

“The tremors from their collapse would be felt far and wide,” said Ms. Maloney, who is championing the use of federal Troubled Asset Relief Program money to rescue GM, Chrysler and Ford.

Ms. Maloney uses data from an Economic Policy Institute report that shows the state could lose 144,600 jobs if the big three shut down. The estimate includes direct job losses in auto manufacturing, losses of supply chain jobs at firms that provide automakers with goods and services, losses of jobs at dealers, and indirect losses created by spending declines among workers who lose their jobs.

The report came a day after the country’s three largest automakers announced significant production cuts in an effort to pare costs.

The New York job loss would be seventh-highest in the nation.

The EPI report says as many as 3.3 million jobs could be lost across the country if the automakers shut down.

Already, the state comptroller has forecast New York could lose as many as 225,000 jobs over the next two years. Ms. Maloney’s report says that the addition of auto industry losses could propel New York to its worst one-year job loss in history.

“It's in the best interest of American families to use funds from the Troubled Assets Relief Program to rescue these companies in order to avoid an economic earthquake,” she said.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

N.Y. may tax pics, pay TV, downloads.

Budget shortfall, deficit create bleak situation in the state.

Story: Paul J. Gough

Photograph: "What is Liberty?" A. Golden, eyewash design - c. 2008.

Dec 16, 2008, 09:32 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Faced with one of the bleakest financial pictures in memory, New York Gov. David Paterson on Tuesday released a $121 billion proposed budget that would hit the entertainment industry and consumers in the pocketbook.

The budget would tax digital downloads such as iTunes movies, TV shows and music and would end sales-tax exemptions on movie tickets, cable TV, satellite TV and radio, and entertainment and sporting events. All have been exempt from the state's sales tax.

But things quickly have reached crisis level in the Empire State: There's a $1.7 billion shortfall in the current budget and a deficit of nearly $14 billion for the next year. Most of that can be blamed on the economic crisis, which has reduced revenue the state receives from Wall Street.

"With the financial-services industry in the midst of an unprecedented crisis, we must fundamentally re-evaluate what our state can afford to spend," Paterson said.

Entertainment-related cuts are a small portion of the austerity and cutbacks announced Tuesday. It was not immediately clear whether the proposed budget would affect film and TV tax credits handed out by the state. New York state offers tax credits for film, TV and commercial production, investment-tax credits and sales-tax exemptions for film production activities and expenses.

New York City has its own tax credit, administered through the Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting.

"New York City's 5% tax credit for qualified productions that shoot the majority of their project in the five boroughs is currently effective through 2011 and remains in place," MOFTB commissioner Katherine Oliver said.

The state office did not respond immediately to calls seeking comment.

But the state, facing a crushing budget deficit and a bleak outlook for jobs and tax revenue, would get needed revenue from entertainment-industry sales. One major new tax would come from closing what the state calls a "digital property taxation loophole."

"A book, song, album or movie would be subject to sales tax no matter if it was bought at a bricks-and-mortar store or downloaded online," according to Paterson's budget. The move is expected to bring in $15 million in 2009-10 and $20 million in 2010-11.

But that's small potatoes compared with other proposed new taxes. State taxes on cable and satellite TV and satellite radio would bring in $136 million in 2009-10 and $180 million in 2010-11. New York would be the 24th state to tax those services.

Entertainment spending taxes would raise $53 million in 2009-10 and $70 million in 2010-11, according to the budget. Thirty-one other states tax movies and musical events, but the National Association of Theatre Owners came out against New York's proposed levy.

"The best way to kill an economic recovery is heavy taxation, especially on things that remain affordable and popular in hard times like movie tickets," NATO vp Kendrick Macdowell said.

It is unclear what the tax rates would be, but they are likely to be hammered out by the state legislature and signed by Paterson by March 1, to take effect April 1.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Unemployment climbs to 6.3% in New York City.

Unemployment climbs to 6.3% in New York City.

December 18, 2008 3:23 pm
by: Daniel Massey
photo: "Job Growth", N.Y., N.Y.: A. Golden, eyewash design - c. 2006.

As the economy deteriorates, New York is catching up to the rest of the nation when it comes to job losses: the city's private sector employment fell by 17,000 over the last 12 months.

For most of 2008, the city economy continued to show year-over-year job growth. The nation hemorrhaged jobs, but the city posted gains.

No more.

The November unemployment rate in the city jumped to 6.3% from 5.7%, the highest level in nearly four years.

Private sector employment in the city fell by 17,100, or 0.5%, for
the 12-month period that ended in November, the first month it has happened since February 2004, according to a report released Thursday by the New York State Department of Labor.

The city shed 20,900 private sector jobs in November, the largest one-month loss since 9/11, according to an analysis of Department of Labor data by Eastern Consolidated. The November losses wiped out all the job gains for the year, putting the net year-to-date private sector loss at 10,200.

“There’s no question the recession is here in full force at this point,” said James Parrott, an economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute. “And New York City is going to proceed to catch up to the bad news at the national level.”

Economists said the losses were even worse than the numbers suggested because November is typically a month when the city posts its strongest job gains due to seasonal hiring.

“What caught my eye more than the over-the-year loss was how badly we underperformed a normal November,” said James Brown, a State Department of Labor economist. “November is usually a good month for hiring.”

Monthly job declines were widespread across most industries, but heavily concentrated in the retail sector, with a loss of 4,900 jobs, according to Eastern Consolidated. Construction also took a hit, shedding 1,800 jobs. Even educational services, a usually reliable sector, posted a substantial loss, casting off 1,600 jobs.

Surprisingly, the securities industry lost only 1,400 jobs in November, but that’s likely because most Wall Street firms are waiting until the New Year to hand out pink slips, said Barbara Byrne Denham, chief economist at Eastern Consolidated. The state comptroller has said the city will lose 38,000 Wall Street jobs and 175,000 in all. Since peaking in September 2007, the securities industry has shed 17,800 jobs.

The rising job loss has caused more New Yorkers to file unemployment claims. Statewide, the number of initial claims rose 16% through November compared with a year ago, reaching 1,066,246. The 114,714 claims in November were up 6% over October.

The one bright spot in the report was health services, which added 1,000 jobs. Strength in key sectors like law, accounting and publishing had kept the city economy growing even while the nation was losing jobs. But the growth rate slowed in recent months, leading economists to expect grim news was on the way. That news arrived Thursday, and economists expect it to keep on coming. The Fiscal Policy Institute says the city will lose 10,000 jobs a month through the end of 2009.

"Layoffs Show on Unemployment Rolls." - N.Y. Times
"Wall Street's crisis could cost New York 225,000 jobs."- Reuters
"New York May Lose 225,000 Jobs, Comptroller Says" - LayoffBlog.com

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

MTA passes doomsday budget - Your fare is increasing & services are decreasing.

December 17, 2008 10:04 am
MTA passes doomsday budget

MTA board members said Wednesday they still hope for a bailout from Albany or Washington that might allow them to avoid the increases.

(AP) - The board of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has passed a 2009 budget that ultimately would raise subway and bus fares in New York while cutting service.

The agency says it needs to raise fare and toll revenues by 23% in order to plug a budget gap worsened by the global financial crisis.

Board members say they still hope for a bailout from Albany or Washington that might allow them to avoid the increases.

Details of the hikes and cuts won't be finalized until early next year.

Under the worst-case scenario, a single bus or subway ride could rise to $2.50, and a monthly pass could cost around $100. Service cuts would include the elimination of bus and subway lines in areas where there is either low ridership or a duplication of services.

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise.

With the economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise.
By Jordy Yager
Posted: 12/17/08 05:41 PM
Photographer: A. Golden, eyewash design, c. 2008.

A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay.

Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.

Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2.5 million that taxpayers will spend on congressional salaries, and watchdog groups are not happy about it.

“As lawmakers make a big show of forcing auto executives to accept just $1 a year in salary, they are quietly raiding the vault for their own personal gain,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of The Senior Citizens League (TSCL), a non-partisan group. “This money would be much better spent helping the millions of seniors who are living below the poverty line and struggling to keep their heat on this winter.”

However, at 2.8 percent, the automatic raise that lawmakers receive is only half as large as the 2009 cost of living adjustment of Social Security recipients.

Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of the budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense, said Congress should have taken the rare step of freezing its pay, as lawmakers did in 2000.

“Look at the way the economy is and how most people aren’t counting on a holiday bonus or a pay raise — they’re just happy to have gainful employment,” said Ellis. “But you have the lawmakers who are set up and ready to get their next installment of a pay raise and go happily along their way.”

Member raises are often characterized as examples of wasteful spending, especially when many constituents and businesses in members’ districts are in financial despair.

Rep. Harry Mitchell, a first-term Democrat from Arizona, sponsored legislation earlier this year that would have prevented the automatic pay adjustments from kicking in for members next year. But the bill, which attracted 34 cosponsors, failed to make it out of committee.

“They don’t even go through the front door. They have it set up so that it’s wired so that you actually have to undo the pay raise rather than vote for a pay raise,” Ellis said.

Freezing congressional salaries is hardly a new idea on Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers have floated similar proposals in every year dating back to 1995, and long before that. Though the concept of forgoing a raise has attracted some support from more senior members, it is most popular with freshman lawmakers, who are often most vulnerable.

In 2006, after the Republican-led Senate rejected an increase to the minimum wage, Democrats, who had just come to power in the House with a slew of freshmen, vowed to block their own pay raise until the wage increase was passed. The minimum wage was eventually increased and lawmakers received their automatic pay hike.

In the beginning days of 1789, Congress was paid only $6 a day, which would be about $75 daily by modern standards. But by 1965 members were receiving $30,000 a year, which is the modern equivalent of about $195,000.

Currently the average lawmaker makes $169,300 a year, with leadership making slightly more. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) makes $217,400, while the minority and majority leaders in the House and Senate make $188,100.

Ellis said that while freezing the pay increase would be a step in the right direction, it would be better to have it set up so that members would have to take action, and vote, for a pay raise and deal with the consequences, rather than get one automatically.

“It is probably never going to be politically popular to raise Congress’s salary,” he said. “I don’t think you’re going to find taxpayers saying, ‘Yeah I think I should pay my congressman more’.”

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Ride to honor American Indians killed in 1890

Sioux Tribal Flag - all rights reserved.

Ride to honor American Indians killed in 1890.

By: CARSON WALKER

WOUNDED KNEE, S.D. (AP) — Kim Cameron is about to set off on a nearly 300-mile journey into the past.

She and other American Indian horseback riders plan to begin the annual Big Foot Memorial Ride on Monday at Sitting Bull's grave site. They hope to finish at Wounded Knee battle site in two weeks.

The trek has been made the past 23 years to honor the more than 250 men, women and children shot here Dec. 29, 1890, by the U.S. 7th Cavalry in the Wounded Knee massacre.

Cameron, who has done the ride before, said it has taught her patience, respect and discipline. She also has learned about horses, her Lakota culture and how to work with other people on the ride, which the young people call the Future Generations Ride.

"It means a lot. It means more for our people. It means our culture should be coming back steadily," she said.

About eight out of 10 of the riders are young people who want to experience the ride for themselves and learn more about their traditions, said Ron His Horse Is Thunder, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe chairman and a descendant of Sitting Bull.

"This has become a ride for them. A way of renewing, if you will, cultural values," he said. "It's become a rite of passage for those young kids to be able to say, 'I've done that and in doing so have practiced my culture and have learned the values. '"

American Indians on the Big Foot Memorial Ride arrived at Porcupine,
S.D., last Dec. 28. This year's nearly 300-mile ride to remember the 1890
Wounded Knee massacre started Monday.Associated Press file photo by: Carson Walker

Donaven Yellow, of Wakpala, S.D. said he was 11 on his first ride. He said he has gotten more involved with and learned more about his culture every year.

"It helps keep my mind focused on what's right and wrong," Yellow said.

The memorial ride began in 1986 when a handful of Lakota riders decided to follow the December 1890 trip across South Dakota taken by Chief Big Foot and his followers.

That year, Sitting Bull, living on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, was killed when resisting arrest by reservation police.

After he was killed, Big Foot's band fled Standing Rock and had hoped to spend the winter in safety with the Oglala in the Badlands.

They were intercepted and killed by the 7th Cavalry outside Wounded Knee, which sits at the juncture of three creeks on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota.

The modern-day riders feel some of cold the original riders felt, even though they have insulated caps, coats and warm food and shelter awaiting them at the end of each day.

"Riding for my ancestors is a really big thing for me," Cameron, of Wakpala, said of the challenge.

On the Web:
Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
NdN News

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Twas the Midnight Before Regulations.

A MESSAGE FROM ROBERT GREENWALD, BRAVE NEW FILMS.

The Bush administration isn't about to let democracy or the will of the people stop them from further ruining this country before they leave office. Knowing he can't get his long list of favors to his Republican cronies through Congress, Bush is doing a last minute end-run, jamming as many rules through the executive branch as he can during his waning days in power. These so-called "midnight regulations" will allow factories to pollute more, further restrict women's access to abortion services, cut off aid to needy families in the middle of a recession, and much more -- all without Congress' oversight or approval. It's wrong, it's antidemocratic, but, sadly, it's legal.

When given the opportunity to be "naughty or nice" this holiday season, Bush has clearly opted to go down as one of the naughtiest, most sinister presidents in our nation's history. We've created a satirical spin on the famous poem, 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, in order to show President Bush crafting his last-minute agenda for health care, the environment, civil liberties, and labor practices -- rules that will affect everyone and will be difficult for the next administration to overturn. We are using humor here in the hopes that it both commands people's attention and enables us to shine a light on these all-too-serious midnight regulations.

After you've enjoyed this video, send it to friends and family and don't forget to digg it. Let them know the harm President Bush's midnight regulations will bring. And stress the fact that there are far too many Congressional representatives who have remained silent while Bush pushes midnight regulations that will wreak havoc on the lives of their constituents and local communities. We must call the tacit approval of these representatives into question.

Keep in mind that it's not just voters in blue states who will be affected -- these midnight regulations will hurt people in the states and districts of Bush's enablers in Congress. And remember that these last-minute policies are the outcome of Congressional Republicans' loyal support for the Bush agenda over the past eight years. We should hold them accountable for the huge lump of coal Bush is handing over to the nation this Christmas.

Yours,
Robert Greenwald
and the Brave New Films team

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

Thanks for all you do!
Live your values. Love your country.
And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

FAIR USE NOTICE: This blog may contain copyrighted material. Such material is made available for educational purposes, to advance understanding of human rights, democracy, scientific, moral, ethical, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.