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Obama budget draws praise, some complaints, from labor leaders

John Wojcik — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:32:00 -0500

President Obama's proposed federal budget for the year is drawing overall positive reactions from union leaders.

Richard Trumka, president of the AFL-CIO, said in a special statement, "It puts us on the right path towards building a solid foundation for our economic future. For the short term we have to extend unemployment benefits and the temporary middle class tax cut to avoid putting recent jobs at risk. To start laying the groundwork for broadly shared prosperity over the long term, we have to start making things in America again, and the President's proposed investments in infrastructure, clean energy, manufacturing, education, and innovation will help us do just that."

The Obama budget calls for a more than $300 billion economic stimulus program involving investments of federal dollars in infrastructure, clean energy, manufacturing, education, and new technology.

The budget also calls for ending of tax breaks for shipping jobs overseas and for sharpening enforcement of trade agreements.

The president's budget will be ignored in the Republican-run House, where Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., intends to again draft his own proposal, which is again expected to push killing of Medicare as we know it.

American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten said in a phone interview that she was pleased about the president's proposed increases in education funding, his plans to keep Pell grants at present levels and his emphasis on more job training money.

Obama "rejects the cuts-only obsession of many in Congress, and includes several concrete, doable policies that will provide relief to Americans still struggling to get by today, as well as needed investment in our future," she said. "We applaud the president's focus on improving and strengthening the teaching profession, and on keeping educators off the unemployment lines and in the classroom."

Weingarten was clearly unhappy, though, about the lack of increase in federal money for elementary and secondary schools. "With 3 million more children in poverty since the start of our economic crisis, we can't afford to freeze funding for educating poor kids while competitive grant programs that serve some, but not all, receive increases," she stated.

Steelworkers President Leo Gerard praised Obama's proposal for a new Interagency Trade Enforcement Center and more money for that cause. The USW has often spoken out on what it sees as unfair trade practices by countries - most notably China - that subsidize their exports to the U.S.

However, some sections of the budget have drawn the ire of people in the labor movement and their allies. Among these are a 5 percent cut in the Labor Department's budget and cuts in several worker-help programs, including loans to states to help extend payments to the jobless.

Another example is the proposed elimination of a small Labor Department program designed to help women get into "non-traditional" occupations such as construction.

John Gage, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, was angry about the president's proposal on continuing to freeze hiring for federal workers.

"Federal employees have already contributed $60 billion with pay freezes. It's been $60 billion, plus now $27 billion and I don't see any jobs created," Gage told PAI, the union news service. "The White House is putting money into creating new jobs and then attacking the jobs that we have. Federal employees already sacrificed more than the president is asking from the big banks."

Photo: Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., center, and Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., at a news conference on Capitol Hill, Feb. 13, to discuss President Obama's fiscal 2013 federal budget. Scott Applewhite/AP

Environmental groups unite to stop Keystone XL

Blake Deppe — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 17:02:00 -0500

Senate Republicans filed an amendment Feb. 13 to the transportation bill that would authorize the Keystone XL pipeline. Today, activist group 350 called on every environmental group in the nation to send half a million messages to the Senate by the end of the day, with a very clear demand: "back the President and make sure this pipeline doesn't get built." As of now, the Senate has been flooded with over 600,000 messages.

The proposed Keystone pipeline system, which would be used to transport crude oil from Alberta, Canada to multiple U.S. destinations, is considered a serious threat to the environment, and has today resulted in one of the largest forms of online environmental organizing in history.

President Obama halted the pipeline plan in January, in what was a big victory for environmental activists. That could be soured now as Republicans attempt to "sabotage that win," said a press release by 350.

"Congressional approval of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is not acceptable," said Susan Casey-Lefkowitz, International Program Director at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "It will create a bad process rushing approval of a tar sands pipeline when the route for the pipeline hasn't even been determined yet, and the environmental review process remains incomplete."

In the midst of climate change and in the wake of prior environmental disasters, the potential of Keystone XL to add to that havoc is, critics feel, enormous.

350 worked today with environmental groups all over the country, and partnered with other progressive allies like MoveOn.org, Political Action, and CREDO Mobile. A large part of the intended goal was also to illustrate that Keystone is not, as Republicans proclaim, a glorious answer to the jobs crisis.

The biggest labor unions in the country also understand this, said 350 in a statement, and therefore support the President's decision to say "no" to Keystone XL.

"The only argument [in favor of] the pipeline," said the statement, "comes from folks like the Koch brothers - 'we can make a lot of money.' It's not a good argument, but that money buys votes in Congress, unless we stand up."

People stood up indeed, and by the afternoon, the number of messages the Senate received was well above the intended goal of 500,000, highlighting the dramatic fashion in which the pipeline matter - once obscure - has quickly become the country's central environmental issue.

The 500,000^th signature, moreover, was from a Nebraskan citizen, who pointed out that the only independent study of the pipeline in her state showed it would yield a measly 1,400 temporary jobs - a short-lived band-aid on the jobs problem at best, and certainly not the great fix that Republicans and Big Oil have been touting it as.

Photo: Demonstrators in Washington protest the Keystone XL pipeline. Evan Vucci/AP

Movies you might have missed: "The Intruder"

Joseph Zimmermann — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 16:42:00 -0500

Movie Review

"The Intruder"

Directed by Roger Corman

Starring William Shatner

1961, 83 minutes, PG-13

After the landmark Supreme Court Brown v. the Board of Education decision struck down segregation in public schools in 1954, a cottage industry of mobile hatemongers was born, playing to the fears and manipulating the emotions of those who viewed segregation as a way of life and somehow intrinsically linked to their Southern identity.

These charlatans took to the road and traveled from one hot spot to the next, and where there was no trouble, they were adept at creating a little of their own. This variety of racist agitator included such loathsome figures as Asa "Ace" Carter, whose claim to fame was penning the "Segregation forever" line in the inaugural address of Alabama Gov. George Wallace; Connie Lynch, who often sported a vest adorned with the flag of the Confederacy; and J.B. Stoner, who would eventually be jailed for his role in the notorious Birmingham, Ala., church bombing that took the lives of four young black girls.

In The Intruder a 30-year-old William Shatner presents a pretty convincing composite of just such a hatemonger. Shatner is the consummate con man, full of easy charm and courtly manners that he uses to ingratiate himself with unsuspecting locals. When he checks into a local hotel the desk clerk looks him up and down and says, "I suppose you're a salesman" and he replies, "You might say I'm a social worker".

Well attired for the tropical climes of a Southern state in a white linen suit, he attempts an air of respectability and immediately seeks out the local gentry to add money, power and influence to his poisonous plans. Shatner's character attempts to pass himself off as a patriot, but before the film is finished he will be exposed as a coward, a leering cad, and a master manipulator of the mob mentality.

Perhaps the most significant scene in the film occurs when Shatner's character mounts the courthouse steps on a sweltering Southern evening to deliver a speech characterized by red-baiting, anti-Semitism and junk science. Viewers will note that in tone and approach it doesn't differ much from Obama-bashing peddled by the tea party ultra right today.

And although sadly the film lacks many three-dimensional African-American characters, it does provide a scene that illustrates the terrifying violence to which innocent African Americans could be subjected at any moment, when a family has their car nearly overturned by a mob in an orgy of violence spurred on by Shatner's speeches. The local sheriff offers little more than a shrug in reply.

Interestingly, the Shatner character is presented as something other than a common garden-variety homegrown "redneck." In the film he is a Los Angeles native, representing a Washington, D.C., based right-wing outfit styling itself as "The Patrick Henry Society."

Keen observers of cinema will recognize a few veteran character actors among the cast, but it is mostly non-professionals and locals who populate the roles in the film. Noteworthy however are Frank Maxwell, who in real life suffered from a career interrupted by the notorious blacklist, and here plays a local newspaper editor who slowly confronts his own prejudice until he is leading the fight for integration instead of opposing it. Viewers will also enjoy Robert Emhard as the well-dressed and rotund representative of the ruling class who has a personal capacity for violence that surprises even Shatner's character. Lastly, Leo Gordon, a one-time real-life inmate of San Quentin prison, is perfect as Shatner's neighbor in the local hotel who sees right through his cheap facade and confronts him on the true nature of his character.

The time of production and on-location shooting gives the film a frightening authenticity. Unfortunately it also contains a number of racial epithets of the ugliest kind. All in all, it still proves to be a valuable document in examining how hate speech is based on a fraudulent philosophy and can lead only to tragedy.

Photo: Pathé-America Distributing Company

AFL-CIO: Republicans voted almost 100% wrong on labor issues

Mark Gruenberg — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:41:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - The party cleavage was stark in the GOP-run House last year on AFL-CIO-selected key votes, with the GOP a sea of red "x" wrong votes on labor's issues, and Democrats racking up almost as many blue check mark "rights."

The split was especially stark in some ideologically polarized state delegations. For example, South Carolina's five Republicans each voted wrong on every single one of the 18 votes, while Rep. James Clyburn, a member of the House Democratic leadership, compiled an 18-0 "right" mark - the only leader to do so.

The partisan divide in the voting study reflects the House's attitude as a whole, where anti-labor legislation often made its way to the floor, and was supported by a solid phalanx of the Republican majority.

Overall, 137 House Republicans each went 0-18 on the AFL-CIO's key votes, while another 18 also never voted with labor, but missed votes here and there. And 17 more agreed with organized labor's stand only once on last year's key votes.

By contrast, 72 Democrats voted in agreement with labor's stands every time. Another 8 missed votes here and there but still never voted against the union stand.

The Democratic total would have doubled, had not 79 Democrats' only break with labor been on the Congressional Progressive Caucus' substitute budget resolution. That group included House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., and Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., the House's longest-tenured member. Another three opposed labor's stand on another lone vote on another issue.

There were occasional GOP deviations from the norm. They were led by Reps. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. (11-4, 3 absences), Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo. (11-6-1), Ilana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla. (11-6-1), Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla., Chris Smith, R-N.J., and Steve LaTourette, R-Ohio (each at 11-7).

Just behind were Tim Johnson, R-Ill., Don Young, R-Alaska, Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., Michael Turner, R-Ohio, and Michael Grimm, R-N.Y., all at 10-8. LoBiondo and LaTourette co-chair the small House GOP Labor Caucus. Grimm represents Staten Island and Turner's old district included Dayton.

The worst Democrats were Reps. Dan Boren, D-Okla., who is retiring (11-7) and Mike McIntyre, D-N.C. (11-7), redistricted out of his seat by the GOP-run legislature.

Unions use the AFL-CIO figures as part of their evaluations when deciding, locally, whether to support or oppose an incumbent lawmaker. The Oregon AFL-CIO, however, has gone beyond the key votes to evaluate lawmakers on their committee votes and their advocacy - or opposition to - pro-worker positions at key points in the legislative process. It has also factored in the nature of each lawmaker's district.

The Senate voted in such lockstep in 2011 that only five individual votes could not be predicted by the senator's party, AFL-CIO data shows.

The federation used four key votes in 2011 to compile its Senate records. Local and state unions use its voting studies as one component in their endorsement process. Out of 400 votes - four for each of the 100 senators - only one each by Republicans Jim DeMint (S.C.), Rand Paul (Kent.) and Mike Lee (Utah) and Democrats Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.) and Ben Nelson (Neb.) could not be predicted by their party affiliation.

The three Republicans all voted with the AFL-CIO and against a continuing resolution to fund the federal government at 2010 levels, last March 9. It was the Senate version of the House money bill for most of the federal government, with deep cuts for many domestic agencies and elimination of everything from money for Planned Parenthood to funds for the Joint Strike Fighter. It lost 44-56.

The AFL-CIO opposed that money bill because the cuts were too deep and too wide for programs people depend upon. Paul, DeMint, and Lee - the three Senate leaders of the tea party - opposed it because they wanted to cut even more.

Shaheen and Nelson parted company with the AFL-CIO when Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, tried to make it tougher for federal agencies to write rules governing various industries. She wanted to put the new hurdles in a small business bill. She got a majority of votes, 53-46, but needed 60 to overcome a filibuster and stick her amendment into the legislation. Forty-four Democrats and both independents voted against Snowe, while Shaheen and Nelson joined the GOP on the vote.

Photo: Rally for jobs, not cuts, Oct. 15, 2011, Washington, DC. PW

Labor groups defend different pieces of national health care law

Mark Gruenberg — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:42:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - With the national health care revision law yet to fully take effect, but under challenge before the Supreme Court, six labor organizations have stepped forward, four of them joining other groups, to defend different parts of it.

The labor groups' friend-of-the-court briefs, filed with the U.S. Supreme Court, are an index of where the unions and their allies stand. The court, however, is free to accept or ignore such legal submissions.

The key contenders in the case, which the justices will hear March 26-28, are the federal government, 26 states, and the National Federation of Independent Business, a right-wing lobby. The GOP government of Florida is leading states' campaign against the health care law; NFIB also hates the law.

The federal government is defending the health care revision, while the states call it unconstitutional; so does NFIB. The union groups, in their briefs, take the government's side.

The Service Employees and Change To Win filed their own brief defending the health care law, without allies. They were the only unions to do so. SEIU said more than half of its 2.1 million members work in health care, and SEIU is the largest union in Change To Win. The two defended the law's minimum coverage provision.

"The minimum coverage provision operates as an income tax within Congress' complete and all-embracing income taxing power," SEIU and Change To Win's lawyers wrote. "The provision gives taxpayers the choice to either purchase adequate health insurance or pay additional money to the government with their tax returns."

The two said only taxpayers who owe income taxes would pay the health care tax, if they didn't buy health insurance, starting in 2016. The formal language says the tax would be "up to 2.5 percent of household income, above the income tax filing threshold" but they quoted a GOP foe of the health care law as estimating the usual penalty would be $750 yearly.

The $4 billion the government will collect from the tax will go to pay for coverage for people whose incomes are too low to pay taxes, while giving other taxpayers an incentive to buy health insurance, "reducing future costs to the government," the brief by SEIU and Change To Win adds.

The union's attorneys said health care law foes want to overturn it because the law calls the tax "a penalty," and because it says taxpayers "shall" buy insurance or pay the penalty.

The American Nurses Association, with other medical groups, tackled the health care law foes' argument that if Congress could force people to buy health insurance, it could force them to do anything. Not so, the union and its allies said. The only laws that flunk such a test, it said, are those "focused on non-economic concerns or solely intrastate matters." And ANA and its allies dismissed the case against the health care tax by calling it "part of a broader scheme of regulating the national health care and health insurance markets," which Congress has the power to do.

They also detailed the practical impact of getting everyone into the health care system. "Uninsured Americans frequently delay care until their conditions become much more difficult and expensive to treat," the groups explained. "And the cost of caring for the uninsured drives up the cost of Medicare and of health insurance plans."

Not only that, but "the activity of delaying the purchase of health insurance until an individual requires care" affects interstate commerce, the union says. That means Congress can regulate it, ANA added.

The Coalition of Labor Union Women and 9to5 joined a large array of womens organizations in defending the law's improvement of women's access to health care and ending health insurers' discrimination against women.

The law "ends gender ratings, makes maternity coverage available to all, prohibits sex discrimination in health care and health insurance, and expands Medicaid eligibility," among other things says their brief, authored by the National Women's Law Center. That includes insurers' discrimination against pregnant women, they said.

The law also "supports nursing mothers, provides Pap tests, mammograms, and family planning without co-pays and makes health insurance more affordable," they add.

"As legislation intended to end gender discrimination," the health care law "follows in a long tradition of civil rights acts firmly within Congress' power" to regulate commerce, CLUW, 9to5 and the Womens Law Center brief said.

"The law has, and was intended to have, a particularly important effect on women" and their health, the groups explained. It also would not only affect commerce, "but help right a moral and social wrong" - health care discrimination against women - "that in itself has profound economic consequences" which Congress can regulate.

The New England Jewish Labor Committee and other New England Jewish groups also defended the health care tax. They said it's not coercive and does not intrude on liberty. The Jewish community, they added, would "oppose any sacrifice of genuinely fundamental individual rights in an effort to address the health care crisis."

But there is no such sacrifice here, they said. "The minimum coverage provision does not require individuals to purchase any particular product. It is, instead, merely a requirement for individual financial participation in the national healthcare infrastructure, much like a tax," they said. The groups called it "a kind of regulatory control that does not, under precedent, raise rights-based concerns."

Say no to GOP ploy on payroll tax cuts

PW Editorial Board — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 14:15:00 -0500

If Congress doesn't move and renew jobless benefits in 15 days (by Feb. 29), millions of workers and their families will drown in a sea of worry, debt, foreclosure, homelessness and perhaps even worse.

The unemployed demonstrated in North Carolina yesterday at a "Walk a Mile in My Shoes" rally to demand that their Congressional representatives act. "We'd be devastated," Kenny Wilkes, a laid off tobacco factory worker, told the crowd in Raleigh. "The money my wife brings in couldn't sustain rent, gas, electric, food and insurance."

As Kenny made his plea Republican leaders on Capital Hill announced that they have dropped their opposition to President Obama's Feb. 29 extension of the payroll tax cut for 160 million working Americans. Almost every newspaper, TV newscaster, radio talkster and on-line news source in the nation reported on the apparent Republican "cave-in" on an issue critical to both the nation's working people and the economic recovery.

We don't see this as Republicans "caving," however.

In an election year no one should ever have expected that they would not vote to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million, particularly at a time that they are seen as defenders of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires.

The payroll tax cut extension was part of a package that included extension of Unemployment Benefits, however. Those benefits are the lifeline that will keep Kenny and his family from drowning.

The payroll tax cut extension was also connected to the question of whether or not there would be cuts in Medicare.

By separating out the tax cut extension the Republicans leave unsettled the extension of jobless benefits and the new cuts they want in Medicare. Clearly, it is their hope that their move will allow Democrats to claim victory on the payroll tax cut extension and that enough Democrats will then go along with them on Medicare cuts and cutting the unemployment benefit extension. The result: 160 million workers get their tax cut extension but those same 160 million get to be the ones who, in the end, pay for it. The rich continue to pay for nothing, getting off free and clear. The parents of the working-class majority get fewer Medicare services and their brothers, their sisters and even they end up without the unemployment benefits they need now or may need in the future.

Tell Congress to act now and do all three things: renew the payroll tax cut, extend insurance benefits for the unemployed, and reject any cuts to Medicare. Tell your lawmakers that you expect them to do these three things in the next 15 days, before February 29. Tell them that, otherwise, it is they who will be filing for unemployment benefits.

Photo: Job seekers line up in San Francisco, Jan. 18. Eric Risberg/AP

Athens burns after austerity approval

Dustin Buse — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:41:00 -0500

After approving a controversial new bill, which guts minimum wage and public services, Athens erupted in flames as rioters filled the streets with their outrage.

The actions were fueled by the widely-unpopular austerity measures in a desperate attempt to stop the country from going into default on its private loans to creditors and also receive an additional loan of 130 billion Euro ($172 billion) as the AP reports.

The passage of the bill marked the continuation of failed policies that have resulted in two years of 20 percent unemployment and deep spending cuts that have taken their toll on Greek workers but have been unable to fix Greece's economic problems. The vote on Sunday reaffirmed to 100,000 protestors that those in positions of power are out of touch with the workers and students of Greece.

The protest turned violent as rioters began smashing storefronts and damaged more than 110 buildings, 50 of which were burned. The AP reported that the stench of tear gas "still hung in the air on Monday, choking passers-by, while traffic lights at many major intersections were out after being smashed."

In total, 40 tons of broken marbles and rocks littered streets from the damage to cultural buildings and local public works.

The rioting left more than 170 people hurt, and 70 protestors were hospitalized. Additionally, police arrested 93 people who will be "charged with offenses ranging from attempted murder and possession of explosives to looting," reported the AP.

The AP further reported, "[o]nce again, those in positions of responsibility, even though they should have been prepared, were unable to fulfill their duty and secure the well-being of citizens and visitors."

Even with the passage of the bill, it is uncertain if the New Democracy Party will be able to fulfill their duty of enforcing the new bill amid strong dissent from the majority Socialists and rival Conservatives, and it is still unclear if Greece will meet the guidelines for another rescue package as outlined by Germany.

Photo: Protesters pass by a burning cinema in Athens on Feb. 12. (AP/Kostas Tsironis)

Flower workers: giving Valentine's Day new meaning

Blake Deppe — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:44:00 -0500

Today is Valentine's Day, and flowers will be sent to people all over the country. But the Colombian workers - mostly female - who cut and ship those flowers must endure substandard pay and conditions, reports the AFL-CIO. This holiday would provide an excellent opportunity to show support for them.

According to the U.S. Labor Education in the Americas project, workers in Colombia - where 60 percent of U.S. flowers come from - work long hours, and don't earn enough to support their families. They also endure sexual harassment, and any efforts they might make to form a union or to improve wages and conditions would get them fired .

And medical surveys indicate that two thirds of flower workers suffer from problems stemming from exposure to harmful pesticides, including nausea and miscarriages, according to a report by Oxfam International.

"The women have to come back into the greenhouses immediately after the flowers are sprayed with pesticides," said Dionise Trujillo, a former flower worker in Colombia. "Some of them get dizzy or have trouble with their blood pressure, and some of their children have been born with lung problems."

Colombia's Labor Action Plan, agreed to last year by President Obama and Colombia President Juan Manuel Santos, has reportedly failed to create better conditions for Colombian working families. The plan was touted as a big step in ending violence against trade unionists and protecting workers' rights to come together in unions, but such progress has not been made.

In response, USLEAP is calling on people to fight for the rights of the nearly 100,000 flower workers, and to turn Valentine's Day into International Flower Workers Day. USLEAP asks everyone to support their cause and sign a letter to Colombian Minister of Labor Rafael Pardo Rueda, demanding that flower workers receive "fair wages, equal treatment, and justice."

As people in the U.S. buy flowers today for that special someone, most will not think about where they came from, and who had to suffer for it. Valentine's Day is considered to be a day of love, but many feel that as International Flower Workers Day, it could also be regarded as a day of fairness and equality for workers.

Unfortunately, for the Colombian flower workers, until conditions improve, today will simply mean more of the same.

Photo: Colombian workers pack roses to be shipped to the U.S. Fernando Vergara/AP

Black History Month 2012: Remembering Dalzenia Henry

Joelle Fishman — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 12:10:00 -0500

NEW HAVEN, Conn - When the judging for the African American History Month High School Arts and Writing Competition takes place this Friday, Dalzenia Henry's legacy will be on our minds.

As a young African American woman growing up in the projects, Dalzenia's aspirations, hopes and dreams were very plain: she wanted every one to have the opportunity to achieve their fullest potential. She stood up against racism and inequality all her life, most of all by dedicating herself to children.

Dalzenia D. Henry passed away on January 12, 2008 at age 49. She had been recovering from the flu. Even though she didn't feel well, Dalzenia went in to work at the Children's Center that day. All at once, she stopped breathing and collapsed. She never made it back home.

The shock was deep at her workplace where she was president of her AFSCME local, and in the community where she had spent years directing an after school "youth diversion" program at Quinnipiac Terrace, It was devastating to her daughters, her mother and her large, extended family.

At the time, Dalzenia was in the midst of preparations for the 34^th annual People's World African American History Month celebration She put her energy and creativity into these celebrations so people would be "educated, entertained and motivated ... This should sustain you to go out into the community and fight the battles we have yet to win," she would say.

As one of the delegates who traveled from Connecticut to St. Louis, Missouri in August 2007 to attend the African American Equality Conference of the Communist Party, Dalzenia was committed to take on a larger leadership role.

As part of an effort to end the violence in the community, the high school competition was launched to coincide with the African American History Month celebration. It is now named for Dalzenia and her mother Virginia, a leader of Local 35, service and maintenance workers union at Yale, who died a year later.

Dalzenia was a deep thinker. She understood the interconnections of exploitation, racism and war. She was not afraid to stand up for her beliefs, and was proud to be a member of the Communist Party USA.

Despite the difficult economic problems she faced, often working several low-wage jobs, she found the time to participate and raise consciousness in her neighborhood.

All the kids loved "Toosie," as they called Dalzenia. When the Housing Authority cut the after-school program she directed, the children wrote a petition and showed up at a meeting of the Board of Directors. The program was extended for an extra six months.

Dalzenia served as a Commissioner on the City of New Haven Peace Commission. She was a candidate for State Legislature on the Tax the Rich line in 1992. She participated in many long bus trips to Washington DC for peace, jobs and justice marches and rallies.

Dalzenia was a wonderful friend and comrade. She was open-minded. She had a passion for justice and a zest for life. She put family first and embraced the entire community. Her creativity, deep political thinking and optimistic outlook for achieving basic change made a lasting impact. Dalzenia helped make history.

This year's competition fits Dalzenia to a "T." The students are asked to write or draw about their vision for the future and to address the question: "How can being involved in the struggle for freedom and equality bring positive change to your life and the larger community?"

The prizes will be awarded on Sunday, February 26 at 4 pm at 37 Howe Street in New Haven during the 38^th annual African American History Month Celebration of the People's World. The theme, "We who believe in freedom cannot rest," is a phrase from Ella's Song. The dedication and inspiration that Dalzenia brought to the struggle for freedom and equality does not rest

Prison privatization efforts stall in Florida

Joshua Leclair — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 11:19:00 -0500

Stiff opposition and a divided Florida chamber have temporarily halted a move to privatize 27 prisons in South Florida.

According to Michael Peltier of Reuters, Florida Senate President Mike Haridopolos, a Republican, postponed the vote on privatization until this week. If successful, this measure would outsource a third of Florida's corrections facilities and work camps to for-profit vendors. With Florida already having the third largest prison system in the U.S. ($2.2 billion-a-year- overseeing nearly 101,000 inmates and 112,800 on community supervision), privatizing the state's corrections system would create the largest for-profit prison industry in the country.

Peltier goes on to say that Senate President Haridopolos and supporters of the privatization bill (SB 2038) are warning other legislators that cuts of $15 million out of the state's $69.2 billion budget will be necessary if the bill does not pass. But veteran Florida Senator Mike Fasano, also a Republican, said "the evidence is not there ... there needs to be an in-depth study to tell us if it's going to save money." As a result, Senator Fasano was quickly stripped of his chairmanship of the Senate appropriations committee by Senate President Haridopolos.

Fernando Rendon, an IBEW member and blogger on Florida Today , said that the "bill will privatize government agencies and services WITHOUT any public or expert input, and any cost analysis studies to justify the need for privatization." Rendon went on to say that there would be "no hearings, no studies, and no justifications to show if privatization is a better option."

"Haridopolos' actions (laid) bare his true intentions of giving away prisons and in the future, other government facilities and services to private interests, and the reason for this is money," Rendon said. Haridopolos insists this will be money saved for taxpayers, but in reality it will be another hand out to corporations and politicians at the expense of Florida's taxpayers. "Once those prisons go private, owners will push politicians to impose mandatory sentencing for what are now petty crimes," said Rendon. "That is the reason companies like GEO give so much in campaign contributions is that [they[ see it as an investment that they intend to make up in spades by filling jails and charging taxpayers for it."

With a divided house and many Floridians lobbying against the prison privatization measure both at home in their districts and in Tallahassee, Haridopolos may be fighting an uphill battle this week.

Photo: On the right, Senate President Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island, laughs it up in the Florida Senate in Tallahassee. Haridopolos removed Sen. Mike Fasano from a budget panel after Fasano fought a plan to privatize Florida prisons. Phil Sears/AP

Grammys: prayer for Whitney, praise for Adele

Teresa Albano — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:36:00 -0500

Why bother writing about an over-produced awards show that celebrates a multi-billion dollar industry, multi-millionaire performers, and a world that may have more in common with the 1% than the 99%?

Because, millions of people love music and the Grammys, and many of the artists come from the 99%, even if some of them now have 1% incomes.

Or, because, as Bruno Mars said, "get off your rich (behinds) and let's have some fun."

I was anticipating lots of fun, listening intently for progressive political or social commentary, but didn't hear much from the show. Twitter, on the other hand, provided lots.

Bruce Springsteen provided subtle politics with his show-opening song, "We Take Care of Our Own," which is now on Barack Obama's reelection campaign playlist.

But the optimistic realism of the song, soon gave way to another reality: the shocking death of 48-year-old pop icon Whitney Houston. The Grammys' usual glitz and glamour were dimmed a few times during tributes to the world-renowned singer, whose battle with drug addiction took a toll on her and her powerful voice.

The show's emcee, L.L. Cool J, offered a prayer, Jennifer Hudson sang one of Houston's signature songs "I Will Always Love You," and stars condoled Houston's death.

The religious opening was certainly offset by Nicki Minaj's quasi-sacrilegious performance of "Roman Holiday." It was an eye-popping production, which made Madonna's "Like a Virgin" and Sinead O'Connor's ripping up the Pope's photograph seem tame.

Democratic political activist Donna Brazile tweeted, "Nicki's performance was beyond surreal. Scary. On my knees now asking the Lord to forgive me for watching it."

Speaking of surreal - and scary - the amount of airtime heaped on Chris Brown, who won Best R&B Album, was odd. Seemed like it was a deliberate move by some well-connected agent or record label who has a lot of money riding on Brown and needed to rehabilitate his image after he was convicted of assaulting then-girlfriend and singer-superstar Rihanna in 2009.

But judging from at least one Twitter trending topic, #womanbeater, it may take more than a television broadcast to revive Brown's wounded career.

While there was prayer for Houston, the Grammys heaped praise on British soul singer Adele. She tied Beyonce winning the most awards for a female vocalist, six, including Best Song, record, and album.

Adele, modest and straightforward, is a daughter of the British working class, and - like the working-class lads from Liverpool almost 50 years ago - topped the charts simultaneously last year with two singles from her album "21."

Worth noting is Adele's attitude towards body image. She doesn't buy into the Hollywood/mass media pressure on girls and women to be super skinny, a welcome role model for girls who are bombarded with corporate-produced images of womanhood.

While overt progressive political statements were thin in the Staples Center, outside some Grammy winners took to the street demonstrating against the unilateral and secretive cuts of 31 Grammy categories, including Latin jazz, contemporary jazz, Native American, zydeco, Cajun, classical, Hawaiian, polka, regional Mexican, and world music.

Latin jazz artists and others submitted petitions in protest and rallied outside Staples Center. They said the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences did not notify the membership of the cuts and did it in secret. The categories for the most part, represent many artists of color, and smaller independent labels. The academy is sending a wrong message, especially at a time when the country is growing in racial and ethnic diversity. It also seems like a move highly motivated by profit factors, and not artistry.

Recording Academy President Neil Portnow offered nothing progressive in his long and boring speech. It was aimed at remaking the image of Big Music, and a case for the return, in some form, of SOPA and PIPA , which lawmakers took off the table after receiving millions of protest messages by Wikipedia, Reddit, Google, and other websites, protesting the draconian anti-free speech measures in the legislation.

Etta James was remembered in a duet performance of "A Sunday Kind of Love" by Alicia Keys and Bonnie Raitt, but fans were upset when her photograph was missing from the "in memorium" segment.

Soul Train founder (and TV-music innovator) Don Cornelius was also conspicuously missing from "in memorium," although the academy included Steve Jobs for digital music innovation. After the segment, LL Cool J, perhaps noting the absence of Cornelius, smoothly added his name and memory, while introducing Foo Fighters and Deadmau5.

Gil Scott-Heron was given a lifetime achievement award posthumously, but reportedly left out of the photographs as well.

Glen Campbell, who gave an energetic performance of "Rhinestone Cowboy," received accolades during the music showcase. Campbell has Alzheimer's, yet is on tour filling venues, and along with his wife Kim, talking about living with the disease.

Photo: Adele performs at the 54th Annual Grammy Awards show Feb. 12. (AP/Matt Sayles)

“A Separation”: revelatory film about life in contemporary Iran

Jim Lane — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:07:00 -0500

Movie Review: "A Separation"

Directed by Asghar Farhadi

Starring Peyman Moaadi, Leila Hatami, Sareh Bayat

Iran, 2011, PG-13, 126 minutes

In the first scene of Academy-Award-nominated "A Separation," Simin, the wife, tells an Iranian divorce judge that she wants to leave the country, but her stubborn husband won't go. The husband, Nader, tells her to go if she wants to, and says that their 11 year old daughter can make her own decision to go or stay. They seem to be a middle-income urban family, but Simin apparently comes from higher up. Is this just another tearjerker about sad family conflicts?

No, it isn't. In two hours of movie, we are transported through much of contemporary life in Iran. The simplicity of the setting disguises an important film about a great and, for Americans, mysterious, faraway place and what it must be like to live there. Through circumstances set off but not caused by their separation, Simin and Nader soon find themselves in a highly tense and complicated drama concerning people much further down the economic ladder.

There is no sermon, no pro-Iran, no anti-United States, no sides taken, no interpretations from the characters, no narration. Just a series of highly revelatory movie scenes as everyone in the film confronts each other, their culture, their legal system, their ethics, their morals, and, most of all, their hopes. If the storytellers have a specific political statement in mind, it is this: No matter how difficult, how complicated, how undeserved, our situations and how hopeless we may feel, it is better to stay and fight than to run away.

The young daughter, Termeh, keeps a martyr's noncommittal face through nearly all of the film. We identify with her, we know how she must be suffering, we understand her conflicts and her helplessness, but she never once asks for our help or sympathy. Other characters react with emotions that are sometimes muted and sometimes enraged.

The movie deserves its Oscar buzz as best foreign film. As with any good artistic experience, moviegoers are transformed as they watch "A Separation." Whether we meant to or not, we will develop empathy for our brothers and sisters in faraway Iran. We will feel some of their hope, and we will suffer some of their pain.

Photo: "A Separation" offers a glimpse of modern life in Iran. View Auckland

Massive reenactment of 1965 Selma march will focus on today’s battles

John Wojcik — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:52:00 -0500

"We may be marching from Selma to Montgomery, but this is about the Wisconsins, Ohios, Indianas, Arizonas, the Michigans and any other state where they're blatantly attacking our rights."

With those words AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., last week that unions are joining with civil rights and community partners in a massive re-enactment of the historic 1965 Alabama civil rights march. Holt Baker is the nation's highest-ranking African American labor leader.

The reenactment will focus, she said, on the new attacks on voting rights across the nation by the GOP, on immigrant and workers' rights and on education.

"The onslaught of coordinated attacks on workers' rights, voting rights, public education and immigration reform is an affront to our democracy," said Holt Baker. "During the difficult economic times that so many of our communities are facing, we would much rather see our state legislators spending their time focusing on job creation as opposed to deconstructing our fundamental rights."

The five-day reenactment will step off on Sunday, March 4, in Selma, in remembrance of "Bloody Sunday" in 1965 when 600 peaceful marchers calling for the right to vote, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, were attacked by hundreds of local and state police wielding billy clubs and using poison gas on the demonstrators.

"It is important that we not just remember what Dr. King and others did in 1965 with the Voting Rights Act that came as a result of the Selma-to-Montgomery march," said the Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network, which is among the sponsors of the reenactment. "We must preserve it (the Voting Rights Act) against voter ID laws and the (elimination of) early voting and voter suppression attempts that are taking place today," he said in a statement.

The original Selma-to-Montgomery march was actually three marches that were part of a massive civil rights movement taking place across America. The first march, on March 7, 1965, was the brutally attacked "Bloody Sunday" event. The second march, the following Tuesday, was turned back after some 2,500 demonstrators crossed Selma's Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The third march started March 16 with marchers logging about 10 miles per day on their treck from Selma to the state Capitol in Montgomery. They marched along Route 80, known at that time as Jefferson Davis Highway. Davis was president of the Confederacy.

The third march made it to Montgomery and the state Capitol. The nation watched on TV as the marchers made their way, protected this time by 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers, 1,900 members of the Alabama National Guard who had been put under federal command, and huge numbers of FBI agents and federal marshals.

Many individual unions have joined the AFL-CIO in sponsoring the re-enactment including the Service Employees, Auto Workers, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the American Federation of Teachers.

Unions and the civil rights groups involved say they they will push hard to publicize their national campaign, which began several weeks ago, to get the Alabama state legislature to dump its recently passed anti-immigrant law.

"This law is an ill-conceived effort to terrorize undocumented workers and drive them from the sate," Wade Henderson of the Leadership Council on Civil Rights, which is coordinating this year's march, said in a statement.

Immigrant families have fled Alabama because of the new law with children having been pulled out of school by officials forced to quiz them about their citizenship.

The law also forces police to stop, quiz and demand papers from and arrest for deportation anyone who "looks different."

It also criminalizes anyone signing a contract with, selling or renting a house to, or giving any type of aid, including a glass of water, to undocumented workers.

The sponsoring groups say they hope the march will help force corporations to re-think doing business in Alabama. They have already asked three top automakers in the state - Honda, Hyundai and Daimler Benz - to meet with them about the law. Henderson announced those plans at a Feb. 6 news conference.

The United Auto Workers played a leading roll in supporting the civil rights movement in the 1960s. The union's current president, Bob King, said the UAW "will enlist our members, have demonstrations, and do whatever we collectively decide to help overturn the Alabama law."

Eliseo Medina, SEIU's secretary-treasurer, said his union has few members in Alabama, "but they are participating in efforts" to lobby the legislature to overturn the law. "We'll mobilize them to participate" in the Selma-to-Montgomery march, he added. "You can't have people living in the shadows without impacting all other workers," Medina said of the immigrant workers targeted by the Alabama law.

Photo: Dr. Martin Luther King leads marchers across the Alabama River on the first of a five-day, 50 mile march to the state capitol on March 21, 1965. AP

Mortgage agreement: a small step forward

PW Editorial Board — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:46:00 -0500

Housing, labor, and civil rights advocates and elected officials are generally giving a thumbs up to the accord reached last week between 49 state attorneys general and banks involved in the mortgage crisis. The agreement was announced by President Obama and Attorney General Holder.

The $26 billion settlement is seen as a modest step forward.

We agree. Some progress in settling accounts with the tens of millions of homeowners who lost property and wealth as a result of the mortgage ripoff is better than none at all.

The percentage of those who will be actually helped and the initial payouts, however, are quite small: approximately $2,000 each to those who lost their homes, and some $20,000 to owners whose mortgages are "under water," meaning they owe more than their homes are worth. The average owed for underwater homes is $60,000.

Clearly these paltry amounts will not address the huge losses sustained by working class homeowners from predatory lending. Nor will it help pull the country out of the ongoing economic crisis, much of which is due to the slump in the housing market.

Another downside is that the agreement does not include mortgages held by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The payments' real value is more political than monetary. Consider it a small precedent -setting down payment on what is sure to be a long and protracted struggle against the banks.

In this sense, it is more than what many feared would be a mere slap on finance capital's wrists.

The agreement came after the President's State of the Union speech in which he announced the creation of a federal task force, headed by New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, which will investigate and prosecute bank mortgage fraud.

Schneiderman recently pointed out that the settlement involves banks' activities after the 2007 crisis and not actions that led up to the crisis, leaving wide room for ongoing investigatory efforts. "The multistate talks all relate to post-crash conduct. These are abuses in the foreclosure process," he said. "Our working group is focusing on the conduct related to the pooling and creation of mortgage-backed securities ... the conduct that created the crash, not the abuses that happened after the fact."

Prior to last week's deal, Schneiderman, along with California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris, had held the pending agreement at arm's length. The new task force clearly influenced their decision to accept the terms.

In addition, the agreement importantly does not prevent both states and individuals from pursuing claims. AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka said, " Law enforcers can still investigate and prosecute criminal activity against the banks, and pursue broader civil claims for illegal conduct that brought down our housing market."

Rebuild the Dream's Van Jones said, "Because this settlement limits legal immunity for banks, this deal does not automatically let the banks off the hook for all of their wrong-doing. Except for a few issues like robo-signing, state attorneys general can still fight for more compensation and relief for the banks' victims."

The NAACP concurred, giving the deal its seal of approval. The organization's head, Ben Jealous, said, "This monumental settlement is a strong step towards assisting the millions of current and former homeowners that were exploited, discriminated against, and taken advantage of by major mortgage servicing banks."

Given that a large percentage of the state attorneys general are from GOP-led states, and that the agreement was reached at the beginning of the election season, it is significant that any deal was reached at all.

Clearly, widespread public disgust and anger organized in ongoing petition drives, campaigns, sit-ins, and the Occupy Wall Street movement is what forced an agreement.

These protests must continue. Black and Latino homeowners experienced the largest wealth loss in our country's history. Senior citizens were unfairly targeted. Hundreds of billions are still owed and the balance must be paid. The struggle continues.

Photo: President Obama speaks about a mortgage settlement in Washington on Feb. 9. Susan Walsh/AP

The 99% rally outside DC gathering of the 1%

James Baldridge — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 12:02:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - More than 1,200 labor and community activists, as estimated by the AFL-CIO, turned out in force at a boisterous rally Friday outside the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). As many as 700 shut down Woodley Road at midday with an impromptu sit-in and a brief takeover of the driveway at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

Shouting "Whose America? Our America!" chanters and picket signs drew attention to the income gap between the "one percent" and the "99 percent" and the need for an economy that works for everyone.

Buses came from Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York City to join with DC and Virginia protesters at the 2012 version of the annual CPAC conference, the "birthing ground" of the most aggressive agenda items that will be used by the right wing in the run-up to the November elections.

Well appointed CPAC members rushed through the huge crowds that had turned the area around the hotel into a multi-racial, multi-generational festival that featured everything form Occupy Wall Street tents to neatly uniformed "Tax Dodgers," with a giant "Mitt."

At least 12 major unions participated. They were joined by groups like Occupy Baltimore, Occupy DC, Veterans for Peace and Fight For Philly. The latter is a coalition of labor, community, faith and activist groups. There was also a large contingent of immigrant rights activists carrying a banner saying, "The People United Can Never Be Defeated" in English on one side and Spanish on the other.

The diverse gathering was at least half African-American, with many Latinos and older workers. Participation from the unions was almost entirely rank and file, with some staff to provide organizational and logistical support for the event.

Other signs in the march and protest were "Medicare Is Sexy," "Banks got bailouts, Schools got sold out," "Santorum is a dirty word" (carried by an Occupy Baltimore leader), "Jobs not cuts," "They pay less taxes than you and I," "Occupy the future," "Recall Walker," "Corporations are NOT people," "Immigration reform NOW," "Ban fracking now" and "We are the Times Persons of the Year."

Chants heard during the march and rally were "Kick Back CPAC," "the REAL 'Voice Of America' will be HEARD," and "We're not gonna be happy 'til they say JOBS!"

There was an energetic group of drummers to count cadence during the march and to provide rhythmic interludes during the rally.

Later Friday afternoon, the United Food and Commercial Workers, Local 1994, kicked off the night demonstration by parading their "golden throne" - a gold-painted toilet - in front of the Marriot Wardman, "representing Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's greed and arrogance," Local President Gino Renne said.

Just as the GOP has lurched to the right the CPAC itse4lf has swung further to the right than ever.

Peter Brimelow, a prominent white nationalist and founder of the racist and anti-Semitic website VDARE attended this year and "Birther" leader Joseph Farah was another right-wing luminary in attendance. He has boycotted CPAC since 2009 when he was blocked from hosting a panel questioning the President's citizenship but was welcomed back this year.

Youth for Western Civilization, whose founder was arrested in 2007 for karate chopping an African American woman on the street while calling her "n****" was accepted this year as a CPAC co-sponsor.

GOP presidential candidates Romney, Gingrich and Santorum were there, with Romney winning the group's straw poll on presidential preference.

Unions at the demonstrations against the right-wing cabal included the Sheetmetal Workers, Elevator Constructors, Local, the Service Employees International Union, the American Federation of Teachers, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the Firefighters, the American Fedratioon of Government Employees, Stagehands and Actors, the Ironworkers, the Communications Workers of America and the Washington DC Metro Council of the AFL-CIO.

Photo: Washington DC Metro Council, AFL-CIO

Senate hopeful Hoekstra slammed for racist Super Bowl ad

John Rummel — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:16:00 -0500

DETROIT - Racism and far right politics go hand-in-hand. Nothing new from Michigan Senate hopeful and former Congressman Pete Hoekstra, but with his Super Bowl ad, the whole nation got to see it for themselves.

Hoekstra is running against Michigan incumbent Sen. Debbie Stabenow and his ad criticized Sen. Stabenow's record identifying her as Debbie "Spend-it-now" and himself as "Spend-it-not."

The Hoekstra ad used a Chinese American actor who, speaking broken English while riding a bike with rice paddies in the background, "praises" Sen. Stabenow for her policies that cause the United States to borrow money from her country (implying China), making them rich and the U.S. poor.

After the ad's airing, criticism of it here skyrocketed. In a press conference the next day, Detroit minister Rev. Charles Williams II said: "If Pete Hoekstra does not see any wrong in this commercial, he doesn't deserve to be in the race. The Asian woman speaking in this video would be no different than him having a black person speaking in slave dialect. He needs to apologize now!"

Another Detroit minister, Rev. Maurice L. Rudds, said, "The politics of racial division is alive and well in Hoekstra's campaign. What's next? A commercial mocking African American hip-hoppers?"

Many here note that when it comes to spending U.S. tax dollars Hoekstra himself has had no problem - as long as the money went to the top 1 percent.

He voted for the $700 billion Wall Street bailout, voted to allow CEOs at bailed out banks to receive bonuses at taxpayer expense, and voted against regulation to prevent future bailouts. He has said repealing Wall Street reform would be one of his top priorities.

How does Hoekstra feel about money for the 99 percent? He has recently given support to the "right-to-work" initiative being pushed by Republicans in Michigan - a quick way to lower the state's standard of living without any interference from China or any other country.

Interestingly the Chinese economy has weathered the current economic downturn not because it "spends-it-not" but because it does indeed "spend-it." Huge infrastructure projects such as mass transit have provided jobs and laid the basis for China's future growth.

Even some Republicans said Hoekstra's Super Bowl ad went too far. Not because they had a change of heart on their policies. It's more likely because reaction against the ad was swift and strong.

Photo: Pete Hoekstra Flickr

Ballad for the Occupation: interview with Spencer Livingston

Chris Elliott — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:57:00 -0500

While it seems like ages ago, the Occupy movement was just born last fall. Beginning in New York City's Zuccotti Park near Wall Street, the act of occupying public spaces to protest gross inequalities fostered by our economic system soon spread to cities across the nation. It was clear from the start that Occupy Wall Street was going to be a political game-changer; the true scope and nature of the change has yet to play out.

Another aspect of the movement still in development is its impact on the arts and culture. Occupy has inspired scores of performers to embrace the movement by entertaining and inspiring the occupiers with music, and by writing songs dedicated to the movement.

One such artist is singer-songwriter Spencer Livingston. Livingston, who is a member of Los Angeles-based rock bank "The Alternates," also performs as a solo artist and wrote a song inspired by the events at Zuccotti Park. His song, "Occupy Wall Street," is a mellow, melodic meditation on the feelings of economic injustice that sparked the movement. The song's soft-spoken vocals and haunting blues riff are uncharacteristic of a "protest" song, and its melancholy tone strikes an interesting contrast with the strident lyrics.

He told Yahoo News that writing "OWS" "was definitely a spur of the moment thing, I've never been big on writing political songs, but I had to write about this because I feel passionate about it."

I recently spoke with Livingston about "OWS" and his motives for writing it.

Why did you compose a song for Occupy Wall Street?

"I've always been interested in politics and environmental stuff...and wanting to see more people getting involved. I hope to see more things like this. It's the biggest movement I've seen. Getting involved in this is the right thing for my sanity - it's the right thing to do. Seeing this happening, I wanted to do something-a benefit show or something...I ended up writing the song."

Are there any politically themed songs or artists who inspire you?

"Neil Young is one of my idols. He's my favorite guitarist, singer, and songwriter. I like Bob Dylan, too. I don't know if they're "political," but Wilco. Neil Young - he doesn't have to have the greatest voice; he's captivating. He means what he says, and that's all that matters in the end."

Have you performed "Occupy Wall Street" at any of the Occupy sites?

"I haven't performed it. I've been to Occupy L.A. several times, and I've played at venues close to Occupy Wall Street. I played two or three shows out there. The first day, I went to New Jersey. I was going to play, but I got snowed in - the trains stopped. I played at 'The Living Room' and 'Pianos.'"

Where do you think the Occupy movement is going? What is the role of artists in the movement?

"Artists aren't the ones who solve the problems, but they can be the ones who identify them. I hope the movement continues and grows. People need to find a foundation of what needs to happen. It's complicated, with a lot of issues."

"OWS" is pretty melodic and mellow for a protest song. How do you feel this fits in the tradition of "protest music"?

"It was based on observations. I was trying to interpret what I'm seeing into words. Political songs tend to be in the moment, but a really good song should be timeless.

"The stories the media reports on are used for propagandistic purposes. The news media doesn't report on positive things about Occupy - they focus on the police actions, or ignore other things that were big news stories months ago, like the BP oil spill - it's forgotten about by the news media, but it's still out there.

"The environmental and the political can be seen as separate issues, but both are important."

Will "OWS" be on your solo album?

"No. I did "Occupy Wall Street" as a single. I'm going to leave it as it is. As a more political song, "OWS" is set in a certain time period. My other songs are more universal. People from any generation can relate to them."

Photo: Singer/songwriter/guitarist Spencer Livingston.

The Alternates official site

Opposition grows to GOP schools proposal

Mark Gruenberg — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:11:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - The National Education Association and a wide range of other organizations - from civil rights groups to the Chamber of Commerce - are opposing the proposal by the House's ruling Republicans to rewrite federal education law and school aid.

House Education Committee Chairman John Kline, R-Minn., unveiled the GOP proposal in a Feb. 9 speech to a right-wing think tank. More than 40 groups, including the AFL-CIO-affiliated School Administrators, call Kline's plan "a rollback" of the promise of equal educational opportunity that started with the U.S. Supreme Court's famous 1954 school integration ruling, Brown vs. Board of Education.

Kline would replace the 11-year old No Child Left Behind law, pushed through Congress by GOP President George W. Bush in early 2001. NCLB has led to "teaching to the test" nationwide, with schools forced to concentrate just on basics.

NCLB also set standards for student progress, measured solely by test scores that led directly to firings of teachers, state takeovers of schools, and virtual guarantees that public schools will fail, unions and teachers say. School failures let the federal government shift its education aid to private schools, a favorite right-wing cause.

Kline's plan is bad for the students the law is supposed to help, NEA says.

"We must remember the days before the Elementary and Secondary Education Act," which NCLB amended, "when generations of children were denied the basic educational opportunities they deserved," the union warned.

"We must judge proposals on whether they will strengthen our educational system, or whether they will move us backward. We must find an appropriate balance of federal and state roles by refocusing on strong state accountability systems while continuing to maintain a sharp federal focus on equity across state and district lines.

"The House draft fails to address equity issues adequately. The House proposals do not push states enough to narrow achievement gaps, provide equal access to quality education, and ensure state standards and assessment and accountability systems work for students.

"The proposals also lack a comprehensive plan to address existing inequities in public education that harm students and communities, particularly students and communities of color," NEA added. "Ensuring that all students have equal access to a quality education is why the federal government got involved in education in the first place. This principle should guide our efforts as we move forward," the union declared.

Photo: NYU teaching assistants - members of UAW Local 2110 - at the NLRB demand a ruling on their 2 year-old case involving their right to organize and bargain collectively. Photo courtesy UAW Region 9A via PAI Photo Service.

Trumka: Big Banks' payment on mortgage settlement good first step

Mark Gruenberg — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 09:43:00 -0500

WASHINGTON - A $26.5 billion settlement between the states' attorneys general and big banks over the financial finagling with mortgage-backed securities - which led to the economic crash and the Great Recession - is a good first step to hold financers accountable for the wreckage, foreclosures, and evictions they caused, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka says. It won't be the last.

The settlement, announced Feb. 9, forces the big banks to turn over the funds to settle the "robo-signing" mess: Some $5 billion to 750,000 victims of illegal bank home seizures in foreclosure where banks did not even review the documents, much less consider evidence that homeowners were current in payments.

The rest will go to mortgage relief for tens of thousands of other homeowners whose mortgages are "underwater" - worth more than the homes themselves. That still leaves other financial frauds that brought the economy down open to prosecution, Trumka and state and federal officials said. And that's very important, he added.

For example, Calif. Attorney General Kamala Harris is forcing the banks to pay an extra $12 billion to refinance mortgages at lower rates in the Golden State.

All this combined to cheer Trumka. The AFL-CIO was worried the Obama administration would go soft on the banks. He praised the attorney generals' role.

"The banks broke the law by railroading homeowners through the foreclosure process," Trumka declared. The settlement gives money to the victims "without requiring individuals to waive their legal claims. The settlement also includes needed principal write-downs, so homeowners can stay in their homes."

Trumka singled out Harris and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for fighting for a tough settlement. "Because of their efforts, these banks have not been released from liability for fraud and other illegal conduct in creation of mortgage-backed securities that were central to the Wall Street financial crisis. Law enforcers can still investigate and prosecute criminal activity against the banks, and pursue broader civil claims for illegal conduct that brought down our housing market," Trumka said.

Schneiderman and Obama's Attorney General, Eric Holder, said they aren't done with the banks yet. "This will not prevent state and federal authorities from pursuing criminal prosecutions," Holder said. "I'm confident we have the jurisdiction, the resources, and the will to pursue the people who brought down the economy," added Schneiderman. A new federal task force pursuing housing finance fraud, which Schneiderman chairs, has already subpoenaed 11 financial firms for their mortgage-backed securities documents.

Photo: "Richard Trumka listens as President Obama addresses union workers." Charles Dharapak/AP

Oakland’s struggle to reclaim Occupy Wall Street

Juan Lopez — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:35:00 -0500

Occupy Oakland's National Day of Action, Nov. 2, 2011, is a day to be remembered for the lessons it offers us.

"Regular" folk poured out into the streets incensed at Wall Street and the local police, who had used excessive force two weeks earlier when an Iraq veteran received a head injury from a police projectile at an Occupy Oakland protest.

By midmorning, thousands spread out through downtown Oakland in several tributary marches, closing some of the city's main thoroughfares.

We paused for a mini-rally by a Chase branch, as a richly colorful banner proclaiming "Make the Banks Pay!" was hoisted between two light poles across Webster Street.

That afternoon, we marched to the port in one gigantic mass.

Those of us arriving first watched in awe as wave after human wave poured in from the slope above the port complex, blocking all lanes leading to the docks.

As the sun was setting, a rich pinkish/orange hue engulfed the marching throng. It was a thing of indescribable beauty and power.

That evening, we went home in a triumphant mood.

We had won the battle for the hearts and minds of the 99 percent, without a single confrontation with police, a single injury or arrest. In fact, uniformed police were nowhere to be seen.

That night, a tiny grouping took it upon itself to take over an abandoned building.

Stories abound about the cops' behavior and that of the small group resisting them. Who threw the first punch?

After the cops forcibly dislodged the protestors who resisted, a small group, reportedly with the Black Bloc, their faces masked, went on a rampage.

They set fires, vandalizing everything in sight, including a coffee shop by Occupy Oakland's encampment whose owners had been supportive.

As dawn approached, a sizeable group of Oakland Occupiers could be seen busily cleaning up the mess the Black Bloc and their cohorts had left.

And so goes the tale of Occupy Oakland. A tiny minority makes a mess. A much larger group representing the sentiments of the overwhelming majority cleans it up.

Hiding behind the slogan, "diversity of tactics," Black Bloc and a few others have argued that those who engage in acts of violence and vandalism have a right to do so.

In the name of unity, many folks who personally disapprove of violent tactics have been swayed to endorse "diversity of tactics."

But a permissive attitude towards violent forms of activity defeats the very purpose around which Occupy Wall Street emerged: the fight of the 99 percent against the 1 percent.

It's tragic enough that in the last confrontation with police some 400 protesters were arrested, I'm sure, many unwittingly believing they were being true to the cause.
It's one thing to go to jail knowing that doing so will spur widespread and increasing support from masses of people. But it's another to end up in jail for employing confrontational tactics for a dubious goal that brings diminishing results, and even disdain from many previous participants and supporters.

The strategic goal is to help unite the vast majority of the people in struggle against Wall Street and, in the process, divide, isolate and eventually wrest power from the main enemy - the banks and financial institutions of capitalism.

Tactics must correspond to what will win the fight and, by inference, win the overwhelming majority of the people.

Most Americans understand and accept mass action, including civil disobedience, so long as it's nonviolent. As soon as the line is crossed support peels off rapidly.

Movements and organizations with long experience in struggle, as well as what we often describe as "average" Americans, embrace and promote Occupy Wall Street throughout the country because it has been speaking to what tens of millions know in their hearts and in their pocketbooks to be true.

Let's not let fringe groups, like Black Bloc, or individuals whose motives are questionable, be allowed to hijack a great movement.

Our families, our relatives, our neighbors, our co-workers and their families - that is, the vast majority of Americans - in one way or another are being made to pay by Wall Street.

Massive joblessness, record evictions, increased poverty...

Cities, states and the federal government are being forced to cut social services and jobs to the bone when we need more of both.

By focusing almost exclusively on police violence and local government, those who remain in the lead of Occupy Oakland have lost sight of the forest for the trees.

It's about Wall Street. It's about marshalling the most diverse, massive constellation of class and social forces - including city governments and their residents - that will unite all the victims of Wall Street under the banner, "Make the banks pay!"

Oaklanders, we must exert our collective voice, as we did Nov. 2. "We ain't gonna let nobody turn us around!" - not violence from the police or from a rump group.

"We've got our minds set on freedom," freedom from Wall Street and the system that's giving rise to it.