People's World Headlines

Yahoo grabs Tumblr: Will the blog site be corporatized?

Blake Deppe — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:46:00 -0400

Popular news site Yahoo purchased social network/microblogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion on May 20. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, who had been itching to obtain properties that would attract a younger online user base, was a longtime executive for Google until summer of last year. And anyone could tell you what a profiteering, privacy-meddling corporation Google is.

Yahoo is cut from the same cloth, its influence albeit less widespread. Yahoo's acquisition of Tumblr, a favorite go-to site for teens and young adults, has got bloggers worried. Many now ask the question, "Will Tumblr be ruined by capitalism?"

Tumblr, as of late, has been exploding with popularity, but older Internet users may not be familiar with it. Created in 2007 by founder and CEO David Karp, the service had 75,000 users within two weeks of its launch. Despite its semi-corporate origins, Tumblr was surprisingly un-Big Business-like; Karp downright refused to have ads on the site, and bloggers appreciated the simple, minimalist look and feel of it. As of May 2013, Tumblr hosts over 108.2 million blogs, with 75.8 million new posts made each day.

Many celebrities and artists have Tumblr pages, including Lady Gaga; actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt; actor Norman Reedus ("Daryl" on The Walking Dead); Paramore singer Hayley Williams; and director Eli Roth. Clearly, Yahoo wanted to sink their teeth into this valuable network.

The prime concern amongst Tumblr users is that the site will now be commodified; that it will be inundated with bothersome ads and cleverly-placed "messages" and "posts" from "sponsors."

Another concern is that the site, known for allowing a wide range of controversial content, might be censored under the ownership of Yahoo. Tumblr has always allowed adult content, including content of a sexual nature, so long as posters tagged the entries "NSFW" (Not Safe for Work), so other users could avoid or omit those kinds of posts if they so chose. Yahoo may disallow those kinds of posts, though Mayer has yet to comment on the matter.

The bottom line is that now Tumblr-lovers are holdiong their breath in regard to what changes Mayer will make to the site, if any.

Marissa Mayer's past is steeped in corporatism, beginning with her work with Google. She also currently sits on the board of directors for Walmart, the big-box corporation with a messy legacy of union-busting, wage theft, small business extermination, and pure capitalism. Mayer has praised Walmart as "an amazing story of entrepreneurship and the world's most powerful brand, which touches millions of lives every day." She made no mention of how Walmart touches the lives of the underaged slave laborers who toiloverseas to make most of the products.

Mayer said that Tumblr users ought not to worry - that Tumblr will not be turning "purple," nor will there be any Yahoo branding on Tumblr, and that Tumblr will be independently operated as a separate business with Karp staying on as CEO. But in the same breath, she said that the new deal will give Yahoo the chance to "monetize" Tumblr, though she was not very clear on what that will entail.

Mayer also compared the success of the purchase of Tumblr to that of Google's purchase of YouTube. But YouTubers would be quick to note that the video site has become overwhelmed with ads and, more recently, pay-to-watch videos since Google's acquisition. That fact does nothing to alleviate concerns over this deal.

This is also seen as an effort by Yahoo to get its name out there among the younger generation, who are not as familiar with the site. Fearing the news site will fade into obscurity, the company is trying desperately to appeal to that crowd who would ask, "What's AOL?," "What's MSN?," and "What's dial-up Internet?" As Time Magazine put it, "Ultimately, Yahoo did the deal to get into social networking, create more advertising inventory, and because upon hearing the news, 40 million 20 year-olds asked, 'Ya-who?'"

Yahoo's next venture? It was just reported that Mayer has joined the bidding war for popular video streaming site Hulu. Other bidders include DirecTV and Time Warner Cable, and it's unlikely they'll outbid Yahoo. It seems that Yahoo will, like Google, begin to gobble up all the smaller websites out there, assimilating them into itself. In other words, welcome to 2013, where no small businesses can survive - not even on the Internet.

Photo: Marissa Mayer speaks at a Google event. Giorgio Montersino/Flickr (CC)

Obama proposes end to "state of perpetual war"

John Wojcik — Sat, 25 May 2013 00:04:00 -0400

In a speech at the National Defense University yesterday President Barack Obama declared the nation must move away from the "state of perpetual war" that has existed since 9/11. He repeated President James Madison's warning, "No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare."

The president issued his call in a speech addressing controversies over the carrying out of drone strikes, U.S. efforts to break hunger strikes by Guantanamo Bay prisoners who have long been approved for transfer and seizures of Associated Press records.

In the speech, the president defended his administration's use of drones, arguing that the policy has stopped terrorists who clearly were about to carry out major attacks on Americans, international aviation or other targets important to the United States. He said, on the issue of U.S. citizens having been among those killed, that citizenship cannot be used as a "shield" to protect someone engaging in or planning an attack on Americans.

Civil liberties and human rights groups immediately took issue with those arguments.

"The president still claims broad authority to carry out target killings from any battlefield, and there is still insufficient transparency," Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. "We continue to disagree fundamentally with the idea that due process requirements can be satisfied without any form of judicial oversight by federal courts."

President Obama said that in keeping with his intention to move the nation out of its state of "perpetual" war he will slash the number of drone attacks, send Guantanamo detainees who were eligible for transfer to Yemen and step up efforts to shut down Guantanamo altogether. He said the CIA will cede its control over the drone war to the Pentagon in six months, opening the way for greater transparency. Pentagon budgets are the subject of public discussion, CIA budgets are not.

Clearly indicative that the administration has felt the pressure of antiwar critics was the president's request that people imagine, 20 years from now, how the continued presence of Guantanamo would be explained. "History will cast a harsh judgement on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who failed to end it," he declared.

It hasn't been lost on leaders in the peace movement that the president's speech yesterday reflected concerns that their movement has been raising since 9/11.

"The peace movement has been steadily pressing for demilitarization of foreign policy," said Judith LeBlanc, national coordinator for Peace Action. "The speech shows we have had an impact and now we will have to step up our efforts."

Obama promised to engage Congress about the existing Authorization to Use Military Force, calling it "near obsolete" and in need of eventual repeal. He threatened to veto any proposal that expanded the so-called "war" on terror and he said drones will not be used after U.S. ground forces leave Afghanistan.

"While there are some, particularly the more hawkish Congressional Republicans, who say this war should last forever," The New York times wrote editorially after the president's speech. "Mr. Obama told the world that the United States must return to a state in which counterterrorism is handled, as it was before 2001, primarily by law enforcement and the intelligence agencies. That shift is essential to preserving the democratic system and the rule of law for which the United States is fighting, and for repairing its badly damaged global image."

Obama also promised to curtail the use of "lethal force" to only those targets considered to be "continuing, imminent threats to Americans" even as he acknowledged for the first time that drone attacks have killed civilians.

The president declassified the official information that the U.S. killed Anwar al-Awlaki and three other Americans. While defending al-Awlaki as a justifiable security threat, the administration is now saying the other three deaths, including aw-Awlaki's 16-year old son, were not specifically targeted.

The Center for Constitutional Rights said in response to the president's comments on use of lethal force against individuals, including Americans, that "though the president suggested a return to normal at some point in the future, the essence of his speech was to reassert the legally-flawed and dangerous premise of the targeted killing program - namely that the U.S. continues to be engaged in a global war with Al Qaeda and undefined 'associated forces.'"

The civil liberties group acknowledged the "imminent danger" policy change was "narrower" than the previous policy, but it also "raised questions" and "despite its 'refinements,' sets a dangerous precedent for future administrations and other countries."

Yesterday's speech also reflected pressure on the administration resulting from Justice Department collection of phone records from Associated Press journalists. Obama has asked Congress to pass a law that would protect the press.

"Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs. Our focus must be on those who break the law," he said. "That is why I have called on Congress to pass a media shield law to guard against government overreach."

He said that there will be consultations with the media and a report on a new whistleblower set of guidelines by July 12.

Photo: President Barack Obama prepares to take the stage as he is introduced at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington, D.C., May 23, 2013. (White House/Pete Souza)

Unions gather aid for tornado victims

Mark Gruenberg — Fri, 24 May 2013 23:18:00 -0400

Unions, led by the fire fighters and the AFL-CIO, are gathering aid for their members and other victims of the tornadoes in Oklahoma and Kansas.

International Association of Fire Fighters Communications Director Tim Burn said first responders, including those from his union, are busy helping their neighbors in digging out and reassembling their lives after the May 20 tornadoes. But some 30 IAFF members are victims, too, he said.

"Some 1,700 IAFF members are located in the path of the massive tornadoes that devastated Moore, Okla., and a number of other Oklahoma cities, as well as communities in Kansas. The international has begun damage assessments, and the need for relief to IAFF members affected by the storm is critical," he said.

Besides the 30 "who suffered total loss of their homes and personal belongings, dozens more have severe to moderate damage. With the massive path of destruction, we expect these initial reports will be ratcheted up significantly." The union seeks donations to its disaster relief fund for members, run by its foundation.

The AFL-CIO seeks donations for the tornado victims, union and non-union alike.

Federation Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker suggested donors send checks to the United Way of Central Oklahoma in Oklahoma City. "Oklahoma needs us right now," after the "mile-wide tornado," she said. "Money from the fund will be able to buy important supplies like blankets, food and water for survivors. It will keep rescue efforts moving forward at full capacity."

The United Food and Commercial Workers and the National Association of Letter Carriers said members in Moore lost homes, goods and cars. UFCW said checks should go to Local 1000's regional headquarters in Grapevine, Texas. NALC President Fredric Rolando said his union's members should funnel contributions to Branch 458 through the union's Postal Employees Relief Fund.

"The Moore station took an indirect hit," the letter carriers said. "While it is too early to assess the damage and communication is difficult, it appears that all carriers' personal vehicles in the Moore Post Office parking lot were destroyed. Several carriers suffered damage to, or total loss of, their homes but all letter carriers are accounted for and thus far there are no reports of injury or loss of life involving carriers."

"When a storm like this hits, we must match its ferocity with our own generosity to help our brothers, sisters and co-workers rebuild after this tragedy," Rolando said.

Photo: On May 20, this category EF5 tornado passed through Moore, Oklahoma, and other communities, leaving devastation and death in its path (CC).

In response to school closures, a new movement is born

John Bachtell — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:27:00 -0400

Mindless destruction.

That's the immediate reaction to the vote to close 50 schools by the Chicago Public Schools Board of Education (BOE) on May 22. The BOE voted unanimously for Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan, in reality a continuation of the same policy dating back 20 years.

There was never much doubt about the outcome by the deaf, rubberstamp BOE. It is after all an unelected, unaccountable board appointed by the mayor and composed of corporate CEOs, millionaires and billionaires.

The closures are the largest in U.S. history and follow similar closures based on similar policies in Philadelphia, Detroit, Cleveland, Sacramento, and other school systems.

The vote was a direct outcome of a corporate "market based" approach to public education. No longer are educators in charge of public education. Now big business is in charge and they're looting public education and turning it into a profit making venture.

Such an approach involves creating a two-tier public educational system: one for the wealthy, which gets showered with abundant funding and resources, a rich curriculum, small class sizes and experienced educators.

The other, reserved for the working class and children of color, is starved of resources, has a bare bones curriculum in which students are considered expendable and warehoused accordingly in overcrowded classrooms in dilapidated buildings.

That the policies are patently racist is evidenced by the fact that 90 percent of children affected are African American. This prompted a lawsuit by the Chicago Teachers Union that the closures violate the federal Civil Rights Act.

That children with disabilities will be warehoused and denied funding to address special needs also prompted a similar lawsuit claiming violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Meanwhile the education profession is being destroyed and teachers are becoming merely unskilled low-wage classroom managers, easily replaced as they burn out after a couple of years.

The entire system is opened to privatization and looting by Wall Street hedge funds and the likes of billionaires Gates, Walton, Broad and their ilk.

The BOE approved the plan despite broad based opposition by the Chicago Teachers Union, parents, students and communities around the affected schools and the community at large.

High school and elementary school students boycotted classes and sat-in to protest the plan and joined their teachers, parents, and community activists in marching, rallying and being arrested in civil disobedience actions.

Emanuel and CPS officials conducted themselves disgracefully throughout the process, presenting shifting reasons for the closures and justifying them on the basis of lies, distortion, and omission. When one justification was exposed as a lie, they shamelessly shifted to another.

First it was a billion dollar budget crisis and underutilization. Then it was underutilization and low performance.

Even this was too much for the corporate media mouthpieces like the Chicago Tribune and Sun Times who voiced growing skepticism.

When the expose of the lies became too much, CPS simply imposed a news blackout.

All along they hid the real CPS agenda of privatization.

Those who opposed the closures warned that they would only deepen the education crisis in Chicago, and place the children in greater danger of exposure to gang violence. In addition advocates warned shutting school doors would mirror past closures and not result in educational gains.

They warned the closures would continue to destroy the fabric of communities that are already reeling from deep poverty and economic crisis.

A school closure is akin to a plant shutdown. It is destruction of human community and institutions built up over generations from the hard work, blood, sweat and tears and creativity of thousands.

As CTU President Karen Lewis said, "This battle is far from over." A new movement has already begun in the political arena to register 250,000 voters and unseat Mayor Emanuel and his supporters in City Council and pass legislation to establish an elected school board.

To win, such a movement must be far broader than present, reach deeper into the grassroots and go beyond communities so far affected, and unite our multi-racial working class and mobilize the entire labor movement while effectively countering the corporate lies and setting out a vision for the future of public education.

A new national movement for education justice has been born all across the country, to defend public education from those who would destroy it, to end the corporate looting and privatization and to provide a fully funded, equitable public education for all. Chicago is on the frontlines of this fight.

Photo: Seth Perlman/AP

New York veterans chart a way forward

Gabe Falsetta — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:04:00 -0400

Veterans of the Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan wars gathered last Saturday at a local New York Area Veterans for Peace conference.

The one-day meet was devoted to the group's attempt to address the challenges of today's peace movement. The main topic of the day was to build a culture of peace at the grassroots level. Susan Schnall, a U.S. Navy Vietnam veteran and activist nurse along with Michael McPhearson, a Gulf War veteran and past executive director of the national organization moderated the conference.

One of the day's highlights were remarks by James J. Yee a former U.S. Army chaplain and a graduate of West Point.

Yee had served as the Muslim chaplain for the U.S. prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. While ministering to prisoners, Captain Yee advised camp commanders on detainee religious practices and objected to the cruel and degrading abuses to which the prisoners were subjected.

When on leave he was arrested in Jacksonville, Florida on September 10, 2003 and charged with sedition, aiding the enemy, spying, espionage, and failure to obey a general order, and spent 76 days in solitary confinement at the Navy brig in Charleston, South Carolina.

After months of government investigation, all criminal charges were dropped.

Yee stressed the importance of veterans sharing their personal stories and its importance to the national dialog on war and peace. Yee said when I tell my personal experience it blows people away.

A plenary discussion continued this theme focusing on organizing veterans on the basis of their unique circumstances as former soldiers.

Frank Stearns, a Vietnam vet stressed the importance of dealing with the war economy.. "We're at the end of declared wars, with drone technology you can fight without soldiers. The military-industrial complex is one of the biggest growth industries. We need to grapple with this new stage of privatizing the war industry."

The meeting paid tribute to the late David Cline the group's former past president and one of the founders of Veterans for Peace. Cline initiated the Veterans Peace Council of Metro NY to help coordinate anti-war activities by local veterans groups.

Photo: Flickr (CC)

Senate judiciary committee approves immigration bill

Emile Schepers — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:44:00 -0400

On Tuesday, the Senate Committee on the Judiciary voted 13 to 5 to send the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization act of 2013, S 744, to the full Senate for debate and a vote, a process that will probably begin in early June.

The vote came after the committee performed its "markup" function of dealing with most of the 300 amendments to the mammoth bill. Voting "no" were Republican Senators Sessions (Alabama), Grassley (Iowa), Cruz (Texas), Cornyn (Texas), and Lee (Utah).

The bill was supported by a bipartisan group of eight senators (the "Gang of Eight"), which included Democrats Bennett (Colorado), Durbin(Illinois), Schumer (New York) and Menendez (New Jersey) as well as Republicans McCain (Arizona), Flake (Arizona), Graham (South Carolina) and Rubio (Florida). Durbin, Schumer, Graham, and Flake are also Judiciary Committee members.

The markup process consisted of efforts by the Republican right to achieve two main objectives: To make the bill much harder on undocumented immigrants, and to make it easier for U.S. corporations to bring in more foreign workers in both high skills and lower skills categories.

In the first category was an amendment offered by Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to make it impossible for anybody who has ever knowingly been in the United States without papers to become a U.S. citizen. Other anti-undocumented amendments would have excluded from legalization anyone whose income was less than four times the poverty rate, forbidden immigrants in the process of legalizing themselves from even briefly visiting their relatives in their countries of origin, denied all means tested public benefits to such immigrants even after they become citizens, and not allowed the process of legalization to begin until the government could attest that it had the border "sealed" to the point that 90 percent of unauthorized entries were stopped.

Most of these were defeated handily. The one on "sealing the border" and another that requires the government to set up a system of biometric data collection to make sure that people who come here on temporary visas leave when they are supposed to, were decoupled from the legalization process. If the bill becomes law, all this will not delay the process of legalizing the estimated 11.5 million undocumented immigrants.

But the committee largely acceded to Republican demands to make it easier for corporations to bring in new guest workers, and to retailor visa procedures to suit the interests of business. For example, the original minimum of 65,000 new H-1B visas for highly skilled workers was raised to 110,000 to please high tech industries. This is strongly opposed by organized labor, which strongly supports, on the other hand, the legalization of the undocumented. This concession was supposedly made to get the support of influential Senator Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, for passage of the bill. Even though S 744 passed the Judiciary Committee stage quite easily, a bigger fight is expected in the full Senate. The Democrats have a majority there of 53 to 45 Republicans, plus two independents who will probably vote in favor. However, this is not enough to ensure cloture and a vote, which is the reason given for the further concessions to the Republicans on what is already a problematic bill.

A major progressive amendment to the bill, presented by Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy, D-Vermont, would have allowed U.S. citizen spouses of same-sex couples to petition for green cards (permanent legal resident visas) for their spouses. This was seen by the White House, the other members of the "Gang of Eight" and Leahy's fellow Democrats on the committee as endangering the passage of the bill because of the level of Republican animosity it would generate, and Leahy reluctantly withdrew his amendment.

The bill as passed by the Judiciary Committee, is already very problematic, although the AFL-CIO leadership and most immigrants' rights organizations see it as better than nothing, and as a start.

To legalize themselves, undocumented immigrants will have to jump through many hoops. They must first register as "Registered Provisional Immigrants" (RPIs), from which they are barred if they were not already in continuous presence in the country since December 31 2011 at the latest. They must pay a $500 fine, then manage to live and work here for 6 years without being unemployed for more than 60 days and with an average income of at least 125 percent of the poverty line. They also must not have felony convictions or more than two misdemeanor convictions (defined differently depending on the state). After the initial 6 years, they can apply to stay for another 4, paying another fine. After 10 years as RPI's, they can apply for green cards, and after that, they can apply for U.S. citizenship in another 3 years (2 years less than the regular wait). There are more generous conditions for "dreamers" (undocumented youth who were brought here without papers before they were 16 years old will have only a 5 year wait as RPIs), and farm workers.

But the main problem is that during this entire 10 year initial waiting period, "Registered Provisional Immigrants" will be at the mercy of their employers as well as of economic conditions. This time period needs to be much shorter, and the income and employment requirements eliminated. Otherwise this is just a gift to the most unscrupulous employers.

What is a "felony" and a "misdemeanor" for immigration purposes needs to be clearly defined. We cannot assume that in every state of the union a regime of perfect justice prevails, and that there are no bigoted or corrupt police officers, prosecutors or immigration agents. There are plenty of cases of U.S. citizens being "accidentally" rounded up and deported because they look "Hispanic" or have Spanish names, let alone non-citizens who should be protected by the legislation.

The extension of E-Verify to eventually include all employers, and thus all employees, is also a problem. So is the elimination of the "diversity lottery" of visas, which will make coming to the United States much harder for most would be-immigrants from Africa.

And there will be strong pressure in the House of Representatives to move the legislation further to the right, because of the 233 to 201 Republican majority. That fight now starts.

But immigrants' rights and labor activists say they will fight to make further changes, and point out that whatever happens in Congress this year is not the end but the beginning of the struggle for justice for immigrants. Even if some are unjustly excluded from legalization (and then are faced with greater repression), the prospect of millions acquiring the right and ability to defend themselves legally, in workplace and community, makes the effort worthwhile.

As the legislative struggle continues, so does the struggle to get the government to stop the current high level of deportation of immigrants who, under the new law, would be eligible to apply for legalization.

Photo: Activists in Washington, D.C. march for immigrant rights. ep_jhu/Flickr

A call for “foreclosure-free zones” at Detroit “people’s hearing”

Dave Elsila — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:26:00 -0400

DETROIT - United Auto Workers International Vice-President Cindy Estrada has called on union members to mobilize to create "foreclosure-free zones," to halt the eviction threats that have affected more than 16,000 families in southeastern Michigan since 2008.

Addressing a "People's Hearing" attended by more than 150 Detroit-area residents May 20, Estrada and two dozen homeowners, neighborhood leaders, and legal workers shared their experiences in facing down the attempts by banks, mortgage holders, and the federal-backed mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to kick people out of their homes.

Northwest Detroit resident Jerry Cullors testified how he and his wife awoke on Halloween last fall to see a dumpster and wrecking crew outside their home. Anti-eviction fighters from the UAW, the Detroit Eviction Defense group, and others quickly filled the dumpster with fallen leaves, leaving no room for the family's possessions. At the same time, legal workers were in court to win a stay of the eviction.

"Right now, despite Fannie and Freddie, we're still in our house," Cullors said. "And we're not leaving."

"Our dream as Americans is to own what we work for," he added. "There's nothing wrong with owning your dream. Why do banks think they should have the right to destroy the dream?"

While Cullors and some other threatened residents have been able to stay in their homes thanks to community supporters blocking dumpsters, and legal efforts seeking stays of evictions, thousands of others are facing the imminent loss of their homes. Ted Phillips of Detroit's United Community Housing Coalition testified that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have made 3,203 requests for bailiffs to evict families in Wayne County's 36th District Court alone.

Victims of foreclosures often are families who have suffered unemployment or medical problems and who have asked for loan modifications or reductions in principal. But, as many homeowners and community leaders testified, more often than not, banks will deny or stall such requests and then, without proper warning, will foreclose on the homes and put them up for sale at sheriff's auctions.

Edward Khammo of suburban Sterling Heights testified that after becoming seriously ill, he asked for help from his bank to modify his "underwater" mortgage. "They told us they'd work something out with us," he said. "Instead they sent people to our house, took pictures, and told us we owed $240,000, even though houses on our block are selling for $40,000. We've been in our home 20 years, but to them it's like we don't exist. We've made our payments but they're still trying to evict us."

"But we're fighting back," he said. "We're like David and Goliath, and you know how that story ended."

Once homes are foreclosed and sold at a sheriff's auction and families are evicted, one of two things happen, Phillips said. The houses sit vacant, adding to neighborhood blight, or are sold for bargain-basement prices to outside investors who often "flip" them to sell at market rates. Even if the occupants of the foreclosed homes offer to buy them back at market prices to avoid eviction, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will not deal with them.

Representatives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had promised to attend the hearing. But at the last minute, they refused to come, and two vacant chairs labeled with the agencies' names faced the audience.

"They can't face us," said Estrada. "Shame on them."

Referring to the UAW's history of fighting injustice, Estrada urged the many union members in the audience, "Go back to our local unions and tell the stories you've heard here. Go back and make foreclosure-free zones. Anything we can do, we're going to do." (The UAW has a long record of fighting evictions; during the 1930s it was not uncommon for union members to pick up furniture that bailiffs had put curbside and take it back into the evicted families' homes.)

Detroit attorney Jerry Goldberg reminded the audience that during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Michigan had a law providing a five-year moratorium against foreclosures. "We need such a law again in Michigan and across the country," he said.

Hanging in front of the union hall was a banner urging President Obama to issue an executive order for a two-year moratorium on foreclosures and evictions. Organizers of the hearing distributed a publication, "A Hurricane Without Water," that points out the federal government halted foreclosure and reduced mortgage principal for victims of Hurricane Sandy. Organizers said they would send a videotape of the hearings to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so they could see and hear the testimony that they refused to hear in person, and that they would plan demonstrations at the agencies' headquarters.

Detroit Eviction Defense meets every Thursday. Further information is available at www.DetroitEvictionDefense.org.

Photo: "People's Hearing" on foreclosures, May 20 in Detroit. At right is attorney Jerry Goldberg. Photo courtesy of Bob Ingalls.

Texas plant blast explainable, not excusable

Bill Knight — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:09:00 -0400

The April explosion at the West, Texas, fertilizer plant that killed 14 people, injured about 200 others and destroyed dozens of homes was so powerful it could be felt 50 miles away, registering as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake.

The blast should continue to rumble throughout the country since the plant's owner apparently didn't disclose the dangers there, and the government agencies responsible for protecting the area also failed. Profoundly.

The regulatory failure was explainable but not excusable.

The catastrophe reveals an abdication of responsibilities by corporations and government to protect workers and communities. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigated and it seems likely the tragedy was an accident caused by ignorance, negligence, and greed.

Government agencies supposed to oversee such operations didn't, or couldn't, and underfunding them is no accident. Choices were made. A company's financial interests seemingly took precedence over public safety or the well-being of employees. A business played down or ignored the risks.

"It is unlikely that the owners of the West plant intended to kill anyone," said Penn State law professor Ellen Dannin. "But there was, at least, gross neglect in the siting of the plant in the midst of a town, where the company was situated - so close to the town, schools, and other infrastructure.

"There were many other red flags that cast doubt on the integrity of this company," continued Dannin, author of Taking Back the Workers' Law: How To Fight The Assault On Labor Rights. "Those flags can be found in the way they stored the ammonium nitrate, in construction of the building, and in their violation of federal law by failing to report the amounts of the chemical they had on hand."

Donald Adair's West Fertilizer Co. and its parent company Adair Grain, Inc., have a history of violations, according to Agence France Presse, which noted the company "paid more than $5,000 in fines in 2012 after being cited for mislabeled cargo tanks and inadequate transport practices, and had been cited by state authorities for a lack of permit in 2006."

In 2011, the company told the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that there was no risk of fire or explosion (despite another 27 tons of toxic, flammable anhydrous ammonia there).

The EPA fined the plant in 2006, according to WFAA-TV news in Dallas, which cited evidence the facility paid a $2,300 fine then for "failing to have a risk management plan that met federal standards." That's just an outline to ensure chemical accidents don't happen and to show there are safeguards making such tragedies preventable.

Also, Adair failed to report it was storing 270 tons of ammonium nitrate - 1,350 times the amount that should alert the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that it should monitor the site, according to Reuters. Any facility holding 400 lbs. of ammonium nitrate is required to report that to DHS.

The danger was obvious. American terrorist Timothy McVeigh used the same fertilizer in 1995 to blow up the Oklahoma City federal building.

"Texas, at least, had every reason to take the hazard of fertilizer explosions seriously," reported the Society of Environmental Journalists. "An ammonium nitrate fertilizer blast in 1947 at Texas City, Texas, killed at least 581 people - the worst single industrial accident in U.S. history."

Where was the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) or its state and local counterparts? OSHA last inspected West Fertilizer in 1985, according to Bloomberg News.

OSHA is hampered by anti-regulation zealots who hamstring its authority and cut its budget. In 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled OSHA needed search warrants to inspect employers' facilities, weakening the agency's mandate. Also, lobbied by the chemical industry, Congress during the GOP Bush administration made risk management plans mandated in 1990s Clean Air Act more difficult for the public to find.

Finally, although the worldwide trend is for "privatized regulation" where companies being examined fund the examiners, in the United States, the trend is to starve agencies.

Either way, the results can be deadly.

Required to ensure each worker has safe and healthful working conditions, OSHA has two main functions: Inspecting workplaces and furthering health and safety standards. But OSHA is woefully understaffed and underfunded. With 2,200 inspectors and more than seven million workplaces where 130 million people work, it would take more than 100 years for OSHA inspectors to look over each workplace, says the AFL-CIO.

Compare that to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

"Although Americans were 270 times more likely to die in a workplace accident than a terrorist attack in 2011, the DHS' budget that year was $47 billion, while OSHA's budget was only $558 million," wrote labor journalist Mike Elk.

Besides OSHA, EPA and DHS, various agencies should have kept track of the plant. "This tragic explosion points to the need for more resources allocated to OSHA," said Tom O'Connor, director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. "With adequate funding for more OSHA inspectors, more potentially dangerous sites - like this fertilizer manufacturing plant - can be inspected and hazards abated."

Former OSHA official Celeste Monforton told Elk that communicating just about terrorist threats shows a system that doesn't see workplace accidents as a danger.

"A wise public protection system would look at these risks in a more integrated way," she said. "If you are looking at the hazard of ammonium nitrate, you would look at from a variety of potential ways, it could be mishandled whether it could be stolen or used in a terrorist attack or being used by a company in a way that puts the community and workers at risk."

There are businesses that are safe and also profitable, of course. But there's also a mindset that there's never enough profit and that maximizing income must finally sacrifice safety, workers' rights and product quality.

So will neighborhoods continue to unknowingly have hazardous facilities near nursing homes, schools and apartment, like at West, Texas? They will if there's no counterweight to the power of unscrupulous employers.

Writing in the Progressive Populist, former broadcast journalist and business consultant James Moore said: "Generations from now...people may find it hard to understand what we allowed to happen in order to hold down our tax burden and to let industry create jobs and find energy without government meddling."

Bill Knight is editor of The Labor Paper

Photo: Investigators carry off debris from the destroyed fertilizer plant. LM Otero/AP

Scandal, smandal, sign me up for Obamacare!

John Case — Wed, 22 May 2013 19:01:00 -0400

A rumor in Washington reports that President Obama has ordered the White House staff to spend no more than 10 percent of its time on the rash of scandals which, in sum, amount to a desperate Republican attempt to unseat a sitting president, recalling the shameful Gingrich impeachment campaign against President Clinton, to stop the president's agenda - especially on health care.

I agree with the president's directive, if it's true. Here's my 10 percent even though I'm hardly part of the the White House staff!

With regard to Benghazi, it's a sideshow that's going nowhere, except as bait to suck the U.S. into military intervention Syria - an unwise course Obama has so far held at bay.

No doubt there are political splits in the military, as the cuts imposed by both the budget and sequester process have already been painful for many projects - and their civilian contractors and employees.

In fact, one of the most underreported aspects of the entire budget and sequester debate - and now scandal reporting - is the multitude of vile, hurtful, racist, homophobic and false insults hurled at federal workers of every description, especially by tea party types. They have been treated as the butt of reactionary one-liners ever since Reagan, and they are not happy.

Which takes us to the IRS scandal. For the ordinary person, I think he or she must be absolutely stunned to learn that it took more than 10 minutes to determine that the tea party should NOT be given a tax exemption as a "social welfare," "non-partisan" organization.

Now, it's true that liberal and progressive - frankly political - organizations have taken advantage of the 501(c)(4) tax exempt provisions too, though not on the scale of the tea party.

But consider, if the tea party can be called non-political for tax purposes, what's left of political organization and activity that you can't smuggle into tax-exempt status by one means or another? Why not just say political parties are also tax exempt? There is a vast disconnect between the public's perception of "political" and the current IRS policy.

Obama needs to repair that disconnect. The Supreme Court's Citizens United decision now enables anonymous corporations and billionaires to funnel unlimited political funds through supposedly "social welfare" organizations, completely perverting the original intent of the classification. Either eliminate the "political" loophole, or rewrite it to block its corruption. Personally, knowing more than a few government workers, there is no question in my mind that the attacks, freezes, insults, and defunding maneuvers from Congress against the IRS have taken a large toll on the morale of its workforce.

Lastly, on the issue of bugging the Associated Press, we have yet to hear the real reason for it. Until then, the administration is guilty until proven innocent of excessive use of the "war on terror" executive privilege.

But what are the scandals really about? They're about Obamacare: they're about about doing everything possible to either kill it, or slow it down until the Republicans get another chance at the White House. They know, they know, what will happen politically to the millions who get insurance for the first time under Obama. They remember, they remember, that FDR and Social Security, gave the Democrats supremacy in Congress for 30 years until that scab Reagan backstabbed the country on the behest of GE and Business Roundtable.

The House has passed bills 37 times repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Think of how much time is taken up JUST investigating scandals and repealing the ACA? Add to that reactionary forces in 18 states have tried to stop the expansion of Medicaid.

Since the anemic, but still positive, growth in recent months has begun to reduce the budget deficit, and since the Republicans themselves have had to start doing complete turnarounds on the sequester of services that affected them, they find themselves without the budget issue to nullify Congress. As a last (legal) resort, they are drawing from the despicable Gingrich playbook with a plan to waste enormous amounts of precious time needed to improve the economic recovery and reckon with the obvious truths emerging in climate change research.

Full enrollment in the ACA is, I submit, a game changer for labor, the progressive movement and the progressive majority, and for working-class security and empowerment - for all the reasons that the right fears it!

The National Employment Law Association reports that the ACA contains important protections against firing or discriminating against for workers who assert their right to health benefits. Under the act OSHA is assigned enforcement responsibility for reinstatement and back pay awards of workers who are fired or discriminated against for exercising their rights. In addition, there is a very important provision in the law: Department of Labor sanctions against employers violating or evading the ACA cannot be enjoined or postponed by appeals to higher courts.

This would be a dramatic improvement of the National Labor Relations Board decisions on reinstatement -- which can be postponed years through appeals. Furthermore, representation before OSHA or the Department of Labor proceedings do not require lawyers - rank-and-file activists can be trained to perform most representation activities.

So, as my 10 minutes are up, ignore the scandals. Organize everywhere to enroll the millions and millions into the ACA. Today!

Photo: flickr.com/photos/progressohio/ / CC BY 2.0

New York City mayoral hopefuls debate stop and frisk, union busting

Gabe Falsetta — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:50:00 -0400

NEW YORK -- A number of mayoral candidates in New York are making an effort to distinguish themselves from current Mayor Michael Bloomberg in some important policy areas. Unlike Mayor Bloomberg they are saying, for example, that unions are not to blame for the city's economic problems and at least one candidates says he does not like what the current mayor says is necessary to fight crime - a police department policy of "stop and frisk."

The policy differences emerged at a recent debate sponsored by DC 37, a big union representing many city workers.

The debate, held at the Borough of Manhattan Community College, drew not only workers who are members of unions but people impacted by the economic crisis in many different ways.

It opened with a statement by radio personality Bob Hennelly that "one in five New Yorkers live in poverty; the number of New Yorkers on food stamps more than doubled; in 2010, there were 800,000 people on food stamps, now, that number is closer to 1.8 million."

The Coalition for the Homeless reported that 50,000 people stay in shelters every night; half of those are children. Rents in the city account for 49 percent of income budgets.

The questions directed to the candidates came from the groups that sponsored the debate: the unions, and community and tenant group like La Fuente, TenantsPac and Community Voices Heard.

Sal Albanese (former city council member), Pastor Eddie Delgado (endorsed by Rubin Diaz), Bill DeBlasio (current Public Advocate), John Liu (current NY City Comptroller) and Bill Thompson (past NY City Comptroller) participated. DeBlasio, who arrived first, and Thompson last both received polite applause, but when Liu entered it was clear that he was the favorite of this audience. And during the question and response Liu received the most enthusiastic reaction.

Christine Quinn, the front runner, did not show and when the moderator made the announcement, the audience reacted with what seemed to be moderate disappointment but because of Quinn's positions-that are too close to Mayor Bloomberg's - they were not surprised.

The Bloomberg administration has said unions are the roadblocks to the recovery - not Wall Street. DeBlasio had this to say on this question, "I've fought Bloomberg every step of the way. This administration has been practicing union busting with a velvet glove. Contracting out and undermining not only the labor movement but the city's economy."

All of the candidates were in agreement with the above statement from DeBlasio. Liu said, "This is a discussion on the future of New York City, the future after Michael Bloomberg is out of here."

Liu was the only candidate that said he would end the Stop and Frisk policy of this administration while others talked in terms of modification. Raglan George, Executive Director of DC 1707, asked about the continuing cuts to early child care. "Are you going to try to have a line in the budget every year for children?"

Bill Thomson answered, "Restore 10,000 slots. This is a war against women and workers. We have to move this city in a different direction. Restoring and expanding these slots means openings for children and jobs for the people of New York."

Other major questions that will impact the quality of life for working class New Yorkers in the near future were also addressed, and all of the participants expressed basic agreement on those issues.

In spite of the conviction of two of Liu's fundraisers, Liu remains in the race and the clear favorite at this event in this campaign. However, it will become clear in the near future as to whether the convictions will be too much to overcome. City matching funds and/or big union endorsements are in the balance.

Photo: DC 37 Facebook page.

Massive twister ravages Oklahoma town

Blake Deppe — Tue, 21 May 2013 23:35:00 -0400

The people of Moore, Oklahoma, are still picking up the pieces after the May 20 monster tornado that tore its way through the town, just outside Oklahoma City. It left 24 dead - including at least nine children - and countless more missing. At one point, the tornado was 2 miles wide. In its wake, the town is a disaster area.

The tornado carved a 20-mile-long slash through Moore, leveling the Briarwood and Plaza Towers elementary schools. Moore Medical Center, though it survived, also sustained incredible damage. This has proven to be the deadliest tornado since the one that hit Joplin, Missouri, in 2011, and the worst Oklahoma tornado since the one that hit on May 3, 1999. It is also being called one of the worst tornadoes in world history.

President Obama talked about the tragedy today, remarking, "As a nation, our full focus right now is on the urgent work of rescue, and the hard work of recovery and rebuilding that lies ahead. But if there is hope to hold on to, it's the knowledge that the good people there are better prepared for this type of storm than most. And what they can be certain of is that Americans from every corner of the country will be right there with them, opening our homes and our hearts to those in need."

T h e Oklahoma AFL-CIO is working with the United Way of Central Oklahoma, which has activated its disaster relief fund. Donations can be made through their website, and also by traditional mail to United Way of Central Oklahoma, P.O. Box 837, Oklahoma City, OK, 73101, with attention to May Tornado Relief. The Oklahoma AFL-CIO is asking every local union to notify the federation if any union member was affected by the storm.

One of the surefire ways that Oklahoma will pull through is through federal aid, something that might put the state's U.S. senators Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn - both Republicans - in an uncomfortable position. The two senators have repeatedly voted against funding federal disaster aid for other parts of the country, and both backed a plan to cut disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy, with Coburn calling it "wasteful spending." They have also opposed increased funding for FEMA, which is on the ground now in Moore, along with the National Guard, organizing search and rescue efforts.

In a fit of hypocrisy, Coburn sang a different tune in regard to his own state. After a powerful ice storm in January 2007, he urged federal officials to speed up disaster relief aid for Oklahoma. He is expected to do the same in regard to the disaster in Moore, though his spokesman John Hart has tried to justify the hypocrisy by noting, "The senator will seek to ensure that funding for tornado disaster relief in Oklahoma will be offset by cuts to federal spending elsewhere in the budget."

For Inhofe's part, this Republican insisted that federal aid for Oklahoma will be "totally different" than the Hurricane Sandy aid. He claimed that the Sandy relief bill was "supposed to help New Jersey, but they were getting things in the Virgin Islands and Washington, D.C." What he failed to acknowledge was that, while New Jersey was among the states touched the hardest by Sandy, 24 states overall suffered from that storm, some of them rather severely.

Meanwhile, for those left to sift through the wreckage, perhaps the problems are only just beginning. The people of Moore cannot be expected to merely pick up where they left off; rebuilding and recovering will cost money that few of them are likely to have. And preparing for the next tornado is a daunting prospect for this largely working-class community. Not all of the homeowners can afford to have storm shelters built beneath their houses, and the lack of such shelters may have played a factor in the damage and death toll this time around.

It seems that old-fashioned storm bunkers are fading away as developers build more and more homes without them. In an area like Oklahoma, which lies right in Tornado Alley, that could be a death sentence to a homeowner, who would be left with nowhere to go but a hallway or bathroom in the event of a twister. Why, one might ask, do so many new houses lack these shelters, or even full basements? The profiteering of Big Real Estate could have something to do with it. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, "experts" in the business feel that buyers are less likely to purchase a house if they feel that a storm shelter or basement adds to the overall price of it.

"If anything, we're moving away from having a place to go to during a storm," said Steve Melman, director of economic services for the National Association of Home Builders.

Those who have shelter-less homes could have such bunkers installed, but at what would be considered an exorbitant price for a working- or middle-class resident. According to Home Advisor, FEMA suggests roughly 6 square feet of space per person for a tornado shelter. The average cost of that is reportedly $9,667, with the lowest someone is likely to find being $5,500. The maximum is $17,500. Then there are the prices of installation and delivery. For an average estimate on the cost of that, one can look at Louisiana-based company F-5 Storm Shelters & Safe Rooms, which charges a $2,195 installation fee for its smallest "safe room" and a $2.65-per-mile delivery charge. All in all, the process is neither easy nor cheap.

Recovering from this storm alone will be costly enough for residents. They're expected to have a very hard time putting their lives back together in the aftermath of what state highway patrol trooper Betsy Randolph called "mass devastation."

Randolph added, "The debris field is so high, and so far and so wide. There are wounded people walking the streets. I saw people that had stuff sticking out of their bodies from things that were flying around in the air. There are cars crumpled up like little toys and thrown on top of buildings. Everywhere you look, things are bloody."

Photo: The Moore Medical Center, severely damaged by the tornado. Alonzo Adams/AP

Chicago protests to stop 54 school closings heat up

John Bachtell — Tue, 21 May 2013 22:59:00 -0400

CHICAGO- "We are not going without a fight!" declared nine-year-old Asean Johnson, a third grader at Marcus Garvey Elementary School. "We shall not be moved today!"

Johnson was one of thousands of students, teachers, parents and community residents who ended a three-day march May 20 by ringing City Hall and demanding a moratorium on school closures. In an act of civil disobedience, 26 community activists were arrested earlier in City Hall when they blocked elevators.

The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education will vote on Mayor Rahm Emanuel's plan to shutter 54 schools on May 22. (Story continues after video.)

While Emanuel insists the closures are necessary because the "status quo is not acceptable" opposition continues to mount. As public skepticism grows, CPS officials have imposed a news blackout at the affected schools.

Meanwhile, CPS continues to shift reasons for the closures. At first they maintained there was an underutilization crisis. But this was based on cramming 30-36 children to a classroom.

CPS declared the closures were necessary because of a budget crisis. But they were forced to admit the closures would result in no savings and in fact larger expenditures in the short run.

Now CPS says the reason is a combination of underutilization and low performance, but many of the schools slated for closure are improving or provide some outstanding programming.

One such school is Lafayette Elementary School that has a widely recognized student orchestra. It is not clear if there will be space for the orchestra in the school it will be merged with.

Lafayette parents say news of the closure hit them like a death in the family.

"CPS is ripping families apart," said Valerie Nelson who has two daughters at Lafayette. "This school is our family."

Nelson said Lafayette has 150 children with special needs including both her children. Like the orchestra, these children face an uncertain future.

"CPS knows how harmful this is," said Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) president Karen Lewis. "This is a movement from the neighborhoods and across the nation. No matter what happens on (May 22), it is not over."

The three day protest included two feeder marches past most of the schools slated for closure on Chicago's south and west sides. Ninety percent of the children affected are African American. This fact prompted a lawsuit by CTU, which asserts the closures constitute violations of the Civil Rights Act, in addition to the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Hundreds of high school students boycotted classes on Monday to join the march, despite threatening robo-calls from CPS officials to parents the night before.

"My old elementary school is being closed," said Pilar Castro, a senior at Thomas Kelly High School and member of Chicago Students Organized to Save Our Schools (CSOSOS). "Even though high schools are not being closed we are being affected. Our communities are being affected. Rahm Emanuel may not care for our communities, but we do."

Castro was one of five people arrested at a "die-in" on May 15 at the intersection of Cottage Grove and 61^st Streets to protest the closures.

Students are increasingly taking to open rebellion against the changes in CPS. CSOSOS has mushroomed in high schools across the city.

"I'm here to fight for these schools," said Victoria Crider, a junior at King College Prep High School. "Three elementary schools I went to are being closed. These children being merged into other schools will have to cross gang lines. It will be more dangerous."

Crider helped lead a sit-in at King on Dec. 13, after the administration fired a number of teachers and refused to hear the concerns of students. The entire student body occupied the school foyer.

One of the schools where marchers rallied at was Williams Elementary School in Bronzeville. Students at the school had staged a sit-in on May 3. When the protest approached, administrators put the school on lockdown and refused to allow parents to check their children out.

One of those who had marched all three days was Cathaline Carter, a retired schoolteacher who had taught in CPS for 37 years.

"I'm protesting these closures by this unelected school board of millionaires and billionaires who have no interest in our children. Their interest is in privatizing education as they are privatizing everything else," said Carter, who was inspired by the community support all along the march route.

"There were so many churches that opened their doors to us with water, rest rooms and respite. I don't think we've seen that kind of thing since the civil rights movement. Churches of all denominations coming together."

"They may take a few schools off the list and think we will go away. We are not going to be satisfied until all the schools are kept open," said Carter.

Photo: Students, teachers, parents and community residents end a three-day march May 20 with protests at City Hall, demanding investment in schools not closings (PW/Earchiel Johnson).

After avoiding billions in taxes, Apple CEO seeks more breaks

John Wojcik — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:00:00 -0400

As his company hordes $102 billion in overseas profits on which it has paid no taxes, Apple's CEO, Tom Cook, is asking the Senate today for lower corporate tax rates.

Cook is testifying in favor of the lower rates before the U.S. Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, even whose ranking GOP member, Sen. John McCain, has described Apple as "one of the largest tax evaders."

According to reports released by groups like the AFL-CIO and Citizens for Tax Justice, Apple has been notorious for avoiding taxes by setting up foreign "subsidiaries" in tax-haven countries, and moving jobs and profit centers out of the country.

"Apple has paid almost no income taxes to any country on its $102 billion in offshore cash holdings," said a Citizens for Tax Justice report released only yesterday at a joint press conference called by the AFL-CIO and CTJ. "Applying the U.S. tax rate to Apple's overseas profits would generate $35.3 billion in U.S. income taxes," the report said. The groups say that in view of this, Cook's request for even more tax breaks is particularly outrageous.

Today's Senate hearing, titled "Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code - Part 2," is devoted entirely to Apple's tax avoidance schemes. Senators are looking into Apple's holding of more than $100 billion in tax haven countries, including Ireland where the company is registered. Even Ireland, the company's critics note, has collected no taxes from Apple.

CEO Cook, who earned $378 million at Apple last year, is calling upon the senators to approve a "tax repatriation holiday" and a "territorial tax system."

The AFL-CIO, the nations largest labor federation, said in a statement today that Cook's proposals would mean companies like Apple would pay even less in taxes, CEOs like Cook would earn even more money and "we will have higher taxes, fewer good schools and good roads and police and teachers and disaster relief and the other things government does to make our lives better."

Small businessmen note that the tax avoidance by Apple, particularly the policy of rewarding the company with such breaks for offshoring jobs, makes Apple more competitive against smaller American companies that do keep jobs and profits at home.

Bob Clemente, the campaign manager for Americans for Tax Fairness, another tax justice group, told the same press conference yesterday "Apple is acting like a back-alley thief trying to pick the pockets of American taxpayers."

According to CTJ's executive director Bob McIntyre, the situation is even worse than it looks. He said "often the overseas profits are actually profits made in the U.S. that the company is pretending to have made overseas so that it can avoid taxes."

Damon Silvers, Policy Director and Special Counsel for the AFL-CIO, said the request by Apple for even more tax breaks was "particularly disgusting in light of what is going on with the sequester cuts.

"Today, as Apple testifies," said Silvers, "we are dismantling vital government services, laying people off because we are in theory in fiscal crisis.... Head Start, cancer research, national defense - there is a long list of functions not being carried forward because in the view of Congress we don't have the revenues to support it."

Image: Americans for Tax Fairness

Education coalition assails wide use of temporary faculty

Anita Waters — Mon, 20 May 2013 22:43:00 -0400

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Higher education is growing increasingly segmented, with elite colleges reserved for the very wealthy and higher education for the 99 percent becoming more standardized, impersonal, low quality or completely out-of-reach. This was a central theme as the Campaign for the Future of Higher Education convened its fifth national gathering this weekend here, bringing together over 80 activists from across the country who are passionate about reversing disturbing trends in higher education today, such as the drastic cuts in state and local support for higher education, the staggering increases in tuition and fees that are levied to replace those funds, and corporatized on-line learning platforms that further reduce faculty control of higher education.

The Campaign is a loose coalition of advocates from organizations like the California Faculty Association, the New Faculty Majority, the AAUP, the National Educational Association, and the American Federation of Teachers. It has published working papers and an "on the issues" blog that aim to improve affordability of and access to higher education and to challenge corporate efforts to reshape education in its own interests. This meeting was hosted by the Ohio Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

One theme that was especially central to the meeting was the trend toward use of temporary faculty, also called "contingent" or "adjunct" faculty. Universities traditionally hired permanent faculty members on tenure tracks, with a few adjunct faculty, usually people with full-time jobs who were just hired to teach one specialty course. In recent years, universities have drastically reduced tenure track faculty and have come to depend heavily on adjunct faculty, who in turn depend on their college wages for a living. Sometimes known as "road scholars" because of their arduous commuting from one college to another, adjuncts face low wages, no job security, and few benefits, according to Maria Maisto, president of the New Faulty Majority. They are paid on a per-course basis, receive no overtime pay, and are especially vulnerable to gender, age, and race discrimination.

Conference participants reported that adjuncts are summarily dismissed without recourse at the whim of administrators, and in some jurisdictions, including Ohio, adjuncts are forbidden by state law from joining the collective bargaining units on their campuses. In some "MOOCs" (for "massive open on-line courses"), universities are offering tenured faculty's on-line course content, but using low-paid adjuncts to be the actual teachers.

The New Faculty Majority, a national coalition of adjunct faculty, and its newly founded local counterpart, the Ohio Part-Time Faculty Association (OPTFA), formed a panel at the Campaign meeting. One co-chair of OPTFA, Doug Wilder, said that adjunct faculty need to be visible to their fellow faculty members and to their students. To that end, OPTFA designed a button that identifies the "Adjunct" with a scarlet "A." He said that it was tantamount to academic fraud the way students are led to believe that all their teachers labor under similar working conditions.

OPTFA co-chair April Freely teaches at the University of Akron, where 70 percent of courses are now taught by adjuncts. Many of her students there are first generation college students who are struggling and vulnerable. She is happy to spend the time with them that they need to succeed, and said she was sorry to realize that because of the way adjunct faculty are paid, the more time she spends with her students, the less she is reimbursed for her time. This kind of structure is exactly the opposite of how higher education should be organized.

Judy Olson, an adjunct faculty member on a California campus, said that when she was a student at California State Fullerton in the late 1970s, tuition was a mere $100 per semester. Along with the astronomical costs to students, colleges have reduced the size of the tenured faculty and relied more on adjuncts. In some cases, colleges have eliminated whole programs, dismissing tenured faculty, and then hired them back on as adjuncts without job security or decent wages. Students, Olson said, have a right to be educated by a full faculty, who all participate in teaching, research and shared governance of their universities.

A full-time adjunct professor at the State University of New York (SUNY), Anne Wiegard, told the audience that as the ranks of adjunct faculty grow, the job security of all faculty is jeopardized. "All faculty are contingent," she said, to some degree. On some SUNY campuses, tenure track faculty recognize their common cause with adjuncts and have worked in partnership to provide quality education to students. In one case, a union that includes both tenure track and adjunct faculty voted to weigh in on the issue of how the Internal Revenue Service measures adjuncts' work hours for purposes of eligibility for health insurance from their employers.

One of the most compelling sound-bites of the conference was offered by someone from the New Faculty Majority and echoed throughout the meeting: "Even if you aren't a union, act like you are."

The CFHE will meet next in New York City in January, 2014.

Photo: At AAUP's 2012 Summer Institute, participants discuss divides in the professoriate in the "Turmoil and Divide in Academia as Opporunity" workshop. The workshop looks at how we can bridge the divide between tenure-track and non-tenure-track faculty in order to present a unified faculty voice. (Michael Ferguson/AAUP)

Phone conference: DREAM activists put it all on the line for immigration justice

People's World — Mon, 20 May 2013 20:47:00 -0400

Join peoplesworld.org for a teleconference discussion.

Tuesday, May 21
8:00 p.m. Eastern, 7:00 p.m. Central, 6:00 p.m. Mountain, 5:00 p.m. Pacific
Call (605) 475-4850

Dial 1053538# when prompted
(long-distance charges may apply)

Please dial in to join us for an important teleconference Tuesday evening, May 21, titled "Dream activists put it all on the line for immigration justice." People's World contributor Scott Hiley will be interviewing Rigo and Arianna, two activists from the Immigrant Youth Justice League, a Chicago-based organization led by undocumented organizers working towards full recognition of the rights and contributions of all immigrants through education, leadership development, policy advocacy, resource gathering, and mobilization. Since 2010 IYJL has been the national leader in the National Coming Out of the Shadows strategy, urging undocumented immigrants and allies to speak publicly about our stories. This strategy, along with the slogan "Undocumented, unafraid" was first proposed by IYJL members in May 2010, and has been replicated nationally each year.

Call in May 21 to join the discussion. Send your questions to questions@peoplesworld.org during the presentation.

Rigo Padilla is a founding member of the Immigrant Youth Justice League and graduate student in Latin American & Latino Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. As an organizer he has participated in a number of campaigns and actions for immigration reform and the national DREAM Act. More recently, he has been very active in national campaigns to stop individual deportations. He has played a pivotal role in the design and advocacy for the Illinois Dream Act, and is currently playing an active role in organizing its implementation.

PHOTO: Some rights reserved by longislandwins

Subscribers protest Koch brothers Orlando Sentinel grab

Ben Markeson — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:24:00 -0400

ORLANDO, Fla. - Several dozen Central Floridians protested here May 16 outside the offices of The Orlando Sentinel against the potential sale of that newspaper and other Tribune Company papers to the billionaire Koch brothers. They were expressing concerns that ownership by the right-wing business titans could affect the Sentinel's news reporting and the direction of its editorial pages.

They waved signs with slogans such as "Stop the right-wing takeover of our paper," "Things go better without Koch" and "We need journalism not Koch propaganda" while local media, including a conservative blogger and the Sentinel itself, covered the protest.

"We want to make sure that it stays the Orlando Sentinel, and doesn't turn into the Tea Party Tribune," said Amy Ritter, executive director of Florida Watch Action, the non-profit that organized the event.

"It's important that people understand who owns the newspapers that they read and to question that, and to always fight for the truth [in the media]," Ritter said.

The Tribune Co. wants to unload eight of its newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune (fourth and tenth, respectively, in circulation among U.S. newspapers), the Baltimore Sun, the Hartford Courant and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The Orlando Sentinel and the Fort Lauderdale-based Sun-Sentinel have daily circulations of 174,000 and 166,000, respectively (288,000 and 246,000, respectively, on Sunday).

The winning bidder is expected to be announced by the end of May. One advantage that the Koch brothers appear to enjoy is that they are willing to buy all eight newspapers (combined value: $623 million) while other interested parties prefer to purchase only the Los Angeles Times.

Koch Industries, which has estimated 2012 revenue of $115 billion, has been ranked as the second-largest privately held company in America. Its subsidiaries include the Koch Pipeline Company, which owns 4,000 miles of oil, natural gas and chemical pipelines; Flint Hill Resources, a major oil refiner and chemical manufacturer; Koch Fertilizer, a major manufacturer of nitrogen fertilizer; and Georgia-Pacific, whose brands include Brawny paper towels and Angel Soft toilet paper.

The Koch brothers, David H., 73, and Charles G., 77, use their personal fortunes (estimated at a combined $71 billion) to fund a vast array of right-wing and libertarian groups, including Americans for Prosperity, the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the American Legislative Exchange Council and the American Enterprise Institute.

These groups all seek to advance an anti-worker agenda that includes privatizing public education and Social Security, repealing Obamacare, eliminating the minimum wage, attacking evidence of climate change, suppressing voter turnout, getting rid of health and safety regulations and collective bargaining rights.

The Kochs also have provided lavish support to GOP candidates. In July 2012, David Koch hosted a $50,000 per person fundraising dinner for Mitt Romney at his $18 million beach house in Southampton, N.Y.

Koch Industries PAC gave more than $100,000 in direct and indirect contributions to the 2010 campaign of union-busting Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. The Koch brothers are "pretty much against everything that is good for the middle class and working Americans," said college student Holly Fussell.

Fussell, who subscribes to the Sentinel's on-line version, said she would like to see the paper purchased by someone who would maintain its "integrity" and use it "to spread local news, not propaganda."

The Koch Brothers interest in the newspapers appears to be part of what the New York Times characterized as their "three-pronged, 10-year strategy" of educating grassroots activists, influencing politics and using the media "to shift the country toward a smaller government with less regulation and taxes."

The Kochs outlined this plan three years ago in Aspen, Colo., at a meeting of rich, right-wing political donors that included GOP oil mogul Philip F. Anschutz, owner of The Weekly Standard, and hedge fund executive Paul E. Singer who sits on the board of neo-conservative dominated Commentary magazine.

The Kochs' vast wealth and history of political involvement raise questions about whether the newspapers could be used to, as The New York Times wrote, "serve as a broader platform for the Kochs' laissez-faire ideas."

"Koch Industries is renowned for a combative relationship with the national media, on several occasions declining to engage with reporters before an article runs and then pushing back aggressively online after publication," noted The Huffington Post.

"There's no precedent for how the Kochs would run major regional newspapers, leaving at times strained interactions with journalists as one glimpse into the billionaire brothers' perspective on the role of the Fourth Estate."

Sue Casterline, who has subscribed to the Sentinel for 31 years, said she would quit reading the paper if the Koch brothers purchase it. She fears that they will turn the Sentinel into a "propaganda rag" with a right-wing bias.

"They want to privatize everything," said Casterline. "They want to cut social services because they don't want to pay taxes. They're part of that one percent that wants to rule the world."

Will Parry, labor and retiree advocate, 1920-2013

Tim Wheeler — Fri, 17 May 2013 20:49:00 -0400

SEATTLE---Working class and progressive people throughout the Pacific Northwest are mourning the death of Will Parry who passed away May 13 at the age of 93.

At his death, he was the editor of the widely read Retiree Advocate, monthly publication of the Puget Sound Advocates for Retirement Action (PSARA), a grassroots organization Parry helped organize back in the 1980s. He served as PSARA's president, leading the fight against any attempts to privatize or terminate Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.

PSARA's current president, Robby Stern, said, "Will was a warrior for working people for more than seven decades. His leadership, compassion, and deep commitment to economic and social justice was an inspiration to several generations of labor union and progressive activists in the Puget Sound region."

Parry took on the struggle against global climate change in his last years. His front-page lead article in the Retiree Advocate, December 2012 was headlined, "To Save Planet Earth, Handcuff the Fossil Fuel Industry." The lead sentence reads, "This article is for my grandchildren. And yours. And everybody's all around the world. I want them - all of them - to live out their lives on a vibrant, living planet."

Jeff Johnson, president of the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO, said, "Will Parry epitomized the best of the labor movement. He believed in collective bargaining, but he also believed in our obligation to fight for social and economic justice for all people and all communities. Will was soft spoken, but his words resonated loud and clear. I will remember his sense of humor, his sense of dignity and his music. Will's spirit remains with us each day we continue the good fight for the working class."

Until a few weeks before he died, Parry continued to attend meetings of his Communist Party Club in Seattle. Parry's comments on immediate struggles in Seattle, Olympia, and Washington, D.C. reflected his belief that the massive coalitions fighting for immediate progressive gains will one day lead the fight for socialism.

At a celebration of Parry's 90th Birthday in April 2010, Thurston Muskelly recalled Parry coming to the rescue of the Central Area Senior Center, which served mostly African American senior citizens in that part of Seattle. The Senior Center was facing bankruptcy. Parry and Muskelly together spearheaded a fundraising drive that brought in $131,000, saving the center from closure. The Rev. Harriett Walden, leader of Mothers for Police Accountability, also recalled Parry's support of MFPA over the years, fighting police abuse and brutality. Later that year, the Seattle City Council honored Parry for his "lifelong commitment, and work, to achieve social and economic justice for all the residents of Seattle."

Parry was a troubadour who played his well-worn guitar and sang folk songs at rallies and meetings. He serenaded senior citizens at nursing homes in the 1980s and 1990s, singing any song requested. He was tall, lean, and strikingly handsome. He had a quick smile and a ready wit.

In his final years, Parry's companion was Imogene Williams. They lived in her gracious home at the summit of Capitol Hill. It is here that Parry celebrated his 93rd birthday with chocolate cake and ice cream surrounded by those who loved him. A steady stream of his admirers came to visit him in his illness. He died peacefully with Imogene at his side.

Parry was born in Seattle, great grandson of a mayor of the Emerald City. His father was a small businessman, radicalized when his company went bankrupt. The father took Will to hear William Z. Foster, Elizabeth Gurley Flynn, both national chairpersons of the Communist Party USA, and any other advocates of socialism who visited.

After high school graduation, Parry attended Washington State College where he starred in track and field and graduated Phi Beta Kappa. In his final year of college, he returned home to Seattle. The nation was still locked in the Great Depression and Parry contacted the Young Communist League and joined. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Coast Guard.

After the war, he wrote for the San Francisco-based People's Daily World (a predecessor of this online publication). Cold War anti-communist witch-hunts forced staff cutbacks and Parry was laid off. He faced constant FBI harassment and blacklisting, including summons to appear before various witch hunt panels such as the House Un-American Activities Committee.

By now he had met and married Louise Long. They had two children. Despite the fierce Cold War repression, Will and Louise Parry lived lives filled with struggle, many victories, and much joy. Louise was a tireless, witty, organizer in her own right. For decades, the couple was an inseparable team, active in all the movements for union rights, peace and equality. She died in 2006 at age 85.

Parry finally found a job with Longview Fiber, a manufacturer of corrugated cardboard boxes with a plant in south Seattle. Longview Fiber's personnel director rejected the FBI intimidation and stood by Parry.

He worked at the box plant for 21 years, rising to leadership of the Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (AWPPW), Local 817. He was so effective that the AWPPW chose Parry to serve as the first elected union lobbyist in Olympia. AWPPW President Bill Farris said that Parry "was an advocate for people who needed help, an advocate for the union. I've lost count of the number of picket lines I've walked with Will."

During the depths of the Cold War, a top AFL-CIO leader told Parry he was not welcome at labor movement headquarters. As they say, the times they are a-changing. The Washington State Labor Council honored Will Parry with its "lifetime achievement" award in 2002, celebrating his uninterrupted struggle for the rights of working people. He had an office in the Seattle Labor Temple and no one was more beloved.

Will Parry is survived by his companion, Imogene Williams, his children, Naomi and Jon, two grandchildren, his brother, Tom, and by union brothers and sisters too numerous to name. A memorial is planned for June 29.

Photo: Will Parry, center front, receives a proclamation from the Seattle City Council for his work in the labor union movement and among retirees. (Alliance of Retired Americans)

Despite growing revenue, Calif. governor shrinks budget proposal

Marilyn Bechtel — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:33:00 -0400

Despite reports of increased income tax revenue in the first four months of the year, Gov. Jerry Brown May 14 proposed a $96.4 billion general fund budget - $1.3 billion lower than the one he issued in January. The "May revise" kicks off weeks of negotiations with the legislature.

Hopes had been building among millions of Californians who have suffered from repeated cuts in human services that with the higher tax revenue and the victory last November of a temporary tax on high incomes to fund education, some cuts could be restored.

But Brown disappointed them, and set up potential tensions with Democratic legislators now holding two-third majorities in both houses, as he cautioned about weak global economic growth and federal actions including the sequester.

"This is not the time to break out the champagne," he said, warning that some of the $4.5 billion increase in revenue comes from taxpayers who shifted income from 2013 to 2012 to avoid higher federal tax rates.

Among the highlights:

More funds for K-12 and higher education, including money to implement Common Core State Standards for English and math - a move praised by the California Teachers Association, which also commended the governor's proposed increase in funds to school districts with high proportions of English learners and other disadvantaged students.
No new funds for childcare, which has suffered repeated cuts in recent years. The move was sharply criticized by human services advocates who note that nearly one-fourth of California's children live in poverty - the highest rate in the nation.
A continued two-year limit on cash grants and work assistance for adults, with some additional funds for county-run case management programs and to subsidize employers who hire welfare recipients. CalWORKS recipients now receive a maximum of $638 per month for a family of three, significantly below the "deep poverty" level, and have no cost-of-living increases.
A very small increase in funds for In-Home Supportive Services for the elderly and disabled - another area that has suffered repeated cuts in recent years.

Not surprisingly, Republican legislators praised Brown's budget, with Republican Assembly leader Connie Conway calling it "realistic" and saying the legislature must "resist the temptation to blow through the surplus using one-time money for ongoing programs."

Democrats were more guarded, with Senate president pro tem Darrell Steinberg agreeing about the need to pay down debt and build a reserve, but adding, "It's important that we also begin making up for some of the damage done to tens of thousands of Californians." Assembly Speaker John Pérez commended Brown's commitment to maintaining fiscal stability, and promised a thorough review of the governor's proposals.

Human services advocates also weighed in.

Anthony Wright, executive director of the Health Access coalition, commended Brown for "progress" from previous proposals to expand Medicare under the Affordable Care Act, but warned that steep cuts would continue to Medi-Cal (state Medicare) benefits and provider rates. Wright also said the governor's plan to cut county health funds would undermine the safety net that covers those who would still be uninsured.

Vanessa Aramayo, director of the California Partnership coalition of human service providers, said that with poverty in the state having jumped from 16.3 percent to 23.5 percent during the Great Recession, "it's time to address our poverty crisis and restore, rebuild and reinvest in California's future."

The California Budget Project noted that the May Revision would contribute $1.1 billion to a reserve fund, which it called "a worthwhile investment in periods of economic growth, but funds that might wisely be directed elsewhere at a time when millions of Californians are still hurting." CBP also said repaying the general fund's debt to state special funds could be slowed down.

CBP cited restoring subsidized child care and preschool places, repealing a proposed 10 percent cut to Medi-CAL providers, and strengthening CalWORKS as three places such funds could be allocated.

Photo: Marilyn Bechtel/PW

Will Texas turn blue?

Jim Lane — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:25:00 -0400

DALLAS - Since they enjoyed modest victories in the 2012 elections, Democrats and progressives have, with great trepidation, begun to endure the slightest hopes that they might begin to win statewide elections here for the first time since 1996.

There are rumors, barely credible, that the Democratic National Committee is considering putting some money into Texas for the 2014 elections. For that reason, people looked very closely at the results of local elections on May 11.

The results depend on whom you ask. City Councilwoman Delia Jasso lost her seat in a majority Latino district. She is of the opinion that despite projections that the Latino population will continue to grow rapidly in proportion to the overall population one can't automatically say that such growth is going to shift the state blue.

But Ana Reyes of the tiny Dallas suburb of Farmers Branch, population 20,000, won her city council seat by a margin of two to one. The victory is particularly important since Farmers Branch has, in the past, filed lawsuits to essentially legalize numerous anti-immigrant policies.

Reyes' district is 80 percent Latino, according to the Dallas newspaper.

A federal lawsuit has declared that Farmers Branch needs to do some re-districting to overcome lack of representation for its Latino population. Farmers Branch is appealing the decision.

A few miles away, in Plano, an African-American candidate was elected. He and another candidate were the first-ever African-American candidates for the office of mayor in the town.

San Antonians might say, for certain, that Texas is "turning blue." Their mayor, Julian Castro of Democratic National Convention oratory fame, took two thirds of the vote in the first round against six challengers. Castro is one of the few political leaders in the United States who can honestly claim that he passed a tax increase for a progressive cause (pre-kindergarten education).

Will the flood of money suffocate democracy and make all speculation about election results meaningless? Well, Dallas City Council District 13 had two candidates battling for who would represent the Preston Hollow neighborhood, where ex-President Bush lives.

Between them, they spent over $700,000 and turned out around 10,000 voters. That's $70 per vote!

Photo: San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro Flickr (CC)

Support grows for immigration reform, end to deportations

Emile Schepers — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:19:00 -0400

While the Senate Judiciary Committee carries out a second week of "markup" (voting on amendments) of S 744, the massive immigration reform bill drafted by the bipartisan "Gang of Eight", evidence grows that the country is increasingly in favor of solving the immigration problem by means of measures that include a break for undocumented workers and their families.

On Monday, a group of organizations that include the AFL-CIO, the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, United We Dream, the National Day Labor Organizing Network and scores of others came out with a statement calling not just for progressive immigration reform, but also the suspension of deportation of people likely to gain the right to stay in the United States if such legislation passes. They further called on the president to immediately issue an order to this effect.

MALDEF's General Counsel, Thomas A. Saenz, said in a press statement: "It is a simple matter of fairness and justice that we cease removing those immigrants who would be eligible for relief under the proposed bipartisan immigration reform legislation. The American people and bipartisan leaders nationwide support providing legal protections to those who have labored in our industry and raised families in our community; it would be cruel and nonsensical to deny widely supported and contemplated relief to some, simply because of a delayed effective date."

Although the government has in the past argued that this is not legally possible, the supporters of the move say that it is and point to the fact that the Obama administration itself issued such a suspension of deportation for young people who would be eligible for the DREAM Act, via the so-called DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) Program.

The position taken by the AFL-CIO and the other organizations is roughly congruent with the demand for a "moratorium" on deportation which has arisen from the grassroots of the immigrants' rights movement since the failure of immigration reform legislation in 2006-2007.

The administration has, in the past, rejected expansion of this idea, stating fear that it might annoy the Republicans and thus undermine the chances of immigration reform legislation's passage. However, Ana Avendaño, point person on immigration for the AFL-CIO says that immigration reform is on a roll and thus will not be undermined by the demand.

In fact, a new survey shows that in spite of a decades long effort by the right to play African-Americans and mostly Latino immigrants against each other, support for immigration reform and the legalization of the undocumented is solid within the African-American community.

The survey, carried out by Lake Research Partners, shows 66 percent of African American respondents supporting this kind of immigration reform, with only 16 percent against.

At the leadership level, African-American congresspersons and other community leaders have been consistently supportive of progressive immigration reform and the struggle for the rights of immigrant workers. Their conceptualization of the immigrants' rights movement as part of the overall fight for the rights of minorities appears to have had, in general, a stronger impact than the effort of others to portray immigrants and Latinos as inevitable economic rivals, according to this poll. Other polls have consistently shown that the majority of the U.S. population overall (of all races) supports some sort of progressive immigration reform that allows otherwise law abiding undocumented workers to legalize themselves.

However, there is disquiet in the African-American leadership about one aspect of the present Senate bill, S 744, because, at the insistence of the Republican members of the "Gang of Eight," it eliminates the annual permanent resident visa lottery, which currently is one of the few ways in which African and West Indian people can hope to get permission to immigrate to the USA.

The lottery gives out only 55,000 permanent resident "green cards" per year, but unless it is restored its elimination will have the effect of reducing opportunities for would-be African and Caribbean immigrants.

There are many resources for learning about the real situation of immigration in the United States, including the online pamphlet "Immigration: Myths and Facts."

Photo: Paulina Clemente/Flickr