Download Audio of this week's show here.
This week we welcome a new co-host, Kate, who hopefully we will all be hearing more from.
A disclaimer: Socialist Alternative does not think in any way that voting for Democrats is "stupid." We believe that the Democratic party is a dead end for activists, a corporate party that puts profits over the people and does not deserve the money or support given to it by Unions or activist/community groups. Instead, we need a party of our own, a party that would refuse corporate donations, a party for and by the working people of this country.
14 December, 2007
07 December, 2007
Late Breaking Solidarity Appeal
Freightliner UAW Workers Need Support!
Please Support These Workers At: http://www.justice4five.com/
We are members of the 2007 Bargaining Committee for United Auto Workers (UAW) local 3520, Cleveland, NC. On April 2, 2007 our Local's Strike Committee voted to strike. Our International Union was of the opinion we should accept a weak contract offer. They tried to force us to take a contract with 22 open articles and 86 open Health and Safety issues back to our membership for ratification. The proposed contract if raitified by our membership as proposed by the Company would have been the first UAW 2 tier contract negotiated in a grossly profitable company. Frieghtliner LLC, was more profitable in 2006 than all other years combined, yet they wanted us to take contract concessions and the International UAW was OK with this.
We are/were employed by Freightliner LLC, at the Freightliner Truck Manufacturing Plant in Cleveland, N.C. On April 3rd, 2007 (5) five of our Bargaining Committee members were terminated by our employer along with (5) five other officers and (1) one rank and file member of our Union for instigating and/or supporting and/or participating in an unauthorized work stoppage. At the time of our terminations our collective bargaining agreement had expired. We thought our International Union would support us and do everything in their power to help us get reinstated to our jobs. What we didn't realize was that the UAW is actually a passive, Company ran Union that has no desire to help their members.
Our International Union, has in fact, done nothing to help or support us in our struggle for justice.
Read More Of What Happened Here: http://futureoftheunion.com/?p=6228
Please Support These Workers At: http://www.justice4five.com/
We are members of the 2007 Bargaining Committee for United Auto Workers (UAW) local 3520, Cleveland, NC. On April 2, 2007 our Local's Strike Committee voted to strike. Our International Union was of the opinion we should accept a weak contract offer. They tried to force us to take a contract with 22 open articles and 86 open Health and Safety issues back to our membership for ratification. The proposed contract if raitified by our membership as proposed by the Company would have been the first UAW 2 tier contract negotiated in a grossly profitable company. Frieghtliner LLC, was more profitable in 2006 than all other years combined, yet they wanted us to take contract concessions and the International UAW was OK with this.
We are/were employed by Freightliner LLC, at the Freightliner Truck Manufacturing Plant in Cleveland, N.C. On April 3rd, 2007 (5) five of our Bargaining Committee members were terminated by our employer along with (5) five other officers and (1) one rank and file member of our Union for instigating and/or supporting and/or participating in an unauthorized work stoppage. At the time of our terminations our collective bargaining agreement had expired. We thought our International Union would support us and do everything in their power to help us get reinstated to our jobs. What we didn't realize was that the UAW is actually a passive, Company ran Union that has no desire to help their members.
Our International Union, has in fact, done nothing to help or support us in our struggle for justice.
Read More Of What Happened Here: http://futureoftheunion.com/?p=6228
06 December, 2007
Chris's last show (maybe)
HI all,
download the audio here.
Check previous blogs for continued Solidarity with Tukwila WA students and teachers.
download the audio here.
Check previous blogs for continued Solidarity with Tukwila WA students and teachers.
29 November, 2007
Audio - 11/29 and a few new artists I like...
download this week's show here.
also, Son of Nun
is coming to Tufts University, Oxfam Cafe, Friday Dec 7th at 9pm.
this is an artist named Paris.
(there was a youtube clip here but it was pointed out that it gave far too much credit to conspiracy theories, so i took it down).
you will be hearing more of these two on our radio show in the future.
also, Son of Nun
is coming to Tufts University, Oxfam Cafe, Friday Dec 7th at 9pm.
this is an artist named Paris.
(there was a youtube clip here but it was pointed out that it gave far too much credit to conspiracy theories, so i took it down).
you will be hearing more of these two on our radio show in the future.
The Post Thanksgiving Show...
Stuff that you should know about:
*Urgent Call for Solidarity*
Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout
BRIEF BACKGROUND:
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying “Money for Schools, Not War.”
Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.
In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:
· Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who supported his students in a student generated democratic movement
· Threatened administrative action against five other teachers
· Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First Amendment Right to free speech
When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war, he said: “It’s an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th, and I’m not happy about it.”
Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!
Tell them they need to:
1 Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on administrative leave!
2 Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who face investigations!
3 Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their communities!
4 Take no disciplinary action against students who participated in the walkout!
We request that you flood the school administration with phone calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against students and the Tukwila Six!
CONTACT:
Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: (206) 901-7905 ilgenfritzg@tukwila.wednet.edu
And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: (206) 901-8000, (206) 901-8006, burkee@tukwila.wednet.edu
Please send a copy of protest emails to us at tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com so we can count how many protest emails have been sent in.
If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant Principal Daryl Wright (206) 901-7902 and Foster HS Office Manager Darlene Aguiluz (206) 901-7915.
-
Rally for a Free and Fair union election for hospital workers: Sunday, Dec 2, 1pm Longwood Medical Area - www.workmenscircleboston.org, www.FairUnionElections.org
for more info: Lisa Gallatin @ 616-566-6164
Workshop about how to help immigrant workers: Dec 14th, 9am-4pm, Simmons College - Linda Paresky Conference Room, 300 The Fenway. Registration is $20 for the day.
rodelakhan@yahoo.com, caroljg@gmail.com
Support Jin Restaurant Workers - Jin Asian Cuisine is stealing tips, discriminating and overworking and under paying workers with no breaks. Call and fax Jin Restaurant in support of the workers. Tell Jin to Apologize, Compensate their workers, comply with Workers Comp laws, Stop intimidation: phone: 781-231-8888, fax: 781-231-8899
Things in the News:
Median House Prices not falling in Massachusetts, but home sales drop 17.1% in October (Boston Globe).
Riots, or urban guerilla warfare, in Paris Suburbs. Extreme anger at the police and Sarkozy's neo-liberal gov't that is attacking workers, youth, the poor and immigrants.
In the 1990s, the national median housing price grew to 4 times the median income. This is part of the reason why sub-prime loans/variable rate mortgages - no one can afford housing without these "deals." Now we have the sub-prime world-wide economic crisis.
Matt Geary received over 3,000 votes in the Boston City Council election.
National Student Walkout against the War: Nov 16th, thousands walked out of school in Washington state, Minnesota, Massachusetts and elsewhere (tell us if you know more!).
Deval Patrick sold park land to private developers to put up office buildings and expensive Condos in East Cambridge/old West End/Charlestown...
Venezuela - Chavez's vision shares wealth and centers power. (NY Times)
IMMIGRANTS are our brothers and sisters. No Worker is our enemy. Full rights for all undocumented and documented workers. No support for the Republican racist propaganda.
*Urgent Call for Solidarity*
Defend Teachers Threatened With Termination for Antiwar Student Walkout
BRIEF BACKGROUND:
On November 16th, over 1,000 students in Washington State walked out to protest the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters in public schools. Students at Foster High School in Tukwila, Washington organized and 150 walked out, saying “Money for Schools, Not War.”
Foster students rallied at the school flagpole, marched down to the I-5 overpass, and then marched to the Tukwila City Hall. The march and rally were student generated and entirely peaceful.
In reaction the Tukwila School District has done the following:
· Suspended one Social Studies teacher, Brett Rogers, who supported his students in a student generated democratic movement
· Threatened administrative action against five other teachers
· Threatened to discipline students for exercising their First Amendment Right to free speech
When Brett Rogers was asked if he had a personal stake in the war, he said: “It’s an illegal war and my cousin is deploying December 4th, and I’m not happy about it.”
Please call and email the Principal and Superintendent now!
Tell them they need to:
1 Reinstate the teacher Brett Rogers who has been put on administrative leave!
2 Drop the disciplinary hearings against all six teachers who face investigations!
3 Support the initiative and moral fortitude of students who took a stand against the effects caused by this war to their communities!
4 Take no disciplinary action against students who participated in the walkout!
We request that you flood the school administration with phone calls and emails. Tell them to halt all disciplinary action against students and the Tukwila Six!
CONTACT:
Foster HS Principal George Ilgenfritz: (206) 901-7905 ilgenfritzg@tukwila.wednet.edu
And Interim Superintendent Ethelda Burke: (206) 901-8000, (206) 901-8006, burkee@tukwila.wednet.edu
Please send a copy of protest emails to us at tukwila.teachers.solidarity@hotmail.com so we can count how many protest emails have been sent in.
If they refuse to answer your call, call Foster HS Assistant Principal Daryl Wright (206) 901-7902 and Foster HS Office Manager Darlene Aguiluz (206) 901-7915.
-
Rally for a Free and Fair union election for hospital workers: Sunday, Dec 2, 1pm Longwood Medical Area - www.workmenscircleboston.org, www.FairUnionElections.org
for more info: Lisa Gallatin @ 616-566-6164
Workshop about how to help immigrant workers: Dec 14th, 9am-4pm, Simmons College - Linda Paresky Conference Room, 300 The Fenway. Registration is $20 for the day.
rodelakhan@yahoo.com, caroljg@gmail.com
Support Jin Restaurant Workers - Jin Asian Cuisine is stealing tips, discriminating and overworking and under paying workers with no breaks. Call and fax Jin Restaurant in support of the workers. Tell Jin to Apologize, Compensate their workers, comply with Workers Comp laws, Stop intimidation: phone: 781-231-8888, fax: 781-231-8899
Things in the News:
Median House Prices not falling in Massachusetts, but home sales drop 17.1% in October (Boston Globe).
Riots, or urban guerilla warfare, in Paris Suburbs. Extreme anger at the police and Sarkozy's neo-liberal gov't that is attacking workers, youth, the poor and immigrants.
In the 1990s, the national median housing price grew to 4 times the median income. This is part of the reason why sub-prime loans/variable rate mortgages - no one can afford housing without these "deals." Now we have the sub-prime world-wide economic crisis.
Matt Geary received over 3,000 votes in the Boston City Council election.
National Student Walkout against the War: Nov 16th, thousands walked out of school in Washington state, Minnesota, Massachusetts and elsewhere (tell us if you know more!).
Deval Patrick sold park land to private developers to put up office buildings and expensive Condos in East Cambridge/old West End/Charlestown...
Venezuela - Chavez's vision shares wealth and centers power. (NY Times)
IMMIGRANTS are our brothers and sisters. No Worker is our enemy. Full rights for all undocumented and documented workers. No support for the Republican racist propaganda.
15 November, 2007
Che Guevara - Symbol of Struggle
What is democratic Socialism? Well, I can tell you one thing, its not Stalinism. There is a river of blood that separates genuine Socialism and Stalinism.
Free and Open Discussion on the 40th anniversary of Che Guevara's death:
TONIGHT! Thursday, Nov. 15, 7pm, Tufts University, Braker Hall room 113.
Solidarity:
Stand for Security Rally - Friday, Nov 16th
March and Rally at 2pm. March begins at downtown crossing by Macy’s. march ends at a rally at 10 Winthrop Square, Boston, MA. Speakers from 615, City Life and CLU. This will be targeting both the security contractor Palladion for their various irresponsible practices and Deutsche Bank for its role in the foreclosures of folks all over the city. For more information contact Jeremy Shenk at 617-878-7520 or jshenk@seiu615.org
Anti-war demonstration - Friday, Nov 16th
Gather at 4pm - Boston Common, March 5pm to BU Recruiters station.
Rally for Quality Care - Nov 28th
First rally from 10:30 am - 12 noon at the Omni Parker House, Boston Ma. For more information contact Jennifer@massjwj.net or 617-524-8778.
Support the Screen Writers Strike and the Stage Hand's Strike
Nigerian Students falsely imprisoned on trumped up charges!
The DSM is demanding the immediate release of all these three OAU activists and asking for urgent protests and solidarity.
News:
Matt Geary - Socialist Alternative candidate for Boston City Council recieves 3,025 votes (6.5% of voters voted for him). Low turnout in this election - just under 15% of registered voters. Incumbent Felix Arroyo loses seat to John Connelly.
Red Sox have most expensive tickets in baseball.
Reclaim the Game! - Sports for fans, not for profits!
Nearly half of African Americans born in the 1960s middle class have plunged into poverty. In inflation ajusted dollars, middle class african americans went from a median family income of $55,000 to $23,000 per year.
Washington Post, Tues Nov. 13th
Median household income in Erie PA is $31,000 a year.
35.5 million people found hungry in 2006. A number virtually unchanged since last year. This is over 10% of people living in the USA. Single mothers were most likely to be affected. This is in the richest country in the world.
Transit workers' strike in France. Has it spread to other public sector workers who are threatened by Sarkozy and his neo-liberal agenda.
End the Dictatorship in Pakistan!
The Pakistani working class is caught between the military dictatorship on the one hand, and these reactionary groups on the other. The Trade Union Rights Campaign - Pakistan (TURCP) is organising resistance against both threats. TURCP members in Swat and other parts of the NWFP province are resisting the reactionary Islamic fundamentalist groups, risking their lives. TURCP members are also actively involved in protests and demonstrations taking place against the military regime. Many TURCP members were injured by police baton charges and by other police brutality. The Trade Union Rights Campaign – Pakistan will continue to fight for the political, trade union and economic rights of the working class.
We will continue our struggle against exploitation, repression, and anti-worker and anti-women Islamic groups and for a better life for the working class. Our struggle for full democratic rights - brutally crushed by the military dictatorship - will continue. Support our demands for:
• An immediate end to military rule
• Release all political prisoners, including trade union activists
• Full democratic rights for all, including the right of assembly and protest
• United working class opposition to the anti-worker and anti-women Islamic groups
• Full trade union rights, including the right to organise in the workplace
• No negotiations or ‘deals’ with the dictatorship
• End British and US support and funding of the Musharraf military regime
• Immediate elections to a democratic constituent assembly; full rights for workers and poor people to participate
• The right to organise an independent political alternative for working people, poor and youth
Please support the TURCP in any way you can.
Send resolutions of protest via your Pakistani embassy, hold pickets, solidarity meetings or demonstrations.
Please also send urgently needed financial contributions to TURCP
The TURCP has a bank account in London, Britain for the collection of funds outside Asia.
Please make all cheques payable to ‘TURCP’ and send them to:
Trade Union Rights Campaign - Pakistan, PO Box 52135, London E9 5WR, Britain.
Alternatively send by Bank Transfer to: TURCP, account number: 00574699, sort code: 30-95-03 Leytonstone, Lloyds TSB Branch, 797-799 High Road Leytonstone, IBAN No: GB70LOYD30950300574699, BIC Code: LOYDGB21500, Swift Code: LOYDGB2L
Please keep us informed of protests, donations, meetings etc. through turcpakistan@yahoo.com and we will keep you informed of developments here as best we can.
"Justice"- newspaper of Socialist Alternative
"Socialism Today" - CWI magazine, produced in England
Free and Open Discussion on the 40th anniversary of Che Guevara's death:
TONIGHT! Thursday, Nov. 15, 7pm, Tufts University, Braker Hall room 113.
Solidarity:
Stand for Security Rally - Friday, Nov 16th
March and Rally at 2pm. March begins at downtown crossing by Macy’s. march ends at a rally at 10 Winthrop Square, Boston, MA. Speakers from 615, City Life and CLU. This will be targeting both the security contractor Palladion for their various irresponsible practices and Deutsche Bank for its role in the foreclosures of folks all over the city. For more information contact Jeremy Shenk at 617-878-7520 or jshenk@seiu615.org
Anti-war demonstration - Friday, Nov 16th
Gather at 4pm - Boston Common, March 5pm to BU Recruiters station.
Rally for Quality Care - Nov 28th
First rally from 10:30 am - 12 noon at the Omni Parker House, Boston Ma. For more information contact Jennifer@massjwj.net or 617-524-8778.
Support the Screen Writers Strike and the Stage Hand's Strike
Nigerian Students falsely imprisoned on trumped up charges!
The DSM is demanding the immediate release of all these three OAU activists and asking for urgent protests and solidarity.
The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
- Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
- OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
- Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
- the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website
Please act urgently
More details are available in the following articles on the DSM’s website
- OAU Ile Ife Crisis: DSM Members Arrested (12 October 2007)
- OAU Crisis - ATTACKS ON UNION GETS FIERCER: Akinola Saburi (President, Students' Union) Arrested, Union Proscribed! (23 August 2007)
- OBAFEMI AWOLOWO UNIVERSITY CRISIS - After Banning of the Students Union, Authorities Set to Victimize Student Leaders (16 April 2007 DSM OAU branch statement)
The Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights in Nigeria CDWRN) has details of the post-election repression in Osun State in the following items on its website:
- No to Vindictive Panel in Osun State (7 May 2007)
- “Reign of Terror in Osun State” (9 May 2007)
News:
Matt Geary - Socialist Alternative candidate for Boston City Council recieves 3,025 votes (6.5% of voters voted for him). Low turnout in this election - just under 15% of registered voters. Incumbent Felix Arroyo loses seat to John Connelly.
Red Sox have most expensive tickets in baseball.
Reclaim the Game! - Sports for fans, not for profits!
Nearly half of African Americans born in the 1960s middle class have plunged into poverty. In inflation ajusted dollars, middle class african americans went from a median family income of $55,000 to $23,000 per year.
Washington Post, Tues Nov. 13th
Median household income in Erie PA is $31,000 a year.
35.5 million people found hungry in 2006. A number virtually unchanged since last year. This is over 10% of people living in the USA. Single mothers were most likely to be affected. This is in the richest country in the world.
Transit workers' strike in France. Has it spread to other public sector workers who are threatened by Sarkozy and his neo-liberal agenda.
End the Dictatorship in Pakistan!
The Pakistani working class is caught between the military dictatorship on the one hand, and these reactionary groups on the other. The Trade Union Rights Campaign - Pakistan (TURCP) is organising resistance against both threats. TURCP members in Swat and other parts of the NWFP province are resisting the reactionary Islamic fundamentalist groups, risking their lives. TURCP members are also actively involved in protests and demonstrations taking place against the military regime. Many TURCP members were injured by police baton charges and by other police brutality. The Trade Union Rights Campaign – Pakistan will continue to fight for the political, trade union and economic rights of the working class.
We will continue our struggle against exploitation, repression, and anti-worker and anti-women Islamic groups and for a better life for the working class. Our struggle for full democratic rights - brutally crushed by the military dictatorship - will continue. Support our demands for:
• An immediate end to military rule
• Release all political prisoners, including trade union activists
• Full democratic rights for all, including the right of assembly and protest
• United working class opposition to the anti-worker and anti-women Islamic groups
• Full trade union rights, including the right to organise in the workplace
• No negotiations or ‘deals’ with the dictatorship
• End British and US support and funding of the Musharraf military regime
• Immediate elections to a democratic constituent assembly; full rights for workers and poor people to participate
• The right to organise an independent political alternative for working people, poor and youth
Please support the TURCP in any way you can.
Send resolutions of protest via your Pakistani embassy, hold pickets, solidarity meetings or demonstrations.
Please also send urgently needed financial contributions to TURCP
The TURCP has a bank account in London, Britain for the collection of funds outside Asia.
Please make all cheques payable to ‘TURCP’ and send them to:
Trade Union Rights Campaign - Pakistan, PO Box 52135, London E9 5WR, Britain.
Alternatively send by Bank Transfer to: TURCP, account number: 00574699, sort code: 30-95-03 Leytonstone, Lloyds TSB Branch, 797-799 High Road Leytonstone, IBAN No: GB70LOYD30950300574699, BIC Code: LOYDGB21500, Swift Code: LOYDGB2L
Please keep us informed of protests, donations, meetings etc. through turcpakistan@yahoo.com and we will keep you informed of developments here as best we can.
"Justice"- newspaper of Socialist Alternative
"Socialism Today" - CWI magazine, produced in England
08 November, 2007
2 Important solidarity requests...
Hi all,
No show this week, we're still a bit exhausted from election day. Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large did quite well (we think anyway). He recieved 3,000+ votes meaning that 6.5% of voters voted for him. The campaign turned out around 30 people to pass out day of info. We consider this a great step forward considering that he was running as an open socialist on a Marxist platform.
To the business at hand:
As we've reported, Nigerian students are still in Jail.
Corrupt State government makes up attempted murder charges against student activists
Urgent appeal: Free OAU students now!
Three Nigerian student activists from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, are now in jail on made up charges, including “conspiracy to murder” and “attempted murder”.
Saburi Akande Akinola, the OAU Students Union President, has been held since 31 31 July. Taiwo Hassan Soweto, Secretary, Democratic Socialist Movement’s OAU Branch and Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), and Olatunde Dairo, a DSM member and the OAU Students Union Public Relations Officer were arrested on October 11.
The murder charges relate to protests in November 2004, nearly three years ago, during which a OAU student, Rasheed Laketu, was killed by the police. As the alleged victim, the then university Vice Chancellor, has up to now made no accusations against these three, it is clear that these are politically motivated charges attempted at wrecking the OAU Students Union. Indeed, the university unjustly expelled 7 students, in early 2005, over the November 2004 protest.
The DSM is demanding the immediate release of all these three OAU activists and asking for urgent protests and solidarity.
The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website
Last But Certainly not least:
Last week 70 students held a sit-in against the war inside thecafeteria at Morton West High School, a working class suburb outsideof Chicago. Despite being promised they wouldn't be punished beyondwhat they would get for cutting classes, many of them are nowthreatened with expulsion. We should send solidarity announcementsover the YAWR lists appealing for support for these students, as thisis an important free speech issue. I think it will also helppoliticize students in YAWR by emphasizing the lack of free speech inhigh schools and how this is something that has to be fought for - aswell as showing that students across the country are fighting for.
A link to the petition:http://cccsds.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/students-threatened-with-expulsion-after-morton-west-sit-in/
Chicago Indymedia article: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/80059/index.php
New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07protest.html
No show this week, we're still a bit exhausted from election day. Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large did quite well (we think anyway). He recieved 3,000+ votes meaning that 6.5% of voters voted for him. The campaign turned out around 30 people to pass out day of info. We consider this a great step forward considering that he was running as an open socialist on a Marxist platform.
To the business at hand:
As we've reported, Nigerian students are still in Jail.
Corrupt State government makes up attempted murder charges against student activists
Urgent appeal: Free OAU students now!
Three Nigerian student activists from Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, are now in jail on made up charges, including “conspiracy to murder” and “attempted murder”.
Saburi Akande Akinola, the OAU Students Union President, has been held since 31 31 July. Taiwo Hassan Soweto, Secretary, Democratic Socialist Movement’s OAU Branch and Coordinator, Education Rights Campaign (ERC), and Olatunde Dairo, a DSM member and the OAU Students Union Public Relations Officer were arrested on October 11.
The murder charges relate to protests in November 2004, nearly three years ago, during which a OAU student, Rasheed Laketu, was killed by the police. As the alleged victim, the then university Vice Chancellor, has up to now made no accusations against these three, it is clear that these are politically motivated charges attempted at wrecking the OAU Students Union. Indeed, the university unjustly expelled 7 students, in early 2005, over the November 2004 protest.
The DSM is demanding the immediate release of all these three OAU activists and asking for urgent protests and solidarity.
The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website
Last But Certainly not least:
Last week 70 students held a sit-in against the war inside thecafeteria at Morton West High School, a working class suburb outsideof Chicago. Despite being promised they wouldn't be punished beyondwhat they would get for cutting classes, many of them are nowthreatened with expulsion. We should send solidarity announcementsover the YAWR lists appealing for support for these students, as thisis an important free speech issue. I think it will also helppoliticize students in YAWR by emphasizing the lack of free speech inhigh schools and how this is something that has to be fought for - aswell as showing that students across the country are fighting for.
A link to the petition:http://cccsds.wordpress.com/2007/11/04/students-threatened-with-expulsion-after-morton-west-sit-in/
Chicago Indymedia article: http://chicago.indymedia.org/newswire/display/80059/index.php
New York Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/07/us/07protest.html
01 November, 2007
Interview with Boston City Council At-Large Candidate Matt Geary
Download Audio here.
Solidarity Announcements:
Support unfairly fired long term Harvard library worker David Toomey. Rally today at 12:30pm at Holyoke Center in Harvard Square (next to the large Au Bon Pain).
Nigerian Students are political prisoners.
Rallies for Quality Healthcare.
SEIU 1199 organizing local healthcare workers.
Thurs Nov. 29 in Lynn - contact www.massjwj.org for more info.
Interview with Boston City Council Candidate Matt Geary:
visit the Vote Geary campaign website here.
a few of Geary's demands...
Democratize the Boston School Board, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the MBTA board.
No Worker is my enemy. Amnesty for all undocumented workers.
Oppose the BU Bio-terror lab.
Solidarity Announcements:
Support unfairly fired long term Harvard library worker David Toomey. Rally today at 12:30pm at Holyoke Center in Harvard Square (next to the large Au Bon Pain).
Nigerian Students are political prisoners.
Rallies for Quality Healthcare.
SEIU 1199 organizing local healthcare workers.
Thurs Nov. 29 in Lynn - contact www.massjwj.org for more info.
Interview with Boston City Council Candidate Matt Geary:
visit the Vote Geary campaign website here.
a few of Geary's demands...
Democratize the Boston School Board, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the MBTA board.
No Worker is my enemy. Amnesty for all undocumented workers.
Oppose the BU Bio-terror lab.
19 October, 2007
18 October, 2007
Corporate free Music! and Manny Ramirez?
What is Socialism?
Workers and their Unions are the only force in society in which in order for any person's lot in life to get better, all of their co-workers have to profit together. In most of capitalist society we are mostly told to be greedy at the expense of our co-workers. But the bosses do everything they can to discourage our Union activism.
Music:
Today we're playing a lot of music that is free of corporate domination. Woody Guthrie refused to bow to the interests of corporate music. He prefered to roam the country, playing at working class bars and surviving on basically the same wages that the people he played for did. Radiohead's latest album, "In Rainbows" is being offered online for whatever donation is decided by the listener. Immortal Technique has continually refused to sign with a major label and has built is career around his own promotion and the strength of his lyrics and his music.
Manny Ramirez - Baseball isn't war...
Solidarity Announcements:
Anti-War demonstrations the weekend of Oct 26 & 27
Sickout/Walkout Oct 26th 12noon - Walkout of school and call in sick to work on Friday, Oct 26th. Gather for a rally followed by a march on the Boston Common at 1pm. See www.sowoco.org for more information.
National Day of Action against the war - Saturday Oct 27th, 12noon, Boston Common.
www.October27.org or www.newenglandunited.org
On November 6th,
Vote Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large. Matt Geary is the candidate of Socialist Alternative. See www.votegeary.com for his full program. Look for Matt on BNN tonight!
Nigerian Students charged with trumped up charges. Heres who you can protest to: The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
• Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
• OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
• Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
• the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website
Reading the Papers:
MBTA debt will cause MORE fare hikes in the next five years.
MassPIRG's report is here. It says that the MBTA has 3 choices: Fare increase, service cuts or more borrowing (ie, more debt). The Boston Globe article on it is here.
Where does the debt come from? Forward funding legislation passed in 2000 put the funds in the hands of the stock market and out of the hands of the Mass Legislature. MBTA debt service is over $250 million a year!
Nurses rally in Boston to push for Card Check union recognition in the Longwood Medical area. Ben Affleck supports them!
24 hour transportation strike in France. Sarkozy is trying to cut back on the pensions that transporation workers have won in the past.
Clear Channel is trying to break the union and pay their billboard workers nothing. Their workers are on strike but their tactics are largely symbolic and are not preventing billboards from being updated.
History of post-WWII healthcare on ZMag.
Wealth gap increasing and increasing. Largest its been since the 1920s.
Abortion rates stay the same, legal or illegal (international herald tribune).
Workers and their Unions are the only force in society in which in order for any person's lot in life to get better, all of their co-workers have to profit together. In most of capitalist society we are mostly told to be greedy at the expense of our co-workers. But the bosses do everything they can to discourage our Union activism.
Music:
Today we're playing a lot of music that is free of corporate domination. Woody Guthrie refused to bow to the interests of corporate music. He prefered to roam the country, playing at working class bars and surviving on basically the same wages that the people he played for did. Radiohead's latest album, "In Rainbows" is being offered online for whatever donation is decided by the listener. Immortal Technique has continually refused to sign with a major label and has built is career around his own promotion and the strength of his lyrics and his music.
Manny Ramirez - Baseball isn't war...
Solidarity Announcements:
Anti-War demonstrations the weekend of Oct 26 & 27
Sickout/Walkout Oct 26th 12noon - Walkout of school and call in sick to work on Friday, Oct 26th. Gather for a rally followed by a march on the Boston Common at 1pm. See www.sowoco.org for more information.
National Day of Action against the war - Saturday Oct 27th, 12noon, Boston Common.
www.October27.org or www.newenglandunited.org
On November 6th,
Vote Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large. Matt Geary is the candidate of Socialist Alternative. See www.votegeary.com for his full program. Look for Matt on BNN tonight!
Nigerian Students charged with trumped up charges. Heres who you can protest to: The DSM asks for protest letters be sent to:
• Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) at registra@oauife.edu.ng
• OAU Vice-Chancellor – mfaborode@yahoo.co.uk & mfaborod@oauife.edu.ng
• Nigerian Federal Ministry of Education at enquiries@fme.gov.ng and te@fme.gov.ng
International supporters are asked to contact their local Nigerian Embassy or High Commission
(This is especially important, as some of these Nigerian email addresses may not accept protests).
Copies of all protest letters sent should be also sent to:
• the DSM (CWI, Nigeria) at dsmcentre@hotmail.com
Clearly legal and other defence activities will cost money and the DSM asks for donations to be sent via its website
Reading the Papers:
MBTA debt will cause MORE fare hikes in the next five years.
MassPIRG's report is here. It says that the MBTA has 3 choices: Fare increase, service cuts or more borrowing (ie, more debt). The Boston Globe article on it is here.
Where does the debt come from? Forward funding legislation passed in 2000 put the funds in the hands of the stock market and out of the hands of the Mass Legislature. MBTA debt service is over $250 million a year!
Nurses rally in Boston to push for Card Check union recognition in the Longwood Medical area. Ben Affleck supports them!
24 hour transportation strike in France. Sarkozy is trying to cut back on the pensions that transporation workers have won in the past.
Clear Channel is trying to break the union and pay their billboard workers nothing. Their workers are on strike but their tactics are largely symbolic and are not preventing billboards from being updated.
History of post-WWII healthcare on ZMag.
Wealth gap increasing and increasing. Largest its been since the 1920s.
Abortion rates stay the same, legal or illegal (international herald tribune).
11 October, 2007
UAW - Fake Strikes, wtf?
Audio:
What is Socialism?
Solidarity Announcements
Today! Protest "No Match" letters being sent to immigrant workers to keep them from working.
3:00 PM in front of the Social Security Office, O’Neill Building, (North Station, 10 Causeway St. Boston, MA) or more information contact Mauro at mauro@massjwj.net or (617) 524-8778.
Boston Globe - Social Security database full of errors, could get many non-immigrants fired. Nobody is safe!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
BE FAIR TO THOSE WHO CARE! Join 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers, not yet-union hospital workers, and community activists as we say: 3:30-5:30 Longwood Medical Area. Too many hospital workers can't afford healthcare for themselves or their children and many struggle to pay their rent on low wages that don't reward their years of labor. Many caregivers have been quietly working together to form a union with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, with a vision of making our hospitals the best they can be for our patients and workplaces where caregivers are treated with Dignity, Rights and Respect.
For more info: call Corey Hope Leaffer 617-284-1142
Anti-War Events weekend of Oct 26-27
Friday Oct 26, Sick of War? Walk out of school, call in sick to work, join the Rally at the Boston Common at 1pm. For more info: www.sowoco.org
Saturday, Oct 27, End the War Now - National Day of Action. 12noon Boston Common.
www.Oct27.org, or, www.NewEnglandUnited.org
Matt Geary Campaign:
www.VoteGeary.com
Forum at Roxbury Community College tonight!
Standout for Geary in Charlestown on Saturday.
Reading the Papers:
UAW told GM to stockpile before starting negotiating.
UAW strikes Chrysler, settles 6 hours later. Ford is next.
Roots of the UAW - the Auto-Lite Sit-down strike in 1934 heres a wikipedia article about it.
Some GM plants vote down contract.
Home Heating Costs on the rise.
Ex-president Carter Says, "US tortures prisoners."
Teamsters settle with UPS 10 months early.
Illegal Rendition = Kidnapping by the government
Go see SICKO!
Recalled food Item went to BJ's stores. (after be recalled)
Hazardous levels of Lead found in 1/3 of lipstick.
Homelessness on the rise in Massachussetts.
Mass State Turnpike fare hikes.
What is Socialism?
Solidarity Announcements
Today! Protest "No Match" letters being sent to immigrant workers to keep them from working.
3:00 PM in front of the Social Security Office, O’Neill Building, (North Station, 10 Causeway St. Boston, MA) or more information contact Mauro at mauro@massjwj.net or (617) 524-8778.
Boston Globe - Social Security database full of errors, could get many non-immigrants fired. Nobody is safe!
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
BE FAIR TO THOSE WHO CARE! Join 1199SEIU Healthcare Workers, not yet-union hospital workers, and community activists as we say: 3:30-5:30 Longwood Medical Area. Too many hospital workers can't afford healthcare for themselves or their children and many struggle to pay their rent on low wages that don't reward their years of labor. Many caregivers have been quietly working together to form a union with 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, with a vision of making our hospitals the best they can be for our patients and workplaces where caregivers are treated with Dignity, Rights and Respect.
For more info: call Corey Hope Leaffer 617-284-1142
Anti-War Events weekend of Oct 26-27
Friday Oct 26, Sick of War? Walk out of school, call in sick to work, join the Rally at the Boston Common at 1pm. For more info: www.sowoco.org
Saturday, Oct 27, End the War Now - National Day of Action. 12noon Boston Common.
www.Oct27.org, or, www.NewEnglandUnited.org
Matt Geary Campaign:
www.VoteGeary.com
Forum at Roxbury Community College tonight!
Standout for Geary in Charlestown on Saturday.
Reading the Papers:
UAW told GM to stockpile before starting negotiating.
UAW strikes Chrysler, settles 6 hours later. Ford is next.
Roots of the UAW - the Auto-Lite Sit-down strike in 1934 heres a wikipedia article about it.
Some GM plants vote down contract.
Home Heating Costs on the rise.
Ex-president Carter Says, "US tortures prisoners."
Teamsters settle with UPS 10 months early.
Illegal Rendition = Kidnapping by the government
Go see SICKO!
Recalled food Item went to BJ's stores. (after be recalled)
Hazardous levels of Lead found in 1/3 of lipstick.
Homelessness on the rise in Massachussetts.
Mass State Turnpike fare hikes.
09 October, 2007
audio for Oct 4th Show
You can listen here, in this mp3 player (though it takes a while to load):
or you can download it at: Download from host
i've edited it so theres no music (so its a smaller file).
enjoy!
-josh
or you can download it at: Download from host
i've edited it so theres no music (so its a smaller file).
enjoy!
-josh
04 October, 2007
First Thursday Show!
Hi everybody!
The WMFO website isn't working at the moment so we don't have audio for you at the moment. We're working on recording straight from the board so we can post to the blog in the future, but at the moment we'll just have to post in writing what we're doing.
See our play lists
Our Topics:
What is democratic Socialism?
1 out of every 3 Americans have no vacation time.
Solidarity
Rally to support Boston Hospital Workers:
Tuesday, October 16th, 4pm-5:30pm @ the Longwood Medical Area in Boston
For more information call Corey Hope Leaffer at 617-284-1142
SEIU Local 1199
Harvard fires HUCTW library worker
(Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers)
Co-workers and activists concerned about discrimination
Harvard University recently fired David Toomey, a very dedicated and productive library assistant with over 20 years experience. Before firing David, Harvard managers sent two different emails to hundreds of co-workers asking them to report “concerns” about David. Harvard then used co-workers’ complaints about David to terminate his employment.
As David has a very serious medical disability, co-workers and fellow union members are upset about Harvard’s solicitations of complaints. Many are even more upset that Harvard used these complaints to terminate his employment.
Despite his disability, David has worked very hard for Harvard College Library helping build the impressive French/Italian collection. He routinely put in overtime and he consistently maintained admiration and respect from colleagues. His performance has been excellent. Despite this, Harvard resisted granting David’s requests for accommodation to his disability and managers were often reluctant to work with union representatives trying to help David.
Friends and colleagues of David’s have asked Harvard to reverse the termination. David should be able to keep his job and he should be able to access internal grievance processes.
Please join the campaign to:
Reinstate David
Fight Discrimination at Harvard
Support following local problem solving (grievance) processes
&
Encourage Harvard to support the Disabled by acknowledging employees’ conditions and accommodating their reasonable workplace requests
Email the following to voice your concerns:
Bill Murphy, Director, Labor and Employee Relations
bmurphy@camail.harvard.edu
Steve Marley, Director of Human Resource Services, Harvard College Library
marley@fas.harvard.edu
SAMPLE TEXT:
“I am concerned that management solicited complaints about David Toomey. Harvard should not discriminate against workers with disabilities. David should get his job back, and Harvard should respect the HUCTW contract.”
To help, get more information or share your story of discrimination, email: stopharvardsdiscrimination@gmail.com
Oct 26th Anti-War student walkout and worker sickout.
www.sowoco.org
Oct 27th Anti-War rally 2pm Boston Common. www.stopthewars.org
Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large
Workers councilor on a workers wage: Matt pledges to donate more than half of the $87,000 city councilor's salary back to the movement and only take the average wage of his constituents. VOTE GEARY!
Democratize Boston!
-Boston School Board - appointed, not elected
-Boston Redevelopment Authority - appointed, not elected (mainly wealthy businessmen)
-Make the T affordable again! Reverse the fare hikes?
Boston Organizer - Boston Socialist Alternative website
Keep your eye out for candidate forums... Matt will be there!
Reading the Paper
Walkout Newsletter of Justice
Walk out of classes, call in sick to work - Oct 26th in Boston, check www.yawr.org for other cities.
For US Workers, Anxious Times
UAW stuff (Christian Science Monitor)
UAW agreement, 15 factories slated to be closed - Boston Globe
Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union
Ford and Chrysler next for UAW
Boston Herald - T fare hike has decreased public transportation usage. Ridership could continue to drop.
USA is the top arms dealer to the developing world, reports the NYTimes.
Congress approves billions more for the Iraq War
U.S. Pays Steep Price for Private Security in Iraq
Burma - Thousands Killed...
Obama, whats up? are you more than empty rhetoric?
The WMFO website isn't working at the moment so we don't have audio for you at the moment. We're working on recording straight from the board so we can post to the blog in the future, but at the moment we'll just have to post in writing what we're doing.
See our play lists
Our Topics:
What is democratic Socialism?
1 out of every 3 Americans have no vacation time.
Solidarity
Rally to support Boston Hospital Workers:
Tuesday, October 16th, 4pm-5:30pm @ the Longwood Medical Area in Boston
For more information call Corey Hope Leaffer at 617-284-1142
SEIU Local 1199
Harvard fires HUCTW library worker
(Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical Workers)
Co-workers and activists concerned about discrimination
Harvard University recently fired David Toomey, a very dedicated and productive library assistant with over 20 years experience. Before firing David, Harvard managers sent two different emails to hundreds of co-workers asking them to report “concerns” about David. Harvard then used co-workers’ complaints about David to terminate his employment.
As David has a very serious medical disability, co-workers and fellow union members are upset about Harvard’s solicitations of complaints. Many are even more upset that Harvard used these complaints to terminate his employment.
Despite his disability, David has worked very hard for Harvard College Library helping build the impressive French/Italian collection. He routinely put in overtime and he consistently maintained admiration and respect from colleagues. His performance has been excellent. Despite this, Harvard resisted granting David’s requests for accommodation to his disability and managers were often reluctant to work with union representatives trying to help David.
Friends and colleagues of David’s have asked Harvard to reverse the termination. David should be able to keep his job and he should be able to access internal grievance processes.
Please join the campaign to:
Reinstate David
Fight Discrimination at Harvard
Support following local problem solving (grievance) processes
&
Encourage Harvard to support the Disabled by acknowledging employees’ conditions and accommodating their reasonable workplace requests
Email the following to voice your concerns:
Bill Murphy, Director, Labor and Employee Relations
bmurphy@camail.harvard.edu
Steve Marley, Director of Human Resource Services, Harvard College Library
marley@fas.harvard.edu
SAMPLE TEXT:
“I am concerned that management solicited complaints about David Toomey. Harvard should not discriminate against workers with disabilities. David should get his job back, and Harvard should respect the HUCTW contract.”
To help, get more information or share your story of discrimination, email: stopharvardsdiscrimination@gmail.com
Oct 26th Anti-War student walkout and worker sickout.
www.sowoco.org
Oct 27th Anti-War rally 2pm Boston Common. www.stopthewars.org
Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large
Workers councilor on a workers wage: Matt pledges to donate more than half of the $87,000 city councilor's salary back to the movement and only take the average wage of his constituents. VOTE GEARY!
Democratize Boston!
-Boston School Board - appointed, not elected
-Boston Redevelopment Authority - appointed, not elected (mainly wealthy businessmen)
-Make the T affordable again! Reverse the fare hikes?
Boston Organizer - Boston Socialist Alternative website
Keep your eye out for candidate forums... Matt will be there!
Reading the Paper
Walkout Newsletter of Justice
Walk out of classes, call in sick to work - Oct 26th in Boston, check www.yawr.org for other cities.
For US Workers, Anxious Times
UAW stuff (Christian Science Monitor)
UAW agreement, 15 factories slated to be closed - Boston Globe
Soldiers of Solidarity, Future of the Union
Ford and Chrysler next for UAW
Boston Herald - T fare hike has decreased public transportation usage. Ridership could continue to drop.
USA is the top arms dealer to the developing world, reports the NYTimes.
Congress approves billions more for the Iraq War
U.S. Pays Steep Price for Private Security in Iraq
Burma - Thousands Killed...
Obama, whats up? are you more than empty rhetoric?
21 September, 2007
We don't like tasers.
Hi all,
Just a note, this is our last show on Friday for a while. We've asked for, and been given, the Thursday 7am-9am time slot. So after this week, you'll be able to hear us Thursday instead of Friday.
Listen to this week's show here. We only got 1 hour due to misreading this schedule this week... sorry about that.
*music: "Working Class Hero" - John Lennon, "Cumberland Blues" - Grateful Dead, "Ludlow Massacre"- Woody Guthrie, "Police and Theives"- The Clash,
What is Socialism?
Stop the BU Bio-terror Lab:
http://www.stopthebiolab.org/
comment period with the NIH: until Nov 12th
email: nihnepa@mail.nih.gov
call: 301-496-7775
Sick Out, Walk Out against the war:
As part of nation-wide Anti-War demonstrations.
October 26th: SickoutWalkoutCoalition
Call: 617-482-3090 or 617-230-9382
Support University of Minnisota at Minneapolis Workers!
Out on strike!
http://socialistminnesota.org/2007/09/05/solidarity-101-join-the-strike-support-movement/
Police Brutality:
Video Links:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/20/sinkovich.woman.tasered.wytv
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered.ap/index.html
Just a note, this is our last show on Friday for a while. We've asked for, and been given, the Thursday 7am-9am time slot. So after this week, you'll be able to hear us Thursday instead of Friday.
Listen to this week's show here. We only got 1 hour due to misreading this schedule this week... sorry about that.
*music: "Working Class Hero" - John Lennon, "Cumberland Blues" - Grateful Dead, "Ludlow Massacre"- Woody Guthrie, "Police and Theives"- The Clash,
What is Socialism?
Stop the BU Bio-terror Lab:
http://www.stopthebiolab.org/
comment period with the NIH: until Nov 12th
email: nihnepa@mail.nih.gov
call: 301-496-7775
Sick Out, Walk Out against the war:
As part of nation-wide Anti-War demonstrations.
October 26th: SickoutWalkoutCoalition
Call: 617-482-3090 or 617-230-9382
Support University of Minnisota at Minneapolis Workers!
Out on strike!
http://socialistminnesota.org/2007/09/05/solidarity-101-join-the-strike-support-movement/
Police Brutality:
Video Links:
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2007/09/20/sinkovich.woman.tasered.wytv
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/18/student.tasered.ap/index.html
31 August, 2007
Ha! We're baaack!
Yes we are...
Here's the link to today's show. (warning, we were 25 minutes late getting into the studio, so you'll have to fastforward to when we get in)
We've been noticed on another blog! Check out Finian Rising
SEIU 615, Master contract for Boston area is up today!
Rally times and locations for today: August 31st, 2007
4:00 pm: Downtown Crossing
4:00 pm State Street T Stop
4:30 pm Burlington -- 75 Middlesex Road
5 pm -- Andover 100-200 Brickstone Square
4:30 pm -- Quincy -- 100 Newport Avenue
Alberto Gonzalez, US Attorney General resigns.
Karl Rove, Top Bush Aid resigns.
votegeary.com
Cindy Sheehan running for congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2008
Sagging Pants being outlawed across the country.
Do you think this is aimed at african american youth? We do. Protest these racist laws.
The Pope was a Nazi youth. Catholic Church has tried to protect child abusing priests all over the country.
Somerville 5...
Socialist Alternative Public Meetings...
A World in Crisis... and the Socialist Alternative.
Tufts: Thurs, Sept 6, 7pm Eaton 201...
UMass Boston: TBA
Salem State Community College: TBA
Movies:
The Outskirts
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Steve Earle calls himself a marxist?
Here's the link to today's show. (warning, we were 25 minutes late getting into the studio, so you'll have to fastforward to when we get in)
We've been noticed on another blog! Check out Finian Rising
SEIU 615, Master contract for Boston area is up today!
Rally times and locations for today: August 31st, 2007
4:00 pm: Downtown Crossing
4:00 pm State Street T Stop
4:30 pm Burlington -- 75 Middlesex Road
5 pm -- Andover 100-200 Brickstone Square
4:30 pm -- Quincy -- 100 Newport Avenue
Alberto Gonzalez, US Attorney General resigns.
Karl Rove, Top Bush Aid resigns.
votegeary.com
Cindy Sheehan running for congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2008
Sagging Pants being outlawed across the country.
Do you think this is aimed at african american youth? We do. Protest these racist laws.
The Pope was a Nazi youth. Catholic Church has tried to protect child abusing priests all over the country.
Somerville 5...
Socialist Alternative Public Meetings...
A World in Crisis... and the Socialist Alternative.
Tufts: Thurs, Sept 6, 7pm Eaton 201...
UMass Boston: TBA
Salem State Community College: TBA
Movies:
The Outskirts
Who Killed the Electric Car?
Steve Earle calls himself a marxist?
27 July, 2007
Show on July 27th (Dave and Jeff)
Listen to this show here.
(skip through the first 5-10 minutes of technical difficulties)
Music: "I'm so bored with the USA"-The Clash, "Career Opportunities"-The Clash, "No Shelter"-Rage Against the Machine, "Gethsemane"-Richard Thompson, "Sweet Home Chicago"-Robert Johnson,
What is Socialism?
Socialism is a methodology. Basing theory on the material reality of the situation and applying "dialectics," which is the basic idea of examining things as they are and acknowledging that any thing is constantly changing.
Interview: Matt Geary - Candidate for Boston City Councilor At-Large
votegeary.com
Solidarity Announcements
Contract campaign for SEIU 615 Janitors for the area Master Contract. This Thursday (Aug. 2nd), 4:30pm Downtown Crossing.
www.Newengland4all.org
IBEW and CWA kickoff 1-year count down to expiration of contract with Verizon. Campaign against corporate greed. Thurs, Aug 2nd, 5:30pm, 185 Franklin St., Boston
617-524-8778, www.massjwj.net
Enterprise Rent-a-Car unionization drive (Boston). Working jobs being outsourced to prevent unionization. Boycott Enterprise! www.myspace.com/boycott_enterprise
Dave and Jeff read the Papers:
UAW opens contract negotiations with GM
Boston is 2nd most expensive city to park in the USA.
(skip through the first 5-10 minutes of technical difficulties)
Music: "I'm so bored with the USA"-The Clash, "Career Opportunities"-The Clash, "No Shelter"-Rage Against the Machine, "Gethsemane"-Richard Thompson, "Sweet Home Chicago"-Robert Johnson,
What is Socialism?
Socialism is a methodology. Basing theory on the material reality of the situation and applying "dialectics," which is the basic idea of examining things as they are and acknowledging that any thing is constantly changing.
Interview: Matt Geary - Candidate for Boston City Councilor At-Large
votegeary.com
Solidarity Announcements
Contract campaign for SEIU 615 Janitors for the area Master Contract. This Thursday (Aug. 2nd), 4:30pm Downtown Crossing.
www.Newengland4all.org
IBEW and CWA kickoff 1-year count down to expiration of contract with Verizon. Campaign against corporate greed. Thurs, Aug 2nd, 5:30pm, 185 Franklin St., Boston
617-524-8778, www.massjwj.net
Enterprise Rent-a-Car unionization drive (Boston). Working jobs being outsourced to prevent unionization. Boycott Enterprise! www.myspace.com/boycott_enterprise
Dave and Jeff read the Papers:
UAW opens contract negotiations with GM
Boston is 2nd most expensive city to park in the USA.
20 July, 2007
July 20th show... (Chris and Josh)
Listen to this week's show here.
Music: "Wake up everybody"-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, "Working Class Hero"-Green Day, "Alabama"-Neil Young, "Its no game(part 1)"-David Bowie, "Workingman's Blues #2"-Bob Dylan, "1Nation"-Dead Prez & Outlawz, Kamikaze aka the Franchise,
What is Socialism?
What is a Living wage? A minimum wage is not enough to live on! A living wage: $20 an hour in Boston would currently be a living wage. Build a living wage movement! Organize to demand a wage we can live on!
We need a party for and by working people! One that would not take money from corporations and would take part in local struggles. Candidates should not take more than the average worker!
Solidarity Announcements:
Matt Geary for At-Large Boston City Council: www.votegeary.com
Reinstate the Bolivian Trade Unionists!
Honk out against the War and the Bush regime - Davis Square, Somerville, Monday July 23, 5pm-7pm
Interview with Chris about unionizing Zip Car in Boston.
Teamsters Local 25
teamsters unionizing article
Reading the Papers:
Senate votes against withdrawl from Iraq
Australia admits: Iraq is a war for oil
The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age
California: Regional supermarket employees (UFCW) reach agreement with employers.
Two different approaches to undocument immigrants: New Haven gives out ID cards to everyone, Prince William County, Virginia instructs cops to check on everyone.
Deval Patrick's new budget
Geary wants to fight for social causes: Westie Paper
Poll Results: 58% say a third major party is needed in USA!
Sicko, Michael Moore
Article about attacks on Sicko and Michael Moore
Obama Watch:
ABC News - Obama Pushes Lobbyist Interests!
Music: "Wake up everybody"-Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, "Working Class Hero"-Green Day, "Alabama"-Neil Young, "Its no game(part 1)"-David Bowie, "Workingman's Blues #2"-Bob Dylan, "1Nation"-Dead Prez & Outlawz, Kamikaze aka the Franchise,
What is Socialism?
What is a Living wage? A minimum wage is not enough to live on! A living wage: $20 an hour in Boston would currently be a living wage. Build a living wage movement! Organize to demand a wage we can live on!
We need a party for and by working people! One that would not take money from corporations and would take part in local struggles. Candidates should not take more than the average worker!
Solidarity Announcements:
Matt Geary for At-Large Boston City Council: www.votegeary.com
Reinstate the Bolivian Trade Unionists!
Honk out against the War and the Bush regime - Davis Square, Somerville, Monday July 23, 5pm-7pm
Interview with Chris about unionizing Zip Car in Boston.
Teamsters Local 25
teamsters unionizing article
Reading the Papers:
Senate votes against withdrawl from Iraq
Australia admits: Iraq is a war for oil
The Richest of the Rich, Proud of a New Gilded Age
California: Regional supermarket employees (UFCW) reach agreement with employers.
Two different approaches to undocument immigrants: New Haven gives out ID cards to everyone, Prince William County, Virginia instructs cops to check on everyone.
Deval Patrick's new budget
Geary wants to fight for social causes: Westie Paper
Poll Results: 58% say a third major party is needed in USA!
Sicko, Michael Moore
Article about attacks on Sicko and Michael Moore
Obama Watch:
ABC News - Obama Pushes Lobbyist Interests!
13 July, 2007
Friday the 13th!!!
Here's the link to listen to this week's show.
Music:
"Cumberland Blues"-Grateful Dead, "Working Class Hero"-John Lennon, "The Dirty Jobs>Helpless Dancer"- The Who, Kamikaze aka Mr. Shonuff, "Living for the City"-Stevie Wonder, "Goodbye Earl"-Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Backward"-Kode9 and the SpaceApe, "1Nation"-Dead Prez and Outlawz,
What is Socialism?
Democracy to society and the economy. Build quality affordable housing, not line corporate pockets by building expensive condos for profit!
Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large: votegeary.com!
an Independent Socialist Candidate. He has pledged to only take $35,000 out of the $80,000 that city councilors make, donating the rest back to social justice causes.
Solidarity Announcements:
Party for Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition:
Friday @ 7:00pm
Spontaneous Celebrations
Jamaica Plain, MA
An alternative, fun &
energizing anti-war event/party/mixer/concert
to benefit the Coalition
7:00 pm – 1:00 am. 21+ only
$10 donation/ no one turned away for lack of funds
Contact: Brian O’Connell, 617-947-8983
Anti-war strategy Session:
11:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 14
33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor (Chinatown)
Sicko: an excellent movie about Healthcare: www.michaelmoore.com
Healthcare website: www.masscare.org
Reading the Papers:
Boston Herald on the House voting to withdraw troops
Cindy Sheehan to run against Nancy Pelosi
Mumbles Menino what is he doing? NO Casinos in Boston!
Ten Million More sought for Columbus Center
Boston Globe: Healthcare not free for the poor
President can declare martial law
Boston Globe: Mr. Butch died in an auto-accident
Ex-pension boss jailed as dead-beat dad
Income Gap too wide says majority of people
International Union Created: SEIU merges with international unions
blog.aflcio.org - firefighters and families say Giuliani made serious mistakes, costing firefighters their lives. Giuliani's leadership is challenged.
Surgeon General says he won't put politics first
Music:
"Cumberland Blues"-Grateful Dead, "Working Class Hero"-John Lennon, "The Dirty Jobs>Helpless Dancer"- The Who, Kamikaze aka Mr. Shonuff, "Living for the City"-Stevie Wonder, "Goodbye Earl"-Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, "Backward"-Kode9 and the SpaceApe, "1Nation"-Dead Prez and Outlawz,
What is Socialism?
Democracy to society and the economy. Build quality affordable housing, not line corporate pockets by building expensive condos for profit!
Matt Geary for Boston City Council At-Large: votegeary.com!
an Independent Socialist Candidate. He has pledged to only take $35,000 out of the $80,000 that city councilors make, donating the rest back to social justice causes.
Solidarity Announcements:
Party for Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition:
Friday @ 7:00pm
Spontaneous Celebrations
Jamaica Plain, MA
An alternative, fun &
energizing anti-war event/party/mixer/concert
to benefit the Coalition
7:00 pm – 1:00 am. 21+ only
$10 donation/ no one turned away for lack of funds
Contact: Brian O’Connell, 617-947-8983
Anti-war strategy Session:
11:00 a.m. through 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, July 14
33 Harrison Ave, 5th floor (Chinatown)
Sicko: an excellent movie about Healthcare: www.michaelmoore.com
Healthcare website: www.masscare.org
Reading the Papers:
Boston Herald on the House voting to withdraw troops
Cindy Sheehan to run against Nancy Pelosi
Mumbles Menino what is he doing? NO Casinos in Boston!
Ten Million More sought for Columbus Center
Boston Globe: Healthcare not free for the poor
President can declare martial law
Boston Globe: Mr. Butch died in an auto-accident
Ex-pension boss jailed as dead-beat dad
Income Gap too wide says majority of people
International Union Created: SEIU merges with international unions
blog.aflcio.org - firefighters and families say Giuliani made serious mistakes, costing firefighters their lives. Giuliani's leadership is challenged.
Surgeon General says he won't put politics first
05 July, 2007
No Show this week
Hi all,
no show this week.
Next week: interview with Boston City Council At-Large candidate Matt Geary (a member of Socialist Alternative). stay tuned for more from the democratic socialist perspective!
no show this week.
Next week: interview with Boston City Council At-Large candidate Matt Geary (a member of Socialist Alternative). stay tuned for more from the democratic socialist perspective!
28 June, 2007
Friday June 29, 2007
Solidarity Announcements
Justice For Janitors @ UMass Boston
This information will go out soon on the Boston SDS list serv, but for heads up:
So there is going to be a teach-in/solidarity meeting for the UMB
janitors on Saturday, July 7th at 12 pm at the SEIU labor union office
located at 26 West St in downtown Boston (by the Park Street stop).
There will be at least one UMB janitor sharing his/her story, and
student activists from various Boston colleges, some SEIU organizers
and hopefully as many professors/staff that we can turn out. At this
teach in, we will be discussing plans for a street action (most likely
a march) that will take place Thursday July 12th at 4 pm (location
TBA). We NEED students for the teach-in/march to support janitors!
Would you/someone/more than one person from UMB/student groups be
able to make the teach in and/or the march? I ask because for the
march to be feasible, turn out is highly important. So far there are
about 25 UMB janitors who can make it and we're looking to turn out at
least 25 community members/UMB staff and students, so knowing would be
helpful.
It would be great to have some UMB students at the teach in to further
discuss this too...so hopefully this info. is far enough in advance
for you to make it? Feel free to call me with questions, etc. or just
email me and let me know if you can make the events. We're relying
HEAVILY on whatever support we can get from UMB students :)
Assembling Peace V
A benefit for the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coaltion on Friday July 13th at Spontaneous Celebrations 45 Danforth St, Jamaica Plain, MA (near Orange Line Stony Brook Station). www.stopthewars.org
Appearing live in concert:
The Gary Backstrom Band
Jimmy Ryan
The Grass Gypsys
Andrew Alexander
Nicolas Despo
Mike Petrucci & Victor McSurley (of Blue Man Group)
Dreamers Wanted
...and more!
$10 (no one turned away for lack of funds) 21+ Cash bar, raffle, anti-war social, literature from anti-war groups available.
Chris, Jeff, and Dave Read the Papers
The Boston Globe
Harvard building project stirs fear
Arboretum neighbors dread open space loss
By April Yee, Globe Correspondent | June 27, 2007
ROSLINDALE -- Harvard's plan to build a 45,000-square-foot research facility next to the Arnold Arboretum has nearby residents dreading the disappearance of open space, and a handful hope they can stonewall, if not stop, the powerful university.
"It's sort of us against Harvard," said Frank O'Brien, whose grandparents bought a house next to the arboretum 70 years ago and who lives in a house on the same street. "Just because Harvard can do something doesn't mean it should do something."
Harvard wants to build a two-story brick-and-glass building to house the arboretum's administration and research at the base of a hill near the corner of Centre and Weld streets, on a 14.2-acre lot the university bought in 1922.
In the four years since Harvard announced its plans, residents have joined a city-appointed task force and thronged public meetings. The latest was Monday night, when more than 50 residents voiced their distress to a Harvard representative and to staff from the mayor's office.
While the plan is a small slice of Harvard's expansion into residential areas, residents who have closely watched the university's ongoing push into Allston say they are wary of the university's designs on land around the arboretum.
Councilor John Tobin echoed those concerns Monday night.
"Harvard's a tough customer, been there a long time and good at what they do," Tobin said in an interview at the meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Roslindale. "You've seen them run roughshod over some of the communities in the city, and they're not going to do that here."
Harvard's director of community relations told residents nothing else would be built on the lot through 2882, the final year of Harvard's lease on the arboretum's 265 acres, which it negotiated with Boston in 1882.
"We have just, as a private property owner, placed a restriction on the use of our property for 875 years," Harvard's director of community relations, Kevin McCluskey, said in an interview yesterday. "Anyone who's unimpressed by that really needs to look more carefully at the situation."
But some residents doubt that Harvard will keep the promise, focusing on a clause in the university's master plan that would allow the Legislature's two houses to modify the restriction by a two-thirds vote.
Some neighbors believe that Harvard can finagle just such a political miracle, however unlikely.
The arboretum glitters on the Emerald Necklace, a 7-mile string of parks laid out before the turn of the century by architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The city maintains security and utilities; Harvard oversees the collections.
Harvard hopes to submit its final plan by August to the Boston Redevelopment Authority. If approved, the plan moves on to the zoning commission.
Yesterday afternoon, O'Brien hand-delivered a letter addressed to Harvard's president-elect, Drew Gilpin Faust, raising his "serious unresolved questions" and "grave misgiving" about building near the arboretum, private land that residents consider their backyard where they walk their dogs and where teenagers gather. He signed the letter: "Very Truly Yours, Weld Hill Woodlands Task Force."
That task force is only weeks old, and O'Brien is its only member, so far.
He grew up on Mendum Street, next to the arboretum. His grandfather walked the paths until the day he died, and in 1963 his parents bought the house where he lives today. O'Brien thinks that because Harvard is a tax-exempt nonprofit, it is obligated to uphold an informal covenant with the community.
"Harvard is not a private equity firm with an English Department attached to it," said O'Brien, 49, a landscape planner. "Harvard is not Donald Trump."
Harvard has reawakened distrust in residents like O'Brien, some of whom can remember when the city sold a public park adjoining the lot in question to an organization now called Hebrew SeniorLife, in the 1950s. O'Brien said his parents circulated a petition while living in a nearby apartment and, with the backing of concerned neighbors, offered to outbid the buyers. Their efforts failed.
After the sale, the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center was built in the park's place and opened in 1963. Now, residents fear that Harvard will not stop at constructing the research facility and will expand into other parts of its privately owned land.
After Monday night's meeting, grade-school teacher Lisa Evans drove home on Weld Street, facing Harvard's lot. She walked around the corner of the stone wall separating Harvard's land from the street, arriving at a chain-link side gate.
She hiked up a gravel path to the chest-high grass. "This is what a wonderful neighbor Harvard is," said Evans, 37.
When she was considering moving from Jamaica Plain in 2003, she heard of Harvard's plans to construct the facility.
Evans got the real estate agent to knock off "a big chunk of change," she said, then moved there anyway.
April Yee can be reached at ayee@globe.com.
Published on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Huffington Post
To Tavis Smiley: Ask Clinton, Obama and Edwards Why They Oppose Single Payer Health Insurance
by Miles Mogulescu
As moderator of Thursday’s Democratic Presidential debate, here’s a follow-up question: Do you think your plan is better than Medicare-For-All, or do you fear being attacked as an extremist by Republicans, big insurance, and big pharma and so propose a less effective plan as more politically pragmatic?
The leading Democratic candidates–Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama– criticize America’s broken health care system and call for fundamental change with great rhetorical flair. But when it comes to proposing the most effective plan for change–Medicare-For All– they don’t show an audacity of hope. They show a paucity of courage.
Obama’s rhetoric can soar: “The times has come for universal health care in America…Plans that tinker and halfway measures belong to yesterday…[It’s] wrong when businesses have to layoff one employee because they can’t afford the health care of another. Wrong when a parent cannot take a sick child to the doctor because they cannot afford the bill that comes with it. Wrong when 46 million Americans have no health care at all. In a country that spends more on health care than any other nation on Earth, it’s just wrong.” Or, as John Edwards proclaims, “We put more money into health care than any country in the industrialized world and we get one of the worst products out in the other end.”
Obama, Edwards and Clinton are great at denouncing the problem. But they are timid when suggesting the solution. As with Hillary Clinton’s failed 1993 health care plan, out of fear of being accused by opponents of advocating socialized medicine, Obama’s and Edward’s plans try to piece together a patchwork of employer plans, private insurance, new government regulations, subsidies and tax credits which is over-complicated, only goes part way towards solving the problem, and in Obama’s case does not even guarantee universal coverage. Of course as in 1993, such caution will not keep Republicans and their corporate lobbyist cronies from attacking these plans. The day after Obama announced his plan, Rudolph Guliani denounced it as “socialized medicine.”
Hillary’s 1993 plan and Obama’s and Edward’s 2007 plans all try to build reform on top of the twin pillars of the current flawed American health care system–private insurance and employer-provided benefits–while attempting to fill in the cracks. The problem is that these twin pillars are rotting from their foundations and any reform built on them is likely to collapse.
The first pillar of the system–private insurance–is an inherently flawed means of providing health care. First, the incentive of a private insurance company is to find ways to deny needed care–the less care provided for the same premiums, the higher the profits and the bigger the salaries and bonuses of their top executives. So private health insurance companies pay huge staffs to review claims and deny coverage. Michael Moore’s “Sicko” shows horrifying examples of people who actually have health insurance coverage but suffer from lack of care because insurance companies wrongly denied their claim, and presents eloquent testimony from former insurance company employees about how they were promoted and award bonuses for finding ways to reject coverage.
Second, private health insurance involves a colossal waste of money. Nearly 1/3 of private health insurance premiums go to administrative costs of underwriting (i.e. turning down insurance applications from consumers who might actually need to use their insurance), claims processing (i.e. denying as many claims as possible), marketing and advertising, plus shareholder profits and multi-million dollar executive salaries and bonuses. By contrast, Medicare’s administrative run approximately 2-3% of costs. At the same time, to deal with numerous different insurance companies and their varying claims procedures, doctors and hospitals have to employ large staffs, not to provide care, but just to process insurance claims. Approximately 20% of doctor’s income goes to the overhead of processing insurance. It has been estimated that approximately $350 billion a year of health care dollars goes to administrative costs. Saving most of these costs alone could pay to insure the tens of millions of uninsured Americans in a Medicare–For-All system.
Moreover, the second pillar of the system–employer-provided health insurance–is collapsing. No less a businessman than the chairman of Ford Motor Company stated that employee health costs are “the biggest issue on our plate that we can’t solve. Health care is out of control. It’s a system that’s broke.”
Every year, fewer and fewer employers offer health insurance. Increasingly, most labor/ management disputes are less about wages and working conditions than about health care coverage, as American companies struggle to remain competitive in the world market by reducing benefits, raising deductibles, and increasing employee’s share of premiums. Average health care costs run 7-10% of wages, putting a tremendous burden on American companies who must complete with companies from almost all the other capitalist democracies where health care is provided by the government, not to mention emerging economies like Taiwan which instituted single payer health care a decade ago.
The Big Three automakers issued an incredible statement recently that “The [Canadian] public health-care system reduces total labor costs for automobile manufacturing firms, compared to the cost of equivalent private insurance services purchased by U.S. based automakers; these health insurance savings can amount to several dollars per hour of labor worked. Publicly-funded health care thus accounts for a significant portion of Canada’s overall labor cost advantage in auto assembly, versus the U.S., which in turn has been a significant factor in maintaining and attracting new auto investment to Canada. Recently, Toyota cited the savings in health care costs as the primary reason for deciding to open a new auto plant in Canada rather than the U.S.
The societal costs of a health care system built on private insurance and employer-paid premiums is 49 million uninsured and an equal number of underinsured, rightful insurance claims going unpaid, $350 billion dollars a year in wasted costs, a reduction in America’s economic competitiveness, and the loss of American jobs. Yet this is the rotten system on which Obama, Edwards and Clinton want to build their reforms. As one blog stated, Obama’s plan “offers just enough federal bureaucracy for the GOP to caricature, just enough private insurance involvement to annoy liberals and just enough confusion to keep everyone else from knowing just what to think.” In other words, in 2007, political timidity is no more a guarantee of success than it was in 1993.
The type of hybrid private/public health care patchwork health reform proposed by Obama, Edwards, and Clinton is a vast, untried social experiment which has never been proven to work anywhere in the world. The type of health care program that works–a single payer government run service–has already proven itself in virtually every other capitalist democracy. The US spends twice as much per capita on health care as Britain, France or Canada, yet America ranks only 39th in the world in the health of our people. Life expectancy is shorter and infant mortality higher in the US than in most other wealthy countries.
If the leading Democratic Presidential contenders think that by avoiding proposals for a single payer system they will somehow neutralize the opposition to reform and make their proposals more appealing, they are kidding themselves. It didn’t work for Hillary in 1993 and it won’t work now. It only makes their proposals more complicated and harder to explain to voters. Besides its inherent virtues, a single payer healthcare system is easy to explain–Just like social security (and Medicare of those over 65), every American is automatically enrolled and covered by insurance and every American can choose his or her own doctor. Short, simple and sweet.
Moreover, polls show that Americans are ready to accept single payer health insurance. A recent poll by the Pubic Policy Institute of California found that “by a two-to-one margin, most prefer ‘a universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by the taxpayers’ nationally to ‘the current health insurance system in the United States, in which most people get their health insurance from private employers, but some people have no insurance’ The preference here is a descriptor of what is known as ’single payer.’”
If the Democrats win the Presidency and increase their control of Congress in 2008, there will be one chance to reform health care in America. Whatever system is then put in place, there will likely not be another chance at fundamental reform for another thirty years. Obama’s, Edward’s and Clinton’s timid half-way measures are as likely to be attacked by Republicans, big pharma and the insurance industry as a Medicare-For-All. Why not do it right the first time?
Miles Mogulescu is an entertainment attorney and social justice advocate.
Americans Are Leaning Left, New Poll Finds
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
Published: June 27, 2007
Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll. The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion.
Where Young Americans’ Views DifferGraphic
Where Young Americans’ Views Differ
Polling Young AmericansVideo
Polling Young Americans
Related
How the Poll Was Conducted (June 27, 2007)
Complete Poll Results (pdf)
New York Times Poll Index
The State of the Youth Nation (mtv.com)
The poll offers a snapshot of a group whose energy and idealism have always been as alluring to politicians as its scattered focus and shifting interests have been frustrating. It found that substantially more Americans ages 17 to 29 than four years ago are paying attention to the presidential race. But they appeared to be really familiar with only two of the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats.
They have continued a long-term drift away from the Republican Party. And although they are just as worried as the general population about the outlook for the country and think their generation is likely to be worse off than that of their parents, they retain a belief that their votes can make a difference, the poll found.
More than half of Americans ages 17 to 29 — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.
Among this age group, Mr. Bush’s job approval rating after the attacks of Sept. 11 was more than 80 percent. Over the course of the next three years, it drifted downward leading into the presidential election of 2004, when 4 of 10 young Americans said they approved how Mr. Bush was handling his job.
At a time when Democrats have made gains after years in which Republicans have dominated Washington, young Americans appear to lean slightly more to the left than the general population: 28 percent described themselves as liberal, compared with 20 percent of the nation at large. And 27 percent called themselves conservative, compared with 32 percent of the general public.
Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of an exit poll on Election Day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to the exit poll.
In the current poll, 62 percent said they would support a universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program; 47 percent of the general public holds that view. And 30 percent said that “Americans should always welcome new immigrants,” while 24 percent of the general public holds that view.
Their views on abortion mirror those of the public at large: 24 percent said it should not be permitted at all, while 38 percent said it should be made available but with greater restrictions. Thirty-seven percent said it should be generally available.
In one potential sign of shifting attitudes, respondents, by overwhelming margins, said they believed that the nation was prepared to elect as president a woman, a black person or someone who admitted to having used marijuana. But they said that they did not believe Americans would elect someone who had used cocaine or someone who was a Mormon.
Mr. Obama has suggested that he used cocaine as a young man. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a candidate for the Republican nomination, is a Mormon.
By a 52 to 36 majority, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, and 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans.
Asked if they were enthusiastic about any of the candidates running for president, 18 percent named Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and 17 percent named Mrs. Clinton, of New York. Those two were followed by Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, who was named by just 4 percent of the respondents.
The survey also found that 42 percent of young Americans thought it was likely or very likely that the nation would reinstate a military draft over the next few years — and two-thirds said they thought the Republican Party was more likely to do so. And 87 percent of respondents said they opposed a draft.
But when it came to the war, young Americans were more optimistic about the outcome than was the population as whole. Fifty-one percent said the United States was very or somewhat likely to succeed in Iraq, compared with 45 percent among all adults. Contrary to conventional wisdom, younger Americans have historically been more likely than the population as a whole to be supportive of what a president is doing in a time of war, as they were in Korea and Vietnam, polls have shown.
The nationwide telephone poll — a joint effort by The New York Times, CBS News and MTV — was conducted from June 15 to June 23. It involved 659 adults ages 17 to 29. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points for all respondents.
The Times/CBS News/MTV Poll suggests that younger Americans are conflicted in their view of the country. Many have a bleak view about their own future and the direction the country is heading: 70 percent said the country was on the wrong track, while 48 percent said they feared that their generation would be worse off than their parents’. But the survey also found that this generation of Americans is not cynical: 77 percent said they thought the votes of their generation would have a great bearing on who became the next president.
By any measure, the poll suggests that young Americans are anything but apathetic about the presidential election. Fifty-eight percent said they were paying attention to the campaign. By contrast, at this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, 35 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they were paying a lot or some attention to the campaign.
Over the last half century, the youth vote has more often than not gone with the Democratic candidate for president, though with some notable exceptions. In 1984, Ronald Reagan won his second term as president by capturing 59 percent of the youth vote, according to exit polls, and the first President George Bush won in 1988 with 52 percent of that vote. This age group, however, has supported Democratic presidential candidates in every election since.
The percentage of young voters who identified themselves as Republican grew steadily during the Reagan administration, and reached a high of 37 percent in 1989. That number has declined ever since, and is now at 25 percent.
“I think the Democratic Party is now realizing how big an impact my generation has, and they’re trying to cater to that in some way,” Ashley Robinson, 21, a Democrat from Minnesota, said in an interview after she participated in the poll. “But the traditional Republican Party is still trying to get older votes, which doesn’t make sense because there are so many more voters my age. It would be sensible to cater to us.”
That a significant number of respondents said they were enthusiastic about just two of the candidates — Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton — to a certain extent reflects that both candidates have been the subject of a huge amount of national attention and have presented the country with historic candidacies. Mr. Obama would be the first black president and Mrs. Clinton the first woman. Other candidates could begin drawing attention from this group as the campaign takes a higher platform.
More important, though, at least for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama is the impression this group has of them. In the poll, 43 percent of respondents said they held an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, a number that reflects the tide of resistance she faces nationwide. By contrast, only 19 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Obama.
Marjorie Connelly, Marina Stefan and Dalia Sussman contributed reporting.
Justice For Janitors @ UMass Boston
This information will go out soon on the Boston SDS list serv, but for heads up:
So there is going to be a teach-in/solidarity meeting for the UMB
janitors on Saturday, July 7th at 12 pm at the SEIU labor union office
located at 26 West St in downtown Boston (by the Park Street stop).
There will be at least one UMB janitor sharing his/her story, and
student activists from various Boston colleges, some SEIU organizers
and hopefully as many professors/staff that we can turn out. At this
teach in, we will be discussing plans for a street action (most likely
a march) that will take place Thursday July 12th at 4 pm (location
TBA). We NEED students for the teach-in/march to support janitors!
Would you/someone/more than one person from UMB/student groups be
able to make the teach in and/or the march? I ask because for the
march to be feasible, turn out is highly important. So far there are
about 25 UMB janitors who can make it and we're looking to turn out at
least 25 community members/UMB staff and students, so knowing would be
helpful.
It would be great to have some UMB students at the teach in to further
discuss this too...so hopefully this info. is far enough in advance
for you to make it? Feel free to call me with questions, etc. or just
email me and let me know if you can make the events. We're relying
HEAVILY on whatever support we can get from UMB students :)
Assembling Peace V
A benefit for the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coaltion on Friday July 13th at Spontaneous Celebrations 45 Danforth St, Jamaica Plain, MA (near Orange Line Stony Brook Station). www.stopthewars.org
Appearing live in concert:
The Gary Backstrom Band
Jimmy Ryan
The Grass Gypsys
Andrew Alexander
Nicolas Despo
Mike Petrucci & Victor McSurley (of Blue Man Group)
Dreamers Wanted
...and more!
$10 (no one turned away for lack of funds) 21+ Cash bar, raffle, anti-war social, literature from anti-war groups available.
Chris, Jeff, and Dave Read the Papers
The Boston Globe
Harvard building project stirs fear
Arboretum neighbors dread open space loss
By April Yee, Globe Correspondent | June 27, 2007
ROSLINDALE -- Harvard's plan to build a 45,000-square-foot research facility next to the Arnold Arboretum has nearby residents dreading the disappearance of open space, and a handful hope they can stonewall, if not stop, the powerful university.
"It's sort of us against Harvard," said Frank O'Brien, whose grandparents bought a house next to the arboretum 70 years ago and who lives in a house on the same street. "Just because Harvard can do something doesn't mean it should do something."
Harvard wants to build a two-story brick-and-glass building to house the arboretum's administration and research at the base of a hill near the corner of Centre and Weld streets, on a 14.2-acre lot the university bought in 1922.
In the four years since Harvard announced its plans, residents have joined a city-appointed task force and thronged public meetings. The latest was Monday night, when more than 50 residents voiced their distress to a Harvard representative and to staff from the mayor's office.
While the plan is a small slice of Harvard's expansion into residential areas, residents who have closely watched the university's ongoing push into Allston say they are wary of the university's designs on land around the arboretum.
Councilor John Tobin echoed those concerns Monday night.
"Harvard's a tough customer, been there a long time and good at what they do," Tobin said in an interview at the meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Roslindale. "You've seen them run roughshod over some of the communities in the city, and they're not going to do that here."
Harvard's director of community relations told residents nothing else would be built on the lot through 2882, the final year of Harvard's lease on the arboretum's 265 acres, which it negotiated with Boston in 1882.
"We have just, as a private property owner, placed a restriction on the use of our property for 875 years," Harvard's director of community relations, Kevin McCluskey, said in an interview yesterday. "Anyone who's unimpressed by that really needs to look more carefully at the situation."
But some residents doubt that Harvard will keep the promise, focusing on a clause in the university's master plan that would allow the Legislature's two houses to modify the restriction by a two-thirds vote.
Some neighbors believe that Harvard can finagle just such a political miracle, however unlikely.
The arboretum glitters on the Emerald Necklace, a 7-mile string of parks laid out before the turn of the century by architect Frederick Law Olmsted. The city maintains security and utilities; Harvard oversees the collections.
Harvard hopes to submit its final plan by August to the Boston Redevelopment Authority. If approved, the plan moves on to the zoning commission.
Yesterday afternoon, O'Brien hand-delivered a letter addressed to Harvard's president-elect, Drew Gilpin Faust, raising his "serious unresolved questions" and "grave misgiving" about building near the arboretum, private land that residents consider their backyard where they walk their dogs and where teenagers gather. He signed the letter: "Very Truly Yours, Weld Hill Woodlands Task Force."
That task force is only weeks old, and O'Brien is its only member, so far.
He grew up on Mendum Street, next to the arboretum. His grandfather walked the paths until the day he died, and in 1963 his parents bought the house where he lives today. O'Brien thinks that because Harvard is a tax-exempt nonprofit, it is obligated to uphold an informal covenant with the community.
"Harvard is not a private equity firm with an English Department attached to it," said O'Brien, 49, a landscape planner. "Harvard is not Donald Trump."
Harvard has reawakened distrust in residents like O'Brien, some of whom can remember when the city sold a public park adjoining the lot in question to an organization now called Hebrew SeniorLife, in the 1950s. O'Brien said his parents circulated a petition while living in a nearby apartment and, with the backing of concerned neighbors, offered to outbid the buyers. Their efforts failed.
After the sale, the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center was built in the park's place and opened in 1963. Now, residents fear that Harvard will not stop at constructing the research facility and will expand into other parts of its privately owned land.
After Monday night's meeting, grade-school teacher Lisa Evans drove home on Weld Street, facing Harvard's lot. She walked around the corner of the stone wall separating Harvard's land from the street, arriving at a chain-link side gate.
She hiked up a gravel path to the chest-high grass. "This is what a wonderful neighbor Harvard is," said Evans, 37.
When she was considering moving from Jamaica Plain in 2003, she heard of Harvard's plans to construct the facility.
Evans got the real estate agent to knock off "a big chunk of change," she said, then moved there anyway.
April Yee can be reached at ayee@globe.com.
Published on Wednesday, June 27, 2007 by Huffington Post
To Tavis Smiley: Ask Clinton, Obama and Edwards Why They Oppose Single Payer Health Insurance
by Miles Mogulescu
As moderator of Thursday’s Democratic Presidential debate, here’s a follow-up question: Do you think your plan is better than Medicare-For-All, or do you fear being attacked as an extremist by Republicans, big insurance, and big pharma and so propose a less effective plan as more politically pragmatic?
The leading Democratic candidates–Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama– criticize America’s broken health care system and call for fundamental change with great rhetorical flair. But when it comes to proposing the most effective plan for change–Medicare-For All– they don’t show an audacity of hope. They show a paucity of courage.
Obama’s rhetoric can soar: “The times has come for universal health care in America…Plans that tinker and halfway measures belong to yesterday…[It’s] wrong when businesses have to layoff one employee because they can’t afford the health care of another. Wrong when a parent cannot take a sick child to the doctor because they cannot afford the bill that comes with it. Wrong when 46 million Americans have no health care at all. In a country that spends more on health care than any other nation on Earth, it’s just wrong.” Or, as John Edwards proclaims, “We put more money into health care than any country in the industrialized world and we get one of the worst products out in the other end.”
Obama, Edwards and Clinton are great at denouncing the problem. But they are timid when suggesting the solution. As with Hillary Clinton’s failed 1993 health care plan, out of fear of being accused by opponents of advocating socialized medicine, Obama’s and Edward’s plans try to piece together a patchwork of employer plans, private insurance, new government regulations, subsidies and tax credits which is over-complicated, only goes part way towards solving the problem, and in Obama’s case does not even guarantee universal coverage. Of course as in 1993, such caution will not keep Republicans and their corporate lobbyist cronies from attacking these plans. The day after Obama announced his plan, Rudolph Guliani denounced it as “socialized medicine.”
Hillary’s 1993 plan and Obama’s and Edward’s 2007 plans all try to build reform on top of the twin pillars of the current flawed American health care system–private insurance and employer-provided benefits–while attempting to fill in the cracks. The problem is that these twin pillars are rotting from their foundations and any reform built on them is likely to collapse.
The first pillar of the system–private insurance–is an inherently flawed means of providing health care. First, the incentive of a private insurance company is to find ways to deny needed care–the less care provided for the same premiums, the higher the profits and the bigger the salaries and bonuses of their top executives. So private health insurance companies pay huge staffs to review claims and deny coverage. Michael Moore’s “Sicko” shows horrifying examples of people who actually have health insurance coverage but suffer from lack of care because insurance companies wrongly denied their claim, and presents eloquent testimony from former insurance company employees about how they were promoted and award bonuses for finding ways to reject coverage.
Second, private health insurance involves a colossal waste of money. Nearly 1/3 of private health insurance premiums go to administrative costs of underwriting (i.e. turning down insurance applications from consumers who might actually need to use their insurance), claims processing (i.e. denying as many claims as possible), marketing and advertising, plus shareholder profits and multi-million dollar executive salaries and bonuses. By contrast, Medicare’s administrative run approximately 2-3% of costs. At the same time, to deal with numerous different insurance companies and their varying claims procedures, doctors and hospitals have to employ large staffs, not to provide care, but just to process insurance claims. Approximately 20% of doctor’s income goes to the overhead of processing insurance. It has been estimated that approximately $350 billion a year of health care dollars goes to administrative costs. Saving most of these costs alone could pay to insure the tens of millions of uninsured Americans in a Medicare–For-All system.
Moreover, the second pillar of the system–employer-provided health insurance–is collapsing. No less a businessman than the chairman of Ford Motor Company stated that employee health costs are “the biggest issue on our plate that we can’t solve. Health care is out of control. It’s a system that’s broke.”
Every year, fewer and fewer employers offer health insurance. Increasingly, most labor/ management disputes are less about wages and working conditions than about health care coverage, as American companies struggle to remain competitive in the world market by reducing benefits, raising deductibles, and increasing employee’s share of premiums. Average health care costs run 7-10% of wages, putting a tremendous burden on American companies who must complete with companies from almost all the other capitalist democracies where health care is provided by the government, not to mention emerging economies like Taiwan which instituted single payer health care a decade ago.
The Big Three automakers issued an incredible statement recently that “The [Canadian] public health-care system reduces total labor costs for automobile manufacturing firms, compared to the cost of equivalent private insurance services purchased by U.S. based automakers; these health insurance savings can amount to several dollars per hour of labor worked. Publicly-funded health care thus accounts for a significant portion of Canada’s overall labor cost advantage in auto assembly, versus the U.S., which in turn has been a significant factor in maintaining and attracting new auto investment to Canada. Recently, Toyota cited the savings in health care costs as the primary reason for deciding to open a new auto plant in Canada rather than the U.S.
The societal costs of a health care system built on private insurance and employer-paid premiums is 49 million uninsured and an equal number of underinsured, rightful insurance claims going unpaid, $350 billion dollars a year in wasted costs, a reduction in America’s economic competitiveness, and the loss of American jobs. Yet this is the rotten system on which Obama, Edwards and Clinton want to build their reforms. As one blog stated, Obama’s plan “offers just enough federal bureaucracy for the GOP to caricature, just enough private insurance involvement to annoy liberals and just enough confusion to keep everyone else from knowing just what to think.” In other words, in 2007, political timidity is no more a guarantee of success than it was in 1993.
The type of hybrid private/public health care patchwork health reform proposed by Obama, Edwards, and Clinton is a vast, untried social experiment which has never been proven to work anywhere in the world. The type of health care program that works–a single payer government run service–has already proven itself in virtually every other capitalist democracy. The US spends twice as much per capita on health care as Britain, France or Canada, yet America ranks only 39th in the world in the health of our people. Life expectancy is shorter and infant mortality higher in the US than in most other wealthy countries.
If the leading Democratic Presidential contenders think that by avoiding proposals for a single payer system they will somehow neutralize the opposition to reform and make their proposals more appealing, they are kidding themselves. It didn’t work for Hillary in 1993 and it won’t work now. It only makes their proposals more complicated and harder to explain to voters. Besides its inherent virtues, a single payer healthcare system is easy to explain–Just like social security (and Medicare of those over 65), every American is automatically enrolled and covered by insurance and every American can choose his or her own doctor. Short, simple and sweet.
Moreover, polls show that Americans are ready to accept single payer health insurance. A recent poll by the Pubic Policy Institute of California found that “by a two-to-one margin, most prefer ‘a universal health insurance program in which everyone is covered under a program like Medicare that is run by the government and financed by the taxpayers’ nationally to ‘the current health insurance system in the United States, in which most people get their health insurance from private employers, but some people have no insurance’ The preference here is a descriptor of what is known as ’single payer.’”
If the Democrats win the Presidency and increase their control of Congress in 2008, there will be one chance to reform health care in America. Whatever system is then put in place, there will likely not be another chance at fundamental reform for another thirty years. Obama’s, Edward’s and Clinton’s timid half-way measures are as likely to be attacked by Republicans, big pharma and the insurance industry as a Medicare-For-All. Why not do it right the first time?
Miles Mogulescu is an entertainment attorney and social justice advocate.
Americans Are Leaning Left, New Poll Finds
By ADAM NAGOURNEY and MEGAN THEE
Published: June 27, 2007
Young Americans are more likely than the general public to favor a government-run universal health care insurance system, an open-door policy on immigration and the legalization of gay marriage, according to a New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll. The poll also found that they are more likely to say the war in Iraq is heading to a successful conclusion.
Where Young Americans’ Views DifferGraphic
Where Young Americans’ Views Differ
Polling Young AmericansVideo
Polling Young Americans
Related
How the Poll Was Conducted (June 27, 2007)
Complete Poll Results (pdf)
New York Times Poll Index
The State of the Youth Nation (mtv.com)
The poll offers a snapshot of a group whose energy and idealism have always been as alluring to politicians as its scattered focus and shifting interests have been frustrating. It found that substantially more Americans ages 17 to 29 than four years ago are paying attention to the presidential race. But they appeared to be really familiar with only two of the candidates, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton, both Democrats.
They have continued a long-term drift away from the Republican Party. And although they are just as worried as the general population about the outlook for the country and think their generation is likely to be worse off than that of their parents, they retain a belief that their votes can make a difference, the poll found.
More than half of Americans ages 17 to 29 — 54 percent — say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008. They share with the public at large a negative view of President Bush, who has a 28 percent approval rating with this group, and of the Republican Party. They hold a markedly more positive view of Democrats than they do of Republicans.
Among this age group, Mr. Bush’s job approval rating after the attacks of Sept. 11 was more than 80 percent. Over the course of the next three years, it drifted downward leading into the presidential election of 2004, when 4 of 10 young Americans said they approved how Mr. Bush was handling his job.
At a time when Democrats have made gains after years in which Republicans have dominated Washington, young Americans appear to lean slightly more to the left than the general population: 28 percent described themselves as liberal, compared with 20 percent of the nation at large. And 27 percent called themselves conservative, compared with 32 percent of the general public.
Forty-four percent said they believed that same-sex couples should be permitted to get married, compared with 28 percent of the public at large. They are more likely than their elders to support the legalization of possession of small amounts of marijuana.
The findings on gay marriage were reminiscent of an exit poll on Election Day 2004: 41 percent of 18-to-29-year-old voters said gay couples should be permitted to legally marry, according to the exit poll.
In the current poll, 62 percent said they would support a universal, government-sponsored national health care insurance program; 47 percent of the general public holds that view. And 30 percent said that “Americans should always welcome new immigrants,” while 24 percent of the general public holds that view.
Their views on abortion mirror those of the public at large: 24 percent said it should not be permitted at all, while 38 percent said it should be made available but with greater restrictions. Thirty-seven percent said it should be generally available.
In one potential sign of shifting attitudes, respondents, by overwhelming margins, said they believed that the nation was prepared to elect as president a woman, a black person or someone who admitted to having used marijuana. But they said that they did not believe Americans would elect someone who had used cocaine or someone who was a Mormon.
Mr. Obama has suggested that he used cocaine as a young man. Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a candidate for the Republican nomination, is a Mormon.
By a 52 to 36 majority, young Americans say that Democrats, rather than Republicans, come closer to sharing their moral values, while 58 percent said they had a favorable view of the Democratic Party, and 38 percent said they had a favorable view of Republicans.
Asked if they were enthusiastic about any of the candidates running for president, 18 percent named Mr. Obama, of Illinois, and 17 percent named Mrs. Clinton, of New York. Those two were followed by Rudolph W. Giuliani, a Republican, who was named by just 4 percent of the respondents.
The survey also found that 42 percent of young Americans thought it was likely or very likely that the nation would reinstate a military draft over the next few years — and two-thirds said they thought the Republican Party was more likely to do so. And 87 percent of respondents said they opposed a draft.
But when it came to the war, young Americans were more optimistic about the outcome than was the population as whole. Fifty-one percent said the United States was very or somewhat likely to succeed in Iraq, compared with 45 percent among all adults. Contrary to conventional wisdom, younger Americans have historically been more likely than the population as a whole to be supportive of what a president is doing in a time of war, as they were in Korea and Vietnam, polls have shown.
The nationwide telephone poll — a joint effort by The New York Times, CBS News and MTV — was conducted from June 15 to June 23. It involved 659 adults ages 17 to 29. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus four percentage points for all respondents.
The Times/CBS News/MTV Poll suggests that younger Americans are conflicted in their view of the country. Many have a bleak view about their own future and the direction the country is heading: 70 percent said the country was on the wrong track, while 48 percent said they feared that their generation would be worse off than their parents’. But the survey also found that this generation of Americans is not cynical: 77 percent said they thought the votes of their generation would have a great bearing on who became the next president.
By any measure, the poll suggests that young Americans are anything but apathetic about the presidential election. Fifty-eight percent said they were paying attention to the campaign. By contrast, at this point in the 2004 presidential campaign, 35 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds said they were paying a lot or some attention to the campaign.
Over the last half century, the youth vote has more often than not gone with the Democratic candidate for president, though with some notable exceptions. In 1984, Ronald Reagan won his second term as president by capturing 59 percent of the youth vote, according to exit polls, and the first President George Bush won in 1988 with 52 percent of that vote. This age group, however, has supported Democratic presidential candidates in every election since.
The percentage of young voters who identified themselves as Republican grew steadily during the Reagan administration, and reached a high of 37 percent in 1989. That number has declined ever since, and is now at 25 percent.
“I think the Democratic Party is now realizing how big an impact my generation has, and they’re trying to cater to that in some way,” Ashley Robinson, 21, a Democrat from Minnesota, said in an interview after she participated in the poll. “But the traditional Republican Party is still trying to get older votes, which doesn’t make sense because there are so many more voters my age. It would be sensible to cater to us.”
That a significant number of respondents said they were enthusiastic about just two of the candidates — Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton — to a certain extent reflects that both candidates have been the subject of a huge amount of national attention and have presented the country with historic candidacies. Mr. Obama would be the first black president and Mrs. Clinton the first woman. Other candidates could begin drawing attention from this group as the campaign takes a higher platform.
More important, though, at least for Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama is the impression this group has of them. In the poll, 43 percent of respondents said they held an unfavorable view of Mrs. Clinton, a number that reflects the tide of resistance she faces nationwide. By contrast, only 19 percent said they had an unfavorable view of Mr. Obama.
Marjorie Connelly, Marina Stefan and Dalia Sussman contributed reporting.
22 June, 2007
June 22nd Show
new show check it out.
music played on today's show: "Working Class Hero"-Green Day, "Uncle Sam Goddamn"-Brother Ali, "Justice Is Coming"-Typical Cats, "Volunteers"-Jefferson Airplane, "War"-Bob Marley, "Mean Talking Blues"-Woody Guthrie
What is socialism?
What is democratic socialism?
Solidarity Announcements:
Jun 22, 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM AND STILL WE RESIST!! A compelling, theatrical telling of authentic personal stories by those directly affected by the criminal justice system. A collaboration of theater artists and social justice advocates working with ex-prisoners and their loved ones to bring a powerful, articulate, personal voice of prison experience to the public for the purpose of healing, education, empowerment and social change. Join us and bring friends!Refreshments will be served/contributions are welcome.www.throughbardedwire.com Send email to throughbarbedwire@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Jason - 617/266-6710.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston, Boston (Copley Square) More details...
Jun 23 MARXISM, REPARATIONS AND THE BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE-Why Reparations are Essential to Class Struggle.... Monica Moorehead will talk about an important book on Reparations; she is the editor of the book, a New World View Forum book on African American history and resistance. Essays cover the meaning of the on going Katrina catastrophe; and building Black-Brown unity and solidarity against oppression. Send email to boston@workers.org for additionalinformation.
The Action Center, 284 Amory Center, Jamaica Plain More details...
Jun 23, 1:00 AM - 5:00 AM Brookline Climate Action Day Fair-Tomorrow's Climate--Today's Challenge Brookline's first Climate Action Day will have over 40 environmental exhibitors, food, festivities, music by the Jill Stein, Ken Selcer & Friends Band, Stingy Brim and other local groups, and kids' activities including a Dragon Parade,puppets,and environmental storyteller David Eggleton. Congressman Barney Frank, State Rep. Frank Smizik, Ross Gelbspan and Mindy Lubber will speak. Other options will be a Green Building tour and an organized bike ride starting at 11:00am at the Coolidge Corner Branch Library. For more information, visit http://www.townofbrooklinemass.com/conservation. Send email to reitaennis@excite.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Reita Ennis, 617-233-2605.
Brookline Town Hall Plaza,333 Washington St., Brookline More details...
Jun 23, 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM "Start the Music, Stop the war": an Evening of Culture + Protest! Save the Date Now that Congress has voted to escalate the Iraq War, it's time for us to kick off our summer protests with something a little bit different.Join United for Justice with Peace for a 6:30 pm anti-war parade (led by the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band) followed at 7pm by an Evening of Music, Culture and Protest at the newly Regent Theater.The goals of the event are to make a statement againist the war and to help activate those oppposing the war who don't express their opposition through demonstrations. Featuring Kemp Harris, Soul of Change, Jake Brennan, The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, In the Public Interest, Ketchup, Mr. Them, and More!! $20 General Admission, $10 College Students and Low Income; $5 High School Students (Prices include restoration Fee.) Order Now!! Send email to pshannon@afsc.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: 781/643-4747.
THE REGENT THEATER, 7 Medford St., Arlington Ma More details...
Jun 26 THE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO RESTORE LAW AND JUSTICE In Boston, in Washington and around the country we will demand an end to torture, the closing of Guantanamo, the restoration of habeas corpus and fundamental freedoms.From the ACLU office we will proceed to the JFK Building. If you can arrive at noon and want to wear an orange jump suit, email jmargolis@earthlink.net or call 617/482-3170x314. Send email to BCorr@ACLUM.org for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Nancy Murray: 617/482-3170x314.
Assemble outside the ACLU office at 12:30 (211 Congress at High in Boston) More details...
Jul 1, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Citizens Summit and Protest March when Bush Meets Putin This event is still on the UJP Web page but here are more details: The following will be speaking at the beginning of the march in front of the Captain Lord Mansion on the Village Green, Ocean Ave.: David Swanson, founder of After Downing Street" and attorney John Kaminski, president of Maine Lawyers for Democracy as well as Melida and Carlos Arredondo of Military Families Speak Out. Music will include Pat Scanlon and Band. Others to be announced.All permits have been granted. This protest will focus on the immediate withdrawal of American troops as well as calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Speakers will talk about why it is important to hold the leaders accountable for the illegal war, was crimes, the mutilation of the Constitution and the evisceration of habeas corpus, torture, warrantless surveillance, nuclear proliferation and the overall abuse of power. Send email to jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: susie justed: 631/875-5936.
From the Village Green on Ocean Ave. to Bush Compound, Kennebunkport More details...
Jul 13, 7:00 PM ASSEMBLING PEACE V An alternative, fun and energizing anti-war event/party/mixer/concert to benefit the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition. $10 donation - no one turned away for lack of funds. Performers include The Gary Backstrom Band - Master lead guitarist and vocalist; Jimmy Ryan - amazing electic band that has been touring the country; The Grass Gypsies, Andrew Alexander, Boston\'s own Pavoratti, and more. Tables will be set up for information tables (no fee.); massage room of the main room,and a kitchen which will be serving food. Upstairs there will be wine, beer and fair trade coffee plus a stage for various acts. The program will focus on diversity both in the performers and speakers all centered on the peace and justice themes.A benefit for stop the wars. Send email to vinniechops@hotmail.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Brian O\'Connell: 617/947-8983.
Spontaneous Celebrations, 14 Danforth St. Jamaica Plain, MA More details...
Forwarding from Providence Rhode Island AFSC..
If you could help get the word out about this, that would be great. We just found out about the visit and details are very sketchy (like time of day!) and time is very short, but RI folks have begun to organize a welcome party. The gist of the plan is this:
1) Reserve a park in downtown Newport for a peace festival. We are looking for street theater, music, speakers. Audience: media and the community. Time: midday
2) Try to find out where and when Bush will be in town and get a permit for as close as possible. Folks can go directly there or go over from the big event. Since we probably won,t be allowed where he can see us, it is a symbolic event.
3) Message: 1: Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq; 2) Reparations for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that Iraqi people can control their own lives and future; 3.)Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women. 4)No military action against Iran.
4) There will be additional planning at the next RICCP meeting on Wed June 20 and an additional meeting Sat. June 23. If you have suggestions, etc please contact Mark Stahl, who I cc,d on this email. He will be chairing those meetings and I can,t make either of them.
5) Please help spread the word with a Save the Date announcement and we will keep you in the loop about details.
Nurses, Doctors Announce “Scrubs for SiCKO” Campaign in Conjunction with Debut of Michael Moore’s Film to Spark Genuine Healthcare Debate
Unprecedented National Coalition Will Work to Recruit Caregivers in “SiCKO Scrubs” to Attend Each Film Premiere Theater
Nurses and Doctors Begin Bus Tour Today to Build Support for Campaign
Tour Comes to Manchester New Hampshire Friday, June 22, 2007
12 Noon – Screening of “SiCKO” at Palace Theater in Manchester, NH
2:15 p.m. – Town Hall Meeting with Moore and RNs, Physicians, Patients
3:30 p.m. – Press Conference with Michael Moore
Planning to spark a fundamental change in national healthcare politics, nurses from Massachusetts and throughout New England have joined an unprecedented national coalition of nurses and doctors organizations which today announced plans to rally around the openings of Michael Moore’s “SiCKO” on June 29 to press the campaign for single-payer healthcare, guaranteeing comprehensive, quality healthcare with an expanded and improved Medicare for all. The Coalition is also planning a special preview screening, town hall meeting and press conference with Michael Moore as part of the national “SiCKO” bus tour, which will land in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday, June 22, beginning at 12 noon.
Calling it “The Scrubs for SiCKO Campaign,” organizers will recruit registered nurses and doctors to every theater in the nation where “SiCKO” opens to ensure that caregivers – in SiCKO scrubs—are in the audience.
The caregivers will distribute information and urge movie goers to join the drive for a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s dysfunctional healthcare system - as is so brilliantly described in “Sicko”. They will urge the audience to help pass single-payer/Medicare for all types of legislation such as HR 676 now pending in Congress and several states, and make it a central focus of the Presidential campaign.
Nurses and doctors are serving as co-hosts of “SiCKO” premiers across the nation.
Participating groups include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Communication Workers of America, Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island) and the New England Nurses Association. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is also working with the coalition.
“SiCKO” profiles a number of Americans with insurance who have been denied needed care by their insurance company, describes how the insurance-based healthcare system is structured to keep it that way, and provides examples of other industrialized nations where insurance companies do not stand in the way of medical care.
The campaign will highlight the need for reforms that prevent insurance companies from denying care, and send a strong signal to politicians in Congress, state capitals, and the Presidential race who are promoting insurance-based reforms.
HR 676 and similar bills in several state legislatures, including SB 755, the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust bill, will have one public entity collecting and dispensing all revenues for care delivered by our current, mostly private hospitals, clinics, and doctors, similar to how Medicare works. The system is universal, assures comprehensive benefits, guarantees freedom to choose your provider, and controls costs. It also drastically curbs administrative costs - and the waste caused by insurance company profits and paperwork.
Web Site: www.massnurses.org
Iraq Moratorium Day
This last Monday the long-rumored "Iraq Moratorium Day" campaign was officially launched with some big name backers including Labor Against War, Progressive Democrats of America, and a bunch of celebrities. United for Peace and Justice will likely sign onto the project at their conference next weekend, and may well link their major fall mobilization to the project.
The idea is for escalating actions every third Friday of the month, starting on September 21. It is a very watered down call to action (see: http://iraqmoratorium.org/ ) even compared to the Vietnam era events it takes its name from (in Vietnam the original call was for a general strike, but they changed it to "Moratorium" to make it more palatable... it was still a MAJOR event in Vietnam antiwar history). Their call is for all sorts of small, decentralized actions, including a vague call for "school closings."
http://iraqmoratorium.org/
TAKE ACTION ON THE BIOLAB THIS WEEK!
Beginning today, people around Boston will be contacting the Boston City
Council to ask them to schedule hearings about the Biolab.
We are asking that three hearings be scheduled:
--> Transportation
---> Preparedness
----> Evacuation
We would like the transportation hearing to be scheduled in JULY.
COULD YOU to take a few minutes to call and email one or more of the
Councilors listed below? Contact information and a sample call script are
below. Working together to flood their offices with calls this week will
let the City Councilors know that the people of Boston have serious
concerns about BU's biolab.
=*=*= PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL =*=*=
STEPHEN MURPHY, Chair of the Public Safety committee, 617-635-4376,
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov
Other Councilors on the Committee:
MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vice chair, At Large, 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov
FELIX ARROYO, At Large, 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov
SALVATORE LAMATTINA, District 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov
CHARLES YANCEY, District 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov
//StopTheBiolab.org
-----------------------------------------
¡TOMA ACCIÓN CONTRA EL BIOLAB ESTA SEMANA!
Empezando hoy, la gente de Boston van a contactar el Ayuntamiento para
pedirles a programar las vistas del ayuntamiento sobre el Biolab.
Pedimos que ellos programan tres vistas:
--> La transportación
---> La preparación
----> La evacuación
Queremos que la vista de transportación se lleva a cabo en JULIO.
¿PUEDE UD. toma algunos minutos para llamar y mandar unos e-mails a uno o
más de los concejales enumerados abajo?
Trabajando juntos para hacer muchas llamadas a las oficinas del concejales
esta semana mandará un mensaje a los Concejales – que la gente de Boston
tienen preocupaciones graves sobre el Biolab de la Universidad de Boston.
=*=*= POR FAVOR LLAMAN Y MANDAN E-MAILS A: =*=*=
STEPHEN MURPHY, Director del Comité de la Seguridad Pública, 617-635-4376,
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov
Concejales en el Comité:
MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vicedirector, "At Large", 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov
FELIX ARROYO, "At Large", 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov
SALVATORE LAMATTINA, Distrito 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov
CHARLES YANCEY, Distrito 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov
http://stopthebiolab.org
Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers protest plan to subcontract their jobs to new staffing company (from Indymedia)
by Rand Wilson
Email: rand (nospam) mindspring.com (verified)
Phone: 617 929-6000 19 Jun 2007
Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers filed an unfair labor practice charge on June 15 after managers told shuttle van drivers and car prep workers who work at the company’s East Boston airport location that their jobs would be subcontracted to Houston-based ParkWest Staffing Services. Management also announced that all current Enterprise car drivers would have to apply to for jobs at other Enterprise locations.
“All we are trying to do is have a voice at work and a union contract that spells out our wages and working conditions,” said Enterprise shuttle van driver Jonny Arevalo. “Now management is depriving us of our rights by making us all apply for our jobs with a new company. It’s outrageous!”
The Enterprise workers are asking for continued support from the community and the labor movement to save their jobs and win management recognition of their union. A June 23 day of action is planned for people to show support for the Enterprise workers.
The unfair labor practice charge – given to the National Labor Relations Board’s New England Regional Office – claims that the subcontracting maneuver was brazen and illegal retaliation against the employees for a long history of engaging in activities to improve their wages and working conditions. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits management from closing facilities or subcontracting work to avoid dealing with workers as a group.
In a June 13 memo to employees, Enterprise Regional Vice President Mark Jewell stated, “We wish to emphasize this decision has been in the works for several months and has nothing to do with recent union activities.”
Workers at Enterprise have been organizing a union with IUE-CWA Local 201 of the Communications Workers of America to improve their wages and working conditions. The workers have also been working with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and several community groups to improve their working conditions and fight discrimination in hiring and promotions.
On May 29, the Enterprise workers requested management recognize their union. When management refused, the workers petitioned the NLRB on June 4 to conduct a government-supervised election. A hearing on their petition is scheduled for June 18 at the NLRB in Boston.
(Pictures from the action may be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wilsonforworkingfamilies/EnterpriseWorkersDe)
The drive for collective bargaining grows out of frustration with Enterprise management who have routinely ignored workers’ grievances about discrimination, health and safety conditions, and abuse of wage payments and scheduling issues. With support from MassCOSH, Jobs with Justice and the Chelsea Collaborative the workers have been organizing to win improvements at work.
See also:
http://www.local201IUECWA.org
Seattle Students Shut Down School Board
Demanding Military Recruiters Out of Schools
By Philip Locker, Dylan Simpson, and Marianne Mork
June 21, 2007
www.yawr.org
"What do we want? Recruiters out! When do we want it? Now!" chanted
over 70 antiwar protestors as we marched into to the Seattle School
Board meeting Wednesday night. The spirited protest, called by Youth
Against War and Racism (YAWR), demanded the school board finally take
real action against military recruitment in our schools. As the local
TV news King 5 said, it was "intended to be political high theatre,
and it certainly was effective." Another reporter commented: "it was
the most dramatic anti-military recruitment rally to date."
YAWR is calling for military recruiters to be banned from Seattle
public schools. But to stay within the legal paramaters of the "No
Child Left Behind" law, we are demanding that all recruiting be done
at a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. This would create
equity between the access to students that the military, college, and
job recruiters have. Currently, military recruiters have a massive
budget and a huge advantage over college and job recruiters. A
district-wide recruitment fair would also stop military recruiters
from carrying out their predatory tactics within our schools and
disproportionate targeting of schools that are predominantly made up
of poor and minority students.
Student activist Kristin Ebeling said: "Our public schools should not
be military recruitment stations for the Iraq war. Instead of wasting
$500 billion on a war for oil and empire, we need money for jobs and
education."
High school students, teachers, parents and community activists
rallied outside the school board for an hour. With the start of the
meeting the rally moved inside, energetically chanting and sitting in
at the front of the room. To bring the reality of the war home, some
students enacted a "die-in," lying across the floor covered in blood,
while the school board politicians huddled at the side of the room.
Addressing the board and the whole room, Shanay Salas and Ramy Khalil
from YAWR then explained our demands to restrict military recruiters.
We urged that the board amend its agenda for 10-15 minutes to discuss
our proposed policy. Unfortunately, the board refused to discuss our
policy, nor would they start the meeting until we ended the sit-in and
moved away from the front of the room.
Board member Darlene Flynn condescendingly lectured the students:
"This is what democracy looks like, but it's not what a school board
meeting looks like, and we have to have a school board meeting." This
statement, ironically exposing the undemocratic nature of the board,
brought loud jeers from the demonstrators. With the protestors holding
their ground, the board hurriedly left and reconvened in a back room
closed to the public.
This comes against the background of the board refusing to enforce
their own policy to restrict military recruiters that was passed two
years ago. After a city-wide student walkout of 800 students on April
18 to protest military recruitment, attending numerous school boards
meetings and sub-committee meetings, and still having the board refuse
to let us speak, we decided to take matters into our own hands and
organize a sit-in. However, the meeting could have easily continued if
the school board had simply been willing to grant our modest request
to discuss our proposed policy at their meeting for 10-15 minutes.
Since the board refused to listen to the public, we decided to
continue the meeting and took public testimony from those who had
already signed up to testify. A number of school bus drivers spoke
about their struggle to unionize to overcome the terrible wages and
conditions they face, which the board is refusing to support. While
some members of the audience complained that we had disrupted an
official board meeting, an overwhelming majority of the crowd voted to
support our decision to continue the meeting in defiance of the board
members.
While school board members claim that they cannot implement our policy
because it would mean losing $40 million a year in federal funds, the
fact is that our policy was carefully constructed to remain within the
legal confines of the No Child Left Behind law. By restricting
military recruiters to a recruitment fair on equal grounds with
college and job recruiters, this policy would have absolutely no
effect on federal funding.
(See relevant section of No Child Left Behind and our proposed policy
at: http://groups.google.com/group/novapeaceclub)
Wednesday's school board action was a major success in bringing real
pressure to bear on the board and raising the issue of military
recruitment in the public consciousness. All the local TV news gave
very prominent coverage to the protest (see list of links below). But
to win we will need to keep up the pressure on the school board and
build an organized, active antiwar movement. This fall YAWR is
organizing a major student walkout, which we are trying to spread
nationally, to show that business as usual will stop until the
military is out of Iraq and out of our schools.
Get active with Youth Against War and Racism and the fight against
military recruiters! Please come to the next YAWR meeting on Sunday
July 1, 4-6pm, at Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave and Wall St.) where we
will be planning our next steps.
Contact us at: www.yawr.org * redeye76bw@hotmail.com * (206) 526-7185
We want to thank all the organizations that made this protest
possible: Nova High School Peace and Justice, Lake Washington High
School Peace Club, Renton High School Youth Against War and Racism,
Seattle Central Community College Students Against the War, Team
Victory, and Socialist Alternative.
Please donate! Support YAWR's need to make leaflets, posters, buttons,
and T-shirts by sending donations payable to Youth Against War and
Racism to 5032 21st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Support First Student Bus Drivers! We fully support the struggle of
the First Student bus drivers to win a union and decent wages,
benefits and conditions. It is an outrage that the school board will
not stand on the side of workers' basic rights. We are calling on
antiwar activists, students and workers to come to a rally in support
of the First Student bus drivers on Friday June 22, 9am – 12pm, at 130
South Kenyon Street.
Links to Mainstream Media Coverage
KOMO 4 Video coverage: http://www.komotv.com/news/8105247.html (click
WATCH THE STORY below the picture)
King 5 Video coverage:
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=153224
Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003756523_assignment21m.html
2 key CEOs give Patrick a fund-raiser
State policies could affect firms' profits
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | June 21, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick picked up about $25,000 in political donations this week at a fund-raiser thrown by the chief executive officers of two highly regulated companies whose financial standings and profits could be affected by decisions pending before the new administration.
Edmund F. "Ted" Kelly, the chief executive of the insurance giant Liberty Mutual Group, and Thomas J. May, his counterpart at NStar, cosponsored the breakfast event at the Sheraton Boston, which was attended by Patrick and about 50 executives from both firms.
While not uncommon during previous administrations, Patrick's use of two heavily regulated industry giants to raise political funds stands in sharp contrast to his campaign promise to change the way business is conducted on Beacon Hill and to free politics from special interests.
Both firms have stakes in sweeping policy issues that are before regulatory agencies controlled by Patrick. In the next few months, the Patrick administra tion will make decisions on proposals that could bring wholesale changes to the way the state auto insurance industry makes money. NStar, while always looking for rate increases, is also keenly interested in proposed safeguards to protect utilities' profits as energy conservation increases.
Asked whether the governor saw any conflict between Monday's fund-raiser and his campaign promise to change the state's political culture, his press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, said Patrick and his regulators would not be swayed by the donations.
"Policy and regulatory decisions in this administration are based solely on what is in the best interest of the citizens of the Commonwealth," Sullivan said in a statement released to the Globe. "We have some of the toughest campaign finance laws in the country, and we strictly adhere to them."
Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said the fund-raiser is a clear indication that Patrick has succumbed to the realities of political life, which includes what he called the unsavory campaign finance system.
"It looks like he's been housebroken," Berry said. "Words are cheap, and his rhetoric now appears to have been empty slogans. His supporters are going to be a little disappointed. But it is rare for politicians to follow through on changing politics as usual. Politics as usual has a lot of attraction once you are in office. Governor Patrick is not immune from the temptation."
During his campaign, Patrick repeatedly denounced the "culture of Beacon Hill" and promised to restore citizens' faith in state government. As an example of the culture, he pointed to the coziness between public officials and Big Dig contractors, which he said undermined the state's oversight of the project. He particularly cited contractors' political donations to elected officials and their funding of awards to honor state officials who oversaw the construction. "It now all gets caught up in the political culture of Beacon Hill," he said in May 2006.
Patrick has a deep background in corporate America, as a former general counsel at Coca-Cola and Texaco and a former board member at Ameriquest, a controversial subprime lender.
The fund-raiser by May and Kelly reflects a growing relationship between Patrick and the state's business leaders. May, who also serves on Liberty Mutual's board of directors, and Kelly were part of a small group of business executives who last month met privately over lunch with Patrick to discuss a host of business issues.
None of the participants would comment about the meeting. But a source said the talk turned tense at one point as several took issue with his push to close so-called corporate tax loopholes. The session ended on a friendly note, with Patrick assuring the business leaders that his door was open to them, the source said. Others at the session included New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, former Bank of America chairman Charles K. Gifford, retired advertising executive Jack Connors, and former Fidelity Investments' chief operating officer Robert L. Reynolds.
During last year's campaign, Liberty Mutual gave generously to Patrick's Republican opponent, former lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.
After the election, Liberty Mutual was one of several corporations that made a $50,000 donation to fund Patrick's inauguration -- another event that raised questions about the new governor's repeated promises to return state government to the people.
Kelly's Boston-based insurance firm, which has national and international operations, is lobbying heavily for Patrick's insurance commissioner, Nonnie Burnes, to adopt a competitive rate-setting system for auto insurance and to revamp the high-risk drivers pool. Both moves have divided the auto insurance industry and have drawn strong criticism from consumer advocates and urban lawmakers.
On Friday, just three days before the fund-raising event at the Sheraton Boston, Burnes wrapped up a hearing on auto insurance and is now trying to decide which changes -- if any -- the administration should adopt. NStar, the biggest combined electric and gas utility in the state with more than 1.3 million customers, regularly appears before the state Department of Public Utilities board to get rates approved.
In recent weeks, the Patrick administration has also begun to push for the most radical overhaul of state utility regulation in a century -- a policy called "rate decoupling" that is intended to ensure utilities' profits don't fall if they promote energy conservation -- that could have major ramifications for NStar's $3.5 billion in annual revenues and more than $200 million in net profits.
The utility is eager to make sure it maintains access to and good relations with Patrick, to ensure that NStar and its shareholders get the best possible outcome from rate decoupling.
Kelly and May declined to speak to the Globe about their political fund-raising for Patrick.
"It's not anything we're going to get into," said Caroline Allen, NStar's spokeswoman, when asked why May cosponsored the event. "We support Governor Patrick and his agenda."
Neither Allen nor John Cusolito, a Liberty Mutual spokesman, would provide the Globe with the exact amount that was raised, referring questions to Patrick's staff. "We encourage our employees to be politically active," Cusolito said. "So demonstrating support for the governor and other elected officials is not unusual for us." He said Kelly did not attend the fund-raiser because of a scheduling conflict.
Steve Crawford, a spokesman for the Patrick campaign committee, said the figure exceeded $25,000. That is a significant amount for Patrick's political committee, which has only $133,000 in its checking account, according to Crawford, a paltry sum for a sitting governor.
Peter Howe of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
Boston gets 200 new youth jobs
Advocates happy, but say 'drop in the bucket'
Christopher Loh, cloh@bostonnow.com
A Boston financial institution announced it is providing 200 jobs for Boston teens this summer.
John Hancock Financial Services CEO John DesPrez spoke about his company's $450,000 contribution to the city's summer youth outreach effort. "The training will assist in getting the teens off to a terrific start as they begin planning for college and careers."
DesPrez' announcement follows Mayor Thomas Menino's recent call for teen employment opportunities and comes in the wake of city violence already totaling 30 homicides this year.
David Jenkins of the United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston said the jobs are a good step but only a "drop in the bucket" in addressing the violence.
"If this city is serious about attacking this problem of youth violence," said Jenkins, "the first preventive measure would be funding youth jobs."
Jenkins and his organization are campaigning for $8 million from the city's budget to help fund youth employment this summer. The $8 million, Jenkins said, would be a major step in decreasing street violence - creating the most city jobs since 2000.
More News Links:
articles about democrats:
Democrats Twiddle Thumbs While Iraq Burns
"Left Wing" Democrats Vote to Fund Iraq War
Nantucket ICE raid
New Orleans
Boston's new school superintendent
Cheney vs. the Oversight office
Shut Down Guantanamo?
Bloomberg Quits the Republicans
Published on Fri, Jun 22, 2007
music played on today's show: "Working Class Hero"-Green Day, "Uncle Sam Goddamn"-Brother Ali, "Justice Is Coming"-Typical Cats, "Volunteers"-Jefferson Airplane, "War"-Bob Marley, "Mean Talking Blues"-Woody Guthrie
What is socialism?
What is democratic socialism?
Solidarity Announcements:
Jun 22, 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM AND STILL WE RESIST!! A compelling, theatrical telling of authentic personal stories by those directly affected by the criminal justice system. A collaboration of theater artists and social justice advocates working with ex-prisoners and their loved ones to bring a powerful, articulate, personal voice of prison experience to the public for the purpose of healing, education, empowerment and social change. Join us and bring friends!Refreshments will be served/contributions are welcome.www.throughbardedwire.com Send email to throughbarbedwire@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Jason - 617/266-6710.
Community Church of Boston, 565 Boylston, Boston (Copley Square) More details...
Jun 23 MARXISM, REPARATIONS AND THE BLACK FREEDOM STRUGGLE-Why Reparations are Essential to Class Struggle.... Monica Moorehead will talk about an important book on Reparations; she is the editor of the book, a New World View Forum book on African American history and resistance. Essays cover the meaning of the on going Katrina catastrophe; and building Black-Brown unity and solidarity against oppression. Send email to boston@workers.org for additionalinformation.
The Action Center, 284 Amory Center, Jamaica Plain More details...
Jun 23, 1:00 AM - 5:00 AM Brookline Climate Action Day Fair-Tomorrow's Climate--Today's Challenge Brookline's first Climate Action Day will have over 40 environmental exhibitors, food, festivities, music by the Jill Stein, Ken Selcer & Friends Band, Stingy Brim and other local groups, and kids' activities including a Dragon Parade,puppets,and environmental storyteller David Eggleton. Congressman Barney Frank, State Rep. Frank Smizik, Ross Gelbspan and Mindy Lubber will speak. Other options will be a Green Building tour and an organized bike ride starting at 11:00am at the Coolidge Corner Branch Library. For more information, visit http://www.townofbrooklinemass.com/conservation. Send email to reitaennis@excite.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Reita Ennis, 617-233-2605.
Brookline Town Hall Plaza,333 Washington St., Brookline More details...
Jun 23, 7:00 PM - 11:00 PM "Start the Music, Stop the war": an Evening of Culture + Protest! Save the Date Now that Congress has voted to escalate the Iraq War, it's time for us to kick off our summer protests with something a little bit different.Join United for Justice with Peace for a 6:30 pm anti-war parade (led by the Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band) followed at 7pm by an Evening of Music, Culture and Protest at the newly Regent Theater.The goals of the event are to make a statement againist the war and to help activate those oppposing the war who don't express their opposition through demonstrations. Featuring Kemp Harris, Soul of Change, Jake Brennan, The Second Line Social Aid and Pleasure Society Brass Band, In the Public Interest, Ketchup, Mr. Them, and More!! $20 General Admission, $10 College Students and Low Income; $5 High School Students (Prices include restoration Fee.) Order Now!! Send email to pshannon@afsc.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: 781/643-4747.
THE REGENT THEATER, 7 Medford St., Arlington Ma More details...
Jun 26 THE NATIONAL DAY OF ACTION TO RESTORE LAW AND JUSTICE In Boston, in Washington and around the country we will demand an end to torture, the closing of Guantanamo, the restoration of habeas corpus and fundamental freedoms.From the ACLU office we will proceed to the JFK Building. If you can arrive at noon and want to wear an orange jump suit, email jmargolis@earthlink.net or call 617/482-3170x314. Send email to BCorr@ACLUM.org for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Nancy Murray: 617/482-3170x314.
Assemble outside the ACLU office at 12:30 (211 Congress at High in Boston) More details...
Jul 1, 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM Citizens Summit and Protest March when Bush Meets Putin This event is still on the UJP Web page but here are more details: The following will be speaking at the beginning of the march in front of the Captain Lord Mansion on the Village Green, Ocean Ave.: David Swanson, founder of After Downing Street" and attorney John Kaminski, president of Maine Lawyers for Democracy as well as Melida and Carlos Arredondo of Military Families Speak Out. Music will include Pat Scanlon and Band. Others to be announced.All permits have been granted. This protest will focus on the immediate withdrawal of American troops as well as calling for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. Speakers will talk about why it is important to hold the leaders accountable for the illegal war, was crimes, the mutilation of the Constitution and the evisceration of habeas corpus, torture, warrantless surveillance, nuclear proliferation and the overall abuse of power. Send email to jamillaelshafei@yahoo.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: susie justed: 631/875-5936.
From the Village Green on Ocean Ave. to Bush Compound, Kennebunkport More details...
Jul 13, 7:00 PM ASSEMBLING PEACE V An alternative, fun and energizing anti-war event/party/mixer/concert to benefit the Greater Boston Stop the Wars Coalition. $10 donation - no one turned away for lack of funds. Performers include The Gary Backstrom Band - Master lead guitarist and vocalist; Jimmy Ryan - amazing electic band that has been touring the country; The Grass Gypsies, Andrew Alexander, Boston\'s own Pavoratti, and more. Tables will be set up for information tables (no fee.); massage room of the main room,and a kitchen which will be serving food. Upstairs there will be wine, beer and fair trade coffee plus a stage for various acts. The program will focus on diversity both in the performers and speakers all centered on the peace and justice themes.A benefit for stop the wars. Send email to vinniechops@hotmail.com for additionalinformation. Other Contact Information: Brian O\'Connell: 617/947-8983.
Spontaneous Celebrations, 14 Danforth St. Jamaica Plain, MA More details...
Forwarding from Providence Rhode Island AFSC..
If you could help get the word out about this, that would be great. We just found out about the visit and details are very sketchy (like time of day!) and time is very short, but RI folks have begun to organize a welcome party. The gist of the plan is this:
1) Reserve a park in downtown Newport for a peace festival. We are looking for street theater, music, speakers. Audience: media and the community. Time: midday
2) Try to find out where and when Bush will be in town and get a permit for as close as possible. Folks can go directly there or go over from the big event. Since we probably won,t be allowed where he can see us, it is a symbolic event.
3) Message: 1: Immediate withdrawal of all occupying forces in Iraq; 2) Reparations for the destruction and corporate pillaging of Iraq so that Iraqi people can control their own lives and future; 3.)Full benefits, adequate healthcare (including mental health), and other supports for returning servicemen and women. 4)No military action against Iran.
4) There will be additional planning at the next RICCP meeting on Wed June 20 and an additional meeting Sat. June 23. If you have suggestions, etc please contact Mark Stahl, who I cc,d on this email. He will be chairing those meetings and I can,t make either of them.
5) Please help spread the word with a Save the Date announcement and we will keep you in the loop about details.
Nurses, Doctors Announce “Scrubs for SiCKO” Campaign in Conjunction with Debut of Michael Moore’s Film to Spark Genuine Healthcare Debate
Unprecedented National Coalition Will Work to Recruit Caregivers in “SiCKO Scrubs” to Attend Each Film Premiere Theater
Nurses and Doctors Begin Bus Tour Today to Build Support for Campaign
Tour Comes to Manchester New Hampshire Friday, June 22, 2007
12 Noon – Screening of “SiCKO” at Palace Theater in Manchester, NH
2:15 p.m. – Town Hall Meeting with Moore and RNs, Physicians, Patients
3:30 p.m. – Press Conference with Michael Moore
Planning to spark a fundamental change in national healthcare politics, nurses from Massachusetts and throughout New England have joined an unprecedented national coalition of nurses and doctors organizations which today announced plans to rally around the openings of Michael Moore’s “SiCKO” on June 29 to press the campaign for single-payer healthcare, guaranteeing comprehensive, quality healthcare with an expanded and improved Medicare for all. The Coalition is also planning a special preview screening, town hall meeting and press conference with Michael Moore as part of the national “SiCKO” bus tour, which will land in Manchester, New Hampshire on Friday, June 22, beginning at 12 noon.
Calling it “The Scrubs for SiCKO Campaign,” organizers will recruit registered nurses and doctors to every theater in the nation where “SiCKO” opens to ensure that caregivers – in SiCKO scrubs—are in the audience.
The caregivers will distribute information and urge movie goers to join the drive for a fundamental overhaul of the nation’s dysfunctional healthcare system - as is so brilliantly described in “Sicko”. They will urge the audience to help pass single-payer/Medicare for all types of legislation such as HR 676 now pending in Congress and several states, and make it a central focus of the Presidential campaign.
Nurses and doctors are serving as co-hosts of “SiCKO” premiers across the nation.
Participating groups include the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, Physicians for a National Health Program, New York State Nurses Association, Massachusetts Nurses Association, United Steelworkers (USW) Health Care Workers Council, Communication Workers of America, Health Professionals and Allied Employees/AFT, United Nurses and Allied Professionals (Rhode Island) and the New England Nurses Association. The Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions is also working with the coalition.
“SiCKO” profiles a number of Americans with insurance who have been denied needed care by their insurance company, describes how the insurance-based healthcare system is structured to keep it that way, and provides examples of other industrialized nations where insurance companies do not stand in the way of medical care.
The campaign will highlight the need for reforms that prevent insurance companies from denying care, and send a strong signal to politicians in Congress, state capitals, and the Presidential race who are promoting insurance-based reforms.
HR 676 and similar bills in several state legislatures, including SB 755, the Massachusetts Healthcare Trust bill, will have one public entity collecting and dispensing all revenues for care delivered by our current, mostly private hospitals, clinics, and doctors, similar to how Medicare works. The system is universal, assures comprehensive benefits, guarantees freedom to choose your provider, and controls costs. It also drastically curbs administrative costs - and the waste caused by insurance company profits and paperwork.
Web Site: www.massnurses.org
Iraq Moratorium Day
This last Monday the long-rumored "Iraq Moratorium Day" campaign was officially launched with some big name backers including Labor Against War, Progressive Democrats of America, and a bunch of celebrities. United for Peace and Justice will likely sign onto the project at their conference next weekend, and may well link their major fall mobilization to the project.
The idea is for escalating actions every third Friday of the month, starting on September 21. It is a very watered down call to action (see: http://iraqmoratorium.org/ ) even compared to the Vietnam era events it takes its name from (in Vietnam the original call was for a general strike, but they changed it to "Moratorium" to make it more palatable... it was still a MAJOR event in Vietnam antiwar history). Their call is for all sorts of small, decentralized actions, including a vague call for "school closings."
http://iraqmoratorium.org/
TAKE ACTION ON THE BIOLAB THIS WEEK!
Beginning today, people around Boston will be contacting the Boston City
Council to ask them to schedule hearings about the Biolab.
We are asking that three hearings be scheduled:
--> Transportation
---> Preparedness
----> Evacuation
We would like the transportation hearing to be scheduled in JULY.
COULD YOU to take a few minutes to call and email one or more of the
Councilors listed below? Contact information and a sample call script are
below. Working together to flood their offices with calls this week will
let the City Councilors know that the people of Boston have serious
concerns about BU's biolab.
=*=*= PLEASE CALL AND EMAIL =*=*=
STEPHEN MURPHY, Chair of the Public Safety committee, 617-635-4376,
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov
Other Councilors on the Committee:
MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vice chair, At Large, 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov
FELIX ARROYO, At Large, 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov
SALVATORE LAMATTINA, District 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov
CHARLES YANCEY, District 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov
//StopTheBiolab.org
-----------------------------------------
¡TOMA ACCIÓN CONTRA EL BIOLAB ESTA SEMANA!
Empezando hoy, la gente de Boston van a contactar el Ayuntamiento para
pedirles a programar las vistas del ayuntamiento sobre el Biolab.
Pedimos que ellos programan tres vistas:
--> La transportación
---> La preparación
----> La evacuación
Queremos que la vista de transportación se lleva a cabo en JULIO.
¿PUEDE UD. toma algunos minutos para llamar y mandar unos e-mails a uno o
más de los concejales enumerados abajo?
Trabajando juntos para hacer muchas llamadas a las oficinas del concejales
esta semana mandará un mensaje a los Concejales – que la gente de Boston
tienen preocupaciones graves sobre el Biolab de la Universidad de Boston.
=*=*= POR FAVOR LLAMAN Y MANDAN E-MAILS A: =*=*=
STEPHEN MURPHY, Director del Comité de la Seguridad Pública, 617-635-4376,
Stephen.Murphy@cityofboston.gov
Concejales en el Comité:
MICHAEL FLAHERTY, Vicedirector, "At Large", 617-635-4205,
Michael.F.Flaherty@cityofboston.gov
FELIX ARROYO, "At Large", 617-635-3115, Felix.Arroyo@cityofboston.gov
SALVATORE LAMATTINA, Distrito 1, E. Boston, Charlestown, City Hall/Beacon
Hill/Islands, 617-635-3200, Salvatore.LaMattina@cityofboston.gov
CHARLES YANCEY, Distrito 4, Dorchester & Mattapan, 617-635-3131,
Charles.Yancey@cityofboston.gov
http://stopthebiolab.org
Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers protest plan to subcontract their jobs to new staffing company (from Indymedia)
by Rand Wilson
Email: rand (nospam) mindspring.com (verified)
Phone: 617 929-6000 19 Jun 2007
Enterprise Rent-A-Car workers filed an unfair labor practice charge on June 15 after managers told shuttle van drivers and car prep workers who work at the company’s East Boston airport location that their jobs would be subcontracted to Houston-based ParkWest Staffing Services. Management also announced that all current Enterprise car drivers would have to apply to for jobs at other Enterprise locations.
“All we are trying to do is have a voice at work and a union contract that spells out our wages and working conditions,” said Enterprise shuttle van driver Jonny Arevalo. “Now management is depriving us of our rights by making us all apply for our jobs with a new company. It’s outrageous!”
The Enterprise workers are asking for continued support from the community and the labor movement to save their jobs and win management recognition of their union. A June 23 day of action is planned for people to show support for the Enterprise workers.
The unfair labor practice charge – given to the National Labor Relations Board’s New England Regional Office – claims that the subcontracting maneuver was brazen and illegal retaliation against the employees for a long history of engaging in activities to improve their wages and working conditions. The National Labor Relations Act prohibits management from closing facilities or subcontracting work to avoid dealing with workers as a group.
In a June 13 memo to employees, Enterprise Regional Vice President Mark Jewell stated, “We wish to emphasize this decision has been in the works for several months and has nothing to do with recent union activities.”
Workers at Enterprise have been organizing a union with IUE-CWA Local 201 of the Communications Workers of America to improve their wages and working conditions. The workers have also been working with the Massachusetts Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (MassCOSH) and several community groups to improve their working conditions and fight discrimination in hiring and promotions.
On May 29, the Enterprise workers requested management recognize their union. When management refused, the workers petitioned the NLRB on June 4 to conduct a government-supervised election. A hearing on their petition is scheduled for June 18 at the NLRB in Boston.
(Pictures from the action may be viewed at: http://picasaweb.google.com/wilsonforworkingfamilies/EnterpriseWorkersDe)
The drive for collective bargaining grows out of frustration with Enterprise management who have routinely ignored workers’ grievances about discrimination, health and safety conditions, and abuse of wage payments and scheduling issues. With support from MassCOSH, Jobs with Justice and the Chelsea Collaborative the workers have been organizing to win improvements at work.
See also:
http://www.local201IUECWA.org
Seattle Students Shut Down School Board
Demanding Military Recruiters Out of Schools
By Philip Locker, Dylan Simpson, and Marianne Mork
June 21, 2007
www.yawr.org
"What do we want? Recruiters out! When do we want it? Now!" chanted
over 70 antiwar protestors as we marched into to the Seattle School
Board meeting Wednesday night. The spirited protest, called by Youth
Against War and Racism (YAWR), demanded the school board finally take
real action against military recruitment in our schools. As the local
TV news King 5 said, it was "intended to be political high theatre,
and it certainly was effective." Another reporter commented: "it was
the most dramatic anti-military recruitment rally to date."
YAWR is calling for military recruiters to be banned from Seattle
public schools. But to stay within the legal paramaters of the "No
Child Left Behind" law, we are demanding that all recruiting be done
at a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. This would create
equity between the access to students that the military, college, and
job recruiters have. Currently, military recruiters have a massive
budget and a huge advantage over college and job recruiters. A
district-wide recruitment fair would also stop military recruiters
from carrying out their predatory tactics within our schools and
disproportionate targeting of schools that are predominantly made up
of poor and minority students.
Student activist Kristin Ebeling said: "Our public schools should not
be military recruitment stations for the Iraq war. Instead of wasting
$500 billion on a war for oil and empire, we need money for jobs and
education."
High school students, teachers, parents and community activists
rallied outside the school board for an hour. With the start of the
meeting the rally moved inside, energetically chanting and sitting in
at the front of the room. To bring the reality of the war home, some
students enacted a "die-in," lying across the floor covered in blood,
while the school board politicians huddled at the side of the room.
Addressing the board and the whole room, Shanay Salas and Ramy Khalil
from YAWR then explained our demands to restrict military recruiters.
We urged that the board amend its agenda for 10-15 minutes to discuss
our proposed policy. Unfortunately, the board refused to discuss our
policy, nor would they start the meeting until we ended the sit-in and
moved away from the front of the room.
Board member Darlene Flynn condescendingly lectured the students:
"This is what democracy looks like, but it's not what a school board
meeting looks like, and we have to have a school board meeting." This
statement, ironically exposing the undemocratic nature of the board,
brought loud jeers from the demonstrators. With the protestors holding
their ground, the board hurriedly left and reconvened in a back room
closed to the public.
This comes against the background of the board refusing to enforce
their own policy to restrict military recruiters that was passed two
years ago. After a city-wide student walkout of 800 students on April
18 to protest military recruitment, attending numerous school boards
meetings and sub-committee meetings, and still having the board refuse
to let us speak, we decided to take matters into our own hands and
organize a sit-in. However, the meeting could have easily continued if
the school board had simply been willing to grant our modest request
to discuss our proposed policy at their meeting for 10-15 minutes.
Since the board refused to listen to the public, we decided to
continue the meeting and took public testimony from those who had
already signed up to testify. A number of school bus drivers spoke
about their struggle to unionize to overcome the terrible wages and
conditions they face, which the board is refusing to support. While
some members of the audience complained that we had disrupted an
official board meeting, an overwhelming majority of the crowd voted to
support our decision to continue the meeting in defiance of the board
members.
While school board members claim that they cannot implement our policy
because it would mean losing $40 million a year in federal funds, the
fact is that our policy was carefully constructed to remain within the
legal confines of the No Child Left Behind law. By restricting
military recruiters to a recruitment fair on equal grounds with
college and job recruiters, this policy would have absolutely no
effect on federal funding.
(See relevant section of No Child Left Behind and our proposed policy
at: http://groups.google.com/group/novapeaceclub)
Wednesday's school board action was a major success in bringing real
pressure to bear on the board and raising the issue of military
recruitment in the public consciousness. All the local TV news gave
very prominent coverage to the protest (see list of links below). But
to win we will need to keep up the pressure on the school board and
build an organized, active antiwar movement. This fall YAWR is
organizing a major student walkout, which we are trying to spread
nationally, to show that business as usual will stop until the
military is out of Iraq and out of our schools.
Get active with Youth Against War and Racism and the fight against
military recruiters! Please come to the next YAWR meeting on Sunday
July 1, 4-6pm, at Uptown Espresso (2504 4th Ave and Wall St.) where we
will be planning our next steps.
Contact us at: www.yawr.org * redeye76bw@hotmail.com * (206) 526-7185
We want to thank all the organizations that made this protest
possible: Nova High School Peace and Justice, Lake Washington High
School Peace Club, Renton High School Youth Against War and Racism,
Seattle Central Community College Students Against the War, Team
Victory, and Socialist Alternative.
Please donate! Support YAWR's need to make leaflets, posters, buttons,
and T-shirts by sending donations payable to Youth Against War and
Racism to 5032 21st Ave NE, Seattle, WA 98105.
Support First Student Bus Drivers! We fully support the struggle of
the First Student bus drivers to win a union and decent wages,
benefits and conditions. It is an outrage that the school board will
not stand on the side of workers' basic rights. We are calling on
antiwar activists, students and workers to come to a rally in support
of the First Student bus drivers on Friday June 22, 9am – 12pm, at 130
South Kenyon Street.
Links to Mainstream Media Coverage
KOMO 4 Video coverage: http://www.komotv.com/news/8105247.html (click
WATCH THE STORY below the picture)
King 5 Video coverage:
http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=153224
Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003756523_assignment21m.html
2 key CEOs give Patrick a fund-raiser
State policies could affect firms' profits
By Frank Phillips, Globe Staff | June 21, 2007
Governor Deval Patrick picked up about $25,000 in political donations this week at a fund-raiser thrown by the chief executive officers of two highly regulated companies whose financial standings and profits could be affected by decisions pending before the new administration.
Edmund F. "Ted" Kelly, the chief executive of the insurance giant Liberty Mutual Group, and Thomas J. May, his counterpart at NStar, cosponsored the breakfast event at the Sheraton Boston, which was attended by Patrick and about 50 executives from both firms.
While not uncommon during previous administrations, Patrick's use of two heavily regulated industry giants to raise political funds stands in sharp contrast to his campaign promise to change the way business is conducted on Beacon Hill and to free politics from special interests.
Both firms have stakes in sweeping policy issues that are before regulatory agencies controlled by Patrick. In the next few months, the Patrick administra tion will make decisions on proposals that could bring wholesale changes to the way the state auto insurance industry makes money. NStar, while always looking for rate increases, is also keenly interested in proposed safeguards to protect utilities' profits as energy conservation increases.
Asked whether the governor saw any conflict between Monday's fund-raiser and his campaign promise to change the state's political culture, his press secretary, Kyle Sullivan, said Patrick and his regulators would not be swayed by the donations.
"Policy and regulatory decisions in this administration are based solely on what is in the best interest of the citizens of the Commonwealth," Sullivan said in a statement released to the Globe. "We have some of the toughest campaign finance laws in the country, and we strictly adhere to them."
Jeffrey M. Berry, a professor of political science at Tufts University, said the fund-raiser is a clear indication that Patrick has succumbed to the realities of political life, which includes what he called the unsavory campaign finance system.
"It looks like he's been housebroken," Berry said. "Words are cheap, and his rhetoric now appears to have been empty slogans. His supporters are going to be a little disappointed. But it is rare for politicians to follow through on changing politics as usual. Politics as usual has a lot of attraction once you are in office. Governor Patrick is not immune from the temptation."
During his campaign, Patrick repeatedly denounced the "culture of Beacon Hill" and promised to restore citizens' faith in state government. As an example of the culture, he pointed to the coziness between public officials and Big Dig contractors, which he said undermined the state's oversight of the project. He particularly cited contractors' political donations to elected officials and their funding of awards to honor state officials who oversaw the construction. "It now all gets caught up in the political culture of Beacon Hill," he said in May 2006.
Patrick has a deep background in corporate America, as a former general counsel at Coca-Cola and Texaco and a former board member at Ameriquest, a controversial subprime lender.
The fund-raiser by May and Kelly reflects a growing relationship between Patrick and the state's business leaders. May, who also serves on Liberty Mutual's board of directors, and Kelly were part of a small group of business executives who last month met privately over lunch with Patrick to discuss a host of business issues.
None of the participants would comment about the meeting. But a source said the talk turned tense at one point as several took issue with his push to close so-called corporate tax loopholes. The session ended on a friendly note, with Patrick assuring the business leaders that his door was open to them, the source said. Others at the session included New England Patriots' owner Robert Kraft, former Bank of America chairman Charles K. Gifford, retired advertising executive Jack Connors, and former Fidelity Investments' chief operating officer Robert L. Reynolds.
During last year's campaign, Liberty Mutual gave generously to Patrick's Republican opponent, former lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey.
After the election, Liberty Mutual was one of several corporations that made a $50,000 donation to fund Patrick's inauguration -- another event that raised questions about the new governor's repeated promises to return state government to the people.
Kelly's Boston-based insurance firm, which has national and international operations, is lobbying heavily for Patrick's insurance commissioner, Nonnie Burnes, to adopt a competitive rate-setting system for auto insurance and to revamp the high-risk drivers pool. Both moves have divided the auto insurance industry and have drawn strong criticism from consumer advocates and urban lawmakers.
On Friday, just three days before the fund-raising event at the Sheraton Boston, Burnes wrapped up a hearing on auto insurance and is now trying to decide which changes -- if any -- the administration should adopt. NStar, the biggest combined electric and gas utility in the state with more than 1.3 million customers, regularly appears before the state Department of Public Utilities board to get rates approved.
In recent weeks, the Patrick administration has also begun to push for the most radical overhaul of state utility regulation in a century -- a policy called "rate decoupling" that is intended to ensure utilities' profits don't fall if they promote energy conservation -- that could have major ramifications for NStar's $3.5 billion in annual revenues and more than $200 million in net profits.
The utility is eager to make sure it maintains access to and good relations with Patrick, to ensure that NStar and its shareholders get the best possible outcome from rate decoupling.
Kelly and May declined to speak to the Globe about their political fund-raising for Patrick.
"It's not anything we're going to get into," said Caroline Allen, NStar's spokeswoman, when asked why May cosponsored the event. "We support Governor Patrick and his agenda."
Neither Allen nor John Cusolito, a Liberty Mutual spokesman, would provide the Globe with the exact amount that was raised, referring questions to Patrick's staff. "We encourage our employees to be politically active," Cusolito said. "So demonstrating support for the governor and other elected officials is not unusual for us." He said Kelly did not attend the fund-raiser because of a scheduling conflict.
Steve Crawford, a spokesman for the Patrick campaign committee, said the figure exceeded $25,000. That is a significant amount for Patrick's political committee, which has only $133,000 in its checking account, according to Crawford, a paltry sum for a sitting governor.
Peter Howe of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
© Copyright 2007 The New York Times Company
Boston gets 200 new youth jobs
Advocates happy, but say 'drop in the bucket'
Christopher Loh, cloh@bostonnow.com
A Boston financial institution announced it is providing 200 jobs for Boston teens this summer.
John Hancock Financial Services CEO John DesPrez spoke about his company's $450,000 contribution to the city's summer youth outreach effort. "The training will assist in getting the teens off to a terrific start as they begin planning for college and careers."
DesPrez' announcement follows Mayor Thomas Menino's recent call for teen employment opportunities and comes in the wake of city violence already totaling 30 homicides this year.
David Jenkins of the United Youth and Youth Workers of Boston said the jobs are a good step but only a "drop in the bucket" in addressing the violence.
"If this city is serious about attacking this problem of youth violence," said Jenkins, "the first preventive measure would be funding youth jobs."
Jenkins and his organization are campaigning for $8 million from the city's budget to help fund youth employment this summer. The $8 million, Jenkins said, would be a major step in decreasing street violence - creating the most city jobs since 2000.
More News Links:
articles about democrats:
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"Left Wing" Democrats Vote to Fund Iraq War
Nantucket ICE raid
New Orleans
Boston's new school superintendent
Cheney vs. the Oversight office
Shut Down Guantanamo?
Bloomberg Quits the Republicans
Published on Fri, Jun 22, 2007
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