The “We Can Do Better” theme that Republicans had planned for day one of their National Convention in Tampa Bay has been set aside, usurped by a hurricane named Isaac, ten thousand raucous Ron Paul supporters, a thousand social conservatives, a couple hundred Occupy demonstrators and one former Florida governor who’s decided to break ranks with the GOP. The deluxe $2.5 million stage, which was supposed to frame the highly choreographed ascension of Republican wonderfulness starting today will sit dark.
Video: Raging Grannies Explain (NSFW) ‘Legitimate Rape’
Nothing like having a bunch of Raging Grannies break down legitimate rape for us. It’s the weekend, so it doesn’t matter that it’s not safe for the work place (except for those of us who work on the weekends…)
Can You Hear Me Now? The Violence of Eastern Congo Is Calling
by L.A. Moore
Ten thousand miles away, a small woman weeps into her delicate hands whispering the horrors she faces: Her husband was killed when he tended their crops. The rebels killed her son who tried to hide their money. The soldiers raped her. She has no home and no way to feed her children.
In this video from The Guardian UK, her voice comes across the miles from somewhere in Eastern Congo, where she and others pound mineral grit that will make a cell phone ring.
The grit from gold, coltan, tin and tungsten is used in the manufacture of electronic devices. The cellphone in your pocket or the iPad in your hands connect you directly to this horrific conflict.
Remember that film Hotel Rwanda, which brought the horrors of Africa violence into the mainstream American consciousness? Eastern Congo seems like Rwanda all over again. Who could forget exiting the theatre overhearing the same blithering comments: “Someone should have done something; all those people slaughtered ….”
Similar violence is taking place in Eastern Congo, and little to nothing is being done to stop it. [Read more…]
San Diego City Attorney Backs Out of ‘Equality Nine’ Prosecution
More than two years after the arrest of the “Equality Nine” ― activists who enacted a sit-in at the San Diego County Clerk’s office and demanded that marriage licenses be issued to same-sex couples ― six of the members have been vindicated.
The legal proceedings against them ended with a “motion to dismiss” by the city attorney yesterday.
The activists said they see the end of this case as a victory in the struggle against restrictions on free speech, the inequality of LGBT marriage rights, and an overzealous San Diego City Attorney. [Read more…]
Cesar Chavez’s Thoughts a While Back on What our Schools Are Facing Today
As we consider Proposition 30, we might want to reflect what Cesar Chavez had to say in Sacramento on April 3, 1991. (A transcript of this speech is in the United Farm Workers Papers at Wayne State University.) A friend, David Valladolid, who is the President and Chief Executive Officer of PIQE (Parent Institute for Quality Education), emailed this vital piece of history to me.
This statement was made to Cesar:
“People may ask, ‘Why should the farm workers be concerned about the condition of public schools in California?’”
Cesar replied:
“Who do you think are in the public schools today in California? Public schools serve more farm workers than any other publicly financed social institution in society. Public schools provide the greatest opportunity for upward mobility to Hispanics and to all ethnic minorities in this state. [Read more…]
Payday lenders busted by San Francisco City Attorney for excessive interest charges: You may be eligible for a settlement
by Jim Bliesner
City Attorney Dennis Herrera was joined at a news conference today by City Treasurer José Cisneros, San Francisco Labor Council Executive Director Tim Paulson,and S.F. Interfaith Council Executive Director Michael Pappas to highlight the upcoming final 60-day mark of the City’s statewide push to locate consumers who may be eligible for restitution from Money Mart and Loan Mart in amounts ranging from between $20 to $1,800. Victims of the payday lenders ‘predatory lending schemes were also on hand to speak to the news media about their own experiences.
The restitution outreach program is among the terms of an agreement Herrera’s office negotiated to settle his office’s 2007 consumer protection lawsuit against payday lenders Money Mart and Loan Mart and an affiliated out-of-state bank for unfair and fraudulent business practices. The alleged wrongdoing stemmed from the lenders’ marketing of short-term installment loans and oversized payday loans, usually targeted to low-income borrowers, at exorbitant and illegal interest rates. While the settlement requires the lenders to engage an independent administrator to make “reasonable efforts” to contact all eligible claimants, Herrera’s office is authorized to undertake additional outreach efforts in advance of the Oct. 1, 2012 deadline to reach all potential claimants who may have moved, or who may have dismissed or misunderstood letters from the restitution administrator. [Read more…]
The Starting Line — The DeMaio Campaign: Today San Diego, Tomorrow California?
Moving on up… Could it be the Carl DeMaio is using the race for the Mayor’s office in San Diego as a stepping stone for bigger things? If last night’s Orange County fundraiser was any indication, the answer is yes. Let’s start with DeMaio’s own website’s description of the Newport Beach event, billed by some as a chance to show their support for the “next Scott Walker”, as in Scott Walker, the Wisconsin Governor who’s become a hero to conservatives around the country:
DeMaio has been leading the “reform movement” in San Diego for years and is the author of the groundbreaking Comprehensive Pension Reform ballot measure. After cleaning up San Diego’s fiscal crisis, DeMaio is turning his focus on job creation and state-wide reform.
Want to get reform in California? Then support Carl DeMaio as the “reformer with results” who is achieving fiscal reform and economic opportunity not only in San Diego, but articulating a vision for reform in California!!
The emailed flyer for the event billed him as “State leader to cut pensions”. His hosts included Republican National Committee member Shawn Steele, Orange County GOP Chairman Scott Baugh, Flash Report publisher Jon Fleischman, Inland Energy honcho Buck James, and Lincoln Club Vice Chair Wayne Lindholm. It was a heavyweight group of supporters; Baugh actually brought Scott Walker to OC last year. Given that none of his hosts have any vested interests in San Diego, and are all considered big time players at the State level, it seems pretty clear that Carl DeMaio is being groomed for bigger and better things.
We have to wonder how the “swing” voters in San Diego would react if he was campaigning locally as the next Scott Walker, whose popularity with Koch/SuperPAC set might be off-putting to those who are of the less-than-true blue conservative pursuation. [Read more…]
Where Oh Where Have My Neighbors Gone? Redevelopment, Gentrification and Displacement in City Heights
Perhaps what we call “diverse” communities are those that haven’t reached equilibrium, but are in the process of changing… Is there a stable equilibrium of genuine integration in this country?
Chris Hayes Up With Chris HayesJune 17, 2012
Before the housing bubble finally burst in 2008, taking the economy with it, the conversion of often aging rental housing stock to condominiums had been proceeding full bore. City Heights, ripe territory for sub-prime mortgages, attracted its share of condominium investments. To first time home buyers of limited income, these City Heights condo conversions offered a last chance for “affordable” home ownership, with units advertised in the mid to high $200,000 range.
One such condo conversion occurred across the street from me. The original 16 unit apartments, consisting of two long buildings of eight units each, were set back from the street with curb cut parking in the front and minimal landscaping in the Huffman architectural style. The owner spent little if anything on the external upkeep of the building. Like many parts of City Heights, the apartments looked like not much thought was given to them beyond their utility in providing the most basic level of habitability. [Read more…]
Please Stop with the War Memorials!
By Dave Patterson
Recently I have been reading about the need to better the existing, or build more war memorials. I disagree that we need more or better memorials. In fact I believe that we already have too many Veterans memorials and I will argue that we need to remove some of the ones we already have. And yes, we can do so while still honoring our Veterans.
There are a lot of war monuments in Washington D.C. where Mr. Scruggs points our thoughts. There are war memorials specific to the military branches. There are statues of tired soldiers, flaming swords and waves and dolphins and fountains and granite obelisks and walls with tens of thousands of names of U.S. killed. There are salutes to those that served, and those that were injured and those that died, and those that loaded the bombs or dropped them, and those that slogged through the snow or jungle being killed and maimed while killing people that were defending their homeland against us. [Read more…]
“We’re Winning”: The Ryan Pick, Obama, and the Future of American Democracy
Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his VP makes clear what vision he has for the American future: One Market Under God
Mitt Romney’s choice of Paul Ryan as his VP makes clear what vision he has for the American future: One Market Under God. This grand dream is put in stark contrast to the Republicans’ absurd fantasy of Obama’s big government tyranny. If only we could return the country to the days of unfettered markets and bigger tax cuts for the affluent, all will be well. As absurd as their economic delusions are, it’s worth reminding ourselves where the last several decades of moving precisely in this direction have landed us.
In The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz outlines what by now is a sadly familiar story about the American economy: it’s a rigged game. Specifically Stiglitz thoroughly documents how recent income growth has occurred almost entirely in the top 1 percent. He notes how this has led to growing inequality and how those at the bottom and middle are worse off today than middle class and working class folks were at the beginning of the century.
To make things worse, Stiglitz illustrates how the inequalities in wealth are even greater than those of income. These inequalities show up not just in people’s pocket books but also in their general standard of living and health. During the last few years, those at the bottom have been most hurt by the recession but the middle class has been hollowed out too.
[Read more…]
Why Statewide Regulations Are Needed for the Ban on Plastic Bags
*Editor’s note: While written from the point of view of the city of Santa Cruz, this article presents a good argument for a ban on plastic bags at a state level — something we are moving closer toward with AB 298.
Originally appeared in the Santa Cruz Sentinel on July 12, 2012
OK — banning plastic bags has reached the “copy me, copy you” stage.
It probably just seems that everywhere a shopper turns these days, it’s “Do you have your own bag?” — or “that will be a dime for a paper bag.”
The city of Santa Cruz, usually at the forefront of environmental causes, became the latest, but probably not the last, local government to ban single-use plastic bags, with the 6-0 vote by the City Council Tuesday night. The ban will take effect in nine months. [Read more…]
Putting the Sex Back in Birth Control: Why the Dominant Narrative on Contraception Undermines Young People
by Andrew Jenkins, Choice USA
While I applaud Elizabeth Banks for her new ad supporting Planned Parenthood, birth control, and President Barack Obama–and wholeheartedly empathize with her personal story–I’m reminded of a sobering fact: the progressive community is deathly afraid of talking about sex and young people.
That’s right. I said it.
Between Banks new web promo aimed at female voters, Sandra Fluke’s testimony before Congress last February, and the reactive messaging around Rush Limbaugh’s vile comments, one thing has remained clear: our movement is far more comfortable elevating stories about birth control when they don’t involve sex. Pure unadulterated sex. Sex without the fear of an unintended pregnancy. You know… the primary reason young Americans use birth control.
And for arguments sake, maybe there’s a good reason for this. Maybe–just maaaayyyybe–we’re trying to appeal to conservatives. Perhaps we’re making our funders happy. Or maybe we’re just trying to sell a message that is palatable; easy to consume.
Nope. Bullshit. Not buying it. [Read more…]
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