Mike McCarry, a 59-year-old veteran who juggles two jobs to make ends meet.
Mike talks about the veterans portion of President Obama's jobs plan -- the piece that Congress passed earlier this month thanks in part to your work, and that the President signed into law today.
But the fight for American jobs continues, and many in Congress -- including almost every single Republican -- still refuse to do the right thing for teachers, cops, firefighters, and middle-class families like they did for our vets.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/share/vets-jobs-video?source=20111121_jk_full&utm_medium=email&utm_source=obama&utm_campaign=20111121_jk_full
It can be easy to get discouraged when members of Congress put party before people and block legislation that would help American families.
But you didn't let up in the fight for our veterans' future. The bill that went to the President's desk for his signature today -- which provides tax credits for small businesses that hire unemployed veterans -- is proof that Congress can still come together and act when Americans demand it.
Here's what's next: After Thanksgiving, the Senate will vote on extending President Obama's payroll tax cut, which puts $1,500 in the pockets of the typical middle-class family.
It's the provision that Mitt Romney called a "little band-aid." But $1,500 wouldn't be a band-aid for me or Mike McCarry -- and probably not for you either.
Our job right now is to make sure Congress does the right thing again.
Social Justice: Current Affairs, Business, Politics, and all the reasons in the world to Thrive on Creative Discontent!
Monday, November 21, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Military crackdown in Cairo; is Mohamed ElBaradei the way forward?
Egypt’s interim military rulers battled a reinvigorated protest movement calling for its ouster Sunday, as thousands of demonstrators forced troops to retreat from Tahrir Square for a second night in a row.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Many compared the breadth and intensity of the new battles for the square — the iconic heart of the Egyptian revolt and the Arab Spring — to the early days of the uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, only this time the target of the protesters’ ire was the ruling military council and its leader, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
The military-led government’s attempts to beat back or squash the protests appeared to only redouble their strength. After using tear gas, rubber bullets and bird shot to beat back a day of continuous attacks on the headquarters of the interior ministry, hundreds of soldiers and security police in riot gear stormed the square from several directions at once at about 5 p.m., raining down rocks and tear gas as they drove thousands of demonstrators out before them.
But after less than half an hour they had retreated, having succeeded only in burning down a few tents planed in the middle of the square. And after another half an hour the crowd of protestors had more than doubled, packing the square as ever more demonstrators marched in from all directions chanting for the end of military rule.
The protests against military rule spread to at least seven other cities, including Alexandria and Suez. The health ministry said at least three were killed Sunday, after one died Saturday, and the number of seriously injured grew to over 900. A makeshift field hospital the protestors had set up in a mosque near the square treated a steady stream of hundreds bloodied by birdshot and rubber bullets and recorded at least one of the fatalities.
Saturday, November 19, 2011
UC Davis Pepper Sprays Students for being Activists!!!!!
The chancellor of the University of California, Davis on Saturday afternoon called video images of an officer calmly pepper-spraying a line of student protesters a day earlier "chilling" but said she would not step down.
Linda Katehi, who earlier Saturday said in a letter that she was forming a task force to investigate the incident, told an afternoon news conference that what the video shows is "sad and really very inappropriate."
..A UC-Davis professor called for the chancellor to step down, saying she was to blame for police pepper-spraying students during an Occupy protest on campus.
"You are responsible for it because this is what happens when UC Chancellors order police onto our campuses to disperse peaceful protesters through the use of force: students get hurt. Faculty get hurt," Nathan Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of English, wrote in an open letter to Katehi.
He said she was accountable for "the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest."
Brown was referring to an incident Friday in which UC Davis police arrested 10 protesters and pepper-sprayed about a dozen more while trying to clear an Occupy encampment on campus, according to the Davis Enterprise.
The students who were pepper-sprayed were sitting on the ground, arms linked in solidarity. Brown said several of them had to be treated at the hospital.
"You are responsible for the police violence directed against students on the UC Davis quad on November 18, 2011. As I said, I am writing to hold you responsible and to demand your immediate resignation on these grounds," Brown wrote.
Linda Katehi, who earlier Saturday said in a letter that she was forming a task force to investigate the incident, told an afternoon news conference that what the video shows is "sad and really very inappropriate."
..A UC-Davis professor called for the chancellor to step down, saying she was to blame for police pepper-spraying students during an Occupy protest on campus.
"You are responsible for it because this is what happens when UC Chancellors order police onto our campuses to disperse peaceful protesters through the use of force: students get hurt. Faculty get hurt," Nathan Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of English, wrote in an open letter to Katehi.
He said she was accountable for "the police brutality which occurred against students engaged in peaceful protest."
Brown was referring to an incident Friday in which UC Davis police arrested 10 protesters and pepper-sprayed about a dozen more while trying to clear an Occupy encampment on campus, according to the Davis Enterprise.
The students who were pepper-sprayed were sitting on the ground, arms linked in solidarity. Brown said several of them had to be treated at the hospital.
"You are responsible for the police violence directed against students on the UC Davis quad on November 18, 2011. As I said, I am writing to hold you responsible and to demand your immediate resignation on these grounds," Brown wrote.
1% you are missing the point; fabricating research, buying politicians with lobbyists = is the heart of the problem
The Occupy Wall Street movement is a big enough problem for U.S. banks that they should pay for opposition research into the political motives of protesters, said a firm that lobbies for the industry.
Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, a Washington-based firm, proposed the idea in a memo to the American Banking Association, an industry group which said on Saturday that it did not act on the idea.
The four-page memo outlined how the firm could analyze the source of protesters' money, as well as their rhetoric and the backgrounds of protest leaders.
"If we can show they have the same cynical motivation as a political opponent, it will undermine their credibility in a profound way," said the memo, according to a copy of it on the website of TV news channel MSNBC, which first reported on it.
Clark Lytle Geduldig counts the banking association among its regular lobbying clients, U.S. Senate records showed.
Other clients include MasterCard Worldwide and a banking coalition concerned about interchange fees.
The firm did not respond to requests for comment.
Its memo said it could deliver research, survey data and plans to use the information in 60 days at a cost of $850,000.
Banking association spokesman Jeff Sigmund told Reuters the memo is authentic, but his group was not interested.
The memo is dated November 24, five days after it became public. Sigmund did not respond to a follow-up question about the date. November 24 is also the Thanksgiving holiday.
The memo said U.S. financial firms should be concerned about comments that Democratic campaign consultants have made in the news media about trying to harness the energy of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
"This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street firms," it said.
"If vilifying the leading companies of this sector is allowed to become an unchallenged centerpiece of a coordinated Democratic campaign, it has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bull's-eye."
The memo is from Clark Lytle Geduldig's four name partners. Two of them, Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, are former aides to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican.
Using shorthand for Occupy Wall Street, the memo said:
"It may be easy to dismiss OWS as a ragtag group of protesters but they have demonstrated that they should be treated more like an organized competitor who is very nimble and capable of working the media, coordinating third party support and engaging office holders to do their bidding. To counter that, we have to do the same."
Clark Lytle Geduldig & Cranford, a Washington-based firm, proposed the idea in a memo to the American Banking Association, an industry group which said on Saturday that it did not act on the idea.
The four-page memo outlined how the firm could analyze the source of protesters' money, as well as their rhetoric and the backgrounds of protest leaders.
"If we can show they have the same cynical motivation as a political opponent, it will undermine their credibility in a profound way," said the memo, according to a copy of it on the website of TV news channel MSNBC, which first reported on it.
Clark Lytle Geduldig counts the banking association among its regular lobbying clients, U.S. Senate records showed.
Other clients include MasterCard Worldwide and a banking coalition concerned about interchange fees.
The firm did not respond to requests for comment.
Its memo said it could deliver research, survey data and plans to use the information in 60 days at a cost of $850,000.
Banking association spokesman Jeff Sigmund told Reuters the memo is authentic, but his group was not interested.
The memo is dated November 24, five days after it became public. Sigmund did not respond to a follow-up question about the date. November 24 is also the Thanksgiving holiday.
The memo said U.S. financial firms should be concerned about comments that Democratic campaign consultants have made in the news media about trying to harness the energy of the Occupy Wall Street protesters.
"This would mean more than just short-term political discomfort for Wall Street firms," it said.
"If vilifying the leading companies of this sector is allowed to become an unchallenged centerpiece of a coordinated Democratic campaign, it has the potential to have very long-lasting political, policy and financial impacts on the companies in the center of the bull's-eye."
The memo is from Clark Lytle Geduldig's four name partners. Two of them, Sam Geduldig and Jay Cranford, are former aides to House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner, a Republican.
Using shorthand for Occupy Wall Street, the memo said:
"It may be easy to dismiss OWS as a ragtag group of protesters but they have demonstrated that they should be treated more like an organized competitor who is very nimble and capable of working the media, coordinating third party support and engaging office holders to do their bidding. To counter that, we have to do the same."
Friday, November 18, 2011
CAFE 49.6 mpg by 2025; fully supported by manufacturers, citizens and small businesses
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Transportation today formally unveiled their joint proposal to set stronger fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions standards for model year 2017-2025 passenger cars and light trucks.
The proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards are projected to require 40.1 miles per gallon in model year 2021, and 49.6 mpg in model year 2025, on an average industry fleet-wide basis for cars and trucks combined.
The EPA's proposed greenhouse gas standards, which are harmonized with the CAFE standards, are projected to require emissions of no more than 163 grams/mile of carbon dioxide, CO2, in model year 2025. This CO2 standard is equivalent to 54.5 mpg if this level of emissions were achieved solely through improvements in fuel efficiency, the EPA says.
Cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks are currently responsible for nearly 60 percent of U.S. transportation-related petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions.
These proposed standards will cut oil consumption by four billion barrels and cut two billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years, the agencies said.
Mitch Bainwol, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said, "This proposal continues the approach of establishing a single, national fuel economy program for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions, which is the right overall direction."
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is a trade association of 12 car and light truck manufacturers including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
"Today, on dealers' lots, there are more than 265 models that achieve 30 plus miles per gallon, with more coming," he said. "Sales of these and even more fuel-efficient vehicles will be critical to achieve these policy goals."
Today's action builds on the success of the first phase of the Obama administration's national program, which covers the model years 2012-2016. These earlier CAFE standards raise fuel efficiency equivalent to 35.5 mpg by 2016 and result in an average light vehicle tailpipe CO2 level of 250 grams per mile.
Automakers say the newly proposed CAFE standards will create more jobs.
Small Business Majority founder and chief executive John Arensmeyer said his members are behind the new CAFE standards.
"Our poll of more than 1,200 small business owners across the country found 87 percent of small business owners overwhelmingly support adopting strong standards now, and 80 percent support requiring the auto industry to increase mileage to 60 mpg by 2025 - an even stronger standard than the one the Obama Administration has announced."
Support from small businesses for increasing fuel economy standards is high in states with large auto manufacturing sectors, including Michigan (73 percent) and Ohio (75 percent), Arensmeyer said.
There is also strong support (71 percent) in the influential automotive market of California, which is preparing to update its Clean Cars Program aimed at reducing carbon emissions from cars sold in the state, he said.
California plans to issue its proposal for model year 2017-2025 vehicle greenhouse gas standards on December 7 and will finalize its standards in January.
The proposed Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards are projected to require 40.1 miles per gallon in model year 2021, and 49.6 mpg in model year 2025, on an average industry fleet-wide basis for cars and trucks combined.
The EPA's proposed greenhouse gas standards, which are harmonized with the CAFE standards, are projected to require emissions of no more than 163 grams/mile of carbon dioxide, CO2, in model year 2025. This CO2 standard is equivalent to 54.5 mpg if this level of emissions were achieved solely through improvements in fuel efficiency, the EPA says.
Cars, SUVs, minivans, and pickup trucks are currently responsible for nearly 60 percent of U.S. transportation-related petroleum use and greenhouse gas emissions.
These proposed standards will cut oil consumption by four billion barrels and cut two billion metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the lifetimes of the vehicles sold in those years, the agencies said.
Mitch Bainwol, president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, said, "This proposal continues the approach of establishing a single, national fuel economy program for fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions, which is the right overall direction."
The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers is a trade association of 12 car and light truck manufacturers including BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Jaguar Land Rover, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, Volkswagen and Volvo.
"Today, on dealers' lots, there are more than 265 models that achieve 30 plus miles per gallon, with more coming," he said. "Sales of these and even more fuel-efficient vehicles will be critical to achieve these policy goals."
Today's action builds on the success of the first phase of the Obama administration's national program, which covers the model years 2012-2016. These earlier CAFE standards raise fuel efficiency equivalent to 35.5 mpg by 2016 and result in an average light vehicle tailpipe CO2 level of 250 grams per mile.
Automakers say the newly proposed CAFE standards will create more jobs.
Small Business Majority founder and chief executive John Arensmeyer said his members are behind the new CAFE standards.
"Our poll of more than 1,200 small business owners across the country found 87 percent of small business owners overwhelmingly support adopting strong standards now, and 80 percent support requiring the auto industry to increase mileage to 60 mpg by 2025 - an even stronger standard than the one the Obama Administration has announced."
Support from small businesses for increasing fuel economy standards is high in states with large auto manufacturing sectors, including Michigan (73 percent) and Ohio (75 percent), Arensmeyer said.
There is also strong support (71 percent) in the influential automotive market of California, which is preparing to update its Clean Cars Program aimed at reducing carbon emissions from cars sold in the state, he said.
California plans to issue its proposal for model year 2017-2025 vehicle greenhouse gas standards on December 7 and will finalize its standards in January.
Thursday, November 17, 2011
As with the Clean Air Act; we all win under Cap & Trade
One of the main complaints about the first cap-and-trade regime for greenhouse-gas emissions in the U.S. was well answered in a study released this week.
Critics had argued that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -- which links New York, Connecticut and eight other Northeastern states -- would increase energy costs for consumers. Based on its first three years, RGGI (pronounced Reggie) will actually do the opposite, producing $1.3 billion in consumer savings over the next decade, according to the study by the Analysis Group, an economic consulting firm. That’s because most participating states are investing a significant portion of their proceeds from carbon-allowance sales in energy-efficiency programs that reduce consumer bills.
Critics had argued that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative -- which links New York, Connecticut and eight other Northeastern states -- would increase energy costs for consumers. Based on its first three years, RGGI (pronounced Reggie) will actually do the opposite, producing $1.3 billion in consumer savings over the next decade, according to the study by the Analysis Group, an economic consulting firm. That’s because most participating states are investing a significant portion of their proceeds from carbon-allowance sales in energy-efficiency programs that reduce consumer bills.
It’s time for a 21st-century abolitionist movement in the U.S. and around the world.
Srey Pov’s family sold her to a brothel when she was 6 years old. She was unaware of sex but soon found out: A Western pedophile purchased her virginity, she said, and the brothel tied her naked and spread-eagled on a bed so that he could rape her.
“I was so scared,” she recalled. “I was crying and asking, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ ”
After that, the girl was in huge demand because she was so young. Some 20 customers raped her nightly, she remembers. And the brothel twice stitched her vagina closed so that she could be resold as a virgin. This agonizingly painful practice is common in Asian brothels, where customers sometimes pay hundreds of dollars to rape a virgin.
Most girls who have been trafficked, whether in New York or in Cambodia, eventually surrender. They are degraded and terrified, and they doubt their families or society will accept them again. But somehow Srey Pov refused to give in.
Repeatedly, she tried to escape the brothel but she said that each time she was caught and brutally punished with beatings and electric shocks. The brothel, like many in Cambodia, also had a punishment cell to break the will of rebellious girls.
As Srey Pov remembers it (and other girls tell similar stories), each time she rebelled she was locked naked in the darkness in a barrel half-full of sewage, replete with vermin and scorpions that stung her regularly. I asked how long she was punished this way, thinking perhaps an hour or two.
“The longest?” she remembered. “It was a week.”
Yet this is a story with a triumphant ending. At age 9, Srey Pov was able to dart away from the brothel and outrun the guard. She found her way to a shelter run by Somaly Mam, an anti-trafficking activist who herself was prostituted as a child. Somaly now runs the Somaly Mam Foundation to fight human trafficking in Southeast Asia
In Somaly’s shelter, Srey Pov learned English and blossomed. Now 19, Srey Pov can even imagine eventually having a boyfriend.
Srey Pov, Lithiya and Somaly encountered a form of oppression that echoes 19th-century slavery. But the scale is larger today. By my calculations, at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
So for those of you doubtful that “modern slavery” really is an issue for the new international agenda, think of Srey Pov — and multiply her by millions. If what such girls experience isn’t slavery, that word has no meaning. It’s time for a 21st-century abolitionist movement in the U.S. and around the world.
“I was so scared,” she recalled. “I was crying and asking, ‘Why are you doing this to me?’ ”
After that, the girl was in huge demand because she was so young. Some 20 customers raped her nightly, she remembers. And the brothel twice stitched her vagina closed so that she could be resold as a virgin. This agonizingly painful practice is common in Asian brothels, where customers sometimes pay hundreds of dollars to rape a virgin.
Most girls who have been trafficked, whether in New York or in Cambodia, eventually surrender. They are degraded and terrified, and they doubt their families or society will accept them again. But somehow Srey Pov refused to give in.
Repeatedly, she tried to escape the brothel but she said that each time she was caught and brutally punished with beatings and electric shocks. The brothel, like many in Cambodia, also had a punishment cell to break the will of rebellious girls.
As Srey Pov remembers it (and other girls tell similar stories), each time she rebelled she was locked naked in the darkness in a barrel half-full of sewage, replete with vermin and scorpions that stung her regularly. I asked how long she was punished this way, thinking perhaps an hour or two.
“The longest?” she remembered. “It was a week.”
Yet this is a story with a triumphant ending. At age 9, Srey Pov was able to dart away from the brothel and outrun the guard. She found her way to a shelter run by Somaly Mam, an anti-trafficking activist who herself was prostituted as a child. Somaly now runs the Somaly Mam Foundation to fight human trafficking in Southeast Asia
In Somaly’s shelter, Srey Pov learned English and blossomed. Now 19, Srey Pov can even imagine eventually having a boyfriend.
Srey Pov, Lithiya and Somaly encountered a form of oppression that echoes 19th-century slavery. But the scale is larger today. By my calculations, at least 10 times as many girls are now trafficked into brothels annually as African slaves were transported to the New World in the peak years of the trans-Atlantic slave trade.
So for those of you doubtful that “modern slavery” really is an issue for the new international agenda, think of Srey Pov — and multiply her by millions. If what such girls experience isn’t slavery, that word has no meaning. It’s time for a 21st-century abolitionist movement in the U.S. and around the world.
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