Gov Rick Perry’s “Texas Miracle” is a Myth and Lie. But, Texas’ Shameful Number One Rankings Are Not.
With Tea Party darling GOP Texas Governor Rick Perry throwing his cowboy hat into the presidential campaign ring, the election rhetoric has gotten more volatile 
and violent. Perry’s threatening verbal attack on Federal Reserve chair Ben Bernanke and suggesting that President Obama does not love America has brought outraged responses even from the likes Karl Rove who said that Perry’s actions were unpresidential.
Now we are hearing that Gov. Perry’s response to his state’s economic challenges should be seen as the great “Texas miracle.” But, is this so-called miracle reality? New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman does not think so. “The Texas miracle is a myth,” Krugman writes, noting that the state’s 8.2 percent unemployment rate is higher than states like New York and Massachusetts. “One in four 
Texans also lacks health insurance—the highest uninsured rate in the nation. Texas’ job growth is largely the result of population growth.”
Krugman writes, “What Texas shows is that a state offering cheap labor and, less important, weak regulation can attract jobs from other states. I believe that the appropriate response to this insight is “Well, duh.” So when Mr. Perry presents himself as the candidate who knows how to create jobs, don’t believe him. His prescriptions for job creation would work about as well in practice as his prayer-based attempt to end Texas’s crippling drought.”
What Rick Perry has produced is an absolute disaster that no Texan should be proud of.
The results of his actions on the state and to the majority of Texans are like he was a Texas rancher driving his cattle to the slaughterhouse.
Texas has become number one in the country in areas that would provide it a prominent place in a state’s ‘Hall of Shame.”
Gov Rick Perry’s Texas Ranks Number One in the Nation In:
• Greatest percentage of minimum wage workers.
• Highest percentage of population that is uninsured.
• Teenage birth rate.
• Air pollution emissions.
• Amount of toxic chemical released into the water.
• Amount of carbon dioxide emissions.
• Amount of volatile organic compounds released into air.
• Amount of recognized cancer-causing carcinogens released into air.
• Amount of hazardous waste generated .
• Annual number of executions.
• Percentage of uninsured children.
• Percent of people over 25 without a high school diploma.
• Percentage of non-elderly uninsured.
• Least per capita spending on Mental Health.
• Percent of pregnant women not receiving prenatal care in first trimester.
• Lack of workers’ compensation coverage.
Some Other Noteworthy Facts About Texas Under the Perry Administration:
• 4.26 million Texans live in poverty, representing 17.3 percent of the state’s population.
• Only 5.5 percent of Texas workers are members of a union.
• 47 percent of Texas children live in low-income families.
• The richest 20% of Texas families have average incomes 7.9 times larger than the poorest 20%.
• Texas’ tax system is one of the ten most regressive states in the nation.
• The local government debt in Texas is over $175 billion.
This is clearly one cowboy that should never have the opportunity to apply his brand of miracle making on the rest of the nation.
Gov Perry About to Give Tenants the Finger
Add tenants’ rights and affordable housing to the growing issues we should all be concerned about regarding right-wing Republican Texas Governor Rick Perry.
It’s not enough that Perry supports cutting programs such as Social Security and Medicare, refuses to consider raising taxes to the rich and corporations, and is anti-abortion and anti-gay rights, this darling of the extremist Tea Party has a history of opposing tenants’ rights and affordable.
To be a tenant in Texas is like playing Texas hold ’em poker where the face of your cards are printed on 
both sides and your opponent, in this case Texas landlords, can always see what cards you are holding.
Texas laws are stacked against tenants and the judges and legislators are in the pocket of the real estate industry. Sitting at the head of the table of this Texas imbalance of justice is Governor Rick Perry.
Two months ago Perry vetoed several low-income housing bills recently passed by the Texas Legislature.
One bill required landlords to give tenants a copy of their lease and prohibited retaliation by landlords for tenant organizing. In vetoing this bill that provided tenants some basic rights, Perry focused on the liability it created for non-complying landlords, stating “The litigation expenses incurred by landlords as a result of this bill could be significant, and would likely be passed on to other tenants through higher rents and fees.”
Gov Perry Give Nod to Landlords
As a result tenants are left to suffer from retaliation and continue to lack access to copies of their written lease.
Another vetoed bill was one that continued the existence of the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA). The TDHCA administers low-income housing programs by the state, and has managed the state’s housing recovery programs following Katrina and other gulf-coast hurricanes.
As a result of this veto, Texas has entered this year’s hurricane season unprepared for a statewide disaster and without a long-term plan for rebuilding housing and infrastructure in the state.
Gov. Perry also vetoed two bills that allowed individuals charged with crimes to request expunction, or that their records be cleared, at the prosecutors discretion, if prosecutors have dropped the charges. As a result of this veto, innocent Texans will continue to be excluded from rental housing in the state without access to trial or prosecutor discretion to clear their name.
Two years ago, Perry vetoed a host of other housing related bills. One would have required that the 
TDHCA adopt policies to ensure that each housing development that receives financial assistance reserves a certain number of units in the development for individuals and families of very low income and accepts as tenants receiving Section 8 rent subsidies.
Another bill would have given the city of Austin a tool to ensure that low to moderate income households have the opportunity to live near commuter rail stations by promoting affordable housing within one mile of a commuter rail station.
At the same time Perry has declared war on Texas tenants and affordable housing, it appears that the Governor was the state’s most expensive subsidized tenant.
Gov Perry's Taxpayer Funded Rental
Last year it was reported that Texas Gov. Rick Perry has spent almost $600,000 in public money during the previous past two years to live in a sprawling rental home in the hills above the capital, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.
The Texas Governor moved into this temporary home in the fall of 2007, leaving the white columned, two-story governor’s mansion so it could undergo repairs.
It costs more than $10,000 a month in rent, utilities and upkeep to house Perry in a five-bedroom, seven-bath mansion that has pecan-wood floors, a gourmet kitchen and three dining rooms. Perry has also spent $130,000 in campaign donations to throw parties, buy food and drink, and pay for cable TV and a host of other services since he moved in, the records show.
It is imperative upon all of us to make sure this is Rick Perry’s last subsidized housing rental. The damage he could do to tenants, let alone the entire country, is beyond comprehension if he was allowed to move into the nation’s most important subsidized rental housing — that big white one at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, DC. Let’s make sure that never happens.
Chants and claps were heard outside Southern California grocery stores on Wednesday, August 10 as community leaders, elected officials and shoppers rallied in
support of grocery employees at local supermarket parking lots.
Workers are angry about a new proposal to cut their pay benefits by 50% or more to maintain health care access. In response, workers plan to vote on a strike authorization next week and they say they will go ahead with it, if they must.
In an effort to avert a strike and to help force three large supermarket corporations to negotiate a fair 3 year contract, the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) stepped up it’s public pressure.
UFCW Local 770 and its community supporters, including the Coalition for Economic Survival, picked 16 locations around Los Angeles to do delegations to supermarket managers, and picked three to promote in the media.
One of the media locations was the Ralphs Market at Vermont Ave. and Third Street, where CES staff members participated in the protest.
According to the United Food & Commercial Workers Union, with 62,000 grocery store workers in Southern California entering their sixth month without a contract, Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons workers are getting closer to walking off their jobs if contract negotiations continue to stall over the issue of health care.
CES' Larry Gross Addresses the Protest.
Ralphs, Vons and Albertson falsely claim they can’t meet union demands, yet all three obtained profits in the range of $5 billion last year, and paid out $500 million in dividends to Wall Street and investors! These are some of the most profitable corporations in America.
While the big three grocers are saying that they have submitted an “improved health care proposal,” 
union officials blasted the newest proposal as the same “realm of ridiculousness” as previous offers. The current proposal would still mean that workers earning an average of $25,000 would have to pay $10,000 for the health care plan.
A union spokesman said late Wednesday that the he expects members to reject management’s latest proposal and vote to strike as early as next week.
If there is a strike, the call for a boycott of Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons must be supported. It is 
incumbent on every shopper to never cross any picket line. It is the only way economic justice will be achieved for all.
So, next time you shop at Ralphs, Vons or Albertsons, let the workers know that you will stand with them.
Democrats Fail to Reach Election Goals in Wisconsin Recall, But Make Significant Gains Nevertheless
Democrats failed Tuesday in their effort to gain control of the Wisconsin State Senate as Republican incumbents won four of six recall elections.
And, while many progressives, labor unions and Democrats are feeling glum because they were not fully successful in gaining retribution against six GOP allies of Gov. Scott Walker, who earlier this year voted to end collective bargaining rights for many public sector workers, not all was lost.
The fact is that recalling two out of the six GOP State Senators is not chopped liver and should be celebrated even in lieu of not winning the three seats needed to achieve a Democratic majority in the State Senate.
Democrat Jennifer Shilling defeated Republican State Senator Dan Kapanke and Democrat Jessica King edged out Republican Randy Hopper.
The fact is all six Senate districts are heavily Republican. The past support for these GOP Senators was significant given they withstood the 2008 election wave 
where these Senators were elected even though President Obama carried all these districts.
In addition, spending on all nine Wisconsin recall elections had reached $35 million, most of it from outside special interest groups like the right-wing billionaire Koch brothers and most of it going to the Republican legislators.
If there was any mistake made maybe it was raising people’s expectations too high. Privately, many recall leaders believed that winning more then two seats would be a tall, but not impossible task to achieve.
Nevertheless, Phil Neuenfeldt, president of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, said voters sent a message that there is a growing movement to reclaim the middle class.
“Let’s be clear, anyway you slice it, this is an unprecedented victory,” he said.
OUTCOME COULD STILL HAVE A BIG IMPACT
It should also be noted that Democrats were able to narrow the Republican majority in the Senate, from a 19 to 14 margin to a thin 17 to 16 margin.
The Nation’s John Nichols points out, “That one-vote GOP majority becomes significant from an organizational and policy standpoint. That’s because one Republican senator, Dale Schultz, voted against the governor’s assault on collective bargaining —which he referred to as “colossal overreach.” Schultz has been highly critical of the governor in recent weeks, and the extent to which he decided to work with the Democrats could tip the balance on labor, education and public services issues where the moderate Schultz has differed with his fellow Republicans.”
More importantly, it’s unlikely that Tuesday’s results will stamp out Democratic enthusiasm for recalling Walker when he becomes eligible in January. Additionally, next year will bring a new round of lawmakers who weren’t eligible for recall this year.
Democratic Party of Wisconsin Chair Mike Tate said, “On Tuesday night, Wisconsin spoke loud and clear with the recall of two entrenched Republicans. This is an accomplishment of historic proportions. The fact of the matter remains, that, fighting on Republican turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda.”
VICTORIES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE NATION
While Wisconsin was the election focus of the nation, there were some other really important election victories in other parts of 
the country last night.
Democrat Bob Perry has won a special election to fill a vacant New Hampshire House seat. The seat was vacated after a Republican resigned in March.
In two other recalls outside of Wisconsin, Democratic mayor of Omaha, Nebraska survived recall, while the Republican mayor of Miami-Dade county, Florida was ousted.
Enter Another Right-Wing Wing-Nut As Texas Gov Rick Perry is About to Announce His GOP Candidacy for President
Texas Governor Rick Perry
Texas Gov. Rick Perry is expected to announce Saturday he is about enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination casting a shadow on the GOP Iowa straw poll that same day.
Perry will provide Republicans with another far right candidate to its cast of crazies and clowns. He will present Rep. Michele Bachmann with major competition for winning the favor from extremist Tea Party members.
Perry’s right-wing credentials and positions soar to stratospheric heights. Last weekend Perry spearheaded a religious gathering entitled “The Response” in Houston. Perry said “The Response” was designed to focus on God, not politicians, but other blasted it as a clear violation of the separation of church and state.
The event provided a full display of an array of fringe and hate-mongering evangelistic pastors. The question is why Perry would share the stage with and help elevate organizations and people with such extremist and insane views.
Perry Sponsored Prayer Fest
The line-up of these men of hatred posing as men of god and some of the event sponsors included the following.
The American Family Association paid for the event. The evangelical association condemns homosexuality, opposes abortion rights and argues that the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom only applies to Christians.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the association a hate group for spreading misinformation about homosexuals and transgender people. Perry has dismissed such characterizations and appeared on a Christian radio show with the association’s president, Tim Wildmon.
Hate-Monger American Family Assoc Director Bryan Fischer
Bryan Fischer, the association’s director of issue analysis, said after the massacre in Norway that suspect Anders Breivik was the Charles Manson of his country. But Fischer went on to argue that Breivik’s opposition to multiculturalism had some merit.
Another sponsoring group was the International House of Prayer, a Christian missionary group based in Kansas City, Mo. The church’s founder, Mike Bickle, has called Oprah Winfrey’s tolerance and popularity a precursor to the apocalypse, and he has called on Christians to use “spiritual warfare” against legalized abortion and gay rights.
Hate-Monger Pastor John Hagee
A key speaker was televangelist pastor John Hagee who gained notoriety for declaring that Hurricane
Katrina was God’s vengeance on a sinful New Orleans and suggested God sent Adolf Hitler to hunt Jews so that they would go to the Promised Land.
And while this should be enough to dismiss Perry, it is also his views and record as Texas Governor that brings additional concern. So much so that Glenn Beck even described Perry as a man he was so enamored with that he wanted to “French kiss.”
Rick Perry’s Views & Record as Texas Governor
In 2004 he allowed the execution of a likely innocent man, Cameron Todd Willingham, and then impeded an investigation into the matter.
Perry wants to repeal the 16th and 17th amendments to the Constitution, ending direct election of US Senators and the federal income tax.
Perry proposed letting states drop out of Social Security and Medicaid.
Texas being the nation’s largest polluter, Perry sued the federal government for disapproving the state’s air quality standards.
Perry designated his proposal requiring all women seeking abortions to have a sonogram at least 24 hours before the procedure as “emergency legislation,” allowing the bill to be rushed through the legislature.
Perry decided to gut child support services, despite a report from the Center for Public Policy Priorities that found nearly one in four Texas children lived beneath the poverty line.
Perry was a strong proponent of Texas’s anti-sodomy law that was struck down in 2003 by the Supreme Court.
Perry was a vocal critic of Congress’s recovery package, even advocating that Texas reject the money because “we can take care of ourselves.” Months later, Perry was able to balance the state’s budget only with the aid of billions in federal stimulus dollars.
Perry floated the idea that Texas may again have to secede from the United States.
Perry falsely claims that “Texas has the best health care in the country,” when in fact, Texas has the highest rate of uninsured residents of any state.
This clearly is a person who has no business being President of the United States let alone Governor of Texas.
Standard & Poor, A Financial Entity With Little Credibility, Adds to GOP/Tea Party Efforts to Bring Down U.S. Economy
Wall Street tumbled at today’s opening bell amid a rout in global stocks after Standard & Poor’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating for the first time.
The question is why this discredited financial entity, which is a great contributor to the financial mess we are in, is again adding fuel to the fire with their outrageous rating downgrade.
In addition, House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, the entire GOP and those extremist and ignorant Tea Party fools should been held responsible as you watch your 401K’s lose value and your credit card interest rates go through the roof.
Former Clinton Labor Secretary and current Professor of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley Robert Reich said, “Standard & Poor’s downgrade of America’s debt couldn’t come at a worse time. The result is likely to be higher borrowing costs for the government at all levels, and higher interest on your variable-rate mortgage, your auto loan, your credit card loans, and every other penny you borrow.”
S&P’s Ratings Services today also downgraded the credit ratings of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Just a ½% increase on a $200,000 30-year fixed home loan would mean paying $743 more a month.
Reich further states, “S&P’s intrusion into American politics is also ironic because, as I pointed out recently, much of our current debt is directly or indirectly due to S&P’s failures (along with the failures of the two other major credit-rating agencies — Fitch and Moody’s) to do their jobs before the financial meltdown. Until the eve of the collapse S&P gave triple-A ratings to some of the Street’s riskiest packages of mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations.”
New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman also blasts S&P, “Let’s start with 
S&P’s lack of credibility. If there’s a single word that best describes the rating agency’s decision to downgrade America, it’s chutzpah — traditionally defined by the example of the young man who kills his parents, then pleads for mercy because he’s an orphan.”
Krugman adds, “America’s large budget deficit is, after all, primarily the result of the economic slump that followed the 2008 financial crisis. And S&P, along with its sister rating agencies, played a major role in causing that crisis, by giving AAA ratings to mortgage-backed assets that have since turned into toxic waste.
Nor did the bad judgment stop there. Notoriously, S.& P. gave Lehman Brothers, whose collapse triggered a global panic, an A rating right up to the month of its demise. And how did the rating agency react after this A-rated firm went bankrupt? By issuing a report denying that it had done anything wrong.”
Also chiming in is US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner who attacked Standard & Poor’s ‘terrible judgment’ in downgrading US debt from its triple-A rating.
While Krugman states, “there is no reason to take Friday’s downgrade of America seriously. These are the last people whose judgment we should trust.”
The most crucial thing he says is, “The real question facing America, even in purely fiscal terms, isn’t whether we’ll trim a trillion here or a trillion there from deficits. It is whether the extremists now blocking any kind of responsible policy can be defeated and marginalized.”
The movement for social justice continues to blossom in Israel as massive demonstrations were staged yesterday.
Hundreds of thousands of Israelis rallied in the streets of Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities Saturday 
night, to protest the country’s high cost of living, and to demand reforms aimed at achieving social justice.
Israeli police and media estimated the turnout of the protests at around 300,000 people in Tel Aviv, at least 20,000 in Jerusalem and thousands of others in communities across Israel’s north, center and south. The coordinated rallies were believed to be among the largest in Israeli history.
The demonstrations began in mid-July with social activists setting up a tent camp on an upscale Tel Aviv street to highlight the high cost of rents and real estate prices, and to call for affordable housing.
Hundreds of Thousand of People Hit to Israeli City Streets Demanding Social Justice!
A Blossoming Israeli Social Revolution – A Reason for Hope
Picking up the LA Times this morning I was prepared to read about new economic disasters ranging from credit ratings downgrades, new GOP plans to protect the rich and corporation at the expense of the poor, middle and working class, and more insane ranting from extremist Tea Party members.
Instead, on the front page is a magnificent picture of tents lining a main thoroughfare in the Middle East. Under the picture is a headline stating, “A Tel Aviv protest over housing costs has become a small-scale utopian society and a challenge to the nation’s social order.”
Having been a leader in the tenants’ rights 
movement here in Los Angeles for over 3 decades and winning rent control in 2 cities, actually creating the City of West Hollywood to secure rent control and establishing a host of new renters’ rights strengthening housing code enforcement, increasing relocation benefits, preserving subsidized affordable housing, securing lead paint protections, requiring repairs and many others, I read the Israeli news report in absolute admiration and envy.
So while the world has been focused on the anti-government movements that sprang up during the Arab Spring, the largest protests in Israeli history have been sweeping the country for the past two months, threatening to destabilize the right-wing government with calls for significant reforms.
Last weekend, more than 150,000 people participated in a nationwide march to protest high housing costs.
These demonstrations have already had an impact. In response, as Israeli officials admit surprise at the strength and staying power of the protesters, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced this week he was canceling a scheduled increase in the price of gasoline that was to have gone into effect Tuesday.
2003 Loaf of Bread Tent City Protest
In 2003, while in Israel, I visited with a small group of protesters who pitched tents in a Tel Aviv park to protest evictions, the lack of jobs to acquire income to pay for rent and the need for more affordable housing. They called their movement “Loaf of Bread.”
Little did they or I know that they were the precursor to amazing events taking place today. For now hundreds of Israelis have pitched colorful tents along Tel Aviv’s trendy Rothschild Boulevard and 
hundreds of others have done the same in similar protests in cities across the country because they are fed up with the high cost of renting a home.
In addition, labor and union groups across the country are planning strikes throughout August.
Early Israeli governments were strongly influenced by socialist values. They built vast low-income housing projects and subsidized apartments for young couples across the country.
Netanyahu, "You're Fired!"
Unfortunately, today’s right-wing government, headed up by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and made up of political parties that are a combination of Republican, Tea Party, Ultra-Religious and Anti-Arab types, have driven the country away from it’s founding principles to one mainly preoccupied with oppressing the nation’s Arab population, denying Palestinians their own truly independent state, protecting illegal settlements and promoting expansion of new settlements, all at the expense of the nation’s economy and its people’s economic well being.
Netanyahu’s popularity has dropped to 32 percent, the lowest since he’s been in office, according to polls conducted by Israel’s Channel Two news. This is good news.
Israeli Protester With Familar Slogan
The hope that lies in these protests is that maybe they can lead to the toppling of the Netanyahu government and the establishment of a more progressive government that will not only address the economic rights of all the people of Israeli but also the human
rights of Palestinians and other Arabs. If this would happen then maybe we could be on the road to peace in the Middle East. And then, these protests today would be historic in ways they never dreamed it would.
Lobbyists About to Cash in Big Time With Debt Ceiling Deal
It’s bad enough that the debt limit plan just passed by Congress and signed into law by President Barak Obama is a surrender of some basic democratic and 
progressive principles such as being limited to spending cuts, thus making new government job creation initiatives nearly impossible, not including any increases of revenues by making the rich and corporation pay their fair share, not providing funds for unemployment benefit extensions, failing to extend the payroll tax cut, leaving Medicare vulnerable to cuts and may end up costing the economy 1.8 million jobs by 2012, according to the Economic Policy Institute.
While Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), head of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the plan stating, “This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich,” for K Street lobbyists, the debt ceiling plan may be their 
new cash cow.
According to the Washington Post, health-care and defense lobbyists are quickly gearing up for a major lobbying and public relations campaign in response to this week’s debt-limit deal, which could force hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts for two of Washington’s most powerful industries.
The plan includes $1.2 trillion in mandatory cuts over the next decade if Congress can’t agree on a broader deficit reduction plan by December. Most of that amount targets the Pentagon and Medicare providers.
With a 12 member Congressional “super” committee charged with coming up with future funding and budget cut proposals, this promises many more legislative fights to come, involving just about every deep-pocketed interest in town: hospitals, doctors, military contractors, big business, small businesses, seniors, investors, hedge funds, etc. Tax reform, which Obama has effectively vowed to force in some form by the end of 2012, threatens higher taxes on every business, investor and wealthy person.
If the committee members agree on a plan, both houses of Congress would be required to give it an up or down vote — no amendments — giving the committee’s choices huge importance.
If Congress doesn’t pass a second round of deficit reduction, a trigger cuts $1.2 trillion over 10 years.
Fully half of that comes from defense spending. The other half of the trigger comes from domestic spending. But supposedly Social Security, Medicaid and a few other programs for the poor are exempted.
Once the committee members are named, they will find themselves immediately surrounded by sharks in the form of lobbyists. And while the potentially impacted special interests will have access and influence over this committee through their lobbyists, seniors, disabled, veterans, working families and the poor will, once again, be on the outside looking in.
With Republican Congressional leaders responsible for appointing committee members already stating they will only chose people committed to opposing any tax increases and Democratic leaders stating their people will be opposed to any further cuts to entitlement and safety net programs, it appear this committee is headed for deadlock.
“The power of the entire Congress is being placed in the hand of just 12 members,” David DiMartino, a Washington media and political consultant said. “You are going to see [campaign contribution] checks and requests for meetings flying furiously.”
Ellen Miller, executive director of the Sunlight Foundation, which tracks money in politics, predicted that the deficit-reduction talks will produce a “lobbying-palooza” on Capitol Hill.
Immediately after passing the ill-advised deal to raise the debt ceiling, which The Economic Policy Institute, a top nonpartisan think tank, estimates will end 
up costing the economy 1.8 million jobs by 2012, Congress adjourned without resolving a funding standoff that has left the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) up in the air and in a partial shutdown.
Thus, a Congress controlled by a GOP intimated by extremists Tea Party members, which states jobs is the number one priority, will be paid to go home and do nothing for 5 weeks while nearly 4,000 nonessential FAA employees and tens of thousands of contractors will be temporarily out of work.
As a result needed airport construction projects — to maintain runways, build new traffic control towers and upgrade other facilities — have been halted across the country. At the same time, the FAA is losing $250 million a week in airfare taxes that can’t be collected until legislation is passed. The loss could eventually amount to $1.2 billion.
Transportation Sec’y Ray LaHood
U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood had urged the Senate to pass a bill last Tuesday before
Congress broke for summer recess, leaving thousands out of a job until September. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) asked her colleagues to pass a House bill without its most controversial elements, which fell on Republican deaf ears.
House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said the FAA standoff is just the latest example of how House Republicans have put politics ahead of good faith efforts to pass legislation. “They were clearly prepared to let America default for the first time in history on its debts unless they got their way,” Hoyer said. And now, “They were prepared to leave Washington … with almost 4,000 federal employees out on the street.”
One of the main issues behind this latest GOP/Tea Party outrageous attack against the middle class and working Americans is their goal of overturning a new rule by the government’s National Mediation Board. It lets airline workers unionize by a majority of those voting. For years, workers who didn’t vote were counted in opposition of joining a union.
These Republicans and Tea Party terrorists continue to demonstrate that they are neither competent enough or have the commitment to legislate in the best interest of Americans and, thus, must be turned out of office in the next election. Until then we all have the responsibility to organize, participate and commit ourselves to opposing these inhumane and insane policies being heaved upon us.
Watch this informative PBS Newshour report on the FAA standoff.
“It’s the economy, stupid” was a phrase coined by former President Bill Clinton’s campaign strategist James Carville to provide focus in Clinton’s successful
1992 presidential campaign. The phrase refers to the notion that Clinton was a better choice because George H. W. Bush had not adequately addressed the economy, which had recently undergone a recession.
For President Barak Obama never has Carville’s famous phase been more appropriate. A factor that could result in the “shellacking” of the 2010 midterms elections being even greater in 2012 elections for Obama and the Democrats.
And while President Obama promised immediately after the Senate passed the debt bill by a 74 to 26 vote to fight for “new jobs, higher wages and faster economic growth” in the coming months, the debt deal will make delivering on these promise even harder.
“We can’t balance the budget on the backs of the very people who have borne the brunt of this recession,” Obama said. “Everyone’s going to have to chip in. That’s only fair.”
Yet, the debt ceiling plan, while preventing a U.S. default, which would have taken us into the economic abyss, is likely to provide additional economic hardship.
Many economists are saying the agreement could endanger the anemic economic recovery — because of both what the deal includes and what it doesn’t. The government will cut back on spending, while failing to renew measures, such as a payroll tax cut, that have put money in consumers’ pockets.
The debt deal represents a striking reversal from a year ago, when jobs were atop the government’s agenda and both parties were arguing over who had the best plan to increase employment.
“Why would you want to impose restraint on an economic recovery that’s already fragile?” asked Josh Feinman, chief global economist at Deutsche Bank Advisors. “You’re removing spending power from the economy at a time when it needs it. That’s likely to make the economy weaker.”
New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman said, “These are cuts that are going to hit while the economy really can’t take them. And notice there is a lot of stuff that everybody sort of assumed would be taking place that is not in this bill, like the extension of unemployment benefits.
Asked Sunday night why spending to help the unemployed had been left out of the deal, a White House official said, “because it had to be part of a bigger deal to be part of this.”
With the latest unemployment rate at 9.2 percent, there are approximately 25 million unemployed Americans. It is unclear how many of those individuals will not be eligible for an extension in unemployment support.
“The only thing you can say is that the drift of policy was already in the wrong direction,” Krugman continued. “But the fact is we are doing a terrible thing. We are repeating all the mistakes of the 1930s. We seem to be doing our best shot at recreating the Great Depression.”
Krugman further paints a pessimistic picture, “We have 9 percent unemployment. These spending cuts are going to worsen unemployment. It’s even going to hold the long-run fiscal picture because we have a situation where more and more people are becoming permanent long-term unemployed. … I have nobody I know who thinks the unemployment rate will be below 8 percent at the end of next year. With the spending cuts it might be above 9 percent at the end of next year. There is no light at the end of this tunnel.”
Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of officer of the international bond fund giant Pacific Investment Management Co (PIMCO), said spending cuts will only exacerbate the unemployment situation.
“So unemployment will be higher than it would have been otherwise, growth will be lower than it would be otherwise, and inequality will be worse than it would be otherwise,” El-Erian said.
El-Erian questioned the impact of discretionary spending cuts that will likely make up the short-term budget savings in any final agreement.
“We have a very weak economy, so withdrawing more spending at this stage will make it even weaker,” El-Erian said.
The jobs of federal employees may be at risk also. While the deficit reduction plan does not yet mention federal workers, caps on federal discretionary spending could affect budgets that pay our public employees.
It is now imperative that there be an all out refocus on developing programs that will rapidly put millions of Americans to work.
Political strategist Robert Creamer states, “For about $220 billion you could put over two million Americans to work for two years — and massively lower the unemployment rate.”
In response to a GOP and extremist Tea Party controlled House likely to block such spending, Creamer suggests, “We need to propose a concrete, practical jobs program that is completely understandable and directly addresses the number one issue on the minds of ordinary Americans — and then we need to make our case to the American people.”
Which means that there are no short cuts and that this task is far from being easy. But, the road to success lies in what many of us know already and it will mean more of it – organize, organize and organize. And, never forget that, “It’s the economy, stupid.”
Debt Ceiling Deal: A Hard Pill to Swallow for Progressives
The proposed debt ceiling deal is a great disappointment to progressives. A big concern is that it’s all about spending cuts and nothing about revenues 
increases. Thus, the millionaires, billionaires and corporations will continue to not pay their fair share that is if they were paying anything at all.
Stalwart progressive Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) attacked the deal saying, Congressional Republicans “have been fanatically determined to protect the interests of the wealthy and large multinational corporations so that they do not contribute a single penny toward deficit reduction.”
He also took shots at the President Obama and Democrats, “President Obama and the Democrats have been extremely weak in opposing these right wing extremist proposals,” Sanders stated, admonishing Democratic leaders for being too willing to compromise on progressive issues such as entitlement programs and the Bush-era tax cuts.
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), head of the Congressional Black Caucus, criticized the plan would put Medicare “on the chopping block” stating, “This deal is a sugar-coated satan sandwich. If you lift the bun, you will not like what you see.” He added, “This debt deal is antithetical to everything the great religions of the world teach, which is take care of the poor, aged, vulnerable.”
Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-NM), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, released a statement in opposition to it, saying the deal “trades peoples’ livelihoods for the votes of a few unappeasable right-wing radicals.”
New York Times columnist and Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, called the deal “an abject surrender on the part of the president.”
Former Clinton Administration Labor Secretary Robert Reich warned, “By putting Medicare and Social Security on the block, they have made it more difficult for Democrats in the upcoming 2012 election cycle to blame Republicans for doing so.”
Reich further said, “The budget deficit is not the biggest obstacle to our prosperity. Lack of jobs and growth is. And the largest threat to our democracy is the emergence of a radical right capable of getting most of the ransom it demands.”
But, the problem is that the GOP and their extremist Tea Party wing have no problem in taking this country into default and blowing up our economy. They are willing to sacrifice this country’s economic stability and future to maintain their fundamentalist, dogmatic positions regardless of that fact that it will bring direct harm to millions of Americans.
So the question is how do you negotiate will partners who won’t negotiate? How do you play ball with parties that won’t abide by any rules?
The proposed deal would raise the debt ceiling to carry the government into 2013, with an initial round of domestic spending cuts of more than $900 billion across the federal government over the next 10 years, with a new bi-partisan Congressional committee given the task of agreeing to $1.5 trillion in further cuts by November or else $1.2 trillion in additional cuts would automatically be triggered, starting at the beginning of 2013.
Given this recent sad display of government action, why would anyone believe that they can now agree to anything?
Thus, are we looking for more future caving in to Republican/Tea Party demands by the President and Democrats, as we’ve seen over health care, extending the Bush tax cuts and now the debt ceiling deal?
Why won’t the President stand up to these extremists? When you start your negotiations by giving up positions from the get go, like abandoning a single-payer health care plan or pushing for a clean debt ceiling bill and then linking it to deficit cutting proposals, or stating up front you have no intentions of invoking the 14th Amendment to raise the debt ceiling regardless of your intentions, and thus giving up negotiating leverage, you are ensuring you will lose, or end up giving a lot more that you should have.
This debt ceiling plan is likely to pass, but when is the President and Democrats going to say enough is enough? It is time to draw a line in the sand and be committed to not crossing it.
Reaching for the all-time height in hypocrisy, Tea Party mouthpiece Freshman Illinois U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh owes his wife and their three children $117,437 in back child support, according to a report in the Chicago Sun-Times.
This is the same Congressman Walsh that has been ripping President Obama and Congressional Democrats for being fiscally irresponsible and has refused to vote for raising the debt ceiling. By leading the charge to push the United States into default, Walsh appears to want our nation to join him in not honoring the bills it owes, thus making this a dead beat country.
In arguing against the raising of the debt ceiling, Dead Beat Dad Tea Party Walsh had the gall to use children by stating, “I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!”
He won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the back of his kids and won’t pay one dollar of child support he owes his kids.
Dead Beat Dad Rep. Walsh states he couldn’t afford to honor his obligation to pay the child support he owns because he is not a wealthy man. Yet, the dead beat Congressman personally loaned his recent campaign $35,000. Then after winning election he paid himself back at least $14,200 for the loans he gave himself.
In addition, in 2004, his wife Laura Walsh complained in a court motion that despite her ex-husband’s claims of poverty, he took a vacation to Mexico with his girlfriend and another to Italy.
Last night, Lawrence O’Donnell, host of MSNBC’s The Last Word ripped Walsh to shreds. Disgusted and outraged, O’Donnell declared that “Deadbeat dad Joe Walsh is hereby banned from this program. He can go tell his lies about his family values and his sense of fiscal responsibility 
elsewhere.” He then went on to tear Rep. Walsh apart for putting his political career above his children’s well being, loaning his campaign money that could have gone to pay his child support.
Based on all this, Rep. Joe Walsh is awarded the award for the world’s number one dead beat dad.
Here’s is the video of Lawrence O’Donnell’s report on Dead Beat Dad Tea Party Rep. Joe Walsh.
As we get closer and closer to D-Day, Debt-Ceiling Day, and with the extremist Tea Party wing of the Republican Party continuing to indicate they are willing to economically destroy the United States of America by standing in the way of raising the Debt Ceiling, what does this all mean to you.
Here’s a video report from the Associated Press that answers the question how the pending economic disaster about to hit if the debt ceiling is not raised and the U.S. defaults is going to effect you.
Most people are probably confused about all this debt ceiling stuff. Understandable, but people need to know what it all means.
Let’s clarify one thing. If the debt ceiling is not raised it will seriously impact you, me, your family members, the cashier at your supermarket, your neighbors, your kids
teachers, co-workers if you’re lucky to have a job, the food server at your favorite restaurant, the obnoxious telemarketer you constantly hang up on, everyone. Even the billionaires and corporate Wall Street hacks will be impacted, but of course they’ll find some way to get tax breaks and bailouts to offset any loses.
Among other things interest rates would soar, meaning credit card charges would rise sharply for any unpaid balances, mortgage rates would jump sharply, depressing housing prices even more, the U.S. dollar’s value would drop which would hike the price of gasoline and other imported goods, imported goods being most of what we use, and our savings would lose their value.
Plus, Social Security, SSI, Veteran benefits checks may not be mailed out, and Medicare and Medicaid payments may not be paid.
W
e are facing a situation where people, in the form of GOP and Tea Party representatives, individuals who should not be trusted to be school crossing guards in a Mid-West town with a population of 13, much less Members of Congress, are in control of determining the future well-being of the United States of America.
If the debt ceiling is not increased by next week the US will default for the first time in the history of our country and we will not be able to pay our bills. The US will owe about $307 billion during the rest of August, but is expecting to take in about $172 billion in revenues, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. Thus, 70 million checks the federal government routinely mails out every month will not go out.
The outrage here is that this is a totally manufactured, self-inflicted crisis created by these GOP/Tea Party lunatics.
This crisis should not be happening. The raising of the debt limit has always been a routine, matter of fact process. President Reagan did it 18 times. George W. Bush did
it seven times. Both House Speaker John Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Kantor voted to raise the debt limit in the past without a murmur.
Also, why is raising the debt ceiling being linked to developing a grandiose budget deficit cutting plan? And, why has President Obama been suckered into this approach? The debt ceiling is about past budget decisions and bills the government owes now based on those past decisions. The budget and deficit cutting issues are about future spending. They have never been linked and should not be linked now. Congress should just vote on a clean bill to simply raise the debt limit and have the budget debates later.
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter at US Conf of Mayors news conference
The real issue Congress should be debating is how more jobs are going to be created. The big concern is that if either the Democratic or Republican budget cut plans is adopted, the ability for government to create needed jobs will diminish because government hands will be tied. Instead of less spending, we need more spending to stimulate the economy and, thus, create more jobs. At the recent US Conference of Mayors news conference that Coalition for Economic Survival member
s participated in, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said it best. Mayor Nutter stated that people who come up to him don’t ever say, “Mayor you have to do something about this deficit. They say what are you going to do about creating more jobs.”
In reality, the damage that the GOP and Tea Party crazies are about to inflict on the U.S., the amount of people they will hurt, the number of lives that will be destroyed by their actions, will far exceed anything that Al Qaeda or the Taliban could ever do to us.
These GOP/Tea Party people are nothing but economic terrorists. And, while the Tea Party likes to see themselves as patriots in the tradition of the American Revolution, in reality they are really traitors out to destroy this nation.
The people of Wisconsin should serve as a model for an eventual response to this madness. After their Tea Party Governor Scott Walker and his Republican controlled state legislature declared war on working people’s rights and labor unions in their state by stripping away the right of collective bargaining, there was massive demonstrations and a take-over of the state capitol.
These actions laid the ground-work for a political response. Recall elections were triggered against six Republicans State Senators eligible for recall. The election results this summer will determine who controls the Wisconsin stat
e Senate heading into 2012. With recent polls indicating victory, a majority status would allow Democrats to stymie Walker’s agenda going forward and reverse the laws attacking workers’ rights.
Just like in Wisconsin, the GOP/Tea Party majority control of the House of Representatives must be wrestled back by the Democrats. Hopefully, if this should happen, having experienced the last year of a House controlled by the GOP and Tea Party, the Democrats will be more aggressive in pushing a more progressive agenda and not squander the full potential that could achieved as they did recently. If this should not happen, then the continued politics of GOP tyranny will mean more hardship and despair for poor, middle class and working people of this country. It is up to us to make sure this is not the case.
CES Puts a Face to the Most Impacted Victims if the Debt Ceiling is Not Raised at U.S. Conference of Mayors News Conference
As the weeks turn into days, and the days turn into hours, the clock continues to count down on what could be world wide economic Armageddon.
US Conference of Mayors News Conf With CES
With the deadline for reaching an agreement to raise the debt ceiling fast-approaching, fifty of the nation’s mayors, led by US Conference of Mayors (USCM) President Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, met in Los Angeles on July 22, to urge Congress and the Administration to reach an agreement on the debt limit to prevent default.
LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa Speaks About Raising the Debt Limit & Jobs
A news conference was held where the Mayor Villaraigosa and the other voiced this message and the need to focus on creating new jobs to Congress.
Coalition for Economic Survival (CES) members Demitra Briscoe and James ‘Doc’ Bethard also spoke at the news conference. As recipients of Social Security, SSI and Veterans benefits they expressed deep concern that if the debt limit was not raised and they didn’t received their benefit checks they would not be able to pay the rent and would face eviction.
They called on Congress to raise the debt limit, without any cuts to Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and any other vital safety net program.
James Bethard is 62 years old and lives in Section 8 housing in Downtown Los
CES Tenant Leader James ‘Doc’ Bethard
Angeles. He was a mechanical engineer by training and a Vietnam War veteran. Bethard suffers from debilitating cancer. His illness was caused by exposure to Agent Orange during the Vietnam War. He can no longer work and is also losing his vision. He lives in HUD subsidized housing and his existence is dependent on receiving his monthly SSI check.
CES Member Demitra Briscoe
Demetra has been a Registered Nurse her entire adult life until 2005 when she was diagnosed with severe fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. She was deemed disabled and in 2007 she qualified for Medicare and Social Security Disability. She lives in a Hollywood rent controlled apartment.
She says, “It’s very hard to make ends meet right now, and if I were to miss a payment on my rent, I would literally be on the street.”
Ms Briscoe called on the City of Los Angeles to enact an emergency temporary eviction moratorium for federal recipients who depend on their checks to pay their rents, if the debt limit is not raised
Coalition for Economic Survival Members
And yet it appears the House Republicans don’t care about people like James and Demitra, or anyone else, except the billionaires and corporations that control them. For it appears they are willing to destroy this country and have us plunge into an economic abyss.
Ironic as it may seem, a July 23 Huffington Post article reports, “Social Security and Medicare may have been saved by the Tea Party’s refusal to accept President Barack Obama’s “grand bargain.” Clearly, an additional aspect of this crisis that is bringing increased anxiety and fear to those who have the least ability to survive the pending economic calamity.
On Thursday, July 21, enthusiastic members and supporters (including Coalition for Economic Survival members) of UNITE HERE Local 11 gathered on famous Sunset Strip outside of the Hyatt Andaz West Hollywood to show support for Hyatt workers, particularly the housekeepers.
Exactly one year ago, a similar protest took place seeking a new contract and protesting staff cuts and working conditions of workers. This demonstration denounced the unfair and abusive working conditions of the housekeepers.
“The world of housekeeping is invisible. Hyatt housekeepers suffer a lot of abuse on the job,” said Leigh Shelton, a communications specialist with Unite Here Local 11. “They’ve gotten together all across the country to stand up, fight back and say they won’t suffer in silence.”
Hyatt has eliminated jobs, replaced career housekeepers with minimum wage temporary workers, and
imposed dangerous workloads on those housekeepers who remain. Now housekeepers across the U.S. are standing up and speaking out.
Hotel housekeepers are the backbone of the hotel industry. The grittier aspects of their jobs—the work of scrubbing toilets, changing sheets, and encountering guests alone behind closed doors—are the foundations upon which an environment of luxury and comfort are built at the expense of the housekeeper. Through UNITE HERE, the union representing hotel and other hospitality workers across North America, housekeepers are stepping forward and breaking the silence about the many dangers they face at work.
Sunset Strip was closed down as Hyatt Housekeepers in a street theater skit demonstrated the how they are forced to change bed sheets under pressure to complete an unreasonable number of beds in a short period of time.
One of their demands to better their working conditions is for Hyatt to provide them with fitted sheets and mops. Union housekeepers say that with fitted sheets, they wouldn’t have to lift heavy mattresses. And, with mops, they wouldn’t have to scrub bathroom floors on their hands and knees. These conditions have resulted in many injuries and lost wages for the workers, as well as unacceptable humiliation.
In addition, in an act of peaceful civil disobedience, a number of people were arrested in order to 
dramatize the significance of this issue and the impact on workers.
UNITE HERE Local 11 is urging the Governor to sign SB 432 which will require hotels to provide housekeepers with long-handled mops in order to prevent workers from having to bend down to clean floors. It will also require hotels to provide fitted sheet to eliminate the need to lift mattresses while making beds. You can help by contacting the Governor to urge that he sign this important bill.
BOYCOTT HYATT!!!
CHECK OUT MORE PICTURES OF THE PROTEST HERE
A new report from investment banking giant Morgan Stanley states that more Americans are exiting homeownership and the U.S. is on the road to becoming a “Rentership Society.”
The report states, that political deadlock mixed with terrible housing market conditions will eventually turn America into a society of renters.
These predictions don’t even take into account of the impact of Congress and the GOP/Tea Party clowns not raising the debt limit. If the debt limit is not raised interest rates would soar, meaning credit card charges would rise sharply for any unpaid balances, mortgage rates would jump sharply, depressing housing prices even more, the U.S. dollar’s value would drop which would hike the price of gasoline and other imported goods, imported goods being most of what we use, and our savings would lose their value.
More are people being pushed out of their homes, fueled by the high rate of foreclosures, and into rental units, thus, decreasing vacancies in multi-family housing resulting in driving up rents.
Add this to the fact that not enough new affordable housing units are being built, while existing affordable housing is being lost and converted. In addition, there are not strong enough protections and rights for tenants.
This all adds up to a grim future for renters.
Sarah Duda, senior research and project associate at the Woodstock Institute, a nonprofit research firm and financial reform advocate said, “The best public policies must recognize the need for diverse, affordable housing options for both renters and owners. However, home ownership remains one of the most important sources of wealth for many households.”
She further stated, “Keeping current homeowners in their homes should be a top priority. Preserving the opportunity for people to purchase a home, particularly while affordability in the ownership market is high, is 
also important. Requiring meaningful loan modifications and making mortgage credit available, safe and affordable for renters who are ready and willing to buy their first home will be most helpful at this time.”
Of course, none of this can happen if the debt limit is not raised and Congressional Republicans prevail in winning drastic budget cuts.
Thus, now is that time to contact your federal representatives and demand they aggressively fight to raise the debt limit and oppose any cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Join the Coalition for Economic Survival and other community groups in supporting the efforts of UNITE HERE Local 11 to win a justice contract with fair wages and benefits, and safe workings conditions. Come to this action this Thursday, July 21.
seo services
This last Sunday, July 17, I was lucky to attend a benefit for Hollywood’s Blank Theater
Graham Nash and David Crosby
featuring David Crosby and Graham Nash at the Music Box Theater, also in Hollywood.
Besides being treated to an amazing night of music from these two Hall of Fame rock icons in an intimate setting, I learned about the impressive work of the Blank Theater.
The Blank Theater is a non-profit theater group committed to the enrichment of Hollywood’s cultural life through production of first-rate theatre, education of current and future artists, and creation of groundbreaking new works for the theatrical repertoire.
Under the direction of its foundering Artistic Director, Daniel Henning and Artistic Producer, Noah Wyle, currently starring in TNT’s “Falling Skies,” The Blank Theater has attracted the talents of Hollywood’s most sought after actors, directors and designers who have provided acclaimed theatrical performances as well as mentor apprentices and aspiring writers in its programs which bring young and developing artists into collaboration with established industry professionals.
The Blank’s Young Playwrights Festival has produced 208 plays by teen-aged writers in the past 18 years. Young writers from across the Nation and every walk of life are offered the opportunity to work with a professional writer/mentor. Their plays are then brought to life by teams of seasoned professional directors and actors and each is given several public performances in a month-long Festival.
Also that evening, during the intermission, Los Angeles Council Member Tom LaBonge, who was on hand to present the Blank 
Theater a Proclamation from the City of LA in recognition of their work, came over to our seats and we talked about the fantastic job government and transportation officials did in avoiding Carmegeddon and getting the 405 freeway re-opened way ahead of schedule. No doubt, that contributed to the success of this benefit concert.
All in all, a great night.
The Set List:
1st set
Wasted On The Way
I Used To Be A King
Lee Shore
Just A Song Before I Go
Critical Mass/Wind On The Water
Simple Man
Deja Vu
Intermission
2nd set
Guinnevere
In Your Name
What Are Their Names
They Want It All
For Free (Joni Mitchell song)
Our House
Wooden Ships
Chicago
Long Time Gone
Encore
Teach Your Children
Organizing Times 
