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Sequestration Means Less Affordable Housing, More Homelessness

Tue, 04/09/2013 - 17:22 — Dave Culver

The question is the same one that seems to come up again and again when it comes to issues that are important to low-income people—is anyone listening, and does anyone give a damn?
No more homeless veterans
Sequestration Effects: Cuts Sting Communities Nationwide

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A homeless man in New York (AP Photo/Adam Nadel)

April 7, 2013 | Sequestration can seem a little vague, abstract, difficult to wrap your head around.

But here’s what it means when it comes to housing: up to 140,000 fewer low-income families receiving housing vouchers, more children exposed to lead paint, higher rent for people who can’t afford it and a rise in homelessness.

These are among the human costs of sequestration noted in a new paper by Doug Rice, senior policy analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, who has worked on housing policy for ten years.

Full story…

Will you sign Mark's petition to Fannie Mae and demand they work out a deal?

Sequestration Effects: Cuts Sting Communities Nationwide, Amanda Terkel & Sam Stein, Huffington Post

The grips of sequestration are just now beginning to be felt and the effects are already quite dramatic.

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Labor

David Horsey | Proof of God's Creativeness / www.trbimg.com

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 16:26 — Dave Culver

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Robert Reich | Obama vs. Social Security

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 16:17 — Dave Culver

Below is an email from former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich. Robert created a petition that's been taking off ever since news leaked that President Obama plans to propose $112 billion in Social Security cuts over the next decade, via a scheme known as "chained CPI."

Robert Reich

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Social Security is not driving the deficit, therefore it should not be part of reforms aimed at cutting the deficit.

The chained CPI, deceptively portrayed as a reasonable cost of living adjustment, is a cut to Social Security benefits that would hurt seniors.

That's why I created a petition to President Barack Obama, which says:

Mr. President, the chained CPI is a cut to Social Security benefits that would hurt seniors—it's an idea not befitting a Democratic president. If you want to reform Social Security, make the wealthy pay their fair share by lifting the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

There are several sensible reforms to Social Security that should be considered to help make it sustainable, including lifting the ceiling on income subject to Social Security from $113,700 to $200,000 or more, as well as instituting a 1% raise in the payroll tax rate, a rate that hasn't changed in over 20 years.

Both of these reforms would go a long way toward protecting the long-term health of Social Security, but neither should not be conflated with efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Sign the petition: Tell President Obama to stand by his Democratic principles and fight to protect Social Security benefits.

Thanks!

–Robert Reich, former U.S. Secretary of Labor

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Activism & Organizing

#ChainedCPI? For Every Social Security Judas, a Primary Challenge

Mon, 04/08/2013 - 15:07 — Dave Culver

Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed discontent at cutting Social Security but the option remains on the table. Robert Naiman suggests the 99% escalate their interest in the matter to have their voices heard against the 1% making the budget decisions.

Robert Naiman, Truthout

This article is made possible with the generous contributions of all reader supported Evergreene Digest readers like you. Thank you!

(Photo: Pete Souza / White House)

Saturday, 06 April 2013 | The moment of truth has arrived. According to press reports, President Obama has openly embraced cutting Social Security and veterans benefits by imposing the "chained CPI" cut on cost of living increases, which is like signing in blood the idea that the federal government's priorities should be owned by the 1% rather than by the 99%. The war in Afghanistan will continue, the boondoggle F-35 "Bankrupter" fighter plane will continue, the $83 billion annual taxpayer subsidy to the "too big to fail" banks will continue, but the earned benefits of America's working families, including disabled veterans and their survivors, will be cut if President Obama has his way.

The only thing that can stop President Obama from cutting Social Security now is Congress. Therefore, the only thing that can stop President Obama from cutting Social Security now is public pressure on Congress to stand up to Obama and say no. The pressure that has been exerted so far was not sufficient to stop President Obama from doing this. Therefore, public pressure against Social Security cuts must significantly escalate.

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Government & Politics

Connecticut Passes Nation's Strictest Gun Law In Wake Of Sandy Hook Massacre

Sat, 04/06/2013 - 10:47 — Dave Culver

In passing the sweeping set of laws, Connecticut joins Colorado, New York and Maryland, the three states that have passed major gun control legislation in the wake of the Sandy Hook tragedy. A Maryland bill that includes fingerprinting gun buyers passed its House of Delegates on Wednesday.
Special Report | The US Gun Culture: Week of March 31, 2013

Christina Wilkie, Huffington Post

04/04/2013 | Both houses of the Connecticut legislature passed some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation Wednesday night and early Thursday morning, approximately 100 days after 26 students and educators were shot and killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown.

In a dramatic marathon legislative session that lasted well into the wee hours of Thursday morning, the state House of Representatives debated and passed gun control legislation by a bipartisan vote of 105 to 44. A parallel bill was approved by the state Senate earlier Wednesday on a bipartisan 26-10 vote. Following the House vote, the Senate and House versions of the bill will be reconciled, after which Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D) has indicated his intent to sign the legislation as soon as possible.

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Tue, 03/26/2013 | America is living under the gun!

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Peace & Nonviolence

Taylor Jones | Bad Guys with Guns / www.truthdig.com

Sat, 04/06/2013 - 08:50 — Dave Culver

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Toxic and Tax Exempt, We Pay the Bill for Tar Sands Cleanup

Sat, 04/06/2013 - 08:40 — Dave Culver

The experiences of people of Marshall, Michigan may shed light on what the citizens of Mayflower, Arkansas may now be in for.

Erin O'Sullivan, EcoWatch

A resident's backyard in Mayflower, Ark., after an Exxon Mobil pipeline ruptured on March 29, spilling an estimated 84,000 gallons of heavy crude oil from the Canadian tar sands region. (photo: EcoWatch)

04 April 13 | As the Obama Administration continues to ponder a decision on the Keystone XL pipeline, TransCanada has been assuring everyone of it’s safety. “Safety of the public and the environment is a top priority for TransCanada” their slick website reads. Any spill is deemed “unlikely.”

Hardly. Last year, there were 364 spills from pipelines that released about 54,000 barrels of oil and refined products. In 2010 in Marshall, Michigan an Enbridge pipeline sent 819,000 gallons of toxic tar sands crude into the town’s creek just 80 river miles from Lake Michigan. Now in Mayflower, Ark., 22 homes have been evacuated this week as Exxon prepares to attempt to clean 10,000 barrels of this same dirty tar sands crude from neighborhoods.

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Health & Environment

The Conspiracy to Kill Martin Luther King Jr.

Fri, 04/05/2013 - 12:15 — Dave Culver

On April 4, 1968, the government was part of a successful conspiracy to assassinate MLK, a jury concluded.
Not a Theory But a Fact, According to Our Own Legal System

Ira Chernus, AlterNet

Thanx to Evergreene Digest reader Steve Sinsley and Contributing Editor S. Brian Willson for this contribution.

April 4, 2013 |Should the United States government be allowed to assassinate its own citizens? That question was in the air briefly not long ago. April 4 is an excellent day to revive it: On April 4, 1968, the government was part of a successful conspiracy to assassinate the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

That’s not just some wing-nut conspiracy theory. It’s not a theory at all. It is a fact, according to our legal system.

In 1999, in Shelby County, Tennessee, Lloyd Jowers was tried before a jury of his peers (made up equally of white and black citizens, if it matters) on the charge of conspiring to kill Dr. King. The jury heard testimony for four full weeks.

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Human Rights & Civil Liberties

Digital Grab: Corporate Power Has Seized the Internet

Thu, 04/04/2013 - 10:55 — Dave Culver

We have a profound, far-reaching fight on our hands, at a crossroads leading toward democracy or corporate monopoly.
Hightower: Big biz wants to own the information superhighway.

Norman Solomon, Common Dreams

April 4, 2013 | If your daily routine took you from one homegrown organic garden to another, bypassing vast fields choked with pesticides, you might feel pretty good about the current state of agriculture.

If your daily routine takes you from one noncommercial progressive website to another, you might feel pretty good about the current state of the Internet.

But while mass media have supplied endless raptures about a digital revolution, corporate power has seized the Internet -- and the anti-democratic grip is tightening every day.

“Most assessments of the Internet fail to ground it in political economy; they fail to understand the importance of capitalism in shaping and, for lack of a better term, domesticating the Internet,” says Robert W. McChesney in his illuminating new book, Digital Disconnect: How Capitalism is Turning the Internet Against Democracy.

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