NY Times sexist re Hillary Clinton?

Pretty remarkable that the morning after Hillary Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state, gave a major foreign policy speech at the influential Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, the New York Times sole coverage of it is a piece focusing on rehashing the supposed personal Clinton-Obama rivalry theme. All about whether or not she is being shunted to the sidelines and whether she is trying to re-grab position. Cat-fight overtones here? Hardly a mention of the substantive foreign policy issues Clinton discussed, not even her interesting comments on reasserting State Department's role in foreign policy, i.e., demilitarizing it back from Pentagon.

And this is the take the Times chooses to put on page 1? You have to wonder, if it had been a similar speech by a male would they have handled it this way?

Texas Unemployment Offices Break Down

Unprecedented unemployment and political posturing by the Governor have forced the Texas Workforce Commmission into a complete breakdown. There were warnings from the Texas AFL-CIO more than a month ago, but the corporate media reported on July 15 that tens of thousands of jobless Texans will not get their check and tens of thousands of telephone calls for help are going unanswered. Reporter Robert T. Garrett of the Dallas Morning News estimated that 82,000 unlucky Texans won't get the federal 13-week extension of benefits when their state benefits expire, and 150,000 telephone calls couldn't get through in one day, July 13.

The system may simply run out of money. The Texas Workforce Commission is required to keep a minimum of $858 million in the fund for unemployment benefits, yet reporter Garrett said that it only had $119 as of July 10. They are negotiating for $643 million in federal loans, which is, ironically, almost as much as the federal stimulus grant money that showboat Governor Rick Perry forced the legislature to turn down in the recent session. He called a special session afterward, but did not allow the unemployment crisis on the agenda. In a press conference, the Governor bragged about having given yet another tax cut to businesses and a special tax tax dispensation for Chambers of Commerce.

The Communications Director for the Texas AFL-CIO has issued a number of warnings about the crisis and the state's inability to handle it. He said, "It's bad enough that the number of claims has more than doubled since 2008. It's bad enough that the leadership of the Legislature and Gov. Rick Perry made mandatory property tax exemptions for wealthy Chambers of Commerce a higher priority than additional help for Texans who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own. But now it appears that even for Texans who no doubt qualify for Unemployment Insurance benefits, service is not what it should be."

The problem is not just in Texas. In "The Unemployed Will Roar," Washington Post writer Marie Cocco estimates that 650,000 long term unemployed Americans will run out of benefits in September. America has lost 6.5 million jobs since the beginning of Bush's last year in office. The number of people unemployed for more than 27 weeks reached 4.4 million in June. Job gains were weak althrough Bush's 8 years, and the Economic Policy Institute reports that the current jobless numbers have wiped out nine years of job gains!

Progressive Americans are calling for a second stimulus effort benefitting not bankers but unemployed workers. AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said, "The American economy shed another 467,000 jobs last month, bringing the total job loss since the recession began to 6.5 million.

'Congress and the Obama administration need to continue to remain focused on stimulus efforts to end the recession. Additionally, this is not just a problem in the United States, but at this stage, job loss is the vortex of the global economic crisis. To address this problem we believe that all governments should focus an extra one percent of GDP stimulus focused on job creation."

Because wages and benefits are so low, Texas normally has less unemployment than most of the nation. The rate hit 7.1 percent in May while the national rate went to 9.5% in June. The numbers are far lower than they should be. A New York Times article by David Leonhardt analyzes what the numbers would be if they included all the victims, including those who have simply given up looking for work and those working for meager part-time wages when they want full-time jobs. The Texas rate would rise from 7.1% to 12% if all the victims were included. California's rate would be 20.3%! The reporter adds, "Almost nobody believes that unemployment has finished rising, either."

--Jim Lane in Dallas (flittle7@yahoo.com)

New dynamics re Israel-Palestine

A note just received from J Street Executive Director Jeremy Ben-Ami attests to the new dynamics in the American Jewish community on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the changing dynamics in Washington and new possibilities to really achieve the two-state solution:

(J Street is the progressive "pro-Israel pro-peace" lobbying group formed last year - see their website for more info.)

I just left an extraordinary meeting with President Barack Obama, which he called to meet with the leadership of the American Jewish community.

A dozen organizations - including J Street - were at the table.

It was made clear to the President and his team the strong support that exists among American Jews and the broader public for a strong push to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for a two-state solution, and for a regional and comprehensive approach to the peace process.

The President said such a resolution was in Israel's interests. In the interests of the Palestinian people. And clearly in the interests of the United States.

The President expressed his gratitude, as did many of his aides, afterward for our attendance.

You should feel great. After little more than a year - and through your online advocacy and donations - J Street has arrived. We are your political voice when it comes to Israel and the Middle East - representing you in Washington and in the national political debate.

In recent days, much has been made in Jewish media of supposed concerns and reservations in the Jewish community about President Obama and his approach to the Middle East.

And today I had the opportunity to take our message of support directly to the White House - that there's a big difference between the views expressed by a vocal minority on behalf of the Jewish community - and what that community really thinks and supports.

We'll be in touch,

Jeremy

Jeremy Ben-Ami
Executive Director
J Street
July 13, 2009

Dallas Activists Demand Health Care Reform

Photo by H. Beckett of activists gathering in front of the government building, before being ordered away

A group of about 25 concerned constituents gathered in front of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison's Dallas office on July 9 only to be rudely turned away. The group was one of over 150 organized by move-on.org to rally for health care all over the US.

This particular group in Dallas was there to urge Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to fight for President Obama's health care plan with a strong public option. This plan will make affordable health care for all Americans possible while keeping choice of providers and competition. It was also pointed out that alternative plans such as the regional, private co-op plan were unacceptable. Many attending the rally had personal stories to share.

One single mother, for example, mentioned that her health plan offered by her employer was too expensive to cover her whole family.

The peaceful demonstrators were very shocked to hear that the Senator's staff not only refused to meet with a delegation, but also had called the police who promptly asked the group to leave the premises and move to a sidewalk in front of the neighboring property.

Rightful citizens were unable to to peacefully meet with the Senator's staff and these very constituents were actually thrown off the property initially without a chance to be heard. After negotiating the organizer of the group was given permission to bring the staff a petition signed by several thousand demanding support for a strong public option health care plan. A vote on this bill is expected in August.

A statement was given saying that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was for competition, but that she hadn't made a decision about the overall plan yet. The newspaper reported that she, like Senator Cornyn, opposes the public option.


One thing is not debatable for this mother who brought her teen daughters to the rally: Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is unwilling to hear what her constituents have to say about health care reform.

--K. Henkel in Dallas

Tax the rich for health care!

FINALLY! I would say tax those families that make over a million a year would probably be enough. Ramp the tax rate up for capital gains to 90 percent to pay for health care! As one of the infamous "public enemies" said when asked why he robs banks "that's where the money is." Well that's where the money is -- with the super-wealthy and corporate elite. Let them for once pay their "fair share" for something that the super-majority needs. -- terrie


House Democrats Plan to Tax the Wealthy for Health Reform

To pay for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system,
House Democrats will propose a surtax on individuals earning
$280,000 and up and couples earning more than $350,000, the
chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee said on
Friday.

In all, the proposal is projected to generate roughly $550
billion over 10 years, which would cover about half of the
estimated cost of the $1-trillion-plus health care
legislation.

But it remains unclear if the Senate would approve such an
across-the-board income tax on the wealthy.

Read More:
http://www.nytimes.com/?emc=na

Texas Toll Road Pieces Fit into Privatization Puzzle

How are the global economic crisis, water in Bolivia, oil in Iraq, and the fast lane on Highway 635 in North Dallas related? And what do they have to do with the airport in Tegucigalpa?

They’re all part of a jigsaw puzzle called, at various times, Reagonomics, neo-liberalism, neo-conservatism, globalization and gobblelization.

As the world capitalist crisis began to crunch, in the mid-1970s, the transnational corporate “solution” was to use state power to squeeze more profit out of all economic activity. They began an assault on workers’ wages, hours, and benefits. They pulled weaker nations into disadvantageous “free trade” agreements that gave their resources, their markets, and even their workforces to the transnational corporations. They used the International Monetary Fund, World Trade Organization, and the World Bank to force intolerable conditions onto weaker, debtor, nations. They pried all forms of economic activity out of the democratic control of the people and into private, corporate, hands. Those who did not cooperate faced the full military power of corporate-dominated nations.

It didn’t work out. In the 1990s, the Argentines rejected the conditions that the International Monetary Fund tried to oppose. The World Trade Organization weakened and became an international epithet. The Bolivians rejected the privatization of their water supply. Privatizing Iraqi oil fields turned out to be much more of a problem than anticipated. Bush failed to privatize Social Security. People all over Latin America began to elect governments who wouldn’t cooperate with the transnationals. The people of the United States elected a President and other leaders on the basis of their commitment to a change in economic models. As this is written, Latin America is raging because the President of Honduras was kidnapped and exiled by neoliberals.

This quick look around brings us to the highway lanes in North Texas. Governor Perry called a special legislative session that ignored the big problems of runaway unemployment and children’s health care, but left the door wide open for more privatized toll roads, including “managed lanes” in the middle of existing highways. Texans have had more than enough of Perry's privatized toll roads. Prices are skyrocketing and people are getting bills over $1,000!

Two years ago, Perry was still hoping for a privatized toll road up to a quarter mile wide and stretching from Laredo to Oklahoma. The Lege didn’t let him have it. In the special session just ended, they turned their backs on Perry’s toll road ideas altogether.

Neoliberalism, including privatization, did not work. It is being rejected all over the world, and in Austin.

--Jim Lane

Woody Guthrie Still Packs Them In

The annual Woody Guthrie Free Folk Festival runs July 8-12 in Okema, Oklahoma.

Meanwhile, in Dallas, the basement section of Theater Three (called “Theater Too”) is packing in big crowds with Woody Guthrie’s American Song. Eight singers, musicians and story tellers weave together the best of Woody’s tales and music. Every word spoken or sung, they announce, came directly from Woody. The effect is dazzling!

The original conception and adaptation are the work of Dr. Peter Glazer of the University of California at Berkley. Among his many qualifications listed in the program, he is a Governing Board member of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade archives. They save the memories of the American volunteers in the Spanish Civil War.

The presentation from the actors/musicians is all immediate and unrecorded. They use no artificial amplification, but just sing at the top of their lungs. The stage is made to look more or less like a porch on a ramshackled dust bowl house, but it doubles as a hobo jungle some of the time, and as a boxcar for Woody’s train songs.

All of the characters, men and women alike, speak in first person, for they are all Woody, except for a few scenes when one of them becomes Cisco Houston making sidewalk music with Woody for coins in New York. Except for a rousing version of “Reuben James,” they don’t say a lot about World War II. “This Machine Kills Fascists,” Woody’s proud guitar sign, is in some of the photos on the wall, but not in the presentation.

As we sat teary-eyed in the Sunday matinee among the mostly silver-haired audience members, we began to wonder why we were in $30 seats in a downtown theater instead of in the union hall right outside of town, where a strike just started its fourth week. Such wondering caused my pal to start checking on the show’s union credentials, as she always does. Only 3 of the 8, the program said, were members of Actor’s Equity.

But then, we weren’t really thinking about them. We were thinking about Woody.

--Jim Lane