Move Your Money

The Oligarchy Wins Again : Palermo

The Oligarchy Wins Again

A forty-vote Republican minority in the United States Senate controls the destiny of all legislation aimed at addressing the nation's most pressing needs after eight miserable years of Republican misrule and malfeasance. Welcome to California, America! Here in Sacramento, only thirteen Republican state senators control legislation relating to the state's finances. In Washington it's the filibuster; in Sacramento it's the two-thirds rule. In either case an unpopular right-wing minority gets to dictate to the majority what is to be done and what is not to be done. In either case the Republicans win!

In the nation, as in California, the Republicans are unpopular, hence, their minority status. And their policies are even more unpopular. But since they're so interconnected to the corporate oligarchy they somehow get to rule even when they're in the minority.

Sweet for them, isn't it? 

And in both Washington and Sacramento the Republicans get to blame the Democratic "majority" for not getting anything done even as the hapless Dems face obstructionism of historic proportions. You can see it in the watered down health "reform" bill winding its way out of the Senate. And you can see it in the precipitous rise in the stock prices of health insurance companies. You can see it in the wholesale sell-off and privatization of the state of California amidst the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. You can see it in the foreign wars and bloated military budgets.

Read the entire post at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/the-oligarchy-wins-again_b_400138.html

Christmas cheer and health care

Leftist, Liberals and Social Change

This article is permanently archived at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/main/article/5314/

Leftists, Liberals—and Losers?
How and why progressives must unite for real change.
By G. William Domhoff
December 21, 2009

As President Barack Obama's first year in office draws to a close, perhaps most In These Times readers feel the same way I do--more disappointed in the new administration and the Democratic Congress than I expected to be, even as I recognize dramatic changes since the Bush administration departed. Yet, I am even more disappointed that we on the left (progressives, socialists, anti-corporate capitalists) seem to be missing opportunities to change the direction of our country.

Those of us who seek progressive social change in the United States have made few advances in recent decades. This dearth of progress comes after a wealth of earlier successes: the organization of industrial unions, the creation and triumphs of the civil rights movement, and the successes of the feminist, environmentalist, LGBT and living-wage movements.
One cause of our current lack of accomplishments is an impasse between the two main political forces working for social change--Democratic liberals and leftist progressives--who differ in both goals and strategies. Liberals support gradual changes through education, lobbying and elections to curb the worst excesses of our capitalist system and provide greater social benefits through government. Leftists argue for more radical changes to the status quo.

Rather than lament the failures of the Democrats in Washington or the past failures of leftists, I want to offer a concrete strategy for creating the change we all want. In this more hopeful post-Bush/Cheney era, it is time to figure out how these two forces can rethink their strategies and create a coalition that could transform the nation.

Why don't leftists connect with very many people, even though most Americans support greater equality, jobs for all, government support for education at all levels, government health insurance and much more? Maybe the problem is in the solutions the left offers and the way we've framed them, rather than people's unwillingness to support greater fairness and equality. To overcome our relative marginalization, American leftists should create a strong new alliance with our more numerous brethren--the approximately 20 percent of Americans who define themselves as "liberal."

Why an alliance? First, such an alliance might influence centrist Democrats in Washington if it could garner strong support from the Democratic base. Second, an alliance would have a chance to reach the American electorate's great middle, including independents who turned on the Republicans in 2006 and 2008 because of the failure of the Iraq War and the rapacious destruction of the economy by the financial sector.

If the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to produce failure and American casualties (as is entirely likely), and if the Obama administration is unsuccessful in its efforts to deal with the current health, financial and employment crises (as looks increasingly likely), then a liberal-left program backed by nonviolent social disruption would resonate with those in the middle who have lost their jobs, homes, and/or life savings. This alliance would require progressives to make major changes in strategy, but not in values and goals; liberals would have to recognize that a constitutional democracy has room for far more economic egalitarianism than America has ever seen.

For liberals and leftists to successfully make change together, they must first reach an understanding, if not agreement, on four major areas:
•electoral strategy
•the crucial role of social movements
•the need for innovative economic models
•the definition of "us" vs. "them"

Here is a step-by-step approach for helping liberals and progressives find common ground. I am proposing a way for leftists to cooperate with liberals to generate short-term advances while at the same time competing with them for the allegiance of the majority to a strong egalitarian vision. In doing so I am claiming the fault is not in our values, but in our strategies. I am suggesting a "liberal egalitarianism." Yes, it's a long shot, but thinking big is worthwhile in moments of great crisis.

SO YOU WANT TO WIN AN ELECTION

The structure of a nation's political party system influences how social change occurs. This country's two-party system renders third parties far smaller and more ephemeral than in other democracies. Yet many progressive activists opt for third parties. The problem goes beyond the issue of leftist candidates becoming "spoilers." Worse, it creates divisions among all those who are left of center and enables the election of conservatives, who are most insensitive to the needs of low-income people, people of color, women, environmentalists and religious minorities.
Further, progressives often fail to realize their power to influence the existing parties by challenging their platforms during the primaries. The gradual development of party primaries in the first 60 years of the 20th century led to the demise of the Democratic and Republican parties in the old sense of the term, with the power to expel members and pick their own candidates. The two major parties are now government-controlled pathways into elected government office. Anyone can register to be a member, and anyone can run in the primaries. Winners in the primaries put their coworkers into leadership positions in the party.

Progressives need to take advantage of the power this situation offers, rather than reject the two-party system. Party primaries open the way for leftists and liberals to disagree within the political arena while moving the Democratic Party in their common direction. Progressives at the state, congressional, district and local levels should form their own democratic clubs within the Democratic Party--essentially parties within the party--that would give them an organizational base and a distinctive social identity in the political arena. For example, in Michigan, a group of progressives who met through MoveOn house parties established Harbor Country Progress, an official Democratic Party club that is changing the political landscape in the state's rural 6th Congressional District. (See "Building the Left in Harbor Country" by Jim Vopat, ITT, October 2009.)

Forming such clubs allows activists to maintain their primary social and political identities while at the same time enabling them to compete within the Democratic Party. They can run candidates on strong progressive platforms in the primaries if and when the issues, circumstances and candidates seem right. They would campaign to win on the basis of our program and make no personal criticisms of their Democratic rivals. (Yes, corporate Democrats will outspend leftist Democrats, but this will happen whether leftists run in third parties or Democratic Party primaries.)

Should they lose, they would still back the winner of the primary in the general election. Being seen as a loyal Democrat is essential to gaining the confidence of the Democratic electorate and eventually transforming the Democratic Party itself.
This does not mean progressive activists should drop their many current social movement efforts and focus their energies on electoral politics alone. But electoral politics are essential to any program for progressive social change. Insisting on sticking with third parties or ignoring the electoral process ensures failure.

SPARKS, CRACKS AND SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

Social movements are necessary for social change. They help mobilize the electorate. A handful of dedicated activists can provide the spark to find cracks and openings in the power structure, and develop ways to draw everyday people out of their routines in order to make history. The key is finding the right strategy and focusing on an agenda that engages people at a particular moment.

Strategic nonviolence is the only form of disruption that makes any sense in an advanced capitalist democracy where most people accept the political norms of the society. According to polls, from the 1960s to the 1980s, the American public became more receptive to a wide range of issues championed by egalitarian movements, such as women's rights. At the same time, most Americans disapproved of the anti-war movement, which employed violent and disorderly tactics. Thus the civil rights movement, not the anti-war movement, is the prototype of what is necessary and possible.

Today's crises could--and should--catalyze new social movements. Some smaller current actions to prevent foreclosures, stop the abuse of workers and target health insurance companies show that civil disobedience can be effective. Sit-ins that close banks, insurance offices, healthcare offices or government offices could become the order of the day. The escalation in Afghanistan and/or the failure to leave Iraq might lead to anti-war actions in the face of mounting casualties that are destroying families across the nation for reasons that continue to be unclear and unconvincing.

Activists must once again be trained in strategic nonviolence. We also need new leaders who are as committed to civil disobedience as Martin Luther King, Jr. and César Chávez were.
Faced with the choice between seeing large numbers of people incarcerated or making major concessions, the Obama administration might abandon centrist economics and stand up to Blue Dog Democrats, rather than standing idle while local and state law enforcement officials descend into a predictable repressive cycle.

EGALITARIANISM THROUGH THE MARKET?

The importance of an alternative economic vision cannot be overestimated in understanding the success of past movements for progressive social change, especially in energizing left-wing activists.

Socialism was once such a vision, with a foundation in government ownership of the means of production and centralized planning. But the past 60 to 80 years have shown that this alternative cannot work in an egalitarian and democratic way. Even if government planners had enough information and the technocratic capacity to generate an optimal plan, and if democratic pressure was able to keep the bureaucracy from becoming elitist--two big ifs--the process would end up hierarchical and nonparticipatory. That's because information goes upward and orders and commands flow downward in such a system, as the libertarian socialist economist Robin Hahnel shows in his seminal book Economic Justice and Democracy (2005).

The failure of socialism worldwide has left egalitarians without a vision of a better economic model since the 1980s. But the implosion of the American economy demonstrates that a free-market approach is deeply flawed, and those who continue to put their faith in the market are as delusional as their counterparts who support central planning.

I suggest leftists think in terms of a fact that has been overlooked until recent years. Markets can be socialized to serve collective purposes by using four well-known policy tools as carrots and sticks: subsidies, taxes, government purchases and regulations. That is, there can be conscious and planned interventions in the market in the name of greater equality and participation. I contend that this is a form of planning that makes use of markets even though some of their more dangerous qualities would not be fully tamed. It is a form of planning that the current American government has the power and experience to institute through Congress and a variety of government agencies.

The best example of how the government currently shapes markets concerns the annual battle in Congress between heavy industry and environmentalists over energy policy.

Environmentalists call for higher taxes on fossil fuels, subsidies for renewable energy sources and regulations that force automobile manufacturers and utilities to burn fuels more efficiently and cleanly. The oil, coal, automobile and utility companies demand low taxes on fossil fuels, subsidies for fossil fuels and minimal or no regulations relating to efficiency or pollution, which in effect is a very different plan. If the environmentalists' plan were to prevail, the United States could gradually wean itself from foreign oil and clean up the air and water at the same time.
The answer is not to be found in economics, but in politics. It is a matter of who has the power. Once the left accepts that there will be markets and private property, all the talk about the sanctity of markets become a rationale elites use to maintain their privileges.

Taming the market through collective action is the basic strategy of living-wage campaigns, which use laws to force employers to pay higher wages. Laws regarding affirmative action, sexual harassment and discrimination also operate through the market. The real issue, again,is political power.

A reconstructed market system--featuring a more progressive tax structure, higher inheritance taxes and a transaction tax on financial trades --could be much more open and flexible than the one that currently exists in the United States. For example, it is possible to have many different types of enterprises compete in the market, not just privately owned corporations. There could be a combination of cooperatives, state-owned companies, and private companies--a "mixed enterprise system," to recycle an old phrase.

Although this program does not build on libertarian socialists' economic ideas, in which markets are eliminated, it does fit with their emphasis on the need for socialists to work within reformist coalitions to help move things in a leftward direction. If their political approach were adopted by all leftists attracted to a form of socialism, then everyone, including liberals, could be focused on winning the power to legislate the changes that might make more radical change more attractive to voters further down the line.

For now, it's time for leftists to think in terms of a new vision: socializing and taming markets through many different types of government interventions.

REFRAMING US VS. THEM

Social movements use an "us" vs. "them" framework to mobilize opposition to existing power arrangements. However, any framing of "them" that uses categories from which individuals cannot escape--social class of origin, race, gender or sexual orientation--is a mistake that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy and overlooks the possibility that people can change their minds.
Although the power structure in a capitalist society revolves around classes and class conflict, it does not follow that political conflict should be framed in terms of social classes or class struggle. Political conflict should be framed in terms of values, coalitions and power--not class.
Again, the civil rights movement provides a model. The enemy was defined as racists and bigots, not whites in general. The movement was able to use the Christian concepts of forgiveness, redemption and conversion in the service of strategic nonviolence to forge a black/white coalition. Thus people were able to change their attitudes and join the movement. They weren't excluded on the basis of being white.

Since a cross-class coalition is necessary to assemble a majority for an egalitarian economic program in the 21st century, it is better to begin with a political framing of the "us" vs. "them" issue that does not define one class or another as the enemy. Instead, the opposition should be all those who favor pro-corporate policies and fight against the program of the liberal-left alliance. If the conflict is framed in this way, a liberal-left alliance has a chance to win over the moderates, neutrals and independents who currently identify with corporate capitalists. It might even attract dissident members of the capitalist class who transcend their class interests, and in the process help legitimize the movement to those in the middle who are hesitant to climb on board.

THE CHALLENGE FOR LIBERALS

It is my belief that today's liberals might find this framework a useful one for their own purposes. They might agree that the energy and dedication leftists bring to the alliance through their social movements help to make possible what later become liberal legislative victories. They also might agree that it would be a fair trade to accept competition in Democratic primaries from leftists if leftists completely abandoned potentially divisive involvement in third parties and put some of their energies into regular elections as well.

Based on the past liberal emphasis on the importance of private property and minimal government interference in the workings of the economy, taming the market in a major way through government intervention, along with public ownership of some enterprises, might be difficult for many liberals to accept. However, as the liberal sociologist Douglas Massey forcefully argued in The Return of the "L" Word (2005), markets should be very heavily "policed" by government. His argument is noteworthy because it suggests a narrowing of the gap between leftists and liberals when it comes to creating a more egalitarian economy through government intervention. Moreover, many modern-day liberals agree to a mix of ownership forms as long as there are clear protections for private property.

None of the points in this article is original, but they add up to a program that has never been tried, a program that many liberals might support. It unites electoral and non-electoral strategies, bypasses the structural impossibilities of third parties and non-market centralized planning, reaffirms the importance of social movements, and provides an "us" vs. "them" framing that allows people to change their minds and thereby join what could become a new majority.

Today, the large bloc of Southern and rural non-Southern Democrats that stopped or moderated liberal initiatives in the 1930s and 1960s is down to a nub in Congress. Unemployment and foreclosures are predicted to remain high for at least two years due to an economic crisis that may not be solvable without liberal economic policies that will involve increasing government intervention in the economy. The unnecessary and unwinnable war in Afghanistan is causing increasing casualties and will cost trillions of dollars if it continues for very long. The high expectations created by the election of Barack Obama and large Democratic majorities in Congress are dissipating rapidly. And Americans know from experience--and a look at other countries--that many changes in the economy can be carried out democratically and without loss of freedoms.

Liberals and leftists have had new opportunities in the past, but they never have had one this good. 

G. William Domhoff is the author of Who Rules America? and The Power Elite and the State. He lives in Santa Cruz, where he is a sociology professor at the University of California.

Desperate mission of Right Wing propaganda and falsehood

Trumka: Senate Health Care bill must change

The health care bill being considered by the U.S. Senate is inadequate and too tilted toward the insurance industry, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said today.

In recent days, as the Senate has debated health care reform, small numbers of senators have held health care hostage by threatening to block a vote. The new proposal by the Senate puts the interests of insurance companies—and senators who would rather look out for the insurance companies—ahead of real reform.

Trumka said the top priority now is to fight over the rest of the legislative process to fix the bill and make sure we can pass real health care reform:

The labor movement has been fighting for health care for nearly 100 years and we are not about to stop fighting now, when it really matters. But for this health care bill to be worthy of the support of working men and women, substantial changes must be made. The AFL-CIO intends to fight on behalf of all working families to make those changes and win health care reform that is deserving of the name.

The absolute refusal of Republicans in the Senate to support health care reform and the hijacking of the bill by defenders of the insurance industry have brought us a Senate bill that is inadequate: It is too kind to the insurance industry.

Genuine health care reform must bring down health costs, hold insurance companies accountable, assure that Americans can get the health care they need and be financed fairly.

Keith Olberman: This is not health care reform

Howard Dean; The Senate Bill does more harm than good

Now that health care reform has been tailored to the demands of Sen. Joe Lieberman, there’s real debate among progressives about whether it’s worth doing at all. Former DNC chairman and presidential candidate Howard Dean writes: “Any measure that expands private insurers’ monopoly over health care and transfers millions of taxpayer dollars to private corporations is not real health-care reform.”

Dean concludes that, “as it stands, this bill would do more harm than good to the future of America.” But he holds out hope that the measure can be improved before it is made into law.

Joe Lieberman defeats Public Option

First, Joe Lieberman was a key player in the deregulation of capital markets after the 2001  financial crash.  He led the de regulation efforts and prevented real regulation.  This lead directly to the 2008/2009 economic crash.

Then, , Joe Lieberman helped President Bush invade Iraq, and the Democrats in Washington forgave him. Then, he endorsed John McCain, and they forgave him again. Then, he personally attacked Barack Obama at the Republican National Convention, and still the Democrats forgave him.¹

Now, Joe Lieberman is single-handedly gutting health care reform. The time for forgiveness is over. It's time to hold Senator Lieberman accountable.

San Francisco State Students Take Over Business School

Police Arrest Protesters at SF State

By Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle
December 10, 2009

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/12/10/BA511B2583.DTL#ixzz0ZIhr6pEq

San Francisco

Police in riot gear arrested 33 protesters this morning
at San Francisco State University, a day after students
barricaded themselves inside the business school to
protest fee hikes and budget cuts at the state's public
universities.

Campus police clad in riot helmets, joined by officers
from throughout the Cal State University police system
and San Francisco police, entered the business
administration building at 3:15 a.m., said university
spokeswoman Ellen Griffin.

Some of the officers broke windows to access the
building.

University officials said 23 protesters who had
occupied the building were arrested on suspicion of
trespassing, a misdemeanor. Ten other demonstrators
outside the building were arrested on suspicion of
unlawful assembly and resisting arrest, also
misdemeanors, said university spokeswoman Ellen
Griffin.

A group of other protesters sat down and blocked
traffic on 19th Avenue near Holloway Avenue, just
outside the campus, in solidarity with the arrestees.
San Francisco police were in the process of citing and
releasing them.

The occupation follows building takeovers at UC
Berkeley and UC Santa Cruz last month, and a round-the-
clock student campout in an auditorium on the Berkeley
campus that began Monday and is expected to last
through Friday.

The San Francisco State protesters had said they were
prepared to occupy the three-story business school
building for days.

Early Wednesday, the building occupiers stacked chairs
against the doors, preventing 3,200 students from
taking scheduled classes, according to university
officials. The school said campus police were
monitoring the situation, but officers kept a low
profile, in contrast with UC police who clashed with
occupiers last month at Berkeley and Santa Cruz.

Faced with state budget cuts of more than half a
billion dollars, CSU trustees approved a 20 percent fee
hike in July, bringing annual tuition to $4,827. At a
time when applications to CSU are climbing, the
university system, which includes SF State, is limiting
enrollment, cutting employee pay through furloughs and
offering fewer courses.

Organizers say demonstrations and occupations will
continue, culminating in a statewide strike planned for
March 4 that will include high school students, parents
and teachers.

Chronicle staff writer Nanette Asimov contributed to
this report.__

FAIR USE NOTICE
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of education issues vital to a democracy. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

Economic Crisis and school budgets

    The nation  including California is suffering a severe recession.  Twenty Six million  are unemployed and under employed. This crisis was created by finance capital and banking, mostly on Wall Street ,ie. Chase Banks, Bank of America, AIG, and others.   Finance capital produced a $ trillion bailout of the financial industry, the doubling of America’s unemployment rate and the loss of 2 million manufacturing jobs in 2008.  Fifteen million people are out of work.  You and I, and college students did not create this crisis.  Finance capital stole the future of many young people.   It is important in developing  responses  to distinguish between the financial bail out (TARP) and the stimulus plan (ARRA, 2009).  Fox News and the Republican Right like to merge these two as one.

            If we don’t find a way to stop Wall Street from controlling  our government, the standard of living of working people will continue to decline and we will continue to have economic crises.  As a minimum, we need to extend unemployment benefits for long term unemployed.

Joe Lieberman and health care

Budget Cuts at the CSU and "restructuring"

'Restructuring' of CSU is more a requiem

By Joseph A. Palermo

Like the GI Bill that gave access to a college degree for the first time to a generation of Americans, the creation of the California State University system 50 years ago did the same for Californians. In the decades that followed there was an explosion of innovation in all fields and an era of unprecedented economic growth. These mid-20th century public investments tapped into the talent of millions of people who would otherwise be denied access to a quality education. The highly skilled labor force these investments created helped make California the nation's most vibrant state economy.

In a document titled, " 'Restructuring' the CSU or Wrecking It?: What Proposed Changes Mean and What We Can Do about Them," the California Faculty Association, the largest faculty union in the state (to which I belong), has identified the perilous path our so-called leaders, both in Sacramento and among CSU administrators, are leading us down.

Capitalism: A Love Story

Mock funeral rallies student body to protest fee hikes.

By: Kristine Guerra, Posted: 12/3/09 : State Hornet.

There was a different kind of mourning today at the Library Quad. It was loud and people are angry.

About 300 students and faculty, many of whom were dressed in black, gathered in a mock funeral to symbolically mourn what they call the death of higher education. As they marched, they yelled "They say cut back, we say fight back!"

"We demonstrate today as the start to the student movement to tell California that you invest in us because we matter," said Associated Students, Inc. President Roberto Torres.

Senior government major Robert Graham said the protest, which was organized by the Sac State Coalition, is aimed at the legislators, the Board of Trustees, California State University Chancellor Charles Reed and Sacramento State President Alexander Gonzalez.

How an empire declines: Robert Borosage

President Obama made the best possible case for dispatching more troops to Afghanistan last night. But his speech left me with a haunting foreboding. Surely this is the way that great imperial powers decline. Their soldiers police the ends of the earth. There is always another enemy, always a threat -- sometimes imagined, often real -- that must be faced. And meanwhile, the productive economy declines, the rich live increasingly off investments abroad, the poor depend on public sustenance, the middle declines. No battle is so costly that it cannot be afforded; no battle so vital that the nation must be mobilized. The soldiers become professionals, "volunteers" in our terms. The institutions of the Republic -- the Congress, the Senate -- are scorned, often deservedly so. The executive decides the questions of war and peace. The secret state expands. The country finds itself constantly at war. New presidents inherit the wars of their predecessors. They are faced not with deciding to go to war, but whether to accept defeat in one already in progress.

And slowly, the great power declines from the inside out. The wars are costly, running up national debts. Vital investments are put off. Schools decline. Sewers leak. For a long time, circuses distract from the spreading ruin. Other societies become productive centers, capturing the new industries. Some begin providing better education for their citizens, better support for their citizens. Their taxes, not drained by the cost of wars past and present, can be devoted to what we used to call "domestic improvements."

US Yet to sign Treaty on Rights of the Child - Unesco

Why California Students Do Not Understand Chicano/Latino History.

Dr. Duane Campbell, BMED (emeritus) has been organizing testimony to change the History/Social Science Framework for California Schools.  The current Framework was written in 1987 and ignores Chicano/Latino history and Asian history. State Frameworks control the writing and the  selection of textbooks in California.  The Framework was scheduled to be revised in 1994, 2000, and 2007, but it was not.

This story is told in Choosing Democracy: a practical guide to multicultural education, 2010,(Allyn And Bacon)   now in its 4^th. edition by Duane Campbell with co-authored sections by a number of  faculty in BMED.  This  willful refusal to include Chicano/Latino and Asian history is a continuing  example of cultural imperialism.

Dr. Campbell will speak on the current status of the Framework, on California  textbook adoption , curriculum development, on multicultural education and the role of the university in challenging ideological hegemony.  Co authors of the book will be present to respond to questions. 

Monday, Nov. 30.  4 PM.  Hinde Auditorium,

CSU-Sacramento.

Sponsored by the Serna Center.

Light refreshments will be served.

Quality public education for all: California

We've got to stop cutting public education. To ease the budget crisis, one state after another is taking an ax to higher education. This is cruel and shortsighted.

Cruel because it denies students the right to a decent education. Shortsighted because how will this generation of students get prepared to compete globally or even to clean up the financial mess brought about by Wall Street?

I'm a product of the worst and best public education California has to offer. I grew up in an East Los Angeles housing project in the 1970s and 1980s. I attended overcrowded public schools in the inner city. Like many racial minorities from America's barrios and ghettos, I received an inadequate education.

While I excelled in mathematics, I was never taught to read or write at a competent level throughout my K-12 schooling. To complicate matters, the longest paper assigned to me in high school was two pages long.

I taught myself how to properly read and write while going through college to compensate for my poorly funded K-12 education. But what will happen to those without this same self-drive that I learned from my Mexican immigrant mother? Fortunately, I also benefited from affirmative action and from numerous educational outreach programs and policies like Occident College's Upward Bound - a preparatory program for students from disadvantaged communities.

If not for such programs, I wouldn't have made it to UCLA as an undergraduate. I wouldn't have earned a master's degree in urban planning there. And I wouldn't be pursuing my doctorate at Berkeley.

So I worry about those who grow up in poor neighborhoods without the same educational safety nets that allowed for me to attend some of the best universities in this country. I can't help but be concerned about the plight of my wife's elementary school students in East Los Angeles today.

Those who fight affirmative action and against government-sponsored early educational outreach programs conveniently wash their hands of any responsibility toward those who lack the financial resources and access to human capital to go to college.

And fewer and fewer have those resources, with one state after another raising tuition and other fees. These fee hikes couldn't come at a worse time.

If we care about equality of opportunity, if we are concerned about our ability to compete in the global economy, it's time to give everyone, including those from America's barrios and ghettos, a shot at a great public education.

ABOUT THE WRITER

Alvaro Huerta is a doctoral student at the University of California at Berkeley and a visiting scholar at UCLA's Chicano Studies Research Center. He wrote this for Progressive Media Project, a source of liberal commentary on domestic and international issues; it is affiliated with The Progressive magazine. Readers may write to the author at: Progressive Media Project, 409 East Main Street, Madison, Wis. 53703; e-mail: pmproj@progressive.org; Web site: www.progressive.org. For information on PMP's funding, please visit http://www.progressive.org/pmpabout.html#anchorsupport.

Senator Sanders on the health care bill

The Economic Crisis- Conference

DSA Talk: The Economic Crisis:

Economic Crisis, The Budget, Our Schools, and Your Students. This session will focus on the causes and consequences of the Great Recession, and its impact on education. Speaker will focus on explaining the crisis, available resources, and strategies for resistance.

Duane Campbell, DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)

12:30 P.M. The Redwood Room. Nov.14. 2009. 

 Sac State hosts

Multicultural Education Conference 

Social justice educator Brian D. Schultz is the keynote speaker for the 16^th annual Multicultural Education Conference, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, in Sacramento State’s University Union.

Titled, “Social Justice Through Civic Engagement and Action,” the free conference is sponsored by Sacramento State’s Bilingual/Multicultural Education Department (BMED) and co-sponsored by the Serna Center and Project Citizen. The conference provides an opportunity for university faculty and local educators to promote multicultural education in K-12 public schools in the Sacramento region

Lou Dobbs leaves CNN

Lou Dobbs, the longtime CNN anchor whose anti-immigration views have made him a TV lightning rod, said Wednesday that he is leaving the cable news channel effective immediately.

Sitting before an image of an American flag on his television set, he said “some leaders in media, politics and business have been urging me to go beyond the role here at CNN and to engage in constructive problem solving as well as to contribute positively to the great understanding of the issues of our day.”

“I’m considering a number of options and directions,” Mr. Dobbs added. A transcript of his remarks is available here.

Jonathan Klein, the president of CNN/U.S. said in a statement that “Lou has now decided to carry the banner of advocacy journalism elsewhere.”

“All of us will miss his appetite for big ideas, the megawatt smile and larger than life presence he brought to our newsroom,” Mr. Klein said.

Women Congress members on health care

What happened when women Democrats tried to protect women's right to health care ?

Economic Crisis - Forum

DSA Talk: The Economic Crisis:

Economic Crisis, The Budget, Our Schools, and Your Students. This session will focus on the causes and consequences of the Great Recession, and its impact on education. Speaker will focus on explaining the crisis, available resources, and strategies for resistance.

Duane Campbell, DSA (Democratic Socialists of America)

12:30 P.M. The Redwood Room. Nov.14. 2009. 

      Multicultural Education Conference

Social justice educator Brian D. Schultz is the keynote speaker for the 16^th annual Multicultural Education Conference, 8:30 a.m.-3 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 14, in Sacramento State’s University Union.

Titled, “Social Justice Through Civic Engagement and Action,” the free conference is sponsored by Sacramento State’s Bilingual/Multicultural Education Department (BMED) and co-sponsored by the Serna Center and Project Citizen. The conference provides an opportunity for university faculty and local educators to promote multicultural education in K-12 public schools in the Sacramento region

Schultz is the author of Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons from an Urban Classroom. A panel discussion by candidates for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction will follow Shultz’ talk. The rest of the day will be filled with 30 break-out sessions on a range of topics including Peace and Conflict Resolution, Technology Integration and Anti-Bias Media Analysis, and Impact of Educational Reform Polices on English Learners.

For more information or to register for the conference, visit www.edweb.csus.edu/bmed, e-mail Maggie Beddow at beddow@csus.edu, or call the BMED Office at (916) 278-5942.

George Bush: inspirational speaker !

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-october-27-2009/george-w--bush-hits-the-lecture-circuit

The Daily Show

Bernie Sanders on the Economy

1. Watch the video  2. Tell 5 friends to sign-up		As the middle class struggles under the burden of the biggest economic downturn since the great depression, the beneficiaries of a $700 billion dollar bailout are back to business as usual; back to taking big risks and big bonuses. This week Senator Sanders takes on the bailout and bonus loving CEOs of Wall Street and reminds progressives to stay firm in our resolve of all the important issues, but to remember the unemployed and underemployed as they fight to stay afloat in the return of the Gilded Age. While tens of millions of Americans are suffering, the rich are getting richer and Wall Street is returning to its old ways. Share this show with your friends and tell them to get Sanders delivered to their inbox weekly! Yours, Robert Greenwald and the Brave New Films team

Watch Moyers; It is time for economic reform

It is time for economic justice.  Bill Moyers

Capitalism: a Love Story

BILL MOYERS:

I sat in a theater packed with passionate moviegoers, every one of them seemingly aghast at the Wall Street skullduggery exposed by Michael Moore in his latest film. It's called 'Capitalism: A Love Story.' Here's an excerpt:

MICHAEL MOORE: We're here to get the money back for the American People. Do you think it's too harsh to call what has happened here a coup d'état? A financial coup d'état?

MARCY KAPTUR: That's, no. Because I think that's what's happened. Um, a financial coup d'état?

Just over a year after economic calamity brought promises of reform from Washington, has Wall Street really changed? Former International Monetary Fund chief economist Simon Johnson and US Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) report on the state of the economy.

More from Simon Johnson and US Rep. Marcy Kaptur and review the JOURNAL's coverage of the financial crisis.

Watch the video: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/10092009/watch.html

Report on the Economic Crisis Forum -Sacramento

The Economic Crisis, The Budget &

The University

Forum discussion of the economic crisis and the cutbacks at the university.  Oct.13,2009.  Sacramento State University.

The annual Progressive Forum was well attended by over 120 students, faculty, and community members, as a part of   CFA’s week of action against the budget cuts, furloughs and lay offs. http://www.calfac.org/headlines.html.

Speaking representing  DSA in the forum  Dr. Duane Campbell argued political actions taken and not taken in the next 12 months may well determine the structure of our economy, our health care system, and our unions for the next two decades.  He urged participants to see the new film, Capitalism: a Love Story by Michael Moore.

Forum; The Economic Crisis

Forum on the Economic Crisis:

The Economic Crisis, The Budget &

The University

Be a part of the solution.

Panelists: Prof. Paul Burke, Co-Chair, Sac Progressive Alliance; Dr. Duane Campbell, Democratic Socialists of America; Kristina Lee, President, Campus Progressive Alliance; Kevin Wehr, President CFA.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

1:30pm - 3pm

Orchard Room, CSUS University Union

In the Soul of Capitalism, William Grieder describes the crisis this way,

“The conservative economic doctrine that has governed the country for a generation and reshaped the society in many harsh ways is collapsing, though not yet fully dislodged. We are witnessing the dying groans of a political ideology. The Market first theory failed as a governing regime essentially for practical reasons. It did not deliver what it promised- reliable and widely shared prosperity.”

The old order is dying, but the new order has yet to be born.

He argues,

"The U.S. has two parallel political systems. The official one, expertly equipped and in charge, produces and distributes political opinions and ideologies from the political class." { and shapes the teaching of economics in universities}

"The “other America”, weak, dispersed, largely non organized, scattered and passive, is the broad landscape of ordinary people. Our yearnings are silenced, ignored and/or easily manipulated."

Economic Crisis - Forum

Sean Hannity and Water Wars

Sean Hannity and Water Wars

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-september-29-2009/where-the-riled-things-are

Barack Obama at the AFL-CIO

The U.S. has failed to control Wall Street

For all Obama's talk of overhaul, the US has failed to wind in Wall Street

With a blank cheque from taxpayers and no real reform the perverse incentives for risk-taking are bigger than ever

by Joseph Stiglitz
The Guardian (U.K.)
9/14/09

What went wrong? Have the right lessons been learned? Could it happen again? The anniversary of the Lehman Brothers' bankruptcy and the freezing of the credit markets that followed is an occasion for reflection. I fear that our collective response has been mistaken and inadequate – that we may just have made matters worse.

The financial sector would like us to believe that if only the Federal Reserve and the Treasury had leapt to the rescue of Lehmans all would have been fine. Sheer nonsense. Lehmans was not a cause but a consequence: a consequence of flawed lending practices, and of inadequate oversight by regulators.

Financial markets had lent on the basis of a bubble – a bubble in large part of their making. They had incentive structures that encouraged excessive risk-taking and shortsighted behaviour. And that was no accident. It was the fruit of vigorous lobbying, which strived equally hard to prevent regulation of changes in the financial structure, new products like credit default swaps – which, while supposedly designed to manage risk, actually created it – and ingenious devices to exploit poor and uninformed borrowers and investors. The sector may not have made good economic investments, but its political investments paid off handsomely.

Lehmans was allowed to fail, we were told at the time, because its failure did not pose systemic risk. The systemic consequences its failure entailed, of course, were used as an excuse for the massive bailouts for the banks. Thus the Lehmans example became at best a scare tactic; at worst it became an excuse, a tool, to extract as much as possible for the banks and the bankers that brought the world to the brink of economic ruin.

Had more thought gone into how to deal with Lehmans, the Treasury and Fed might have realised that it played an important role in the shadow banking system, and that it was important to protect the integrity of the shadow system which had come to play such an important role in the US and global financial payments system. But many of Lehmans' activities had no systemic importance. The administration could have found a path between the false dichotomy of abandonment or bailout. That would have protected the payments system, providing the minimum amount of taxpayer money. Shareholders and long-term bondholders would have been wiped out before any public money had to be put in.

Bailing out the US banks need not have meant bailing out the bankers, their shareholders, and bondholders. We could have kept the banks as ongoing institutions, even if we had played by the ordinary rules of capitalism which say that when a firm can't meet its obligations to creditors, the shareholders lose everything.

Unquestionably we should not have allowed banks to become so big and so intertwined that their failure would cause a crisis. But the Obama administration has created a new concept: institutions too big to be resolved, too big for capital markets to provide the necessary discipline. The perverse incentives for excessive risk-taking at taxpayers' expense are even worse with the too-big-to-be-resolved banks than they are at the too-big-to-fail institutions. We have signed a blank cheque on the public purse. We have not circumscribed their gambling – indeed, they have access to funds from the Fed at close to zero interest rates, and it appears that "trading profits" have (besides "accounting" changes) become the major source of returns.

Last night Barack Obama defended his administration's response to the financial crisis, but the reality is that a year on from Lehmans' collapse, it has failed to take adequate steps to restrict institutions' size, their risk-taking, and their interconnectedness. Indeed, it has allowed the big banks to become even bigger – just as it has failed to stem the flow of profligate executive bonuses. Obama's call on Wall Street yesterday to support "the most ambitious overhaul of the financial system since the Great Depression" is welcome – but the devil, as ever, will be in the detail.

There remain many institutions willing and able to engage in gambling, trading and speculation. There is no justification for this to be done by institutions underwritten by the public. The implicit guarantee distorts the market, providing them a competitive advantage and giving rise to a dynamic of ever-increasing size and concentration. Only their own managerial competence, demonstrated amply by a few institutions, provides a check on the whole process.

The Lehmans episode demonstrates that incompetence has a price. That there would be serious problems in our financial institutions was apparent since early 2007, with the bursting of the bubble. Self-deception led those who had allowed the bubble to develop, who had looked the other way as bad lending practices became routine, to think that the problems were niche or temporary. But after the fall of Bear Stearns, with rumours that Lehmans was next, the Fed and the Treasury should have done a serious job of figuring out how to manage an orderly shutdown of a large, complex institution; and if they determined that they lacked adequate legal authority, they should have requested it.

They appear, remarkably, to have been repeatedly caught off-guard. They claim in the exigency of the moment they were doing the best they could. There was no time for thought. And that explains how they veered from one solution to another: after saying that they did not want to bail out Lehmans because of a concern about moral hazard, they extended the government's safety net further than it had ever been. Bear Stearns extended it to investment banks, and AIG to all financial institutions. Perhaps they were doing the best they could at the time; but that is no excuse for not having anticipated the problems and been better prepared.

Lehman Brothers was a symptom of a dysfunctional financial system and regulatory failure. It should have taught us that preventing problems is easier, and certainly less costly, than dealing with them when they become virtually intractable.
Joseph Stiglitz is a Nobel Prize winning U.S. economist

Who is Van Jones and why was he fired?

Obama on Labor Day - Health Care

Sign the petition: Its time for Change

Petition for those who worked and supported the campaign.
Please sign the petition.

http://salsa.wiredforchange.com/o/5649/t/4951/content.jsp?content_KEY=2793&tag=pod_huff1

here

DuaneCampbell
http://www.choosingdemocracy.blogspot.com
http://sites.google.com/site/democracyandeducationorg/

Students Rally against Budget Cuts

By Duane Campbell
Over 400 students , faculty and staff of the California State University –Sacramento rallied against increasing fees and cuts to their classes today, Sept.2,2009. Across the CSU students returned to find the 2009/10 academic year offers fewer class days as faculty are furloughed, much greater difficulty getting classes, and more limited services even as their fees have risen by one-third.
In response to state budget cuts to the universities, on July 21, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a fee increase requiring undergraduate students to pay $4,026 a year, an increase of about $1,000 over the previous year . In the last 7 years, during the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, student fees at the CSU have increased 170 %. The budget cuts were caused by the national and international economic crisis created by the financial crisis of 2008.

Protestors included students, faculty and staff of the university. The rally and two days of informational picketing was organized by the California Faculty Association (SEIU/NEA). They were joined by Bill Camp, Executive Secretary of the Sacramento Central Labor Council, Duane Campbell of DSA and the Progressive Alliance, Mecha, the Associated Students, and others.
Polls show that a majority of California voters reject draconian cuts to education. The CFA proposes a new tax on oil extraction to fund the universities, but they have been unable to pass the necessary legislation where a 2-3 vote is required to raise taxes. During the February California budget crisis corporations were able to get an additional $2.5 billion tax decrease.

Defend the University

Stealing From the Youth

by Joseph Palermo
There’s an ancient saying that we do not inherit our society from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children. On July 21, the California State University Board of Trustees approved a fee increase requiring undergraduate students this fall to pay $4,026 a year, an increase of about $1,000 over the previous year (and this fee hike came after years of previous increases). The fee hikes, the denial of enrollment to 40,000 students, the layoffs of faculty and staff, the budget cuts and furloughs, the stuffing of more students into fewer classes, etc. are all sacrificing California’s future for a short-term “fix” that in reality is not a “fix” at all. The 2010-2011 year will likely bring more bleak budgetary news. By blocking any new revenue streams to fund higher education, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Senate Republican minority are not only taxing California’s young people and their families, they are crippling the state’s future.
The degrees from CSU awarded during these furlough years might lead future employers to look upon them as suspect, perhaps even as inferior. The teachers, nurses, technicians, journalists, criminal justice professionals, and others we teach could have the quality of their training questioned. It’s not fair to the students and their families to be forced into buying an inferior product for grossly inflated prices. Students are paying more than ever for a CSU education even though they’ll be spending less time with professors, have fewer course offerings, and be crammed in overcrowded classrooms.
These budget cuts and student fee increases have gone on for years now, but 2009-2010 will be the cruelest year of all. In past budget cycles, CSU Chancellor Charles Reed and the Board of Trustees have responded with a shrug, saying simply: “We’ll manage.” Reed recently told the press that CSU is still a “bargain” compared to other institutions.
Really? A “bargain?” Or is it a bargain basement sell-off? Some students are transferring to other colleges that are more prestigious and only cost a little more in tuition.
There has been a profound lack of leadership among our elected officials in the state Capitol and in Long Beach, where the Chancellor and Trustees preside. Now the CSU administration has been finally forced to acknowledge that the latest round of devastating cuts will adversely affect the quality of education: “Cuts of this magnitude will naturally have consequences for the quality of the education we can provide,” a side letter to the furlough agreement states.
The California Faculty Association has stood and will continue to stand with students and their families. The record is clear. CFA has opposed every single increase in student fees whenever the issue has been raised in the Legislature. As a faculty organization we have consistently lobbied state legislators and the governor’s office to invest in California’s higher education. To that end we have voiced our strong support of Assembly Bill 656, sponsored by Assembly Majority Leader Alberto Torrico (D-Fremont), because it is a sensible and fair effort to secure funding for the CSU. The Republican minority in the State Senate and our Republican governor squashed it, and by doing so they denied the necessary funding for the CSU system that would have helped us avoid what we are seeing today — cuts, furloughs, and fee hikes. (It’s a tax on CSU students and their families. The pay cut is also a tax on faculty and staff.)
In order NOT to tax ExxonMobile, Shell Oil, and other oil conglomerates that have made record profits in the tens of billions of dollars off California consumers in recent years, the Republicans blocked Torrico’s oil severance tax proposal that would have provided a billion dollars for higher education. They also blocked a tax on cigarettes that would have adverted cuts as well. And they did so for blind ideological reasons with a total disregard for what is in the best interest of the state of California. They sided with Big Oil and Big Tobacco to penalize college students who are just trying to increase their skill and knowledge levels to be productive members of the state’s workforce and to make California’s future as bright as its past.
Somebody should ask Governor Schwarzenegger and the Republicans in the Legislature why they insist on taxing students instead of oil and tobacco corporations. That’s why students were chanting outside the Chancellor’s office when he approved the fee hike: “TAX OIL, NOT STUDENTS!”
At his annual convocation to college staff and faculty, the president of CSU, Chico, Paul Zingg, pointed out that over the past 10 years state revenues have gone up while the percentage of the state general fund for higher education has gone down. Over the same time period general fund spending for prisons has gone from $5 billion to $11 billion. California spends about $50,000 per prisoner, and less than one-tenth of that to support a student in the CSU system. How can a state that spends more on prisons each year than on higher education create a better future for its citizens? President Zingg called it a “rejection of history and common sense.” “Education is as fundamental to our state as waterways, railroads, highways and the Internet,” he said.
It won’t be easy, but CSU professors can absorb these pay cuts and we will absorb them. We’ll manage. We’ll get by. We can take the hit as our faculty union voted in favor of doing so in the name of protecting higher education in California. CFA approved a 9.23 percent cut in our remuneration that will be reflected in a 9.23 percent reduction in our teaching activities. We’ve done our part.
The professors will endure. But the students and their families are the true victims here. They’re getting ripped off. CSU students are taking on extra jobs and piling on extra units to get through faster just to make ends meet. The quality of their education is suffering even while they go into debt, work long hours, and stretch themselves thin with heavy unit loads to obtain a degree. If it is true that we do not inherit our society from our ancestors, but borrow it from our children, then the current downsizing of the CSU system represents a wholesale larceny against our children and our future.
Joseph Palermo is Associate Professor of American History at CSU, Sacramento. He’s the author of two books on Robert F. Kennedy: In His Own Right (2001) and RFK (2008).

On Monday and Tuesday, we will be picketing to protest budget cuts at Sac State.
Meet us at the main entrance (J Street side) from 8-10.

On Wednesday we will be holding a rally in the library quad from Noon-1 to protest these severe budget cuts. Please come out. This is the beginning of a long effort to change the way the state views higher education. See you there. Below are the facebook links for these events:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122712646373
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=162364435080
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142567043273