Tag: Domestic Issues

Obama To Continue Telecom Policy

In a brief filed late Wednesday obtained by Raw Story, the Department of Justice provided its views to Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, after the San Francisco federal judge questioned the constitutionality of the wide-sweeping law and whether it gives the U.S. Attorney General too much power in deciding whether a company is immune from lawsuits after it has shared information with federal agents.
The law was specifically designed to protect companies who participated in government wiretapping programs from legal claims and is one that President Obama supported as a senator when it was approved by Congress last year.

“Electronic communication service providers play an important role in assisting intelligence officials in national security activities. Indeed, the intelligence community cannot obtain the intelligence it needs without assistance from these companies,” the Administration’s 18-page brief says.

“The department is compelled to defend the statute as long as it can reasonably do so, and in this case the department was asked by the court to make a defense of the statute passed by Congress,” DOJ spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement accompanying the submission of the brief. “The [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] Act passed by Congress in 2008 is the law of the land, and as such the Department of Justice defends it in court.”

The Justice Department brief was filed in support of the department’s motion to Walker to dismiss or to provide summary judgment in the lawsuit against AT&T for sharing customer telephone and e-mail records with federal agencies. The constitutionality of the law is defended on the grounds that the attorney general is only carrying out powers specifically given to him by Congress.

The Department asserts that the “presumption of constitutionality becomes even stronger” when Congress delegates authority to the executive branch in matters of national security or foreign affairs.

Somethings never change…..even when change is called for.

Economic Crisis Invites Violence

As families confront the impact of the current economic crisis, social service agencies across the US are seeing growing numbers of cases of domestic violence and child abuse. The correlation between financial stress and the growing incidence of such cases is shown in increased calls to hotlines, visits to emergency rooms and the utilization of social services and shelters.

As the recession deepens, social workers and medical professionals expect the situation to worsen. And while more women and children—the primary targets of this violence—become victims, funding for programs to assist them is being cut back. The impact is being felt in states across the country.

Domestic violence shelters in Texas are experiencing an unprecedented jump in families seeking emergency assistance. Of the 29 shelters surveyed by the Allstate Foundation this year, 83 percent reported a dramatic increase in hotline calls, walk-ins, and/or families staying at their shelters

In Florida, the number of calls received by the state’s Department of Children and Families’ hotline is up by more than 12,000 over the 12-month period ending in October. DCF Secretary George Sheldon attributes the rise to the financial stresses of job loss and dwindling family budgets.

Child welfare experts in the Sacramento, California region are concerned about the number of children at risk for abuse as the economy worsens. Sacramento County Child Protective Services is seeing an increase in both the number and severity of child abuse cases. In October, there were 460 reported situations where a child’s safety was in such immediate risk that an investigator was required to respond immediately

Need for these services will surely rise as more families face the loss of a job, wage cuts, lose their medical coverage, or go into foreclosure. A September 2004 study released by the National Institute of Justice revealed a direct link between such stress and domestic violence:

• Women whose male partners experience two or more periods of unemployment over the five-year course of the study were three times more likely to be abused.

• Couples under “financial strain” had triple the domestic violence rate of other couples in the population.

Despite such data, as the demand for services grows under the weight of these economic strains, federal funding to a key program that serves victims of domestic violence has been cut: $2.1 million was slashed from The Family Violence Prevention and Services budget earlier this year.

National Economic Recovery Act

The US needs a NERA to get the economy and the country moving again.
Make no mistake about it, this election was won on bread and butter economic issues. While John McCain and Sarah Palin focused on the rhetoric of patriotism, “trickle-down” economics, “staying the course” on Bush’s tax cuts and family values; they also embraced the very economic policies that both undermine the middle class and subvert the security of American family life.
What the election results told us is we need a President who understands and believes in coherent, comprehensive and equitable policies that promote sustainable and healthy economic growth. What we need is a leader who in his First Hundred Days in office will deal effectively with the housing crisis and demand legislative oversight and accountability of those financial, insurance and other corporations that have, or will be, bailed out.

The first thing that President-elect Obama should do is to begin to restore the confidence of the American people by demonstrating that he is willing to provide leadership; that he is willing to take immediate and bold policy initiatives to put the economy back on the right track. Toward this end he should call a meeting as soon as possible with Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, and Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House. At this meeting he should propose that they call Congress back into a special session to consider emergency legislation: The National Economic Recovery Act of 2008.

The legislation would include:

* Investment in alternative energy development and new green collar jobs;

* An extension of unemployment benefits;

* Expansion of the Food Stamp program;

* Re-negotiation of mortgage terms for those about to lose their homes;
* An increase in the Community Economic Development discretionary budget to $250 million a year so that community economic development corporations (CDCs) can create more business and employment opportunities in economically distressed neighborhoods and communities that have been hit hardest by the sub-prime loan crisis; and most important

* A major economic stimulus package that would provide $250 billion in direct assistance to states and local governments for infrastructure development. This kind of direct federal spending for community and economic development would be far more productive than rebate checks. It will create jobs and crucial investments where it counts and is needed.
It is the smartest investment we can make as a nation. Just think about some recent events: a bridge in Minneapolis collapsing; the electric grids failing last summer; Hurricane Katrina hitting New Orleans; commuter traffic logjams; and a sewage system breaking down in Honolulu are but a few examples of our outdated and crumbling infrastructure. In communities across our nation, our schools, mass transit systems, water and sewer plants, hospitals, bridges, levees, railway beds, ports and subways are in disrepair. If we are to participate in an increasingly competitive international economy we must rehabilitate our infrastructure

Ideas are those of Arthur Blaustein and deserve a good hard look….we need new ideas not the same sort of crappy thinking that put us in this spot in history.

Those Darn Pesky Socialists–Page 3

The final installment of what a socialist believes.

Energy

1. We call for the development of alternative energy sources including solar, geothermal, wind, hydropower, and biomass to end dependence on fossil fuels.

2. We call for a sliding-scale index which favors low-income people, to ensure that all people have access to utility services.

3. We call for mandatory vitrification (encapsulation) of all spent nuclear fuel, control rods and other waste.

4. We call for a ban on all imports of nuclear materials, whether they are vitrified or not.

Environment

1. We call for public ownership and democratic control of all our natural resources in order to conserve resources, preserve our wilderness areas, and restore environmental quality.

2. The U.S. must immediately return to participation in international agreements, such as the Kyoto Protocol, limiting carbon emissions, and accept a major role in worldwide efforts to control global warming.

3. We call for placing full financial responsibility on private companies for prevention and clean up of their own toxic wastes and for full compensation of workers and residents adversely affected by environmental hazards.

4. We oppose policies that target minority communities for placement of local landfills, toxic waste disposal sites, or incinerators.

5.  We call for strong, enforceable endangered species protection that focuses on habitat-centered protection for plants and animals.

6. We oppose any new nuclear power projects and call for the rapid phasing out of all nuclear power plants, and a ban on the export of nuclear technology.

7. We support the recycling of glass, metals, plastic, paper, and chemicals and the use of recycled materials for public works projects such as roadways, parks, and playgrounds.

8. We call for shutting down waste incinerators and phasing out landfills and especially oppose targeting minority communities for hazardous waste disposal sites.

9. We oppose open-pit mining operations and support the reclamation of land used by mining operations at the company’s expense.

10. We support large-scale environmental restoration efforts.

OMG!  I found one that Obama believes–#1 under energy, but then so does McCain.  Does that mean that McCain is a socialist too.  We are doomed!  (sarcasm intended)

Those Darn Pesky Socialists–Page1

Since Obama has been accused of being a socialist, I thought I would illustrate some of the issues that the Socialist Party candidates.

The Socialist Party has a long history of productive campaigns for the nation’s highest office. At our October, 2007 National Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, we nominated Brian Moore of Florida for president and Stewart Alexander of California for vice-president. For more information, visit their campaign Web site at www.votesocialist2008.org

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Education
The Socialist Party recognizes the right of students of all ages to a free, quality education in a safe and supportive environment, and of all school employees to good wages, benefits, and working conditions.
1.  We call for full and equal funding of public education; for the restoration of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, including art, music, world languages, and physical education; for an end to all public funding of private schools; and for free tuition and full-time teachers with full benefits (not “adjuncts”) at the post-secondary level.

2. We support public child care starting from infancy, and public education starting at age three, with caregivers and teachers of young children receiving training, wages, and benefits comparable to that of teachers at every other level of the educational system.

3.  We oppose merit pay for teachers, standardized testing, competition between schools within the same district, the sale of on-campus advertising in order to raise funds, and the increasing dependence of post-secondary institutions on corporate funding.

4.  We call for an egalitarian educational system with teaching methods that accommodate the wide range of teaching and learning styles, and that provides all students with the means to obtain the post-secondary education they desire.  We call a maximum of 15 students per teacher for grades K-12, and a maximum of 50 students per teacher at the post-secondary level.

5.  We call for vigorous affirmative action programs so that the faculty and student-body of all schools reflect the community at large in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and economic background.  We support multicultural, multilingual, experimental education at all levels.

6.  We support student, parent, and teacher control of curriculum formation, and in the hiring and dismissal procedures of school personnel, through the formation of local school/community committees.

7.  We call for student representation on school boards, and for those boards to be fully accountable to students, parents, teachers, and school workers.

8.  We call for opportunities for lifelong self-education, with retraining programs and transitional financial support for workers displaced by technological advances.

9.  We support full and unrestricted health education programs, including sex education, with curriculum input from parents, students, teachers, and health care professionals.

10. We oppose school-sponsored prayer or any other religious practice in public schools, and all efforts to limit the teaching of evolution or to combine it with non-scientific theories.

11.  We call for free and open access to information, including the public ownership of all large databases.

Health Care
The Socialist Party stands for a socialized health care system based on universal coverage, salaried doctors and health care workers, and revenues derived from a steeply graduated income tax.
1.  We support a national health program with full standard and alternative medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage for all, publicly funded through progressive taxation and controlled by democratically elected assemblies of health care workers and patients. The National Health Program should extend, and replace, Medicare and Medicaid.

2.  We call for a health care system that emphasizes preventive care, respects patients’ privacy, gives special attention to the needs of the physically and mentally disabled, and conducts treatment and research unimpaired by sexism, racism, or homophobia.

3. We call for full funding for AIDS research, prevention, and treatment.   We demand full civil rights for people living with AIDS.

4. We call for public ownership and worker and community control of the pharmaceutical industry.

5.  We call for educational programs to help prevent drug addiction; for voluntary treatment programs for addicts and alcoholics; and for the availability of free, sterile needles for those still using IV drugs.

6.  We call for the reinstatement of funding to community mental health services so that low-cost or no-cost treatment is available on a voluntary basis, with clients’ rights respected. We oppose involuntary incarceration for treatment without due process.

7.  We support the right to choose or refuse medical treatment, the right to die, and the right to assisted suicide.

Housing
The Socialist Party recognizes the right of all people to high quality, low cost housing.
1.   We call for a vast increase in Section 8 housing subsidies as one element of major public investment in the construction of low cost, scattered site, community-based, high quality housing.

2.  We call for rent control for all rental units, and the right of tenants to organize.

3.  We support the formation of non-profit land trusts and of socially owned, tenant controlled housing cooperatives.

4.  We call for the organization of a housing rehabilitation program aimed at renovating and remodeling existing homes to bring them up to housing and safety codes, as part of a broader public works program.

5. We call for an end to home foreclosures

Transportation
The Socialist Party calls for extensive public transportation in both urban and rural areas.
1.  We call for the creation of a fully funded high-speed national rail system with fares set low enough to be a viable alternative to the use of the automobile.

2.  We call for an end to the expansion of the interstate highway system and the reduction of combustion engine/auto based transport.

3.  We call for government subsidized programs to expand safe routes for foot and bicycle paths.

4.  We call for pedestrian ways, accessible by mass transit, which exclude vehicles from the downtown area of cities and towns.

5.  We support publicly funded development of renewable fuels.

6. We support federally funded auto insurance.

7. We call for public ownership and worker control of the airline industry.

This taken from their website at:

http://socialistparty-usa.org/platform/

I hate to bring this up, but, don’t you people think that if Obama was truly a socialist that the SP would be supporting him and not running their candidates?  Just a thought.  But then that is something I do, unlike most voters.