APA for Progress RSS Feed

APAP Stands in Solidarity with APALA on the American Jobs Act

erinjerri — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 18:22:30 +0000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 7, 2011
Contact: Caroline Fan, 202-508-3734

Asian Pacific American Groups on the American Jobs Act

The Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance (APALA) and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development (National CAPACD) are encouraged by President Obama’s continued efforts to address the current economic crisis through the American Jobs Act that he introduced last week. As organizations that represent the underserved, APALA and National CAPACD request that any proposals and initiatives reach those most in need of assistance, including many Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities that continue to experience disproportionately high rates of unemployment and declining community wealth and assets.

The American Jobs Act will expand job opportunities for the unemployed, support small businesses to hire and grow, and revitalize our neighborhoods. The Act includes $35 billion to prevent layoffs for our teachers, cops and firefighters. It also provides $15 billion for Project Rebuild, a project that would stabilize neighborhoods by leveraging private capital to finance the rehabilitation of vacant and foreclosed homes and businesses. The plan includes $10 million to help minority-owned and disadvantaged businesses gain better access to transportation contracts for modernizing our nation’s infrastructures. The President is also proposing support for summer and year-round jobs for youth. For more details on the American Jobs Act and its impact in the AAPI community, click here.

“It’s time for Congress to do its job and pass legislation that creates jobs for working families. Right now AAPIs spend a longer period of time unemployed than other Americans. Deficit reduction and government budget cuts aren’t going to help hard working Americans put food on the table,” says Johanna Hester, the new President of APALA and Director of Organizing for the UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, the Homecare Providers’ Union.

However, as Congress looks to further reduce the deficit to pay for these proposals, we ask that critical safety net programs currently in place to support low-income communities remain intact. Further cuts to any of these programs will directly impact thousands of families while threatening to undermine the goals of the American Jobs Act.
We look forward to working with the Administration and Congress to develop economic recovery efforts that reach our most vulnerable populations while ensuring that vital programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are protected.

APAP SF Bay Area Mixer with KAYA

erinjerri — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 02:43:31 +0000

Join progressive folks from Asian Pacific Americans for Progress (APAP) and KAYA: Filipino Americans for Progress for a drink (pre-Advancing Justice Conference) as we celebrate Asian and Filipino American progressives this election 2011.

Wednesday, October 26

7-9PM

Hukilau San Francisco

5 Masonic Ave

San Francisco

RSVP on facebook

Filipino American Community Mayor's Forum 2011 San Francisco

erinjerri — Sat, 08 Oct 2011 02:36:14 +0000

Filipino American Community Mayor's Forum 2011

San Francisco

by Erin Jerri Pangilinan - National Communications Director

TONIGHT at 7:30PM PST: Watch our livestream of the Filipino American Community Mayor's Forum 2011 - San Francisco here!

Watch our liveblog

Join us and hear what the candidates for San Francisco Mayor have to say about the issues facing the Filipino American community and how they plan to best serve our city of San Francisco.

Carnelian by the Bay
One Ferry Plaza, San Francisco

Like us on Facebook

Help us trend on Twitter: #FilAmSFMayor
Follow us @kayagrassroots

Rally for Exploited Filipino Teachers of Prince George County

Calvin Prashad — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 04:41:49 +0000

This information comes to us via Jo Quiambao of the Filipino advocacy group, Katarungan.

There will be a rally TODAY (8/9/11) from 2 - 5pm in front of the White House to support the Filipino teachers of Prince George County that have had their wages stolen and are now faced with deportation.

On 7/7/11, the Department of Labor found that Prince George County, Maryland illegally exploited 1,044 guest worker teachers on H-1B visas by forcing them to pay federal fees that should have been paid by the school system. The federal government requires employers to pay an anti-fraud and a filing fee. These back wages amounted to $4,222,146 from May 2005 to July 2011. As this rampant abuse was willful, the PGCPS (Prince George County Public Schools) also faced civil penalties but more importantly received a ban on extending or requesting permanent residency for the guest workers.

The Department of Labor ruling is not yet final, but PGCPS has stopped processing paperwork for those teachers on visas, making them vulnerable to deportation by the DHS and imperils the immigration status of 240 teachers between now and November. The district will be firing those teachers on the day their visa expires.

These teachers were brought here to fulfill federal mandates under No Child Left Behind. Now the federal government is effectively deporting them to the Philippines after they made a tremendous impact on the quality of schools in Prince George County. Is this how we as a nation treat our guest workers? We recruit them in their native country with promises of employment only to discard them? These teachers have lives in America. They have families, responsibilities and roots here. Not only has their employer victimized them for a number of years, but now the federal government seeks to victimize them as well.

Show your solidarity for these teachers by signing this petition. An injustice there is an injustice everywhere and our public sector workers suffer.

Change.org petition

For additional reading, consult the DOL ruling as well as the Pilipino Educators Network website

Pilipino Educators Network

Department of Labor ruling

Celebrating LGBT Pride & AAPI Heritage Month

erinjerri — Wed, 25 May 2011 15:49:40 +0000

Celebrating LGBT Pride & AAPI Heritage Month

Cross-posted at White House Blog

Posted by Hector Vargas on May 25, 2011 at 09:07 AM EDT

Earlier this week at an event hosted by the White House, I listened as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Asian American Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) youth told compelling stories about the challenges and triumphs of living at the intersections of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity.

I heard stories about the heartbreak of being rejected by families who felt that being LGBT was against culture or religion, about teachers and counselors not being prepared to work with LGBT students of color, and about constant bullying and harassment from other students who often combined racial and homophobic slurs and taunts to further isolate and marginalize their fellow students.

And I heard stories of reconciliation with families, of organizing to strengthen gay-straight alliances, of leading campaigns for safe school policies and laws, and of learning self-worth and respect through programs designed to specifically serve LGBT AANHPI youth. The stories were about courage, resilience and empowerment.

These were the experiences of 19 LGBT AANHPI youth who gathered for a White House AANHPI LGBT Pride and Heritage Event. The youth came from all across the nation, including from Minnesota, Indiana and Missouri, representing the diversity within the AANHPI and LGBT communities.

The common denominator among them all is leadership. Each and every youth who attended is a leader in their own right, pushing to ensure that the issues and concerns of LGBT AANHPI communities are being addressed in their schools, communities and at all levels of government. I am inspired by each of them and their experiences and leadership.

Hosted by the White House Office of Public Engagement and the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, the event brought together LGBT AANHPI youth with representatives from the Departments of Education, Justice and Health and Human Services so that they could incorporate the specific needs of this community into federal anti-bullying, comprehensive sex education, and HIV preventions programs. A handful of advocates working with LGBT AANHPI youth also shared specific recommendations in these areas.

The stories that were told underscore the experiences of LGBT AANHPI people who live at the intersections of race and ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, class, immigration status, age and so many other characteristics. That’s why I feel honored that as an openly gay Filipino-American serving on the President’s Advisory Commission on AAPIs that I have been given a unique opportunity to bring all of who I am to the Commission’s work to serve AANHPI communities.

As we continue to celebrate Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month and as we prepare for LGBT Pride celebrations that often occur in June, the notion of “Pride & Heritage” has special meaning. It presents the opportunity for me, and the entire LGBT AANHPI community and allies, to celebrate and recognize all aspects of who we are. This is a part of the American experience that isn’t often heard but in a rare and unique moment was given voice to at the highest levels of our government.

Hector Vargas serves on the President’s Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.

SAVE THE DATE! - 2010 AAPI House Party - May 2nd UPDATED

curtis — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:39:29 +0000

On Sunday, May 2nd, please join Asian Pacific Americans for Progress as we host our annual State of Asian Pacific America House Party. We are pleased to announce that Kalpen Modi, Associate Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement, Congressmembers Mike Honda (CA-15) and Judy Chu (CA-32) and other noted guests, will be joining us, via conference call, for the nationwide event. On the call, we'll be getting updates from the White House, Congress and grassroots activists on the progress we made this past year.

WHAT: State of Asian Pacific America House Party 2010

WHO: Hosted by Asian Pacific Americans for Progress

DATE: Sunday, May 2, 2010

TIME: 4-6 pm EST, 1-3 pm PST, 10 am - 12 pm Hawaii

· Kalpen Modi, Associate Director, White House Office of Public Engagement

· Mike Honda, Congressmember (CA-15), Chair of Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus

· Judy Chu, Congressmember (CA-32)

· Kiran Ahuja, Executive Director, White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders

· Ami Bera, Candidate for U.S. Congress (CA-03)

· Marissa Graciosa, Director, Fair Immigration Reform Movement

Kappa Phi Lambda

United States Student Association - National Asian Pacific American Student Caucus

Network of Indian Professionals

National Council for Chinese Americans

HOSTING A PARTY

Consider hosting a party. It's easy. Just gather 12-20 friends, family members or co-workers and call into our conference call. You can even provide snacks or make it a potluck. On the call, each guest will speak for a few minutes and then take a question or two. Afterwards, we hope you and the attendees at your party will discuss what issues are important to you and then to write up a report and post it on the APAP website with pictures. This will become a record of the issues that AAPI's around the country are talking about. We'll even submit a report to the Obama administration.

CLICK HERE FOR "HOW TO HOST A HOUSE PARTY"

CLICK HERE FOR "SUGGESTED TIMELINE FOR ORGANIZING A PARTY"

CLICK HERE FOR "FAQ's ABOUT HOUSE PARTIES"

CLICK HERE FOR "MATERIALS"

CLICK HERE TO SUBMIT QUESTIONS FOR HOUSE PARTY SPEAKERS.

*CLICK HERE FOR TIPS ON POSTING ON APAP'S WEB SITE

*CLICK HERE FOR POST-CALL SURVEY

PROGRAM SCHEDULE (all times are Eastern)

4:00 pm - introductions, mingle with guests, serve food

4:30 pm - phone call with special guests, including brief Q & A

5:00 pm - begin small group discussion with provided questions

5:45 pm - wrap up discussion

6:00 pm - post your pictures and stories on our website; submit your survey back to APAP

HOUSE PARTIES (as of April 27, 2010. More details to come)

To host a party, email curtis at apaforprogress.org

	HOST	Contact for directions and info
ARiZONA
Tempe	Zeenat Hasan	private
CALIFORNIA
Atherton	Sophia Yen	apafp@apaforprogress.org
Berkeley	Mary Nicely, Van Nguyen, APA Dem Club	mnicely@nicelydone.com
Berkeley	UC Berkeley (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
Garden Grove	Kawen Young	private
Glendale	Sara Sadhwani, APAP-LA	ssadhwani@apalc.org
Los Angeles (Chinatown)	Chinese American Citizens Alliance	suellenck@aol.com
Los Angeles (Westside)	Kris Cuarasemo Prim	private
Monterey Park	Henry Lo	generasian_xer@yahoo.com
Palo Alto	Stanford AA Student Assoc. Tina Duong	tinaduong2012@stanford.edu
Riverside	UCR (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
Sacramento	UCS (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
San Francisco	API Wellness	Stephanie@apiwellness.org, das@apiwellness.org
San Francisco	Hasan Diwan	hasan.diwan@gmail.com
San Francisco	Grande Lum	grandelum@gmail.com
Santa Barbara	UCSB (USSA)	greg@apaforprogres.org
Santa Cruz	UCSC (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
Westwood	UCLA (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
COLORADO
Denver	APAP Colorado	ppl_peng@yahoo.com, james.y.chiu2008@gmail.com
CONNECTICUT
New Britain	Elizabeth Strauss	elizabeth@cthealth.org
D.C.
Washington (Chinatown)	Patrice Yao, APAP-DC	patrice.yao@gmail.com
Washington (Dupont)	Aivina Yeh, Mable Kong	alvina@apiavote.org, mkong112@gmail.com
Washington	George Washington U. (KPL)	kplstarburst@gmail.com
FLORIDA
Miami	NET-IP	npaarth9@gmail.com
IDAHO
Pocatello	Michi Kawakami	private
ILLINOIS
Chicago	Theresa Mah	tmahtmah@gmail.com
Evanston	Northwestern (KPL)	sway.kpl@gmail.com, kpl.bolt@gmail.com, mpel.kpl@gmail.com
Urbana	Renee Chacko	chacko.renee@gmail.com
INDIANA
Bloomington	Asian Cultural Center	acc@indiana.edu
KANSAS
Lawrence	Maruel Unrein	Maruel.unrein@gmail.com
Wichita	Doris Chang, Dave Mason	drmason1986@gmail.com
MARYLAND
Baltimore	University of Maryland, Baltimore County (KPL)	kpl.sicily@gmail.com, kpl.solace@gmail.com
MASSACHUSETTS
Boston	APAP Boston	Michellle@apaforprogress.org
Northhampton	Judy Lei	private
MICHIGAN
Detroit	Sally Kim	private
Grand Rapids	Christina Fong	christina@ogreogress.com
MINNESOTA
Minneapolis	Sia Moua	siamoua@gmail.com
MISSOURI
St. Louis	Lilian Doan	Ldoan1@gmail.com
NEBRASKA
Omaha	Chelsea Kawakami	chelseakawakami@yahoo.com
NEVADA
Reno	Jesse Danen	private
Reno	Gabriel Matute Uy	gabematute@yahoo.com
NEW JERSEY
New Brunswick	Rutgers (KPL)	kplmystique@gmail.com
NEW MEXICO
Carolyn Chan	Chinese American Citizens Alliance	CAROCHAN@aol.com
NEW YORK
Binghamton	Calvin Prashad	calvin.prashad@gmail.com
Buffalo	University of Buffalo (KPL)	Chastity.kpl@gmail.com, kpl.lianna@gmail.com
New York	APAP New York	theresat@apaforprogress.org
New York	New York University (KPL)	kpl.delure@gmail.com, kpl.tnt@gmail.com, kpl.shatter@gmail.com
NORTH CAROLINA
Durham	Zach Chen (NCCA)	potterygod@gmail.com
OHIO
Cleveland	Michael Byun	private
Columbus	Rebecca Nelson, NETIP	rnelson@studentlife.osu.edu
Columbus	Ohio State (KPL)	kplzromeo@gmail.com
OREGON
Corvallis	Sandy Tsuneyoshi	sandy.tsuneyoshi@oregonstate.edu
Eugene	Joseph Mak	jason.d.mak@gmail.com
Eugene	University of Oregon (USSA)	greg@apaforprogress.org
Portland	Carmen Madrid	madcat67@gmail.com
PENNSYLVANIA
Bensalem	Ernie Gange	erniegange@aol.com
Horsham	Han Pan	Hanpan48@gmail.com
Philadelphia	Stella Tsai, Farzin Khan	farzin@apaforprogress.org
Philadelphia	Chinese for Families	info@chineseforfamilies.com
Pittsburgh	NETIP	npaarth9@gmail.com
TENNESSEE
Nashville	Tuan Ta	tuan.t.ta@gmail.com
TEXAS
Arlington	David Bruce Jones	private
Austin	Jaya Soni	jayasoni@yahoo.com
Austin	Sonia Kotecha (NET-IP)	sonia.kotecha@gmail.com
Dallas	Vishal Chander	vchander@chanderlaw.com
Houston	Gordon Quan	gquan@fosterquan.com
San Antonio	Charlie Zhao (NCCA)	private
UTAH
Holiday	Fahina Tavake-Pasi	private
VIRGINIA
Falls Church	Rose Chu	rccmason@gmail.com
WASHINGTON
Seattle	NAPAWF Seattle	ankimno@gmail.com
Seattle	Akemi Matsumoto	akemiseattle@gmail.com
Spokane	Ping Ping	ping9615@yahoo.com
WISCONSIN
Madison	Daniel Allen, Nira Ly, Tim Yu	tpyu@wisc.edu, nira_ly@yahoo.com
Milwaukee	Lorna Yeung	lornayoung@mindspring.com

Fav Blog Roll for APA Heritage Month

chriswong — Mon, 20 May 2013 01:47:10 +0000

Fav Blog Roll for May AAPI Month

It is Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month--time to celebrate a few wonderful blogs.

Here are just a few of some of the interesting blogs AND resources I have bookmarked.

If you can add to this list, please feel free to do so!

Angry Asian Man http://www.angryasianman.com/

Asian American and Pacific Islander Higher Education Resource Center http://aapiherc.southseattle.edu/

Asian American Blogs http://www.vincentwhofilm.com/aablogs/

Asian American Center for Advancing Justice http://advancingequality.org/

Asian-American Legal Defence and Education Fund http://aaldef.org/

Asian-American Politics http://www.asianam.org/index.htm

Asian Fortune (NEW) http://www.asianfortunenews.com/category/blogs/

Asian Pacific American Legal Resource Center http://www.apalrc.org/dp/

Asia Pacific Forum http://www.asiapacificforum.org/about.php

Asian Pacific Heritage Association http://www.apaha.org/

Being Chinese http://www.beingchinese.com/

Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence (CAAAV) http://caaav.org/

Francis Kai-Hwa Wang http://tinyurl.com/bzbwvm2

Geeky Asian Guy http://www.geekyasianguy.com/

Generasian http://generasian.org/post/1544030307/increasing-your-asian-american-blogroll

Initiatve on Asians and Pacific Islanders (under the leadership of President Barack and Lady Michelle Obama) http://www.whitehouse.gov/aapi

Kevin Leung http://kevinleung.com/

Kollaboration http://www.kollaboration.org/

National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum http://napawf.org/

National Coalition for Asian Pacific Community Development http://www.nationalcapacd.org/announcements/lessons-faa-debate-don%E2%80%99t-let-congress-forget-about-our-communities

National Register of Historic Places Program: Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month May http://www.nps.gov/nr/feature/asia/

Northwest Asian Weekly http://www.nwasianweekly.com/

Pure Insight http://pureinsight.org/

Remembering Vincent Chin (30th Anniversary 2012) http://www.rememberingvincentchin.com/

Cooking Video posted by Cristeta Comerford White House Executive Chef with Chef Ming Tsai at Let's Move

List compiled by chriswong (blu-geese.org)

Operation Green Jobs: March from Philadelphia to DC May 18-24, 2013

chriswong — Fri, 10 May 2013 10:59:30 +0000

Picture a world in which there are trade school programs with placement matches for green economy careers for anyone who wants to work. Cooperative programs that include localized farming/horticulture, refuse/recycle, building trades, bicycle maintenance, organic food production, clean energy specialties, sales, computer technology, assembly line work, independent banks, co-operative owned plants, the list goes on...

It is possible, but only if we, the People, help make it happen by not only talking the talk, but WALKING the talk as well. This is the aim of the Green Jobs March happening this May 18th-24th sponsored by Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, Shut the Chamber, Move to Amend, and other sister organizations.

The Poor Peoples Economic Human Rights Campaign (PPEHRC) represents a growing movement of people across all walks of life, all colors, rich or poor, who have been down-sized, suffered a lay-off, who are victims of unforseen circumstances whether husband, wife, or child, such that they are now homeless. Rather than blaming the victim, PPEHRC believes in promoting economic human rights, such as those of the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights as Articles 23, 25, and 26.

Today the need for addressing standing issues of poverty remains as critical as ever. For instance, California has approximately 160,000 men, women and children who experience homelessness every day.

The reluctance of legislators to recognize the scope and scale of poverty in America at at time when corporations continue to reap record profits has been disheartening.

As the sequestration progresses and austerity increases, things will get worse--although not according to Tim Donohue, President of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The conservative American lobbying group, one "dominated by oil companies, pharmaceutical giants, automakers and other polluting industries," lobbies for hydrofracking on federal lands to create jobs, while arguing for cutbacks in entitlement programs. Since 2009, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has fought climate change legislation, especially ones that subsidize sustainable development and green jobs.

Just how effective are corporate lobbies, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce?

Here is one fun cloud-engineering interaction application by Tony Chu that graphically demonstrates just how money wins elections, plus buys influence.

It also explains why this year Operation Green Jobs is taking on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. According to Carl Gibson at Nation of Change:

Along with most Americans, the unemployed activists marching from Philadelphia know that the largely-untapped renewable energy sector has the most potential to create millions of new jobs that will all stay in America. After the 150-mile trek from Philadelphia, these marchers will hold the U.S. Chamber of Commerce accountable for buying off Congress and spending millions blocking any meaningful attempt at green jobs legislation. And all along the way, they’ll be sharing their stories on social media.

These are citizens who are determined, from the Poverty Resolution to the hardships they have suffered or know about, to promote the idea that:

... poverty is not the result of personal failures. It is the product of an economic system that increases and deepens poverty as it concentrates the abundance of this country and the world in the hands of the few.

Operation Green Jobs also believes that:

Fracking, the Keystone pipeline and drones are not the answer to unemployment or a healthy environment!

In fact, this is a new movement to "collectively demand that local and state-based affiliates of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce divest their dues from the organization and put them toward more sustainable, progressive, alternative business alliances like AMIBA (American Independent Business Alliance) and the Main Street Alliance."

As companies withdraw their support for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, perhaps more of them will join the Green Chamber of Commerce instead.

Ultimately, how effective will the green jobs movement be?

It depends on you. But at the rate Congress is moving on the Budget 2014, and the continuing smokescreens over bills and proposals that matter to everyday citizens, there is nothing to lose.

Read the full crosspost from PPEHRC http://economichumanrights.org/?p=389

or from Shut the Chamber http://shutthechamber.org/events/operation-green-jobs

Back to Work Budget and the Will of the People

chriswong — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:31:32 +0000

Back to Work Budget and the Will of the People

The Congressional Progressional Caucus (CPC)'s 2014 Back to Work Budget is based upon core principles that include protecting and preserving civil rights and liberties; fighting for economic justice and security; advancing environmental protection and energy independence; and promoting global peace.

The importance of the 2014 Back to Work Budget cannot be overstated. One of the founding documents of our country, the Declaration of Independence, starts its second paragraph with:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...

The Back to Work Budget is crafted with the will of the people in mind. According to Gallup public opinion polls, 95% of Americans believe that restoring the job market is a top priority. Americans want to work, to have long-term, decent jobs with opportunities for advancement.

The Back to Work Budget will give Americans that opportunity with job creation through heavy investments in infrastructure spending, in education, in aid to states, and public works job programs--measures New Deal Presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Lynden B. Johnson long supported.

However, this year's legislators already seem to have turned their backs against the people rather than heed the will of the citizens who voted them in. When the vote came up in the House of Representatives on March 20, 2013, the Back to Work Budget was resoundingly defeated by a wide margin. Only 84 out of 200 Democrats voted for the Bill.

In an interview with Amy Goodman (Democracy Now) on March 25, 2013, Richard Wolff, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and author of Democracy at Work: A Cure for Capitalism, stated:

We have millions of people without work, millions of people losing their homes, an economy that doesn’t work for the vast majority...back in the 1930s, the last time we had a breakdown of our capitalist system like this, we didn’t have austerity, we didn’t have cutbacks. We had the opposite...not austerity, but its opposite...

The sense of betrayal is more evident when one considered that the STOCK Act was revised on April 15, 2013 to allow legislators, who are already exempt from insider trading laws, to not have to electronically disclose stock trading and other financial transactions.

Add to this the fact that the House of Representatives recently passed H.R. 1120, a bill to nullify the powers of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) which oversees labor union elections and remedies unfair labor practices.

It would seem that corruption is so rampant that instead of representing the 98% of the people, Congress is purposely pursuing the opposite with abandon: accepting favors from corporate lobbyists, while clamping down on unions, and while down-playing the needs of the unemployed. In fact, CBS 60 Minutes reporter Steve Croft, in an interview in 2011 with Brian Baird, a former Congressman (D-WA) who first co-sponsored the STOCK Act (along with Louise Slaughter (D-NY)), stated:

In the past few years, a whole new totally unregulated 100 million dollar industry has grown up in Washington called political intelligence. It employs former Congressmen and former staffers to scour the halls of the capitol gathering valuable non-public information, then selling it to hedge funds and traders on Wall Street who can trade on it.

Such opacity in ethics goes against the principles of the Declaration of Independence. After all, did not the tyranny of King George consist in making money off the backs of the colonials by refusing to "assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good," or "to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people"?

However the defeat of the Back to Work Budget in the House of Representatives does not yet signify that all hope has been lost. For starters, there is an increasing amount of press coverage being paid to the Progressive Caucus's Budget and their proposals, such as H.R. 733, Deal for All, a bill designed to protect Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security benefits.

Alternative press coverages have included the National Priorities Project (NPP), a site which studies and compares federal budget alternatives, particularly against war dollars spent. The Washington Post, and even Rolling Stone magazine have offered print space.

Here are some of the salient details of the CPC's Back to Work 2014 Budget:

· Increases tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, since U.S. revenues now consist of over 45% individual income taxes, while corporate taxes contribute only about 11%. (Source: NPP)

· End the bias towards overseas investments, because it has not only created incentives to move jobs and operations overseas, but allowed corporations to set up tax havens, and defer tax payments. Such practices have cost Americans their jobs, and U.S. Treasury tens of billions in lost revenue. (Source: CPC)

· Impose a small tax on large banks with more than $50 billion dollars in assets to offset the "too big to fail" dangers they pose when they are bailed out.

· Cut down military defense related spending, because since 9/11, the U.S. has spent $7.6 trillion dollars; that is, almost half of the present debt ceiling of $16.4 trillion dollars came from spending on Wars, Homeland Security, the Pentagon, and Nuclear weapons. (Source: NPP)

· Support substantially more domestic infrastructure spending, because since 2002, military spending and wars have increased by 48% ($3.8 trillion dollars or $380 billion dollars per year), while domestic infrastructure spending has lost an estimated $200 billion per year. (Source: NPP, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE))

· The Pentagon should be subject to auditing, since one is long overdue. This would force the Pentagon to start prioritizing, and cut wasteful spending, but instead plan for safe nuclear weapons systems disposal. (Source: CPC, WT)

· Instead of Overseas Contingency Operations spending, supported by emergency funding (thus deepening the debt), more can be spent promoting clean energy, conservation of resources, and detoxification of polluted resources.

· By eliminating fossil fuel subsidies for oil, gas, and coal companies, $11.2 billion dollars a year could be saved and re-allocated for the nearly 425,000 brownfield contamination sites awaiting treatment and restoration. (Source: CPC, ASCE)

· The United States can re-emerge as an environmental and energy leader if it can invest in research and development through collecting carbon taxes, and reinstating the Superfund tax for advanced treatment of petrochemical, pesticidal, and radionuclide pollutants. (Source: CPC)

Obviously, the Back to Work Budget would strengthen and enhance existing long-range beneficial socioeconomical programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Food Assistance, while developing new work programs for youth and the long-term unemployed.

Is this all wishful thinking? Not according to political talk-show hosts Bill Maher and Rachel Maddow on HBO: Real Time in March 16, 2013. Said Maher:

Remember money has never been cheaper to borrow than now. It [Back to Work] still reduces the deficit by $4.4 trillion dollars [by 2023], almost the exact same number that the Ryan Budget reduces the deficit; it just does it by a different method.

Maher stated for a talking point:

And if you think this is radical stuff, Business Insider did a study where they actually released this budget, almost exactly this budget, but they didn't label it as to whose budget it was. It was the budget that was favored by most people, including 47% of Republicans.

So while the White House 2014 Budget is now the dominant ballplayer in Congress, with serious intentions to reduce chronic high deficit spending, the CPC Budget remains a useful advocacy and bargaining tool.

Hopefully, this year will see more compromise to cut through the debates and result in reasonable austerity and tax increases for addressing the 98% critical domestic concerns.

Graph above shows growing disparity between individual and corporate contributions to the U.S. Treasury

From the "Jobs, Deficits & Taxes" Webinar by Chris Hellman - Slide #13 - National Priorities Project

Spanish Version of the Back to Work Budget here.

Report prepared and researched by chriswong (blu-geese.org)

March for International Worker's Day and Immigration Reform! May 1st, 2013

Quinn Nguyen — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 18:46:58 +0000

Event Location:

Olympic & Broadway

Date:

Wed, 05/01/2013 - 12:00 - 15:00

May day has special significance this year, a year when the long-awaited comprehensive immigration reform could actually take place. Show your support for immigration reform by attending this multi-thousand person march and commemorate workers around the world!

Help make posters for May day! The May Day Queer Contingent and API FIRE (Asian Pacific Islanders For Immigrant Rights and Empowerment) will be hosting poster-making parties on Saturday, April 27th a Tuesday, April 30th.

Please contact Jessica Yamane at jyamane@apalc.org for locations and times.

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