CA/News/News Clips

From PortlandWiki
Revision as of 21:12, 14 July 2012 by WikiMaster (talk | contribs) (‘Yo soy minero’: the miners light the way of the struggle)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

News Clips

Local
Did the Portland Development Commission rush to judgment?
On May 5th in Portland, Oregon, a group of 80 activists from a broad array of labor and community groups met to discuss the region's ongoing budget crises. Instead of simply complaining of cuts, however, the meeting was meant to discuss alternatives, both immediate and more structural.
We are facing a budget crisis in the city of Portland for the same reason virtually every other city and state in this country is facing a budget crisis: In 2008, investment bankers and hedge fund CEOs drove this country into the biggest, most prolonged, most severe economic crisis we've seen since the Great Depression.
  • PROPOSED EDUCATION URBAN RENEWAL AREA - These are challenging economic times. Teacher layoffs, school closures, cuts to public safety, parks and infrastructure maintenance are in the news on a regular basis. When considering using urban renewal as a financing tool, it is important to:
• Appreciate the impact urban renewal has on basic city, county and school services; and
• Evaluate whether the proposed urban renewal projects truly are a higher priority than the city, county and school services that will be adversely affected by the diversion of property tax dollars over the life of the district.
Portland Public Schools is a land of many chiefs.
“I look around here and all I see are broken hearts.”
“For every dollar we save now,” said Labors’ Local 483’s Kevin Stampflee, “we lose ten dollars down the road when things are worse. So do we wait for it to crumple, or do we fix it now?”
Proposed urban-renewal area could boost university development by $100 million
How are government budgets created, and in whose interests?
National & Global
The Rising Tide of Unemployment in America
A Victory for Obamacare, a Defeat for the Left
The country's biggest banks are happy to make their money from the same governments about which they love to whine.
While labor is under powerful battering from conservatives, a strong case can be made that they aren't being supported by some of our most prominent human rights groups.
The community is standing up in Oakland! The community is fighting austerity by taking over a local school. Support if possible!
The United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights. Revelations that top officials are targeting people to be assassinated abroad, including American citizens, are only the most recent, disturbing proof of how far our nation’s violation of human rights has extended. This development began after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and has been sanctioned and escalated by bipartisan executive and legislative actions, without dissent from the general public. As a result, our country can no longer speak with moral authority on these critical issues.
Falling Revenues and Growing Demand for Services Challenge Cities, Counties, and School Districts
Unless the labor movement educates and re-organizes its forces quickly, the recent losses will serve as a catalyst for union busting on a national scale, unseen in modern times.
In this presidential election year, when the outcome hinges on the economy, the phrases “job creation” and “job creators” are quick to roll off the candidates’ tongues. It is not hard to see why. With up to 24 million unemployed and underemployed, and those working subject to the downward pressure this creates in living standards, the need for full time jobs looms large.
Since the 2010 elections, when Republicans took control of many states, there has been an explosion of legislation advancing privatization of public schools and stripping teachers of job protections and collective bargaining rights.
Republicans are in talks about pushing a bill to extend the Bush-era tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 before the November election, and ahead of their expiration in January.
The Buffett Rule bill would "restore the confidence of middle-class Americans in our tax system by assuring that those at the very top of the income spectrum aren't paying lower rates than regular families do."
Mass Action Gets Results
There are no donor names, no clues as to whether they are individuals, companies or trade groups, and no hint as to whether there are repeated donors from year to year.