In a move seemingly designed to make Harlem more appealing to gentrifiers, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the
The coverage area is 95 blocks: 110 to 138 Streets between Frederick Douglass Blvd & Madison Ave.
Racism in the national Charter School Movement is not new
What’s known today as the Charter School Movement is not new. The concepts that drives it were born prior to 1954, when students of color won the right to equal education through the historic lawsuit, Brown v. Education, which ushering in the desegregation of schools throughout the country. What we are seeing today is simply a big step forward being taken by racists with money and power to re-segregate schools and make sure that Brown and Black students receive inferior educations.
These 1%ers want to make certain that public schools will never produce another brilliant Barack Obama. And, they want to make sure they get hold of the money public schools’ budget and buildings represent.
The federal budget deal will be death for many Americans
Richard Eskow reviews the federal budget deal in the Huffington Post. He finds it seriously lacking, both in compassion and solutions to prevent today’s vulnerable from being completely consumed by the wealthy.
Man’s inhumanity to man.
I know, I know. That’s a pretty depressing thing to say. But let’s look at the facts: Federal workers will be expected to subsidize this deal with an increase in their out-of-pocket pension costs. There will be cuts to Medicare. Airline passengers will pay a new tax. Military retirees — military retirees — will see their benefits cut.
Privatization on steroids trend has deep hooks in public ed
It escaped our notice that the privatization on steroids trend was reaching deeper hooks into public education than we dreamed it might. Yet, the encroachment makes sense within the context of increasing privatization every where. First, we had private food services doing the jobs of lunch ladies in our schools. We have seen a growing number of private corporations managing prison facilities … and some of them are currently extorting money from state governments which failed to live up to their contractual agreement to keep the prisons at least 95% full in order to satisfy the managing corporations’ profit expectations.
How to vote in NJ before Election Day
We can vote early in NJ even though we don’t have what is technically called “early voting,” because we can vote by paper ballot. There are three ways to vote early the week before Election Day:
New Jersey Voter Resources & Rights
Resources
Voting Rights in New Jersey
Brennan Center for Justice Student Voting Guide Voter’s Rights Handbook published by New Jersey State. League of Women Voter’s New Jersey Voter and Election Guide ACLU Know Your Voting Rights Voting Information and Voting Rights Identification Request: if you’re a first-time voter you may be asked for identification.Most New Jersey voters do not need to show ID when voting. However, if you are a first-time New Jersey voter who registered by mail, and election officials could not verify your identifying numbers (your New Jersey driver’s license or ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security number), you will have to provide proof of identification, either at the polls or anytime before Election Day.
Sufficient proof of identity includes any current and valid photo ID, or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, car registration, non-photo driver’s license, rent receipt, sample ballot, utility bill (including cell phone and student housing bills), or other government document that shows the name and address of the voter.
Brennan Center for Justice
GOTV tools & voting options for NJ Election Tues Nov 5 2013
I have developed some tools to help motivate people to vote in this important election. In this post are Vote Pledge Cards you can download – they are a major component of the toolkit. And this is the GOTV plan in a nutshell (as of 10 days before the election):
The goal for this week is to get people thinking and talking about voting in New Jersey. Talking about putting a governor and other elected officials in office who will help us bring back our cities … about how and where they’re going to cast their vote … and about how WE CAN VOTE OURSELVES A RAISE this election. Voters who are busy or have children to watch, might want to consider which voting option makes most sense for them. To find out where your vote polling location is, check your voter registration card, Look it up online or call your town/city clerk. Do you need a ride or can you give one? Here are the voting options New Jersey voters have:- Voters can mail applications to Vote by Mail until Monday Oct 28. Mailed applications need to be in their County Clerk’s office by Tuesday Oct 29.
- Download a Vote by Mail application online for Bergen County, Essex County, Passaic County or anywhere in NJ.
- Through Monday Oct 28, voters can mail in Vote by Mail applications. If the application arrives at the County Clerk’s office by Tuesday Oct 29, a BALLOT will be mailed to their home.
- Through Tuesday Oct 29, voters can drop Vote by Mail applications off to their County Clerk and get a BALLOT mailed to their home.
- Until 3pm on Monday Nov 4 (day before Election Day) voters can obtain Vote by Mail BALLOTS at the County Clerk’s office;
- And through Tuesday Nov 5 (Election Day) Vote by Mail BALLOTS obtained in person or through the mail can be handed in at the County Board of Elections office.
- Remember, a Vote by Mail BALLOT vote is counted as a regular vote in exactly the same way a vote cast in a polling place voting machine is counted.
- Voters can vote at the polls on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov 5.
Will remind people they can vote themselves a raise this election by voting YES on Question 2 to raise the minimum wage to $8.25/hr (about $2000 per year).
New Jersey Voter FAQ
These instruction ©2013 Kimi Wei & TheWei.com
Advice to credit union: Don’t delete SM posts. Get the basics right.
I can’t find the complaint I posted on First Jersey Credit Union‘s Facebook page about needing help after trying for months to unsubscribe from USPS mailings but not being able to, so I guess they deleted it. But my post did its job and I got a call from my branch manager today.
I had already phoned about this issue a couple of times and been told there was nothing anyone could do to help me. I insisted because I’m a greenie and want to save trees and then back in July, one lady gave me the number to their IT vendor and told me to call them for help. I didn’t, though, mostly because I don’t get paid to troubleshoot the CU’s website issues.
Issues, news and fact checking for NJ’s 2013 election season
THIS ELECTION VOTE YOURSELF A RAISE! Vote YES on the ballot referendum to raise the NJ minimum wage to $8.25/hr
Also in the 2013 election cycle, all of New Jersey’s state level positions are up for election including Assembly, State Senate seats and the governorship. Federal and state elected officials have the ability to make changes to improve, approve or eradicate the issues listed below. Your vote and your voice make them accountable so be sure to vote. (Download issues flyer).
- Protect the constitutional right of every US citizen to have one vote and get it counted
- Fund and enact The Amistad Act which calls for racially accurate history to be taught in NJ schools
- Food justice: eradicate urban food deserts and barriers to home & community gardening; ban of genetically modified foods (GMOs); make college food healthier and more affordable
- Reverse Citizens United ruling that gives corporations the status of personhood
- Take big money out of general elections (see rootstrikers.org)
- Save the open internet and protect it from takeover and control by corporate interests (see savetheinternet.com)
- Ban prison based gerrymandering which causes prison inmates’ families to lose government resources in their home states and counties
- Stop privatization of schools, prisons, nursing homes and food services
- Moratorium on foreclosures to protect 1 in 4 Black &Latino families who are in danger of losing their homes
- Hold banks accountable for wrongful foreclosures, charging Blacks and Latinos higher mortgage interest rates, refusing to renegotiate underwater mortgages; and failing to provide maintenance on foreclosed homes – which contributes to the creation of urban blight zones
- Lower US prison population. We incarcerate almost 1% of American citizens, about 2.5 million individuals, whom are mostly Latinos and African Americans
- Protect civil rights including: ban racial profiling, stop unfounded searches and halt incarceration of non- criminal undocumented immigrants
- Achieve diversity of court justices on every level of the judicial system
- Transition to a green economy and protect clean air, water and the environment. Prevent climate change.
- Provide help to families with homes in foreclosure, the unemployed and the hungry
- Protect women’s health, lives, career opportunities; and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act
- Hold major corporation and government agencies accountable for diversity in hiring and the awarding of small business contracts
- Make minimum wage equal a living wage and protect American jobs. Vote yes to the NJ 2013 ballot referen- dum to raise min wage to $8.25/hr!
- Expand the scope of the new federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau which offers important protec- tions including: financial institutions may not enact excessive credit rate hikes or provide misleading informa- tion about credit terms and fees
- Support for women and minority students wishing to enter STEM fields
- Protect Obamacare and fund affordable community health centers
- Continue the Deferred Action program & pass the DREAM Act for undocumented immigrant youth; enact comprehensive immigration reform
- Increase support for Historically Black Colleges and Minority Serving Institutions and protect public education
- End government subsidies to big banks and dirty fuel companies. Invest more in public education and health.
- Maintain affordable interest rates on student loans (impacts 140,000 NJ students) and lower college tuition.
- Increase the amount of Pell grant dollars available for low-income studentsTrack Congressional bills
FACT CHECK & OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES
Attend info session for NJ’s non-violent fugitive Safe Surrender program
Two information sessions for November’s Fugitive Safe Surrender program are being held 6:30-8:30pm on Thursday, Oct. 17 in Hackensack and Tuesday, Oct. 22 in Paterson, NJ. Faith workers, community and re-entry advocates, criminal justice students and attorney volunteers will want to attend a session to learn directly from experts handling the program, what it can do for non-violent offender law fugitives. Volunteer needs and opportunities will also be discussed. Law and criminal justice student volunteers will gain valuable insights into the legal system and CE credits will be issued to attorney volunteers.
Booker now, or run a real Dem next year?
Bob Braun says,
(Disliking Lonegan) is not a great reason to vote for Booker. If Lonegan wins, he takes the seat now occupied by Christie’s Republican choice, Chiesa, and it doesn’t affect the balance in the senate. But next year, a real Democrat can be nominated who has not alienated much of the party. Booker is losing ground because the absentee mayor of an imploding city who is against public education and for private school vouchers doesn’t make for a real good Democratic candidate–and he probably wouldn’t have been nominated if Christie hadn’t interfered with the election cycle.
Philly is closing down public schools – and building jails
Why Philly schools are in crisis
Yes, it’s true Philadelphia schools are in crisis, one so severe the district is scheduled to be completely shut down in two years. Salon tells us
To be clear, the schools are in crisis because the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refuses to fund them adequately. The state Constitution mandates that the Legislature “provide for the maintenance and support of a thorough and efficient system of public education,” but that language appears to be considered some kind of sick joke at the state capital in Harrisburg.
Feeding homeless will get you arrested in Raleigh and over 50 US cities – Es prohibído por ley alimentar a los desamparados en Raleigh NC
Do you know that in over 50 large US cities it’s illegal to share food with the homeless? Members of the church Love Wins in Raleigh, North Carolina learned this yesterday when they were threatened with arrest for distributing food to homeless in a park. The state of civil society in the United States is in much worse trouble than most people know.
¿ILEGAL SERVIR ALIMENTOS a desamparados en Raleigh, Carolina del Norte? Puede sonar a broma, pero la realidad es que oficiales de esa ciudad amenazaron con arrestar a voluntarios de la iglesia Love Wins que se disponían a repartirle comida a los necesitados en un parque. Hoy la noticia recorre las redes.
http://www.eldiariony.com/ilegal-distribuir-alimentos-desamparados-raleigh-carolina-norte-iglesia-love-wins
Is the US financially swimming, or sinking?
My insightful friend and great truth-teller, Han Broekman, shares this on the United States financial situation:
Disappointed that even Krugman doesn’t talk here about the difference between debt and deficit. Debt is the grand total of all debts the US Federal administration has incurred. The deficit is the difference each year between the outlays and incomes of the US. Sometimes (mostly under Democratic administrations), there is no deficit, but a surplus. Whether or not deficits are really bad, and whether debt is really bad, is a question economists can’t agree on. So small wonder that debt and deficit are huge politically charged subjects …
David Suzuki says why conventional economics is a form of brain damage
David Suzuki explains why,
Conventional economics is a form of brain damage.
Money doesn’t stand for anything. And money now grows faster than the real world. Economics is fundamentally, so disconnected from the real world it is destructive.
Economists call life and biodiversity, “externalities,” yet we rely on the services that plants, insects and animals render to the world.
We are told over and over that the economy is the bottom line. I don’t think so.
Visit davidsuzuki.org/ to learn more about David Suzuki and his foundation
sustainableman.org explores the world of sustainability