COLUMBUS, Ohio - A ballot battle in Ohio that pits the union rights of public workers against Republican efforts to shrink government and limit organized labor's reach culminates Tuesday in a vote with political consequences from statehouses to Pennsylvania Avenue.
A question called Issue 2 asks voters to accept or reject a voluminous rewrite of Ohio's collective bargaining law that GOP Gov. John Kasich signed in March, less than three months after his party regained power in the closely divided swing state.
Thousands descended the Statehouse in protest of the legislation known as Senate Bill 5, prompting state officials at one point to lock the doors out of concern for lawmakers' safety.
The legislation affects more than 350,000 police, firefighters, teachers, nurses and other government workers. It sets mandatory health care and pension minimums for unionized government employees, bans public worker strikes, scraps binding arbitration and prohibits basing promotions solely on seniority.
By including police and firefighters, Ohio's bill went further than Wisconsin's, which was the first in a series of union-limiting measures plugged by Republican governors this year as they faced deep budget holes and a tea party movement fed up with government excess. Democratic governors, including New York's Andrew Cuomo and Connecticut's Dannel Malloy, have also faced down their public employee unions in attempts to rein in costs.
That's why labor badly needs a win in Ohio, said Lee Adler, who teaches labor issues at Cornell University's New York State School of Industrial and Labor Relations.
"If the governor of Ohio is able to hold the line on the legislation that was passed, then it would be a very significant setback for public sector workers and public sector unions in the U.S.," he said. "Likewise, if the other result happens, then it would certainly provide a considerable amount of hope that, with the proper kind of mobilization and the proper kind of targeting, some of the retrenchment that has been directed at public sector workers can be combated."
Victory could also galvanize support and build energy within the Democratic-leaning labor movement ahead of the 2012 presidential election, a potential boon for President Barack Obama's re-election effort.
We Are Ohio, the labor-backed coalition fighting the law, had raised more than $24 million as of mid-October - more than Obama, John McCain and 18 other presidential contenders raised in combined Ohio contributions during the 2008 presidential election, according to Federal Election Commission data.
Building a Better Ohio, the business-fueled proponent campaign, has raised $8 million. Outside groups including FreedomWorks, Americans for Prosperity and the Virginia-based Alliance for America's Future are also rallying support for the law. Their spending hasn't been documented. Continued...
Monday, November 7, 2011
[VIDEO] 'Occupy Boston' occupies Israeli consulate
A contingent from the Occupy Boston protesters marched late Friday to the building that houses the Israeli consulate in Boston and briefly occupied the building's lobby where they held a sit-in.
They chanted various slogans, including, "hey hey, Ho ho! Israeli apartheid's got to go!," "long live the intifada! intifada intifada!," "not another nickel! Not another dime! No more money for Israel's crimes!," and "Viva viva Palestina!".
The anti-Israel protesters said they aren't anti-Semites, they are just anti-Zionist or critical of the policies of the current Israeli government.
AT/KA/DB
Ron Paul Bernanke Should Admit His Theories Are Wrong and Throw in the Towel!
http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=16534
Breaking: 5.6 earthquake hits central Oklahoma after earlier shakers
new
Video Report from epicenter of Oklahoma earthquake
OKLAHOMA CITY — A 5.6 magnitude earthquake shook central Oklahoma late Saturday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.
Emergency management officials in Lincoln County were reporting significant damage, NBC station KJRH of Tulsa reported.
Chimneys collapsed through roofs of homes, KJRH reported. Damage to the Prague library included collapsed air conditioning ducts and a collapsed wall.
Several roadways have buckled, including Highway 62 and other county roads, KJRH said.
There has been no word on any injuries reported.
If the magnitude is confirmed, it would be the strongest earthquake ever recorded in the state, The Weather Channel said.
The quake was shallow at 3.1 miles deep and occurred at 10:53 p.m. Central Daylight Time, the USGS said. It was centered about four miles east of the city of Sparks in Lincoln County, or about 45 miles east of Oklahoma City.
One Year of Prison Costs More Than One Year at Princeton
One year at Princeton University: $37,000. One year at a New Jersey state prison: $44,000.
Prison and college "are the two most divergent paths one can take in life," Joseph Staten, an info-graphic researcher with Public Administration, says. Whereas one is a positive experience that increases lifetime earning potential, the other is a near dead end, which is why Staten found it striking that the lion's share of government funding goes toward incarceration.
Extreme Poverty Is Now At Record Levels: 19 Statistics About The Poor That Will Absolutely Astound You
Michael Snyder – Blacklisted News
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than they have ever measured before. In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the “very poor” soared to heights never seen previously. Back in 1993 and back in 2009, the rate of extreme poverty was just over 6 percent, and that represented the worst numbers on record. But in 2010, the rate of extreme poverty hit a whopping 6.7 percent. That means that one out of every 15 Americans is now considered to be “very poor”. For many people, this is all very confusing because their guts are telling them that things are getting worse and yet the mainstream media keeps telling them that everything is just fine. Hopefully this article will help people realize that the plight of the poorest of the poor continues to deteriorate all across the United States. In addition, hopefully this article will inspire many of you to lend a hand to those that are truly in need.
Tonight, there are more than 20 million Americans that are living in extreme poverty. This number increases a little bit more every single day. The following statistics that were mentioned in an article in The Daily Mail should be very sobering for all of us….
Sadly, the wealthy and the poor are being increasingly segregated all over the nation. In some areas of the U.S. you would never even know that the economy was having trouble, and other areas resemble third world hellholes. In most U.S. cities today, there are the “good neighborhoods” and there are the “bad neighborhoods”.
According to a recent Bloomberg article, the “very poor” are increasingly being pushed into these “bad neighborhoods”….
Today, there are many Americans that openly look down on the poor, but that should never be the case. We should love the poor and want to see them lifted up to a better place. The truth is that with a few bad breaks any of us could end up in the ranks of the poor. Compassion is a virtue that all of us should seek to develop.
Not only that, but the less poor people and the less unemployed people we have, the better it is for our economy. When as many people as possible in a nation are working and doing something economically productive, that maximizes the level of true wealth that a nation is creating.
read more here
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than they have ever measured before. In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the “very poor” soared to heights never seen previously. Back in 1993 and back in 2009, the rate of extreme poverty was just over 6 percent, and that represented the worst numbers on record. But in 2010, the rate of extreme poverty hit a whopping 6.7 percent. That means that one out of every 15 Americans is now considered to be “very poor”. For many people, this is all very confusing because their guts are telling them that things are getting worse and yet the mainstream media keeps telling them that everything is just fine. Hopefully this article will help people realize that the plight of the poorest of the poor continues to deteriorate all across the United States. In addition, hopefully this article will inspire many of you to lend a hand to those that are truly in need.
Tonight, there are more than 20 million Americans that are living in extreme poverty. This number increases a little bit more every single day. The following statistics that were mentioned in an article in The Daily Mail should be very sobering for all of us….
About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 per cent or less of the official poverty level.
Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.
That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.
Sadly, the wealthy and the poor are being increasingly segregated all over the nation. In some areas of the U.S. you would never even know that the economy was having trouble, and other areas resemble third world hellholes. In most U.S. cities today, there are the “good neighborhoods” and there are the “bad neighborhoods”.
According to a recent Bloomberg article, the “very poor” are increasingly being pushed into these “bad neighborhoods”….
At least 2.2 million more Americans, a 33 percent jump since 2000, live in neighborhoods where the poverty rate is 40 percent or higher, according to a study released today by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.Of course they don’t have much of a choice. They can’t afford to live where most of the rest of us do.
Today, there are many Americans that openly look down on the poor, but that should never be the case. We should love the poor and want to see them lifted up to a better place. The truth is that with a few bad breaks any of us could end up in the ranks of the poor. Compassion is a virtue that all of us should seek to develop.
Not only that, but the less poor people and the less unemployed people we have, the better it is for our economy. When as many people as possible in a nation are working and doing something economically productive, that maximizes the level of true wealth that a nation is creating.
read more here
G20 Summit Fails To Allay World Recession Fears
The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, right, at a G20 news conference with his finance minister, Giulio Tremonti. (Photo: Dylan Martinez/Reuters)Leaders were unable to agree upon a boost to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to help distressed countries, while debt-ridden Italy, now seen as the epicentre of the euro crisis, was forced to put its austerity programme under the fund’s control.
UK hopes that the Germans would relent and allow the European Central Bank to become the lender of last resort for the euro were also dashed.
In a day of unremitting gloom, and yet more market turbulence, the Greek government also stood on the precipice of collapse, risking an uncontrolled default, as the government of George Papandreou faced a late-night confidence vote in parliament. Prime Minister Papandreou was forced to cancel plans for a referendum on the euro.
The sense of stasis led the British prime minister, David Cameron, to issue a stark warning about the impact of the crisis on the world economy: “Every day that the eurozone crisis continues and every day it is not resolved is a day that it has a chilling effect on the rest of the world economy, including the British economy. I am not going to pretend all the problems in the eurozone have been fixed. They have not. The task for the eurozone is the same as going into this summit. The world can’t wait for the eurozone to through endless questions and changes about this.
read more here
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