A Minnesota judge signed off on a settlement on Monday in a
groundbreaking case that accused Catholic church leaders in Minnesota of
creating a public nuisance by failing to warn parishioners about an
abusive priest.
Ramsey County judge James Van De North approved the settlement after
meeting with both sides on Monday, said Jeff Anderson, an attorney for
the plaintiffs.
Neither Anderson nor church officials would give details ahead of a
1pm news conference. A statement from Anderson’s firm said church
officials in St Paul and Winona had agreed to 17 child protection
protocols.
“This is a landmark case,” Anderson said. “It’s monumental in a lot of ways.”
The case against the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis and the
Diocese of Winona is believed to be the first clergy sexual abuse case
nationwide to use the public nuisance theory at trial.
That claim allowed victims’ attorneys to seek evidence of sexual
abuse across the archdiocese, rather than focus on allegations against
one individual.
It forced the unprecedented disclosure of tens of thousands of church
documents and the names of dozens of accused priests. The flood of
information – which included the public release of court-ordered
depositions of Archbishop John Nienstedt and other church leaders –
revealed how top officials handled allegations of misconduct by priests.
The disclosures compounded an already difficult year for church leaders.
Last fall, a former archdiocese employee went public with allegations
that church leaders had mishandled several cases in which priests were
accused of abuse. Police began investigating several allegations, and
Nienstedt himself was accused of sexual misconduct, which he denied and
resulted in no criminal charges.
Nienstedt has apologised for any mistakes, but despite public calls
for his resignation he told the AP in July that he would not step down,
and that he does not believe he mishandled the situation.
Lawyers for the church had asked that the case be dismissed, saying
the public nuisance claim did not stand up, but Van de North allowed it
to proceed.
The case was filed in May 2013 under a law that opened up a
three-year window for victims of past sexual abuse to file claims that
were otherwise barred under the statute of limitations. Similar windows
for lawsuits in other states have resulted in payouts in the tens of
millions of dollars or more.
The plaintiff, identified in court documents as Doe 1, claims he was
abused by Thomas Adamson in 1976 and 1977, when the victim was an altar
boy in St Paul Park. The complaint also alleged the archdiocese and
diocese were negligent in allowing Adamson continued access to children,
even though leaders knew he had behaved inappropriately with young
boys.
Adamson said in a deposition earlier this year that he molested
around 12 teens from the 1960s to the mid-1980s. He was removed from
active ministry in 1985 and defrocked in 2009. He was never criminally
charged.
Adamson has an unlisted phone number and could not be reached.
Monday, October 13, 2014
Dr John- Iko Iko
Dr John with Levon Helm, Ringo, Joe Walsh, Rick Danko, Clarence Clemens, Nils Lofgrin
Judge approves landmark settlement in Minnesota Catholic church abuse case Plaintiffs’ lawyer: ‘This is a landmark case’ Catholic church leaders accused of creating public nuisance
More trouble for The Most Holy Roman Catholic Church -- AKA - Nest of Pedophiles.
I wonder if the whole truth will ever come out, and if it will make a difference to "the faithful" -- AKA - The Forever Duped.
This from "The Guardian" - please follow link to original.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/13/judge-approves-landmark-settlement-minnesota-catholic-church-abuse-case
I wonder if the whole truth will ever come out, and if it will make a difference to "the faithful" -- AKA - The Forever Duped.
This from "The Guardian" - please follow link to original.
------------------------------------------------------
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/oct/13/judge-approves-landmark-settlement-minnesota-catholic-church-abuse-case
SYNDICATED COLUMN: Millions of Gen Xers Will Be Homeless Before You Know It
This from Ted Rall. Perhaps it's something you should read. Once again, I'm glad I'm 75 and not a mere 45. Please follow link to original.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://rall.com/
Forget terrorism, Ebola or even climate change — the most dangerous threat to this country is an epic retirement crisis.
We will soon see tens of millions of Americans reduced to poverty, bringing an end to the United States as an economic superpower.
Unlike attacks and pandemics, this crisis is an absolute certainty, one with a clear, near start date. But the media is hardly mentioning the imminent retirement crisis. So politicians haven’t even begun to think about it, much less take it seriously.
Actually, “retirement crisis” is a misnomer. The problem isn’t that people won’t be able to retire or will be living on a shoestring, though those things are true. We’re staring down the barrel of an epic old age crisis. For the average American, to be elderly will mean not mere belt-tightening, but real, grinding poverty: homelessness and hunger.
Throughout the last few decades, vulnerable people living from payday to payday have gotten battered by the shredding of the government safety net, a lack of accumulated savings caused by the boom-and-bust cycle of capitalism, and a lackluster real estate market.
Now members of the poor and lower middle class in their 50s and 60s are heading into a retirement crisis created by a perfect superstorm.
Traditional defined-benefit pension plans have been replaced by stingy 401(k)s and similar programs which employers no longer pay into, cap how much you can contribute (assuming you can afford it), take a beating during downturns in the stock market, and allow workers to tap when they’re laid off or run into financial trouble. After years of sketchy raids and outright theft, workers with old-fashioned corporate and government pensions can’t be sure their money will be there when they need it. The first Generation Xers — many of whom never had the opportunity to accumulate wealth due to several long recessions that impacted them particularly hard — will reach the traditional retirement age of 65 in the year 2024.
The facts are brutal:
No savings: The average Gen Xer only has a net worth of about $40,000 — enough to live on for a year. Maybe. In Akron. 36% of Americans don’t have a dime saved for retirement.
Later Social Security: Thanks to that lovable wacky Ronald Reagan, the Social Security retirement age was quietly raised to 67 for Gen Xers born after 1960. When you finally get Social Security, it doesn’t pay enough. The U.S. ranks third to last in social security benefits among developed nations.
Age discrimination: The continuing post-2008 recession hit those in their 50s especially hard; employers want cheaper, younger workers. 25% of Americans over age 55 now have no savings whatsoever.
About those pension plans: When journalists mention the retirement crisis, they focus on problems with the defined-benefit system. But that’s irrelevant to most Americans. 90% of private-sector workers don’t have one. Most government workers do — but 85% of Americans work in the private sector.
401ks suck (if you have one). Three out of four workers have no pension plan. What they might have is a 401k. The average Gen Xer who has a 401k — 69% don’t — has a $63,000 balance.
Financial experts say 92% of U.S. workers fall significantly short of what they’ll need to live decently after retirement. “In the decades to come,” Edward Siedle writes for Forbes, “we will witness millions of elderly Americans, the Baby Boomers and others, slipping into poverty. Too frail to work, too poor to retire will become the ‘new normal’ for many elderly Americans.”
This is about you — not some theoretical lazy Other.
“At some point,” Siedle says, “lack of savings, lack of employment possibilities and failing health will catch up with the overwhelming majority of the nation’s elders. Let me emphasize that we’re talking about the overwhelming majority, not a small percentage who arguably made bad decisions throughout their working lives.” [Emphasis is mine.]
America’s army of starving old people will drag down younger people too. “Public finances will be pushed to the limit, crowding out other priorities such as education,” Christian E. Weller predicts in The Hill. “Moreover, economic growth will be slower than it otherwise would be because employers will have more workers whose productivity is declining, while many older families, who could start successful new businesses, will forego those opportunities.”
And the pols?
Useless, Siedle concludes. “Conservatives are trying to pare back so-called entitlements that will mushroom in the near future and liberals have failed to acknowledge the crisis or propose any solutions.”
We can hit the streets to demand action now — or we’ll be living on them later.
------------------------------------------------------------
http://rall.com/
Forget terrorism, Ebola or even climate change — the most dangerous threat to this country is an epic retirement crisis.
We will soon see tens of millions of Americans reduced to poverty, bringing an end to the United States as an economic superpower.
Unlike attacks and pandemics, this crisis is an absolute certainty, one with a clear, near start date. But the media is hardly mentioning the imminent retirement crisis. So politicians haven’t even begun to think about it, much less take it seriously.
Actually, “retirement crisis” is a misnomer. The problem isn’t that people won’t be able to retire or will be living on a shoestring, though those things are true. We’re staring down the barrel of an epic old age crisis. For the average American, to be elderly will mean not mere belt-tightening, but real, grinding poverty: homelessness and hunger.
Throughout the last few decades, vulnerable people living from payday to payday have gotten battered by the shredding of the government safety net, a lack of accumulated savings caused by the boom-and-bust cycle of capitalism, and a lackluster real estate market.
Now members of the poor and lower middle class in their 50s and 60s are heading into a retirement crisis created by a perfect superstorm.
Traditional defined-benefit pension plans have been replaced by stingy 401(k)s and similar programs which employers no longer pay into, cap how much you can contribute (assuming you can afford it), take a beating during downturns in the stock market, and allow workers to tap when they’re laid off or run into financial trouble. After years of sketchy raids and outright theft, workers with old-fashioned corporate and government pensions can’t be sure their money will be there when they need it. The first Generation Xers — many of whom never had the opportunity to accumulate wealth due to several long recessions that impacted them particularly hard — will reach the traditional retirement age of 65 in the year 2024.
The facts are brutal:
No savings: The average Gen Xer only has a net worth of about $40,000 — enough to live on for a year. Maybe. In Akron. 36% of Americans don’t have a dime saved for retirement.
Later Social Security: Thanks to that lovable wacky Ronald Reagan, the Social Security retirement age was quietly raised to 67 for Gen Xers born after 1960. When you finally get Social Security, it doesn’t pay enough. The U.S. ranks third to last in social security benefits among developed nations.
Age discrimination: The continuing post-2008 recession hit those in their 50s especially hard; employers want cheaper, younger workers. 25% of Americans over age 55 now have no savings whatsoever.
About those pension plans: When journalists mention the retirement crisis, they focus on problems with the defined-benefit system. But that’s irrelevant to most Americans. 90% of private-sector workers don’t have one. Most government workers do — but 85% of Americans work in the private sector.
401ks suck (if you have one). Three out of four workers have no pension plan. What they might have is a 401k. The average Gen Xer who has a 401k — 69% don’t — has a $63,000 balance.
Financial experts say 92% of U.S. workers fall significantly short of what they’ll need to live decently after retirement. “In the decades to come,” Edward Siedle writes for Forbes, “we will witness millions of elderly Americans, the Baby Boomers and others, slipping into poverty. Too frail to work, too poor to retire will become the ‘new normal’ for many elderly Americans.”
This is about you — not some theoretical lazy Other.
“At some point,” Siedle says, “lack of savings, lack of employment possibilities and failing health will catch up with the overwhelming majority of the nation’s elders. Let me emphasize that we’re talking about the overwhelming majority, not a small percentage who arguably made bad decisions throughout their working lives.” [Emphasis is mine.]
America’s army of starving old people will drag down younger people too. “Public finances will be pushed to the limit, crowding out other priorities such as education,” Christian E. Weller predicts in The Hill. “Moreover, economic growth will be slower than it otherwise would be because employers will have more workers whose productivity is declining, while many older families, who could start successful new businesses, will forego those opportunities.”
And the pols?
Useless, Siedle concludes. “Conservatives are trying to pare back so-called entitlements that will mushroom in the near future and liberals have failed to acknowledge the crisis or propose any solutions.”
We can hit the streets to demand action now — or we’ll be living on them later.
Highlights from Montreal Swing Riot 2014
Got this from "As Time goes By" a wonderful blog by and about "Seniors" (old people, to you).
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.timegoesby.net/
-----------------------------------------------
http://www.timegoesby.net/
Allegories Gone Wild – Demons And Children
This from "Atheist Oasis". More proof that many folks just HATE children. They like the IDEA of children but just hate the messy reality most children actually are.
Please follow link to original.
-------------------------------------------
http://atheistoasis.wordpress.com/
A day doesn’t go by, where some crazy religious asshole (who shouldn’t have children in the first place) abuses a child. We’re not talking about the pedophiliac priests (though they should string those pricks up by their testes) – specifically I mean these fucking hoodoo voodoo fruitcakes that kiss snakes and think that demons and angels are micromanaging their banal lives.
I repeat: this nonsense is for narcissists with low self-esteem. It’s complete and utter self-absorption to think that the universe (let alone some imaginary homunculus) takes an interest in our every tiny move, who keeps track of everybody who sleeps with anybody, and inflicts this sort of grotesquerie on innocent children.
Suffer the little children? More like, let’s make children suffer based on the campfire stories of a bunch of Iron Age shepherds.
Fuck that.
I hold the ‘wholly C’ fully culpable for this ongoing horror, because they have consistently fostered and nurtured this barbaric practice, all of it based on lies.
Please follow link to original.
-------------------------------------------
http://atheistoasis.wordpress.com/
A day doesn’t go by, where some crazy religious asshole (who shouldn’t have children in the first place) abuses a child. We’re not talking about the pedophiliac priests (though they should string those pricks up by their testes) – specifically I mean these fucking hoodoo voodoo fruitcakes that kiss snakes and think that demons and angels are micromanaging their banal lives.
Rise in cases of ritual child abuse linked to witchcraft beliefs reported, say police
More cases of ritual child abuse linked to belief in witchcraft are being reported, the police said.Wow, real nice, eh? Religion always seems to bring out the savagery in people. This belief in spirits, ghosts, demons, and all that other hoo-haw is a sign of the willful, ignorant arrogance of these folks. And the accomodationist mind-set even allows a set of child-abuse exemptions (in this country) – which I find both ridiculous and horrifying.
The Metropolitan police has received 27 allegations in the past year, including two claims of rape; a child being swung around and smacked in the head “to drive out the devil”, and other youngsters being dunked in water, it said on Wednesday.
A number of horrific child killings have been linked to these beliefs, including the murder of Kristy Bamu, 15, who was tortured and drowned by his sister and her boyfriend in 2010; and the death of Victoria Climbié.
The number of cases of religious or ritualistic abuse of children reported to Scotland Yard has increased year-on-year over the past decade. A total of 24 were passed to the force in 2013; 19 in 2012 and nine in 2011. Since 2004, 148 cases have been referred to the Met.
Police officers will meet a group including teachers, childcare and health workers at London’s City Hall on Wednesday to discuss how to tackle the issue, which is rarely reported.
Det. Supt Terry Sharpe from the Metropolitan police said it was “a hidden crime”.
He said: “Abuse linked to belief is a horrific crime which is condemned by people of all cultures, communities and faiths. A number of high-profile investigations brought the issue of ritual abuse and witchcraft into the headlines but it is important that professionals are clear about the signs to look for.
“Families or carers genuinely believe that the victim has been completely taken over by the devil or an evil spirit, which is often supported by someone who within the community has portrayed themselves as an authority on faith and belief.
“Regardless of the beliefs of the abusers, child abuse is child abuse.”
A new training film will be launched at the event today.
Simon Bass from the Churches’ Child Protection Advisory Service said: “We are not remotely surprised that the Metropolitan police alone has already received 27 referrals of this type this year – or three a month.
“We are pleased that the Metropolitan police has undertaken such great work in this area, but we are convinced that this form of abuse is hidden, and that the statutory agencies across the UK are facing similar situations.”
Kristy Bamu’s appalling death was one of a handful of chilling cases where an apparent belief in witchcraft has been linked to extreme violence against children.
The 15-year-old was tortured and savagely beaten before he drowned in a bath at his sister’s flat in east London on Christmas Day 2010.
Magalie Bamu and her boyfriend Eric Bikubi became convinced that he was possessed by kindoki, or evil spirits, and was trying to harm or control another child of the family.
Another case that sparked public revulsion was that of Victoria Climbié, who was beaten, burned with cigarettes and forced to sleep in a binliner in a bath during her short life.
The eight-year-old’s great-aunt Marie-Thérèse Kouao and her boyfriend, Carl Manning, both claimed that the little girl was possessed. They were found guilty of her murder in 2001.
Later that year, the torso of a young boy, named Adam by police, was found floating in the Thames. It is believed that he could have been the victim of a ritual sacrifice practised in parts of Africa.
In another case Child B, who was brought to the UK in 2002 after her parents were killed in Angola, was beaten, cut with a knife and had chilli peppers rubbed in her eyes to beat the ”devil” out of her.
She was also stuffed into a zip-up laundry bag and told that she would be thrown into a river.
I repeat: this nonsense is for narcissists with low self-esteem. It’s complete and utter self-absorption to think that the universe (let alone some imaginary homunculus) takes an interest in our every tiny move, who keeps track of everybody who sleeps with anybody, and inflicts this sort of grotesquerie on innocent children.
Suffer the little children? More like, let’s make children suffer based on the campfire stories of a bunch of Iron Age shepherds.
Fuck that.
I hold the ‘wholly C’ fully culpable for this ongoing horror, because they have consistently fostered and nurtured this barbaric practice, all of it based on lies.
Friday, October 10, 2014
Gerry Mulligan Quartet - Gerry Mulligan Quartet With Chet Baker [Full Album] (1999)
Here's more than just a taste of Mulligan and Chet Baker. Enjoy!
Line For Lyons
Walking Shoes
Love Me or Leave Me
Carioca
Freeway
Moonlight in Vermont
The Lady is a Tramp
Bark For Barksdale
My Funny Valentine
Bernie's Tune
Five Brothers
Turnstile
I May Be Wrong
Swing House
Lullaby of the Leaves
Nearness of You, The
I'm Beginning to See the Light
Makin' Whoopee
Frenesi
Nights at the Turntable
Jeru
Cherry
Aren't You Glad You're You
Tea For Two
Line For Lyons
Walking Shoes
Love Me or Leave Me
Carioca
Freeway
Moonlight in Vermont
The Lady is a Tramp
Bark For Barksdale
My Funny Valentine
Bernie's Tune
Five Brothers
Turnstile
I May Be Wrong
Swing House
Lullaby of the Leaves
Nearness of You, The
I'm Beginning to See the Light
Makin' Whoopee
Frenesi
Nights at the Turntable
Jeru
Cherry
Aren't You Glad You're You
Tea For Two
Thursday, October 9, 2014
The Deficit Is Down, and Nobody Knows or Cares
From Dr. Krugman's blog. Falling deficit and none of the VSP's or other usual suspects seem to give a damn.
Follow link to original.
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http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
Follow link to original.
-------------------------------------------
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/
The CBO tells us that the federal deficit is way down — under 3 percent of GDP. And Jared Bernstein notes that Obama seems to get no credit.
You may ask, what did
you expect? But the truth is that a few years ago many pundits claimed
that Obama would reap big political rewards by being the grownup, the
responsible guy who Did What Had To Be Done. Worse, some reports said that the White House political staff believed this.
It was, of course, nonsense on multiple levels. While pundits may like to script out elaborate psychodramas about voter perceptions, real perceptions bear no relationship to their scripts — in fact, a majority think the deficit has gone up on Obama’s watch, while only a small minority know that it’s down.
And the deficit scolds themselves are unappeasable
— nothing that doesn’t involve severely damage Social Security and/or
Medicare will satisfy them. Why, it’s almost as if shredding the safety
net, not reducing the deficit, was their real goal.
Deficit obsession has been immensely destructive as an economic matter. But it has also involved major political malpractice.
Wednesday, October 8, 2014
DEXTER BLUES by Jay McShann 1941 (DECCA Label 'Sepia Series')
A young Bird (C. Parker) takes the alto solo on this one.
Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - Just A Closer Walk With Thee
Recorded November 30th, December 1st and 2nd, 1954, in Hollywood.
Alvin Alcorn - Trumpet
George Probert - Clarinet
Kid Ory - Trombone
Barney Kessel - Guitar
Don Ewell - Piano
Ed Garland - Bass
Minor Hall - Drums
Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band - Tin Roof Blues
Alvin Alcorn - Trumpet
George Probert - Clarinet
Kid Ory - Trombone
Barney Kessel - Guitar
Don Ewell - Piano
Ed Garland - Bass
Minor Hall - Drums
Tuesday, October 7, 2014
A Crisis Turned Catastrophe in Texas Tuesday, 07 October 2014 13:31 By Andrea Flynn, Next New Deal | Op-Ed
Yes Virginia -- Republicans really, really hate women.
Follow link to original
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/26691-a-crisis-turned-catastrophe-in-texas
Last week, a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals left Texas with no more than eight remaining abortion clinics. You would think by now the willingness of state lawmakers to deliberately create a health crisis among their constituents – and the willingness of the courts to allow it – would be of no surprise. But I continue to be shocked.
"All Texas women have been relegated today to a second class of citizens whose constitutional rights are lesser than those in states less hostile to reproductive autonomy, and women facing difficult economic circumstances will be particularly hard hit by this devastating blow,” said the Center for Reproductive Right’s Nancy Northrup.
House Bill 2 could be the grand finale in Texas's efforts to completely dismantle its reproductive health infrastructure on which women – particularly poor women, women of color, young women, and immigrant women – have relied for decades. Pretty soon there won’t be any clinics left to close. Just three years ago, conservative lawmakers gutted the state’s family planning program, which closed approximately 80 family planning providers across the state, caused 55 more to reduce hours, and left hundreds of thousands of women without access to reproductive healthcare. Even before those programs were eviscerated, they provided care and services to only 20 percent of women in need.
And as if that wasn’t enough, lawmakers introduced HB2, a bill that imposes onerous restrictions on abortion providers and demands that all clinics meet costly – upwards of $1 million – building requirements to qualify them as ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). Lawmakers claimed these regulations were critical to protecting the lives and health of Texas women, but that’s simply not the case. Currently more than three-quarters of the state’s ASCs have waivers that allow them to circumvent certain requirements: unsurprisingly, abortion providers are prohibited from obtaining those same waivers. HB2 quickly closed the majority of the state’s 41 clinics that offered abortion services – clinics that also provided birth control, pap smears, breast exams, pregnancy tests, and a host of other services. There are few, if any, providers to take their place.
These new restrictions add an unbearable weight to the burdens that too many of Texas’ women already shoulder. Texas has one of the nation’s highest unintended and teen birth rates. The nation’s lowest percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in their first trimester. The highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation. High rates of poverty and unemployment and a woefully inadequate social safety net. And lawmakers who refuse to expand Medicaid, leaving nearly 700,000 women who would qualify for coverage without it.
Just a few weeks ago, Judge Lee Yeakel of the United States District Court in Austin gave health advocates an iota of hope when he ruled HB2 to be an undue burden on women’s constitutionally guaranteed right to an abortion. Yeakel’s decision wasn’t just significant because it delivered a win for humanity in Texas after countless losses, or because the concept of an undue burden was finally being used to protect – not erode – women’s right to chose, but because it was based on facts. Facts! Judge Yeakel relied on incontrovertible data to call bullshit on a law that purports to protect women, but has only ever been about abolishing abortion access.
He argued that for many women, HB2 might as well be an outright ban on abortion. He asked how the eight (at most) providers left could ever each serve between 7,500 and 10,000 patients. How would they cope with the more than 1,200 women per month who would be vying for limited appointments? “That the State suggests that these seven or eight providers could meet the demand of the entire state stretches credulity,” he said.
Yeakel acknowledged the complex intersections of women’s health and economic (in)security:
But Yeakel’s arguments were not compelling enough for the 5th Circuit, which finds it perfectly acceptable that more than one million women now need to travel more than 300 miles (and many women even further) to access health care that is constitutionally guaranteed to them.
This decision will have a ripple effect. Other anti-choice lawmakers across the country are following Texas’ lead, imposing similar restrictions on clinics and physicians who provide abortions. The vindication of Texas lawmakers who have used their legislative power to wreak havoc on the lives of women and families will only continue to embolden other states seeking the same goals.
Conservatives like to argue that they are not waging a war on women. Today there are a whole lot of us who find it impossible to argue otherwise.
Follow link to original
-------------------------------------------------
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/26691-a-crisis-turned-catastrophe-in-texas
Last week, a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals left Texas with no more than eight remaining abortion clinics. You would think by now the willingness of state lawmakers to deliberately create a health crisis among their constituents – and the willingness of the courts to allow it – would be of no surprise. But I continue to be shocked.
"All Texas women have been relegated today to a second class of citizens whose constitutional rights are lesser than those in states less hostile to reproductive autonomy, and women facing difficult economic circumstances will be particularly hard hit by this devastating blow,” said the Center for Reproductive Right’s Nancy Northrup.
House Bill 2 could be the grand finale in Texas's efforts to completely dismantle its reproductive health infrastructure on which women – particularly poor women, women of color, young women, and immigrant women – have relied for decades. Pretty soon there won’t be any clinics left to close. Just three years ago, conservative lawmakers gutted the state’s family planning program, which closed approximately 80 family planning providers across the state, caused 55 more to reduce hours, and left hundreds of thousands of women without access to reproductive healthcare. Even before those programs were eviscerated, they provided care and services to only 20 percent of women in need.
And as if that wasn’t enough, lawmakers introduced HB2, a bill that imposes onerous restrictions on abortion providers and demands that all clinics meet costly – upwards of $1 million – building requirements to qualify them as ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs). Lawmakers claimed these regulations were critical to protecting the lives and health of Texas women, but that’s simply not the case. Currently more than three-quarters of the state’s ASCs have waivers that allow them to circumvent certain requirements: unsurprisingly, abortion providers are prohibited from obtaining those same waivers. HB2 quickly closed the majority of the state’s 41 clinics that offered abortion services – clinics that also provided birth control, pap smears, breast exams, pregnancy tests, and a host of other services. There are few, if any, providers to take their place.
These new restrictions add an unbearable weight to the burdens that too many of Texas’ women already shoulder. Texas has one of the nation’s highest unintended and teen birth rates. The nation’s lowest percentage of pregnant women receiving prenatal care in their first trimester. The highest percentage of uninsured children in the nation. High rates of poverty and unemployment and a woefully inadequate social safety net. And lawmakers who refuse to expand Medicaid, leaving nearly 700,000 women who would qualify for coverage without it.
Just a few weeks ago, Judge Lee Yeakel of the United States District Court in Austin gave health advocates an iota of hope when he ruled HB2 to be an undue burden on women’s constitutionally guaranteed right to an abortion. Yeakel’s decision wasn’t just significant because it delivered a win for humanity in Texas after countless losses, or because the concept of an undue burden was finally being used to protect – not erode – women’s right to chose, but because it was based on facts. Facts! Judge Yeakel relied on incontrovertible data to call bullshit on a law that purports to protect women, but has only ever been about abolishing abortion access.
He argued that for many women, HB2 might as well be an outright ban on abortion. He asked how the eight (at most) providers left could ever each serve between 7,500 and 10,000 patients. How would they cope with the more than 1,200 women per month who would be vying for limited appointments? “That the State suggests that these seven or eight providers could meet the demand of the entire state stretches credulity,” he said.
Yeakel acknowledged the complex intersections of women’s health and economic (in)security:
The record conclusively establishes that increased travel distances combine
with practical concerns unique to every woman. These practical concerns
include lack of availability of child care, unavailability of
appointments at abortion facilities, unavailability of time off from
work, immigration status and inability to pass border checkpoints,
poverty level, the time and expense involved in traveling long
distances, and other inarticulable psychological obstacles. These
factors combine with increased travel distances to establish a de facto barrier to obtaining an abortion for a large number of Texas women of reproductive age who might choose seek a legal abortion.
Yeakel warned that the stated goal of improving women’s health would
not come to pass. And it won’t. The increased delays in seeking early
abortion care, risks associated with longer travel, the potential
increases in self-induced abortions “almost certainly cancel out any
potential health benefit associated with the requirement,” he said.But Yeakel’s arguments were not compelling enough for the 5th Circuit, which finds it perfectly acceptable that more than one million women now need to travel more than 300 miles (and many women even further) to access health care that is constitutionally guaranteed to them.
This decision will have a ripple effect. Other anti-choice lawmakers across the country are following Texas’ lead, imposing similar restrictions on clinics and physicians who provide abortions. The vindication of Texas lawmakers who have used their legislative power to wreak havoc on the lives of women and families will only continue to embolden other states seeking the same goals.
Conservatives like to argue that they are not waging a war on women. Today there are a whole lot of us who find it impossible to argue otherwise.
How America’s Richest 14 Made More Money Than the Entire Food Stamp Budget
OBSCENE! Follow link to original
--------------------------------------------------------
http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/10/americas-richest-food-stamps/
For the second year in a row, America’s richest 14 individuals made more from their annual investments than the $80 billion provided for people in need of food. Nearly half of the food-deprived are children. Perversely, the food stamp program was CUT because of a lack of federal funding.
In a testament to the inability — or unwillingness — of Congress to do anything about the incessant upward re-distribution of America’s wealth, the richest 14 Americans increased their wealth from $507 billion to $589 billion in ONE YEAR from their investment earnings. As stated by Forbes, “All together the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a staggering $2.29 trillion, up $270 billion from a year ago.”
The America’s Richest 14 Made Enough Money to Hire Two Million Pre-School Teachers or Emergency Medical Technicians
Billions of dollars of wealth, derived from years of American productivity, have been transferred to a few financially savvy and well-connected individuals who have spent a generation shaping trading rules and tax laws to their own advantage. It’s so inexplicably one-sided that the 2013 investment earnings of the richest 1% of Americans ($1.8 trillion) was more than the entire budget for Social Security ($860 billion), Medicare ($524 billion), and Medicaid ($304 billion).
Why Does So Little of Our National Wealth Go to Feed People or Provide Jobs?
The fruits of American productivity go to the America’s richest, who can afford to hold onto their fortunes, defer taxes indefinitely, and then pay a smaller capital gains rate when they eventually decide to cash in. Worse yet, they can stash their winnings overseas, tax-free. It is estimated that $7.6 trillion of personal wealth is hidden in tax havens. That means, stunningly, that $1 of every $12 of worldwide wealth is hidden in a haven.
America has no wealth tax, no financial speculation tax, no means of stopping the rampant redistribution of money to the rich. As Noam Chomsky said, The concept of the Common Good that is being relentlessly driven into our heads demands that we focus on our own private gain, and suppress normal human emotions of solidarity, mutual support and concern for others.
Who Are These People Taking All the Big Money?
A review of America’s richest 20 shows that opportunism and ruthless business practices and tax avoidance, rather than entrepreneurship, vaulted these individuals to the top:
Bill Gates used someone else’s operating system to start Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
According to the New York Post, Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, “openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002.”
Koch Industries is jeopardizing our clean air and water, moving its toxic waste to Detroit and Chicago, trying to take away the minimum wage, seeking to take down renewable energy initiatives, and laying off thousands of workers.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) makes $13,000 in pre-tax profits per employee (after paying salaries), yet takes a taxpayer subsidy of $5,815 per worker.
Jeff Bezos has spent millions of dollars per year on lobbyists, lawyers, and political campaigns to maintain Amazon’s tax-free sales in order to undercut competitors and drive them out of business.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), which has gained recognition as one of the world’s biggest tax avoiders, a master at the “Double Irish” revenue shift to Bermuda tax havens, and a beneficiary of tax loopholes that bring money back to the U.S. without paying taxes on it.
Zuckerberg, like Gates, was an opportunist, overcoming superior competition with his Harvard connection, gaining better financial support, and — allegedly — hacking competitors’ computers to compromise their user data.
Job Creators?
As for the argument that Microsoft, Google, etc. created products and jobs: It was the industry that did it, supported by decades of research and innovation, and involving tens of thousands of American workers, from scientists to database clerks. Our nation’s winner-take-all philosophy makes it look like one person did the work of all these contributors. That’s wrong as can be, especially for this year’s version of the richest Americans.
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http://www.valuewalk.com/2014/10/americas-richest-food-stamps/
How America’s Richest 14 Made More Money Than the Entire Food Stamp Budget by Paul Buchheit, CommonDreams
For the second year in a row, America’s richest 14 individuals made more from their annual investments than the $80 billion provided for people in need of food. Nearly half of the food-deprived are children. Perversely, the food stamp program was CUT because of a lack of federal funding.
In a testament to the inability — or unwillingness — of Congress to do anything about the incessant upward re-distribution of America’s wealth, the richest 14 Americans increased their wealth from $507 billion to $589 billion in ONE YEAR from their investment earnings. As stated by Forbes, “All together the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a staggering $2.29 trillion, up $270 billion from a year ago.”
The America’s Richest 14 Made Enough Money to Hire Two Million Pre-School Teachers or Emergency Medical Technicians
Billions of dollars of wealth, derived from years of American productivity, have been transferred to a few financially savvy and well-connected individuals who have spent a generation shaping trading rules and tax laws to their own advantage. It’s so inexplicably one-sided that the 2013 investment earnings of the richest 1% of Americans ($1.8 trillion) was more than the entire budget for Social Security ($860 billion), Medicare ($524 billion), and Medicaid ($304 billion).
Why Does So Little of Our National Wealth Go to Feed People or Provide Jobs?
The fruits of American productivity go to the America’s richest, who can afford to hold onto their fortunes, defer taxes indefinitely, and then pay a smaller capital gains rate when they eventually decide to cash in. Worse yet, they can stash their winnings overseas, tax-free. It is estimated that $7.6 trillion of personal wealth is hidden in tax havens. That means, stunningly, that $1 of every $12 of worldwide wealth is hidden in a haven.
America has no wealth tax, no financial speculation tax, no means of stopping the rampant redistribution of money to the rich. As Noam Chomsky said, The concept of the Common Good that is being relentlessly driven into our heads demands that we focus on our own private gain, and suppress normal human emotions of solidarity, mutual support and concern for others.
Who Are These People Taking All the Big Money?
A review of America’s richest 20 shows that opportunism and ruthless business practices and tax avoidance, rather than entrepreneurship, vaulted these individuals to the top:
Bill Gates used someone else’s operating system to start Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
According to the New York Post, Warren Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, “openly admits that it owes back taxes since as long ago as 2002.”
Koch Industries is jeopardizing our clean air and water, moving its toxic waste to Detroit and Chicago, trying to take away the minimum wage, seeking to take down renewable energy initiatives, and laying off thousands of workers.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) makes $13,000 in pre-tax profits per employee (after paying salaries), yet takes a taxpayer subsidy of $5,815 per worker.
Jeff Bezos has spent millions of dollars per year on lobbyists, lawyers, and political campaigns to maintain Amazon’s tax-free sales in order to undercut competitors and drive them out of business.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin are the founders of Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOGL) (NASDAQ:GOOG), which has gained recognition as one of the world’s biggest tax avoiders, a master at the “Double Irish” revenue shift to Bermuda tax havens, and a beneficiary of tax loopholes that bring money back to the U.S. without paying taxes on it.
Zuckerberg, like Gates, was an opportunist, overcoming superior competition with his Harvard connection, gaining better financial support, and — allegedly — hacking competitors’ computers to compromise their user data.
Job Creators?
As for the argument that Microsoft, Google, etc. created products and jobs: It was the industry that did it, supported by decades of research and innovation, and involving tens of thousands of American workers, from scientists to database clerks. Our nation’s winner-take-all philosophy makes it look like one person did the work of all these contributors. That’s wrong as can be, especially for this year’s version of the richest Americans.
Friday, October 3, 2014
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