Times Standard Editorial on CA budget cuts

Is hope dying for the assisted living?

Richard Salzman/For the Times-Standard
08/20/2009


The Times Standard got it right with the headline, “Adding insult to injury for care providers,” on its Aug. 13th front-page story about the protest by in-home support service care providers. These assisted-living workers have been severely affected by our state's draconian budget cuts, and now the state wants them fingerprinted at their own expense!

What was not clear from the article was our representative's position on these issues, so I checked online and found that Assemblymember Wes Chesbro voted no on ABX4 19-IHSS reform (this is the bill that requires fingerprints and background checks), and he voted no on ABX4 8 -- cuts to SSI & CalWorks. I'm glad that Chesbro took the moral high ground on these two votes.

But I'm not happy about the overall budget “compromise,” which allowed for zero revenue increases despite several good proposals, such as an alcohol tax which would have brought in $1.4 billion a year; a 9.9 percent charge to the value of oil extracted from wells in California, which would have raised over $1 billion a year; and a tax on incomes of over $250,000 a year, which could net $4 billion in annual revenues.

Overall, the situation is dire for those in our society who are the most vulnerable. And when it comes to assisted living, the alternative will only cost us more, both in the short run and the long run. If these people cannot live at home, they will either become homeless or be institutionalized -- outcomes which put an even greater burden on society while providing no benefit whatsoever, not even financial.

The governor, through a constitutionally questionable use of his line item veto, cut Healthy Families by $50 million, on top of the $53 million already cut by the Legislature. According to an analysis by the Managed Risk Medical Insurance Board, this will mean that nearly 670,000 more children could be dropped from Healthy Families by next June -- despite the 22,000 children already on the waiting list to get onto Healthy Families!

These so-called “blue pencil” vetoes by the governor have included:

* slashing the remaining state support for county health clinics, such as Humboldt's Open Door Clinics, by $25 million;

* cutting the last of the state's support for Domestic Violence Shelters, such as the Humboldt Women's Shelter, by $16.4 million.

* chopping the last of the state's support for the adolescent Family Life Program by $9 million.

* slicing $52 million from the state Office of AIDS, which will result in severely decreased service in Humboldt County for HIV/AID
prevention and treatment;

* eliminating funding for two programs for the aging, which will affect Eureka's new Alzheimer's Center and the Senior Brown Bag Program.

In addition, there was a $124 million reduction for child welfare services, which will come on top of a previous cut of 10 percent. The likely result will be layoffs of hundreds of social workers and caseloads for those remaining that are unmanageable. All this will be added to a whopping $1 billion dollar cut to Medi-Cal.

The budget also amputated $375 million from CalWorks services, and most of these cuts will not begin until July of 2011. So expect the bad times to last for some time to come.

When they were created, I don't remember anyone in government saying that these “safety nets” would just exist in good times -- but that if finances got rough, which would be exactly when they are needed the most, we would cut off recipients.

Assemblymember Chesbro seems to share my outrage about these cuts, when earlier this month he said:
”The measure of any society is how well it takes care of its most vulnerable citizens. It is shameful to balance the state's budget on the backs of children, the aged, the poor and the disabled. Yet this is what the governor seems intent on doing by using the line-item veto to cut nearly $500 million from programs that provide health care for children from impoverished families and services for the elderly, victims of domestic violence, those suffering from AIDS and abused and neglected youths.”

”I don't believe the governor has the legal right to make these cuts. The California Constitution doesn't allow the governor to line-item veto bills that reduce the budget. He can only veto individual items from appropriations bills. The governor is acting like a dictator by assuming power that isn't legally his.”

All of us here on the North Coast should contact the governor (gov.ca.gov) and echo Chesbro's remarks. We should also come to grips with the reality that any real fix is going to require some reform to Prop. 13.

Ask Obama to restore aid to Darfur

Sign the open letter to President Obama

With the rainy season in Darfur approaching and aid yet to be restored, we're calling for bold, agenda-setting leadership on Sudan.

The Save Darfur Coalition, ENOUGH Project, and GI-NET have issued an open letter outlining a plan of action for President Obama.

But this movement has always been about citizens of conscience and courage like you speaking out together—so please, use the form on this website to sign onto the letter today:
http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/jointletter

Support Kucinich State Single-Payer Amendment

*Urgent: Support Kucinich State Single-Payer Amendment*

Rep. Dennis Kucinich has proposed a crucial amendment for single-payer
healthcare and we urgently need you to call one or more of the 26
Democrats on the House Education and Labor Committee. Our message is simple:

Please support Rep. Kucinich's Amendment today to let states create
single-payer healthcare systems. The federal government should give
states the freedom to fix our health care crisis.

You can call any time and leave a voicemail if no one answers. If you do
speak with a staffer, please post their reply here:
http://tr.im/sJeO

You can also urge your Senators and Representatives to support the
Single Payer Health Plan (H.R. 676) by signing our petition:
http://tr.im/sJfk

The Kucinich Amendment would let individual states create single-payer
healthcare systems even if Congress fails to create a nationwide
single-payer system.

That's exactly how Canada evolved towards single-payer: one province at
a time. Given the corporate-funded resistance to single-payer in
Congress, the U.S. may have to follow the Canadian path.

Progressive activists in California, Illinois and Pennsylvania are
leading the way for single-payer systems and the Kucinich Amendment
would remove the legal roadblocks they face.

The fate of the Kucinich Amendment rests in the hands of the 26
Democrats below. Please call as many as you can.

George Miller (CA-7) 202-225-2095
Dale Kildee (MI-5) 202-225-3611
Donald Payne (NJ-10) 202-225-3436
Robert Andrews (NJ-1) 202-225-6501
Bobby Scott (VA-3) 202-225-8351
Lynn Woolsey (CA-6) 202-225-5161
Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15) 202-225-2531
Carolyn McCarthy (NY-4) 202-225-5516
John Tierney (MA-6) 202-225-8020
David Wu (OR-1) 202-225-0855
Rush Holt (NJ-12) 202-225-5801
Susan Davis (CA-53) 202-225-2040
Raul Grijalva (AZ-7) 202-225-2435
Tim Bishop (NY-1) 202-225-3826
Joe Sestak (PA-7) 202-225-2011
David Loebsack (IA-2) 202-225-6576
Mazie Hirono (HI-2) 202-225-4906
Jason Altmire (PA-4) 202-225-2565
Phil Hare (IL-17) 202-225-5905
Yvette Clarke (NY-11) 202-225-6231
Joe Courtney (CT-2) 202-225-2076
Carol Shea-Porter (NH-1) 202-225-5456
Marcia Fudge (OH-11) 202-225-7032
Jared Polis (CO-2) 202-225-2161
Paul Tonko (NY-21) 202-225-5076
Dina Titus (NV-3) 202-225-3252

Humboldt's Election Transparency Project in N.Y. Times

From: Letters to the editor of the New York Times

To the Editor:

Thank you for your editorial supporting the use of paper ballots. I’d like to call your attention to the discovery by the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project that even in Humboldt County, California, where paper ballots are in use, the Diebold GEMS system dropped an entire batch of 197 ballots from its final results in the November 2008 election, leaving no evidence in its “audit” trail.

The discovery was made by the Transparency Project, a volunteer group of which I am a member, using my ballot-counting software.

California’s secretary of state, Debra Bowen, conducted an investigation and discovered many flaws in GEMS, leading her to decertify the version of GEMS then used in Humboldt County.

It is vital that America return to paper ballots. It is equally vital that these ballots be made available for independent counting, whether by hand or by computer-assisted projects like the Humboldt County Election Transparency Project. No democracy can function when its election results are suspect.

Mitch Trachtenberg
Trinidad, Calif., June 23, 2009

More Arrests at "Mountain Justice Summer" Protest

The people of Appalachian coal country are continuing their struggle against big coal's mountaintop removal practices and the subsequent destruction of their watersheds. Where I live in Humboldt County California, "Redwood Summer" brought national attention to the clear cutting of the last of the ancient old growth redwood forests (less 3% of the original old growth forest now remain) and the decline of our rivers, streams and fish populations, which continues today. Learn more and offer your support at: www.mountainjusticesummer.org

The protest and arrests reported below were staged in advance of a Congressional hearing titled, "The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia", scheduled for this Thursday June 25th before the Water and Wildlife subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

Take a moment to contact the members of this committee right now:
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Subcommittees.Subcommittee&Subcommittee_id=47af17cb-6eeb-4fdc-b02d-0abb49d2eacb
Click on each members name to be taken to their website, and then click on contact. Ask them to act now to stop mountain top removal.

You should also ask all Senators to join Senator Cardin as a sponsor of S. 696, The Appalachian Restoration Act, that would outlaw this mining practice. Find your senator here:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm


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http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2009/2009-06-23-01.asp

Climate Scientist James Hansen Arrested in Mountaintop Removal Protest


Coal River Valley, West Virginia, June 23, 2009 - West Virginia State Police today arrested at least 29 demonstrators, including government climate scientist Dr. James Hansen, actress Daryl Hannah, and 94 year-old former West Virginia Congressman Ken Hechler, for tresspassing on the property of a mountaintop removal coal mining company to protest the destructive practice.

The protesters deliberately entered the Goals Coal plant owned by coal giant Massey Energy to draw public attention to the destruction of mountains immediately above the Coal River Valley community of Sundial in Raleigh County.
The demonstrators attempted to deliver a letter of demands to the company regarding this facility, which they say threatens the students at Marsh Fork Elementary School.

"I am not a politician; I am a scientist and a citizen," said Hansen, who is the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City and adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University.

"Politicians may have to advocate for halfway measures if they choose. But it is our responsibility to make sure our representatives feel the full force of citizens who speak for what is right, not what is politically expedient," Hansen told a crowd of about 350 people gathered at Marsh Fork Elementary. "Mountaintop removal, providing only a small fraction of our energy, should be abolished."

Also arrested were Michael Brune, executive director of the nonprofit Rainforest Action Network; and Goldman Prize winner Judy Bonds, co-director of the nonprofit Coal River Mountain Watch, along with dozens of Coal River Valley residents and allies.

The protest was staged in advance of a Congressional hearing titled, The Impacts of Mountaintop Removal Mining on Water Quality in Appalachia, scheduled for Thursday before the Water and Wildlife subcommittee of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.

The action comes after the Obama administration's announcement last week that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will reform, but not abolish, the strip mining practice that removes the tops of mountains to get at coal seams and then dumps the waste rock into valley streams below.

For 20 years, Dr. Hansen has been outspoken on issue of global warming and the dangers of fossil fuel combustion. He criticized the Bush administration for its suppport of fossil fuels, and now he is criticizing the Obama administration.

In the June 22 issue of Yale University's "Environment 360" magazine, Hansen wrote, "The Obama administration is being forced into a political compromise. It has sacrificed a strong position on mountaintop removal in order to ensure the support of coal-state legislators for a climate bill. The political pressures are very real. But this is an approach to coal that defeats the purpose of the administration’s larger efforts to fight climate change, a sad political bargain that will never get us the change we need on mountaintop removal, coal or the climate."

Coal companies that engage in mountaintop removal mining are clear-cutting thousands of acres of some of the world's most biologically diverse forests, the protesters said in a statement today. "They're burying biologically crucial headwaters streams with blasting debris, releasing toxic levels of heavy metals into the remaining streams and groundwater and poisoning essential drinking water. According to the EPA, this destructive practice has damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 miles of streams and threatens to destroy 1.4 million acres of forest by 2020."

"Every day, mountaintop removal mines use more explosive power than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima," said Bo Webb, an organizer of today's protest and a Coal River Valley Resident. "West Virginians oppose mountaintop removal in our communities. This is not our traditional way of life, and we do not support the destruction of our land or our communities."

"We are all complicit in mountaintop removal whenever we turn on our lights, so we are all responsible for ending it. Mountaintop removal, the world's worst strip-mining, is unacceptable. Period." said Brune. "This is not a practice that needs to be reformed. It is a practice that needs to be abolished."

Mountaintop removal coal provides less than eight percent of all coal produced in the United States, and could be replaced with energy efficiency initiatives or renewable energy sources, the demonstrators say.

They point to recent studies showing that the mountains of Appalachia could support commercial scale wind energy facilities, which would bring long-term, sustainable jobs to the region, but only if the mountains are left standing.

"By sacrificing the Appalachian Mountains for the country's coal addiction, we undermine future investments in 21st century clean energy solutions that will protect our planet, produce more jobs and preserve our natural resources," Brune said.

Today's demonstration is the latest in a string of mountaintop removal protests that saw four people enter Massey Energy's mountaintop removal mine site near Twilight, West Virginia on June 18 to display a banner reading, "stop mountaintop removal mining."

These demonstrators hung their banner from a 150-foot dragline machine - the first time a dragline has been scaled on a mountaintop removal site. The huge piece of equipment removes house-sized chunks of blasted rock and earth to expose coal.

The June 18 protest occurred three days after the Obama administration announced its plan to reform, but not abolish, mountaintop removal mining.

On May 23, more than 75 residents of the Coal River Valley and members of a coalition that includes Mountain Justice and Climate Ground Zero picketed the entrance to Massey Energy's Marfork mining complex. Seven people were arrested. They were protesting the company's plans to blast 100 feet away from the Brushy Fork coal sludge impoundment, which they fear could be breached, releasing the toxic waste.

"It's way past time for civil disobedience to stop mountaintop removal and move quickly toward clean, renewable energy sources," said Bonds, who was arrested today. "For over a century, Appalachian communities have been crushed, flooded, and poisoned as a result of the country's dangerous and outdated reliance on coal. How could the country care so little about our American mountains, our culture and our lives?"

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2009. All rights reserved.

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related story: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/06/22

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17 arrested anti-mountaintop removal civil disobedience

Please donate to the legal fund here.

Seventeen courageous Mountain Justice volunteers were arrested Saturday, May 23 in a three-part civil disobedience action in our continuing movement to end mountaintop removal. Six are still in jail with bogus, unprecedented, $2,000 cash-only bail amounts, slowing their release. Many of them were arrested for the first time with clean records, and all they did was cross a line onto coal company property. We are raising $18,000 to get them out of jail as we move closer to defeating King Coal. Fundraising has bailed out three others since this morning. Thank you all!

The Kayford Eight were charged with trespass and conspiracy for walking onto the 12,000-acre-plus Kayford Mountain mine and locking themselves to a giant dump truck. Placing U-locks around their necks, they attached themselves to guardrails and the driveshaft of the truck after hanging a banner on the truck's grill that read "Never Again!" Here is a statement from the Kayford Eight:

We locked down at the Kayford mountaintop removal site with mud from the Mingo County flood on our boots and now, with the dusty remains of Kayford Mountain on our boots, we stand in solidarity with our sisters and brothers jailed for their actions to oppose mountaintop removal coal mining.


Also before dawn, two brave women, donning hazmat suits and respirators, boated onto the eight-billion-gallon Brushy Fork toxic coal slurry lake and launched a 60-foot floating banner that read "No more toxic sludge!" They were charged with trespass and littering. How can you litter on a giant toxic waste dump? Massey Energy has a permit to blast within 100 feet of this impoundment, which sits atop a honeycomb of abandoned deep mines. In 2000, more than 300 million gallons of coal slurry broke through the bottom of Massey's Martin Co., Ky., impoundment, and into the deep mines beneath, then exploding into two watersheds, smothering aquatic life over 100 miles of streams. A Brushy Fork failure would be over 23 times larger than Martin County.

Saturday's two backcountry actions were followed by a picket at the mouth of Massey Energy's Marfork mining complex, which includes the Brushy Fork dam, where more than 75 Coal River Valley residents and supporters emphasized the deadly danger of that impoundment: the 72-foot peak depth of the sludge at the Head Start facility there should the dam break. Seven people crossed the line onto Marfork's property and were arrested for trespass.

While the Kayford Eight were released the same day, the other nine fared differently. The two Brushy Paddlers and four of the Pettus Seven are being held for $2,000 each, cash only. We know you love and care about the people of Appalachia! Now is the time to demonstrate your support through a donation to help bail out these committed and passionate activists. We really need your support more than ever at this crucial juncture in the movement to end mountaintop removal mining!

If donating by mail, make out a check or money order to Mountain Justice at: P.O. Box 86, Naoma, WV, 25140.

For donations that have a much-needed immediate impact, call 304-854-1937. Thank you!

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Let's Keep up the Pressure

Be part of ending mountaintop removal: ban its combustion in your community, volunteer in Appalachia, donate to Coal River 17's legal fund.
It's going to take action, continued and direct, to stop Mountaintop Removal. We need to stop the coal bosses from laying mountains low and laying off deep miners. We're going to keep confronting these coal barons, and we need your help.

Help out on the ground in Appalachia—there are opportunities in West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee. Send an email to volunteer (at) mountainjustice (dot) org. We need organizers and hellraisers. We need media and medics. We need cooks, gardeners and folks comfortable in the backwoods.

We also need solidarity. If you can't come to Appalachia, you can organize in your hometown or at your university. Contact us for fundraiser, action, and teach-in ideas or act on your own initiative.

And if nothing else, you can send us money. We need to feed our volunteers and cover our legal fees. However you help, you're a crucial part of ending mountaintop removal and building sustainable economies and communities in Appalachia! Donate here.

Children of the Guatemala City garbage dump

The letter below is from a dear friend of mine's daughter who has been working as a volunteer with the children of the Guatemala City garbage dump. On her own, she has also started an art program for these kids and she is asking for support.

It warms my heart to hear of young people willing to give of their time to make the world a better place and I'm sure that bringing art into these children's lives is more significant then any of us can even imagine.

She needs to fund this program on her own, so I am forwarding her letter and asking that you please send in a check for whatever you can afford to:

Safe Passage - Art Program
PO Box 712849
Cincinnati, OH
45271

She says that even five dollars can make a difference.

SAFE PASSAGE is a 501 (C)(3) tax deductible organization with a four star rating from Charity Navigator

Please forward this email

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From: Nell Pierce artprogram@safepassage.org

Dear friends and family,

As many of you know, I decided last spring to take a gap year before college in order to volunteer in Guatemala City with the organization Safe Passage. This Non-Profit organization , founded in 1999 to work with the poorest at-risk children of families working in the Guatemala City garbage dump, has now expanded to support nearly six hundred children (from infants to those in their early twenties) as well their families through educational reinforcement and opportunity. Since August, I have worked as a classroom volunteer with several different age groups and the amount of potential and ambition that these kids possess is humbling, to say the least. Having been raised with an artistic eye, my attention has been drawn especially to the ridiculously creative doodles that I find in their school notebooks. At the moment, there is no structured art program in existence for any of the kids at Safe Passage. Given the spirit of change that has characterized the New Year worldwide and the corresponding energy behind new development at the project, I feel compelled to do something about this.

I wrote up and presented a proposal for an Art Program that would start off with both third and fourth grade and eventually expand to include all ages as support is gathered from both the Guatemalan art community as well as international contributors. The curriculum that I am developing includes projects that are fun and diverse, and each is complemented with a bit of art history as well as some type of reflection (whether it be on self, others, nature, society, etc.). The response has been very positive from all levels of administration, however, they are limited in the resources that they can provide. They kindly provided me with a space that I´ve been fixing up to use as a classroom and storage area, and I have been bringing kids in every afternoon to get things rolling - using materials that I´ve either found, recycled, or bought with the support of a start-up donation. Many of them have directly expressed to me how important art is to them – both as an emotional outlet and as a way to help their families. A fifteen-year-old wrote me a note the other day and told me that he though of drawing as “dreaming with his eyes open.” This sort of desire should not be dismissed.

As the major goal for the program is sustainability, I have created a separate art account to be available for future creativity – hopefully even after I leave towards the end of this summer. Safe Passage has been clear that they cannot provide any financial support, so I´ve taken on all responsibility for fundraising. I´m writing all of you to ask for whatever support you may be able to offer – whether it be financial in the form of a check or fundraiser or mental in the form of ideas…or just a word of encouragement! Aside from the obvious benefit of providing an expressive outlet for the children, this is also an opportunity for the kids to improve our project, as their art from past initiatives has been sold and/or displayed to bring in lots of funds and positive public relations. If you choose to become involved in some way, I will surely keep you updated with photos and monthly reports as things progress (just be sure I have your email address).

I want to emphasize that every cent counts in this initiative – even $5 can go a long way (that could buy pencils for forty students). Given my own position in life as a volunteer and the absurdly cheap mentality I’ve developed living in Guatemala, I understand that big sums aren’t always at our disposal and that this project will grow piece by piece. If you would like to contribute monetarily, please make all checks out to Safe Passage and specify in the memo or on a separate note that it is intended for the Art Program. Checks should be sent to the following address:

Safe Passage Art Program
PO Box 712849
Cincinnati, OH
45271

If you make a donation online www.SafePassage.org , please let me know via email so that I can notify those in charge of collecting the funds as to where the money should be directed.

Please do not feel any pressure from this email, as my intention is only to get the word out. I'm open to everything and truly appreciate anything you can offer!

Lots of love and positive Guatemalan vibes to everyone.

Sincerely,
Nellie Pierce
artprogram@safepassage.org