Re: [sfbaycodepinkdiscussion] Fwd: [oaklandteachers] CFT calls for fair taxation to fund public progr

[Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org>]

Why not impeachment? Nothing good will happen for anybody but the obscenely rich
until Bush is gone. And even then...

The initials are:

CTA - CA Teachers Assoc, the state affiliate of the NEA, National Education
Assoc, the biggest union in the country by 4 x.

ILWU - International Longshoremen

CFT - CA Federation of Teachers, the state affiliate of AFT, American Fed
Teachers; way smaller than CTA

OEA - Oakland Education Assoc

CNA - CA Nurses Assoc, a terrific, powerful union

Susan

On Thursday, February 28, 2008, at 11:03 PM, cynthia papermaster wrote:

  Susan,

  this is very exciting. Thanks for sharing. There are lots of acronyms in Bob
  Mandel's post so I'm not getting much, but I do get the proposal to shut down
  everything on May 1. I have two ideas about this:

  1) Do you think there's a way to make the issue of impeachment hearings
  starting for Cheney a part of this action? I'm nobody, but if I knew who to
  discuss this with I'd take it forward. If the impeachment and anti-war forces
  join together-- WOW! 

  2) This could grow and get really really big. I mean nationwide.

  There are many groups who should come in on this. Do you know if a coalition
  is being formed? CodePink should certainly be part of it.

  I think there should be an economic boycott on May 1 as well. No spending,
  especially no one buying from oil companies, perhaps not even using
  electricity for a day. Lew Brown in Sonoma & Anthony St. Martin in SoCal are
  two leaders who come to mind who've been proposing boycotts/strikes.

  Labor has the force and size to make change happen.

  CP

  Susan Harman <susanharman@igc.org> wrote:

  CalCARE will co-sponsor this. Code Pink should, too.

  Susan

  Begin forwarded message:

  > From: "communard2@juno.com"

  > Date: Sat Feb 23, 2008 2:44:34 PM US/Pacific

  > To: oaklandteachers@lists.riseup.net

  > Subject: Re: [oaklandteachers] CFT calls for fair taxation to fund

  > public progr

  > Reply-To: oaklandteachers@lists.riseup.net

  >

  > The ILWU is planning to shut down the entire West Coast May 1st to

  > oppose the continued funding of the occupation of Iraq by Democrats

  > and Republicans alike and to demand that the monies be used for needed

  > social services in the US instead.

  >

  > May 1st would be a logical day for OEA to take a similar, linked

  > action and to call on all the CTA urbans to join us. 

  >

  > OEA's State Council delegates could advance this program at the April

  > meeting, too, since it is entirely consistent with what Jack outlines

  > below.  If CTA were to initiate job actions statewide May 1st, it

  > would shift the entire dynamic of the debate over the budget cuts and

  > the alleged lack of funds.

  >

  > Through the local AFT, we could invite CFT to join us May 1st in

  > statewide action.

  >

  > A May 1st action would also allow OEA (and CTA) to forge stronger

  > links with the immigrant community, particularly those from Mexico,

  > Central and South America since May 1st has been the date for major

  > immigrant-rights actions over the past two years.

  >

  > Bob Mandel

  >

  >

  >

  > -- "Jack Gerson" wrote:

  > I'm forwarding an op-ed piece by California Federation of Teachers

  > (i.e., statewide AFT) President Marty Hittleman, from the San Jose

  > Mercury News. Hittleman calls for opposing the budget cuts to all

  > vital public programs--not just those to education--and for increasing

  > state revenues by making tax policies more progressive. [Although I

  > disagree with one of Hittleman's specific tax proposals, reinstating

  > the vehicle license fee, because that is not a progressive tax.]

  >

  > CTA's latest Budget Watch newsletter calls for "a balanced approach"

  > to cuts, and says CTA is "researching" the public's willingness to

  > oppose higher taxes. That's a losing strategy, which will leave

  > different public programs fighting over who gets cut least and further

  > antagonize the majority of the public--working people of moderate or

  > low income. CTA ought to be reaching out to CFT, CNA and parent and

  > community groups around aggressively fighting to close the state's

  > gaping tax loopholes and upside down tax structure--progressive

  > taxation to expand, not contract, vital public programs. I--and I

  > think many others from the large urban local caucus--will be putting

  > this forward at the next CTA State Council meeting in April.

  >

  > Jack Gerson

  >

  > -----------------------------------------------------------------------

  > -

  >

  > http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_8332936?nclick_check=1

  > Don't sacrifice schools on budgetary altar

  > By Marty Hittelman

  > Article Launched: 02/22/2008 01:33:40 AM PST

  >

  >

  > For some people, the projected $16 billion state budget deficit is an

  > example of over-spending. They say, "We must learn to live within our

  > means." When we hear this line we need to remember to ask, "How can we

  > afford to give to Californians the public services they truly need and

  > deserve?"

  >

  > The biggest single portion of the California budget goes to public

  > education, including K-12 and community colleges, enshrined by the

  > voters when they approved Proposition 98. That's about 40 percent of

  > the roughly $120 billion budget. Is too much being spent on public

  > education in California? Consider that California ranks 46th in the

  > nation in per-pupil spending for its 6.5 million students. Per-pupil

  > funding in the Golden State's community colleges ranks 45th for its

  > 2.5 million students. Clearly, California is not spending too much on

  > education. In fact, California is woefully under-funding education.

  >

  > Is the state spending too much on fire prevention? Ask victims of the

  > Southern California firestorms of last year. On health care? Ask the

  > state's nearly 7 million medically uninsured if they think too much

  > money is being spent on health care delivery. And so on down the line,

  > from road repair to disaster preparedness: services recklessly cut,

  > with the predictable results.

  >

  > Some claim that government is riddled with fraud and waste. Could we

  > find some examples of fraud and waste in state government? No doubt.

  > Eliminating that evil was one of the promises made by Gov. Arnold

  > Schwarzenegger in his election campaign. Recently, asked by a reporter

  > how much waste and fraud he had uncovered, the governor said: Not

  > enough to make a big difference in the state budget. So much for

  > ideology vs. reality.

  >

  > If we are to face, head on, the need for state services, we need to

  > consider increased revenue. We cannot continue to cut programs that

  > serve students, the elderly and the ill. One immediate solution would

  > be to reinstate former Gov. Pete Wilson's vehicle license fee, which

  > would now bring in about $6 billion per year. If the vehicle license

  > fee had not been reduced when Schwarzenegger came into office, we

  > would not be in the mess that we are in. Each of us could pay what we

  > had previously been paying to address our current budget crisis. That

  > was Wilson's solution to a budget shortfall, and that is what the

  > current governor should do.

  >

  > It is possible that a budget can simultaneously be a whole lot of

  > money and also not enough money. That is precisely the situation we

  > face now in California. We can choose to stick our head in the

  > mathematical sand and imagine $120 billion in isolation from social

  > reality, and simply say, "We're overspending." Or we can raise up our

  > head, count the people on top of the sand, and place the money in

  > context with the largest population of any state and say, "That's not

  > enough to meet our needs."

  >

  > We need greater state revenues through fair tax policies - policies

  > that acknowledge we do have the money in the richest state in the

  > richest country on earth, but it's in the wrong pockets. Besides

  > reinstating the vehicle license fee, let's just mention one corporate

  > tax loophole to close. As oil prices climb through the roof,

  > California remains the only oil-producing state that has no severance

  > tax on black gold as it emerges from the ground. That would, at

  > today's prices, bring in close to $1 billion per year.

  >

  > There are similar options that would not adversely affect the average

  > Californian, but would allow our state to educate us, keep us safe and

  > protect our health. The founders of the republic did not say, "No new

  > taxes, ever." They said, "No taxes without representation." We do

  > elect the representatives. They are in the governor's office and the

  > Legislature. They just need to get straight who they represent, and

  > how raising the right taxes at the right moment on the right people

  > would help California to move forward.

  >

  > MARTY HITTELMAN is president of the California Federation of Teachers.

  >

  >

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