Monday, December 31, 2012
Thursday, December 27, 2012
Chicago Tribune - Man shot dead before he can 'get out of the game'
Blacks make up about 33 percent of the city’s population, but African-Americans made up 75.6 percent of the homicides this year, statistics show. According to police data, 378 homicide victims were African-American.
Sunday, December 23, 2012
Mom Can't Get Food Stamps After Drug Offense, Resorts to Prostitution to Feed her Kids - newspoodle's posterous
Readers dish advice on ties to grandparents, spouses and religion - The Washington Post
Friday, December 21, 2012
Mayor Emanuel says credibility intact after release of school-closing memo - Chicago Sun-Times
Mayor Emanuel says credibility intact after release of school-closing memo
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter/fspielman@suntimes.com December 20, 2012 3:32PM
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Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett with Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a press conference announcing "wall-to-wall" International Baccalaureate (IB) programmes at Taft High School and Lincoln Park High School. | Rich Hein~Sun-Times
Updated: December 21, 2012 2:32AM
Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Thursday brushed aside suggestions that a memo written last fall outlining a strategy for closing more than 100 under-capacity Chicago Public Schools damages his credibility in the highly-charged debate.
“I believe that, over the last decade, there’s been a lot of paperwork. I would expect people to do some analysis. What has been missing in the last decade is engagement and actions,” the mayor said at an unrelated City Hall news conference.
“There has been a movement of fewer students in our public schools.,” Emanuel said. “A lot of people have studied it. A lot of paperwork and analysis has been done. Now, we have something different that we’ve never had in the past. That’s community engagement and the ability and the will now to finally act on something that has been postponed for over a decade.”
Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett has divorced herself from the September memo prepared by her predecessor that outlined scenarios for closing or gradually shutting down more than 100 schools and braced for the political fallout.
But, it didn’t sit well with African-American aldermen whose wards have lost population and, therefore, stand to lose the greatest number of schools.
They claim it plays into the community’s longstanding suspicion that CPS already has a hit-list of specific schools to be closed and that community hearings are a sham.
Thursday, December 20, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Fw: Obama's heartbreaking Social Security cuts
Dear MoveOn member,
Heartbreaking news: To appease Republicans, President Obama has offered to slash Social Security benefits by $112 billion over the coming decade. If this goes through, Barack Obama will be the first Democratic president in history to cut Social Security benefits. Should MoveOn make a big final push against any cuts to Social Security? Click a link below to vote:
Standing up to a President we fought so hard to elect, right after an election, isn't easy.Which is why we urgently need your advice.
As part of the ongoing fiscal negotiations in Washington, President Obama has offered a massive concession to Republicans: A deal that would slash Social Security benefits by $112 billion over the next decade. And we have to make a decision right now about what to do.
According to the AARP, "A typical 80-year-old woman will lose the equivalent of 3 months worth of food annually" under this plan.1
This is a bad deal for current retirees. And it'll hit future retirees even harder, because the proposal cuts Social Security more and more with each passing year. After 10 years, benefits would be cut by about $500 a year for the average retiree. After 20 years, benefits would be cut by about $1,000 a year. And beyond that, it just gets worse.2
But here's the good news: There's still time to block this deal. The U.S. Senate is full of Social Security champions.3 And Social Security is central to the Democratic Party's legacy.
Still, just like standing up to the President isn't easy for MoveOn members, it isn't easy for Democratic senators. But if Social Security champions who are rejecting this plan in the Senate know we've got their backs, we have a chance to push President Obama to do the right thing.
So we have a decision to make right now: Should MoveOn keep standing with champions of Social Security and make a big final push to oppose any cuts?
If we do this, here's what we have in mind:
- We have a powerful TV ad that we can run in the states of vulnerable Senators who are up for re-election.
- We'll make sure that champions of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid know we have their backs, by publicly thanking them and running ads in support of their leadership.
- We'll continue to remind Democrats that MoveOn-backed primary challenges for those who vote to slash our social safety net are a real possibility.
- We'll organize on-the-ground events at district offices, while Senators are home this week.
- And we'll continue jamming phone lines in Congress and the White House, flooding offices with petitions, and doing whatever else we can to show significant opposition to any deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.
Click to vote on our plan:
Last time there was talk of a "grand bargain," progressives united behind a simple message: No cuts to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. And, after a long fight, we won.This is not necessarily an easy choice, though. If there's agreement on a "grand bargain," President Obama will use the power of his office to try and sell it to the American people. Going up against that is hard. It will require significant resources. And of course, we just got done making a major financial investment to win his election.
So it's up to you. Thanks so much for your input.
–Justin, Vicki, Garlin, Ilya, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "AARP to Congress and the President: Don't Cut Social Security," AARP, December 18, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=285712&id=59599-18332148-hgQPe8x&t=72. "Social Security COLA Cut," Strengthen Social Security, December 18, 2012
http://strengthensocialsecurity.org/colacut3. "Harry Reid: 'We Are Not Going To Mess With Social Security'," Huffington Post, November 8, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=285713&id=59599-18332148-hgQPe8x&t=8Want to support our work? We're entirely funded by our 7 million members—no corporate contributions, no big checks from CEOs. And our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. Chip in here.
PAID FOR BY MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION, http://pol.moveon.org/. Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. This email was sent to brian banks on December 19, 2012. To change your email address or update your contact info, click here. To remove yourself from this list, click here.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Chicago Tribune - Document shows Emanuel administration had detailed school closing plans
http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-73748664/
This is most important story in 2013 is my new years prediction.
Friday, December 14, 2012
E D.C. judge exonerates Santae Tribble in 1978 murder, cites hair evidence DNA test By Spencer S. Hsu, Publi
So far 301 men mostly minority, I'm sure, proved innocent by DNA.
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Sunday, December 2, 2012
Saturday, December 1, 2012
As Companies Seek Tax Deals, Governments Pay High Price - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/02/us/how-local-taxpayers-bankroll-corporations.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
“If you’re looking at the competitiveness of a region, the most important thing a region can do is to focus on education. And this use of incentives is really transferring money from education to businesses.”
Donald J. Hall Jr., Hallmark C.E.O.
I think this article creates opportunity for candidates, activists and researchers to propose spending more for education and less on corporate welfare
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