Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Social Class Matters in America & Blacks are Stuck in an Underclass
Class Matters
The New York Times, Bill Keller
69 Reviews
Macmillan, Sep 2, 2005 - Social Science - 268 pages
The acclaimed New York Timesseries on social class in America--and its implications for the way we live our lives We Americans have long thought of ourselves as unburdened by class distinctions. We have no hereditary aristocracy or landed gentry, and even the poorest among us feel that they can become rich through education, hard work, or sheer gumption. And yet social class remains a powerful force in American life. In Class Matters, a team of New York Timesreporters explores the ways in which class--defined as a combination of income, education, wealth, and occupation--influences destiny in a society that likes to think of itself as a land of opportunity. We meet individuals in Kentucky and Chicago who have used education to lift themselves out of poverty and others in Virginia and Washington whose lack of education holds them back. We meet an upper-middle-class family in Georgia who moves to a different town every few years, and the newly rich in Nantucket whose mega-mansions have driven out the longstanding residents. And we see how class disparities manifest themselves at the doctor's office and at the marriage altar. For anyone concerned about the future of the American dream, Class Mattersis truly essential reading. " Class Mattersis a beautifully reported, deeply disturbing, portrait of a society bent out of shape by harsh inequalities. Read it and see how you fit into the problem or--better yet--the solution!" --Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch
http://books.google.com/books/about/Class_matters.html?id=l429kaN9rUwC
Drawing on both her roots in Kentucky and her adventures with Manhattan Coop boards, Where We Stand is a successful black woman's reflection--personal, straight forward, and rigorously honest--on how our dilemmas of class and race are intertwined, and how we can find ways to think beyond them.
http://www.amazon.com/Where-We-Stand-Class-Matters/dp/041592913X
Inequality : A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America by Christopher Jencks 1972
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Reassessment of James Coleman "Equality" 1966, October 25, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America (Hardcover)
Inequality : A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America by Christopher Jencks 1972
Leon Todd (leontodd@execpc.com from Milwaukee, WI usa , October 24, 1998
Christopher Jencks, Inequality (1972), noted that it is probably wiser to define a "good" school in terms of student body characteristics than in terms of its budget or school resources. According to Jencks, once a good school starts taking in "undesirable" students (the definition of desirable sometimes pertains to academic, social, or economic attributes), its academic standing automatically declines. He concluded that while an elementary schools' social composition had only a moderate effect on student's cognitive achievement, secondary or high school social composition had a significant effect on achievement. Jencks also concluded that school racial composition had only a small effect on black students' later occupational status. This evidence on racial composition and occupational status is far more convincing than any evidence offered to date supporting the position that expenditures or school resources influence academic achievement.
The type of friends students are likely to make, the values they are exposed to, and satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the school, are all dependent upon the character of the student body. Jencks reanalyzed Coleman's EEOS data, Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966) and also concluded that the achievement of lower class students, both black and white, was fairly strongly related to the socioeconomic level of their classmates as long as the poverty class students were in a significant minority of the school student body. This usually meant that a student's achievement was also related to the race, or more accurately the class, of his classmates, since black classmates tended to be poorer or of a lower SES classmates, and vice versa. Jencks also concluded that when the socioeconomic level of a lower class child's classmates was held constant, however, their race had no relationship to achievement.
This conclusion is consistent with Coleman's argument (1966) that school social class has an effect on academic achievement independent of the individual student's family background. Jencks reported that when race and the economic status of students within schools were controlled for, differences in school policies and resources did Not significantly affect verbal achievement. Black student achievement was found to be even less related to schools' policies and resources than white student achievement. This conclusion was inconsistent with Coleman's findings.
"Family background, "social class," and "economic status" are often used interchangeably by social scientists. This interpretation or confounding of these complex concepts often poses serious problems in terms of the comparability and interpretation of research findings. The term "social class" has been defined in a variety of ways. Disputes about the legitimacy of these term have been many and heated and in the ensuing discourse confounding and confusing.
Some scholars deny the existence of social classes in America. Jencks (1972) stated that: The term family background can itself be somewhat misleading, since differences between families derive not just from differences between neighborhoods, regions, schools, and all other experiences that are the same for children in the same family socioeconomic status. Also, the term family background has various interpretations.
By "family background," Jencks (1972) referred to all the environmental factors that make brothers and sisters more alike than random individuals. "Some of these factors are economic, while some are not." Jencks further stated that there can be great variation in "family background" among children who come from the same social or economic class.
Jencks (1972) estimated that a family's economic status probably correlates about 0.35 with children's test scores. What this means is that the test scores of children whose fathers rank in the top fifth of the occupational hierarchy will on the average be 13 to 15 points higher than children whose fathers rank in the bottom fifth. If family income is used as a measure of SES, the disparity between these two groups will be less than 13 points. Jencks further stated that class differences appear to be greatest for verbal ability and general information. Test of mathematical skills, reading comprehension, and non-verbal ability are less influenced by economic background.
http://www.amazon.com/Inequality-Reassessment-Effect-Schooling-America/dp/0061319600/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325135348&sr=1-1
5.0 out of 5 stars A Reassessment of James Coleman "Equality" 1966, October 25, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Inequality: A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America (Hardcover)
Inequality : A Reassessment of the Effect of Family and Schooling in America by Christopher Jencks 1972
Leon Todd (leontodd@execpc.com from Milwaukee, WI usa , October 24, 1998
Christopher Jencks, Inequality (1972), noted that it is probably wiser to define a "good" school in terms of student body characteristics than in terms of its budget or school resources. According to Jencks, once a good school starts taking in "undesirable" students (the definition of desirable sometimes pertains to academic, social, or economic attributes), its academic standing automatically declines. He concluded that while an elementary schools' social composition had only a moderate effect on student's cognitive achievement, secondary or high school social composition had a significant effect on achievement. Jencks also concluded that school racial composition had only a small effect on black students' later occupational status. This evidence on racial composition and occupational status is far more convincing than any evidence offered to date supporting the position that expenditures or school resources influence academic achievement.
The type of friends students are likely to make, the values they are exposed to, and satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the school, are all dependent upon the character of the student body. Jencks reanalyzed Coleman's EEOS data, Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966) and also concluded that the achievement of lower class students, both black and white, was fairly strongly related to the socioeconomic level of their classmates as long as the poverty class students were in a significant minority of the school student body. This usually meant that a student's achievement was also related to the race, or more accurately the class, of his classmates, since black classmates tended to be poorer or of a lower SES classmates, and vice versa. Jencks also concluded that when the socioeconomic level of a lower class child's classmates was held constant, however, their race had no relationship to achievement.
This conclusion is consistent with Coleman's argument (1966) that school social class has an effect on academic achievement independent of the individual student's family background. Jencks reported that when race and the economic status of students within schools were controlled for, differences in school policies and resources did Not significantly affect verbal achievement. Black student achievement was found to be even less related to schools' policies and resources than white student achievement. This conclusion was inconsistent with Coleman's findings.
"Family background, "social class," and "economic status" are often used interchangeably by social scientists. This interpretation or confounding of these complex concepts often poses serious problems in terms of the comparability and interpretation of research findings. The term "social class" has been defined in a variety of ways. Disputes about the legitimacy of these term have been many and heated and in the ensuing discourse confounding and confusing.
Some scholars deny the existence of social classes in America. Jencks (1972) stated that: The term family background can itself be somewhat misleading, since differences between families derive not just from differences between neighborhoods, regions, schools, and all other experiences that are the same for children in the same family socioeconomic status. Also, the term family background has various interpretations.
By "family background," Jencks (1972) referred to all the environmental factors that make brothers and sisters more alike than random individuals. "Some of these factors are economic, while some are not." Jencks further stated that there can be great variation in "family background" among children who come from the same social or economic class.
Jencks (1972) estimated that a family's economic status probably correlates about 0.35 with children's test scores. What this means is that the test scores of children whose fathers rank in the top fifth of the occupational hierarchy will on the average be 13 to 15 points higher than children whose fathers rank in the bottom fifth. If family income is used as a measure of SES, the disparity between these two groups will be less than 13 points. Jencks further stated that class differences appear to be greatest for verbal ability and general information. Test of mathematical skills, reading comprehension, and non-verbal ability are less influenced by economic background.
http://www.amazon.com/Inequality-Reassessment-Effect-Schooling-America/dp/0061319600/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325135348&sr=1-1
Equality of Educational Opportunity, James Samuel Coleman (Author)
Equality of Educational Opportunity (Perennial works in sociology) [Hardcover]
James Samuel Coleman (Author)
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Family background and public school achievement, October 13, 1998
By An Amazon Customer URL below
This review is from: Equality of Educational Opportunity (Perennial works in sociology) (Hardcover)
Milwaukee Public School (MPS) Board Director Leon Todd's review. E-mail A Review:
James S. Coleman was commissioned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act to investigate the effects of the 1954 Brown Decision. The first national study on public education was conducted to validate the Supreme Courts decision that integration was a key variable in equality of educational opportunity and was in the public's best interest.
James S. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966), concluded that the effects of the school environment on student achievement, whatever its racial or ethnic composition, appear to come from the educational proficiency of the school student body. In addition to the achievement level of other students, the "realistic" aspirations of other students affect academic achievement. In other words, as the educational backgrounds and aspirations of other students increase, a student's academic achievement increases no matter what the individual student's social class, race or background.
These findings have had important implications concerning school race as a factor in student achievement since middle class overlaped with white and poverty class overlaped so well with students of color, particularly in the sixties.
While Coleman's results showed higher achievement for all racial and ethnic groups in schools with greater percentages of white or middle class students, they also indicated that the apparent beneficial effects of a student body with a high proportion of white students do not result from school racial or genetic composition, but from the higher educational aspirations and better educational backgrounds generally possessed by white or middle class students.
Since white students are more likely than black students to be middle class, it is reasonable to assume that schools with a higher percentage of white students would have student bodies with higher and more "realistic" educational aspirations and better educational backgrounds than black or poverty class students of color. The percentage of families owning encyclopedias, (2) transfers in and out of school, (3) average daily attendance, (4) percent of students in college curriculum, and (5) average hours spent on homework, were used to determine school social class. The socioeconomic mix of students in classrooms was cited as one of the school characteristics that increases academic achievement.
Coleman's (1966) first conclusion was that parents' education, variable defined as family background, has the highest relation to achievement for nearly all racial or ethnic groups, particularly in later years of public school education.
Coleman's second conclusion, which is the one that is almost more pertinent to his research, was that compared to the effects of family background, the effects of school staff and facilities on achievement are of minimal importance. In other words, improving the quality of schools attended by blacks alone will not reduce the gap between black and white achievement. Coleman (1966) concluded that school factors, particularly tangible facilities (age of the building, size of the library, currency of the text books, etc.), had little effect on student performance.
Coleman (1966) also reported that children from disadvantaged groups (including blacks) were more external in their control beliefs. Locus or center of control became a critical variable. The unresponsive nature of their environments was cited as one of the reasons (see page 16).
Christopher Jencks, Inequality (1972), reanalyzed Coleman's EEOC data and also concluded that the achievement of lower class students, both black and white, was fairly strongly related to the socioeconomic level of their classmates. This usually meant that a student's achievement was also related to the race or social class of his classmates, since black classmates tended to be poor classmates, and white classmates tended to be more middle class or vice versa.
James S. Coleman, et. al., Equality of Educational Opportunity (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966)
5.0 out of 5 stars
http://www.amazon.com/Equality-Educational-Opportunity-Perennial-sociology/dp/0405120885
James Samuel Coleman (Author)
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Family background and public school achievement, October 13, 1998
By An Amazon Customer URL below
This review is from: Equality of Educational Opportunity (Perennial works in sociology) (Hardcover)
Milwaukee Public School (MPS) Board Director Leon Todd's review. E-mail
James S. Coleman was commissioned by the 1964 Civil Rights Act to investigate the effects of the 1954 Brown Decision. The first national study on public education was conducted to validate the Supreme Courts decision that integration was a key variable in equality of educational opportunity and was in the public's best interest.
James S. Coleman, Equality of Educational Opportunity (1966), concluded that the effects of the school environment on student achievement, whatever its racial or ethnic composition, appear to come from the educational proficiency of the school student body. In addition to the achievement level of other students, the "realistic" aspirations of other students affect academic achievement. In other words, as the educational backgrounds and aspirations of other students increase, a student's academic achievement increases no matter what the individual student's social class, race or background.
These findings have had important implications concerning school race as a factor in student achievement since middle class overlaped with white and poverty class overlaped so well with students of color, particularly in the sixties.
While Coleman's results showed higher achievement for all racial and ethnic groups in schools with greater percentages of white or middle class students, they also indicated that the apparent beneficial effects of a student body with a high proportion of white students do not result from school racial or genetic composition, but from the higher educational aspirations and better educational backgrounds generally possessed by white or middle class students.
Since white students are more likely than black students to be middle class, it is reasonable to assume that schools with a higher percentage of white students would have student bodies with higher and more "realistic" educational aspirations and better educational backgrounds than black or poverty class students of color. The percentage of families owning encyclopedias, (2) transfers in and out of school, (3) average daily attendance, (4) percent of students in college curriculum, and (5) average hours spent on homework, were used to determine school social class. The socioeconomic mix of students in classrooms was cited as one of the school characteristics that increases academic achievement.
Coleman's (1966) first conclusion was that parents' education, variable defined as family background, has the highest relation to achievement for nearly all racial or ethnic groups, particularly in later years of public school education.
Coleman's second conclusion, which is the one that is almost more pertinent to his research, was that compared to the effects of family background, the effects of school staff and facilities on achievement are of minimal importance. In other words, improving the quality of schools attended by blacks alone will not reduce the gap between black and white achievement. Coleman (1966) concluded that school factors, particularly tangible facilities (age of the building, size of the library, currency of the text books, etc.), had little effect on student performance.
Coleman (1966) also reported that children from disadvantaged groups (including blacks) were more external in their control beliefs. Locus or center of control became a critical variable. The unresponsive nature of their environments was cited as one of the reasons (see page 16).
Christopher Jencks, Inequality (1972), reanalyzed Coleman's EEOC data and also concluded that the achievement of lower class students, both black and white, was fairly strongly related to the socioeconomic level of their classmates. This usually meant that a student's achievement was also related to the race or social class of his classmates, since black classmates tended to be poor classmates, and white classmates tended to be more middle class or vice versa.
James S. Coleman, et. al., Equality of Educational Opportunity (U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1966)
5.0 out of 5 stars
http://www.amazon.com/Equality-Educational-Opportunity-Perennial-sociology/dp/0405120885
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Impotent Black Leaders who set the stage for State Fair Youth Riot Apologize
Impotent Black Leaders who set the stage for State Fair Youth Riot Apologize
Posted by Leon Todd on Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 3:33pm
Re: African American Leaders, What Leaders???
Dt: August 6, 2011 2:46:22 PM CDT
Leon, first and foremost I would like to say that by no stretch of the imagination do I condone the behavior of the young people at the State Fair. I'd also like to say that I do not condone the behavior of the "so-called leaders" of the African American community, (i.e.), Common Council President, Willie Hines, Urban League Director, Ralph Holman, Mark Wade , Executive Director, of African World Festival.
These "so -called" leaders allowed themselves to be marched out on stage to broadcast to the broader community that all African Americans do not display this kind of rude, foolish, violent behavior. In other words, to apologize for the behavior of a few misguided teens.
When the Mayor was attacked at State Fair I did not see the Native American community leaders (I was told that the young man was a Native American) coming out to apologize for the behavior of that misguided young person.
When Jeffery Dahmer killed, maimed and cannibalised his victims, I did not see the European community leaders coming out to apologize to the rest of the community, for his behavior or stating that they do not condone this behavior, nor do they "eat" people. I believe that all or most of Jeffrey's victims were minorities.
A Russian young man in Mequon recently killed both his parents and stored the bodies in their garage, when the police arrested him, they asked him how he felt having murdered both his parents, his reply was, "I never felt better". There was no broadcast from the Russian leaders in the city apologizing for his behavior.
Tim Sheehy of MMAC had a son who was recently convicted of felony assault. No apology from the MMAC for his behavior.
The young man from the real estate family axed his grandfather to death on Mother's Day, no community leaders were called in to apologize for his behavior.
My point is, why is it that our "so-called" leaders allow themselves to always be used to apologize for behaviors of some rotten apples from our community as if, they control or speak for the entire African American community. It appears that they are used as puppets.
What are they doing to get help for some of the problems that beset our community? If there are mental health issues, lack of jobs, education,etc. within our community these "so-called" leaders should do everything within their power to address these issues. However, I do not see these issues being addressed by any of these individuals.
Council President Hines' solution, "the hate crime law should be applied if these young people are charged and convicted".
It seems when other ethnic groups commit heinous crimes, they have mental health issues, in our community, it's condemn, condemn, condemn the entire community and our leaders lead the charge.
FED UP, WE NEED HELP!!
Posted by Leon Todd on Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 3:33pm
Re: African American Leaders, What Leaders???
Dt: August 6, 2011 2:46:22 PM CDT
Leon, first and foremost I would like to say that by no stretch of the imagination do I condone the behavior of the young people at the State Fair. I'd also like to say that I do not condone the behavior of the "so-called leaders" of the African American community, (i.e.), Common Council President, Willie Hines, Urban League Director, Ralph Holman, Mark Wade , Executive Director, of African World Festival.
These "so -called" leaders allowed themselves to be marched out on stage to broadcast to the broader community that all African Americans do not display this kind of rude, foolish, violent behavior. In other words, to apologize for the behavior of a few misguided teens.
When the Mayor was attacked at State Fair I did not see the Native American community leaders (I was told that the young man was a Native American) coming out to apologize for the behavior of that misguided young person.
When Jeffery Dahmer killed, maimed and cannibalised his victims, I did not see the European community leaders coming out to apologize to the rest of the community, for his behavior or stating that they do not condone this behavior, nor do they "eat" people. I believe that all or most of Jeffrey's victims were minorities.
A Russian young man in Mequon recently killed both his parents and stored the bodies in their garage, when the police arrested him, they asked him how he felt having murdered both his parents, his reply was, "I never felt better". There was no broadcast from the Russian leaders in the city apologizing for his behavior.
Tim Sheehy of MMAC had a son who was recently convicted of felony assault. No apology from the MMAC for his behavior.
The young man from the real estate family axed his grandfather to death on Mother's Day, no community leaders were called in to apologize for his behavior.
My point is, why is it that our "so-called" leaders allow themselves to always be used to apologize for behaviors of some rotten apples from our community as if, they control or speak for the entire African American community. It appears that they are used as puppets.
What are they doing to get help for some of the problems that beset our community? If there are mental health issues, lack of jobs, education,etc. within our community these "so-called" leaders should do everything within their power to address these issues. However, I do not see these issues being addressed by any of these individuals.
Council President Hines' solution, "the hate crime law should be applied if these young people are charged and convicted".
It seems when other ethnic groups commit heinous crimes, they have mental health issues, in our community, it's condemn, condemn, condemn the entire community and our leaders lead the charge.
FED UP, WE NEED HELP!!
Monday, March 28, 2011
This is for all the marbles,” says GOP Charlie Sykes
“This is for all the marbles,” says Charlie Sykes, a prominent conservative talk-radio host in Milwaukee. “Scott Walker could survive losing state senate. But it would be devastating if he were to lose in supreme court. If Prosser loses, almost everything that Walker enacted could be overturned.” The high court, he worries, has a long history of activism, especially when liberals hold majority.
http://goo.gl/GCNy8
http://goo.gl/GCNy8
Will Urban Newspaper blame GOP defeat on Criminal Class Negroes
fwd: re: Milwaukee Urinal will blame Stone's defeat on Milwaukee's 'impotent' Negroes
Well Leon, If Rep. Jeff Stone loses County Executive race, the Milwaukee Urinal has set the stage to blame Stone's defeat on Milwaukee's 'impotent' Negroes. Why would Bice now come out with an article slamming Lamonte Harris when Harris' history has been no secret and the Journal has know this and waited to use it for years? LaMonte is to be congratulated for going out and getting a job and Stone is to be congratulated for hiring the unemployable, a felon, instead the framing of the Journal article is inexcusable for profiling LaMonte Harris and the Stone campaign as something undesirable. This election cycle is all about ANTI WALKER CORPORATE UNION BUSTING AGENDA. Congratulation to both Harris and Stone for being socially conscious in this day and age when the only jobs available for ex-con, who yes made a mistake in their lives, but are look to turn their life around in the legitimate economy. The Journal is one of the reasons the city is in the condition that it is in economically. Shame on them for wanting to continue to unnecessarily profile a large portion of individuals who, quite frankly, need a break in turning their lives around.
County Board Chair has been working w/ Republicans for quite some time. All you have to do is give him a dime and the Chair will do as told. Why slam Harris now? When sentiment changes against the Coggs' the Urinal will tell how they campaigned for Scott Walker against Lena Taylor to keep the Coggs name on the welfare building. Lena Taylor is on the take from Americans for Prosperity. Jason Fields gave Lena Taylor the hook up. Why NOW? Marvin Pratt I guess is tired of being a closet Republican and came out the closet and outright endorsed Walker for governor by coffee-ing Walker through the Black Churches. The Urinal knows all of this, all you have to do is read the campaign finance reports. Milwaukee's 'impotent' Negroes need to be wondering when the Urinal will drop the black book on them. Who's next? JHC
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/118749854.html
Well Leon, If Rep. Jeff Stone loses County Executive race, the Milwaukee Urinal has set the stage to blame Stone's defeat on Milwaukee's 'impotent' Negroes. Why would Bice now come out with an article slamming Lamonte Harris when Harris' history has been no secret and the Journal has know this and waited to use it for years? LaMonte is to be congratulated for going out and getting a job and Stone is to be congratulated for hiring the unemployable, a felon, instead the framing of the Journal article is inexcusable for profiling LaMonte Harris and the Stone campaign as something undesirable. This election cycle is all about ANTI WALKER CORPORATE UNION BUSTING AGENDA. Congratulation to both Harris and Stone for being socially conscious in this day and age when the only jobs available for ex-con, who yes made a mistake in their lives, but are look to turn their life around in the legitimate economy. The Journal is one of the reasons the city is in the condition that it is in economically. Shame on them for wanting to continue to unnecessarily profile a large portion of individuals who, quite frankly, need a break in turning their lives around.
County Board Chair has been working w/ Republicans for quite some time. All you have to do is give him a dime and the Chair will do as told. Why slam Harris now? When sentiment changes against the Coggs' the Urinal will tell how they campaigned for Scott Walker against Lena Taylor to keep the Coggs name on the welfare building. Lena Taylor is on the take from Americans for Prosperity. Jason Fields gave Lena Taylor the hook up. Why NOW? Marvin Pratt I guess is tired of being a closet Republican and came out the closet and outright endorsed Walker for governor by coffee-ing Walker through the Black Churches. The Urinal knows all of this, all you have to do is read the campaign finance reports. Milwaukee's 'impotent' Negroes need to be wondering when the Urinal will drop the black book on them. Who's next? JHC
http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/noquarter/118749854.html
Saturday, March 5, 2011
A Declaration of Civil Disobedience Against A Fascist Governor
A Declaration of Civil Disobedience
From the People of the State of Wisconsin
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the citizens of a state to occupy its Capitol building, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to civil disobedience.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life [the continuation of which may necessitate medical care], liberty, and the opportunity to collectively bargain. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of legislation becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that even legislation introduced a matter of days before final votes are scheduled, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind are disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to disrupt their lives to come and rally at their Capitol.
But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations evinces a design to reduce them to an underclass of powerless citizens, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such legislation, and to preserve previous guards for their future security. The history of the present Governor of Wisconsin is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of a priority for wealthy supporters of the Governor and his political party. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has ignored the budget deficit when passing tax breaks favorable to his political donors, but invoked the budget deficit when seeking to injure his political foes.
He has squandered earlier opportunities to release details of his budget repair plans, instead hiding them in attempt to introduce and pass a bill before public input and scrutiny can be obtained.
He has included policy items of widespread and indefinite consequence in this emergency budget repair bill; including the severe limitation of collective bargaining rights of public employees, and the transfer of Medicaid decision-making power from the legislative to the executive branch, thereby circumventing public input on changes affecting the health of millions of children, elderly, and disabled residents of his state.
He has proposed, in separate legislation, to impose new barriers to voting, especially among the young, the old, and the poor.
He has reminded his constituents that elections have consequences, but he has forgotten that one of these consequences is that he is governor of the whole state of Wisconsin, including those who did not vote for him.
He has refused every offer of public employee unions and Democratic leaders to negotiate or compromise on the offending legislation. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
For the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes [such as they are], and our sacred honor.
A CAST Member
From the People of the State of Wisconsin
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for the citizens of a state to occupy its Capitol building, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind require that they should declare the causes which impel them to civil disobedience.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, and that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life [the continuation of which may necessitate medical care], liberty, and the opportunity to collectively bargain. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. That, whenever any form of legislation becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it.
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that even legislation introduced a matter of days before final votes are scheduled, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience has shown, that mankind are disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to disrupt their lives to come and rally at their Capitol.
But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations evinces a design to reduce them to an underclass of powerless citizens, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such legislation, and to preserve previous guards for their future security. The history of the present Governor of Wisconsin is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of a priority for wealthy supporters of the Governor and his political party. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has ignored the budget deficit when passing tax breaks favorable to his political donors, but invoked the budget deficit when seeking to injure his political foes.
He has squandered earlier opportunities to release details of his budget repair plans, instead hiding them in attempt to introduce and pass a bill before public input and scrutiny can be obtained.
He has included policy items of widespread and indefinite consequence in this emergency budget repair bill; including the severe limitation of collective bargaining rights of public employees, and the transfer of Medicaid decision-making power from the legislative to the executive branch, thereby circumventing public input on changes affecting the health of millions of children, elderly, and disabled residents of his state.
He has proposed, in separate legislation, to impose new barriers to voting, especially among the young, the old, and the poor.
He has reminded his constituents that elections have consequences, but he has forgotten that one of these consequences is that he is governor of the whole state of Wisconsin, including those who did not vote for him.
He has refused every offer of public employee unions and Democratic leaders to negotiate or compromise on the offending legislation. In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress. Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.
For the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes [such as they are], and our sacred honor.
A CAST Member
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Videographer Todd Price and Luciano Talk with people on the third day of the Wisconsin's Revolution televised live on MS-NBC Ed Show http://goo.gl/sw0DP
The Vampire Economy: The superrich and their henchman like GOP Governor Scott Walker are sucking America dry. Congress is under their sway. Can Obama stay alive?
http://goo.gl/r94UH
Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:
South Carolina -50th
North Carolina -49th
Georgia -48th
Texas -47th
Virginia -44th
Wisconsin is ranked #2 in ACT/SAT Scores in the nation.
http://goo.gl/l57m2
The Vampire Economy: The superrich and their henchman like GOP Governor Scott Walker are sucking America dry. Congress is under their sway. Can Obama stay alive?
http://goo.gl/r94UH
Only 5 states do not have collective bargaining for educators and have deemed it illegal. Those states and their ranking on ACT/SAT scores are as follows:
South Carolina -50th
North Carolina -49th
Georgia -48th
Texas -47th
Virginia -44th
Wisconsin is ranked #2 in ACT/SAT Scores in the nation.
http://goo.gl/l57m2
Friday, February 18, 2011
Historical Struggle for Civil Right is a Struggle for Labor Rights
The Tapestry of Labor Rights and Civil Rights
Labor Rights are Civil Rights: The Historical Struggle for Civil Right is a Struggle for Labor Rights
Milwaukee Community Journal Newspaper
Black History Month Civil Rights/Labor Rights Commentary
by Leon Todd
The idea that Labor Rights are a Civil Right has not played out on the Streets of Urban America. The story of Labor Unions contribution to the civil rights movement of the 1960's is largely forgotten in February's Black History Month's Celebrations and Presentations year after year. How unfortunate that the history texts and classroom lesson plans have lost the real world connections between organized labor's history and America’s civil rights history.
Labor organizing efforts and financial support were integral to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, the freedom riders and voters registration of Blacks in the 1960s, the Historic 1963 March on Washington which set the stage for Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech, the struggle for women worker's rights, and the organizing efforts of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers. Labor became an essential ally in underpinning the manifest destiny for greater equality and social justice for all Americans. And civil rights leaders have supported labor’s organizing efforts like when the notable civil rights leader, Martin Luther King; Jr, went to Memphis in 1968 to support the black sanitation workers’ boycott and their rights for workplace safety, better wages and benefits as well as union recognition. King subsequently lost his life in the midst of essentially a labor movement moment in history. Much of the historic civil rights struggle was a labor rights or workplace rights struggle. For without employment justice, the pursuit of the abundant potential for the fullness of life, liberty and happiness cannot really take place. Martin Luther King intuitively understood this and the days of Jim Crow Justice were numbered in Memphis and in America.
Many support the notion that the right to work for a fair family supporting wage, health benefits and pension benefits in a secure work environment is an essential civil right. Today, the federal government treats certain labor rights of health and safety equivalient to a person’s workplace civil rights. Civil rights are generally recognized as a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, like with the Jim Crow laws of the Old South or past employment discrimination laws and practices of corporations, government, and other organizations. The protection of civil rights ensures a person’s ability to participate in the public, governmental and political activities of the state without discrimination or repression.
The need for classroom lesson assignments and lesson plans researching the civil rights’ legacy of fighting for economic rights, worker rights, and the right to work as well as labor’s historic side by side support for civil rights with the prominent leaders of the movement as well as labors own civil rights struggle within its own organizations need to come out of the closet and be more fully aired for student consumption and perspective.
The herald 1963 March on Washington was titled the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs and the concept for such a march had been first put forth by A Phillip Randolph, black organizer and leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in the 1920s. Randolph is the most important civil rights leader that many young people have never heard of and don’t really know outside a poster with a name despite that the argument that can be made that he is the most important civil rights hero of the 20th century.
Blacks had scored a major breakthrough in the struggle for admission to the ranks of organized labor in the 1930 when the AFL recognized the Brotherhood. Labor rights and civil right would forever be entwined. Once labor was on the side of civil rights, there was no turning back and 3 decades later, in 1963, A Phillip Randolph’s March on Washington Dream would play out with Martin Luther King; Jr filling the key character role on stage before America. Essentially, Randolph’s Karma for a just American future had been set in motion. A Dream, a Goal and a Challenge of a just workplace would be placed before the America people and much of America would embrace that Dream as its Destiny.
Leon Todd
Former MPS Board Member 1975-1981 & 1994-1999
Phone: 414-444-9490
E-mail: toddleon@mac.com
Labor Rights are Civil Rights: The Historical Struggle for Civil Right is a Struggle for Labor Rights
Milwaukee Community Journal Newspaper
Black History Month Civil Rights/Labor Rights Commentary
by Leon Todd
The idea that Labor Rights are a Civil Right has not played out on the Streets of Urban America. The story of Labor Unions contribution to the civil rights movement of the 1960's is largely forgotten in February's Black History Month's Celebrations and Presentations year after year. How unfortunate that the history texts and classroom lesson plans have lost the real world connections between organized labor's history and America’s civil rights history.
Labor organizing efforts and financial support were integral to the Montgomery Bus Boycott in 1955, the freedom riders and voters registration of Blacks in the 1960s, the Historic 1963 March on Washington which set the stage for Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech, the struggle for women worker's rights, and the organizing efforts of Cesar Chavez's United Farm Workers. Labor became an essential ally in underpinning the manifest destiny for greater equality and social justice for all Americans. And civil rights leaders have supported labor’s organizing efforts like when the notable civil rights leader, Martin Luther King; Jr, went to Memphis in 1968 to support the black sanitation workers’ boycott and their rights for workplace safety, better wages and benefits as well as union recognition. King subsequently lost his life in the midst of essentially a labor movement moment in history. Much of the historic civil rights struggle was a labor rights or workplace rights struggle. For without employment justice, the pursuit of the abundant potential for the fullness of life, liberty and happiness cannot really take place. Martin Luther King intuitively understood this and the days of Jim Crow Justice were numbered in Memphis and in America.
Many support the notion that the right to work for a fair family supporting wage, health benefits and pension benefits in a secure work environment is an essential civil right. Today, the federal government treats certain labor rights of health and safety equivalient to a person’s workplace civil rights. Civil rights are generally recognized as a class of rights that protect individuals’ freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, like with the Jim Crow laws of the Old South or past employment discrimination laws and practices of corporations, government, and other organizations. The protection of civil rights ensures a person’s ability to participate in the public, governmental and political activities of the state without discrimination or repression.
The need for classroom lesson assignments and lesson plans researching the civil rights’ legacy of fighting for economic rights, worker rights, and the right to work as well as labor’s historic side by side support for civil rights with the prominent leaders of the movement as well as labors own civil rights struggle within its own organizations need to come out of the closet and be more fully aired for student consumption and perspective.
The herald 1963 March on Washington was titled the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs and the concept for such a march had been first put forth by A Phillip Randolph, black organizer and leader of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters in the 1920s. Randolph is the most important civil rights leader that many young people have never heard of and don’t really know outside a poster with a name despite that the argument that can be made that he is the most important civil rights hero of the 20th century.
Blacks had scored a major breakthrough in the struggle for admission to the ranks of organized labor in the 1930 when the AFL recognized the Brotherhood. Labor rights and civil right would forever be entwined. Once labor was on the side of civil rights, there was no turning back and 3 decades later, in 1963, A Phillip Randolph’s March on Washington Dream would play out with Martin Luther King; Jr filling the key character role on stage before America. Essentially, Randolph’s Karma for a just American future had been set in motion. A Dream, a Goal and a Challenge of a just workplace would be placed before the America people and much of America would embrace that Dream as its Destiny.
Leon Todd
Former MPS Board Member 1975-1981 & 1994-1999
Phone: 414-444-9490
E-mail: toddleon@mac.com
Monday, January 31, 2011
Friday, January 28, 2011
Boohoo for those 'suffering' corporations which pay no taxes
Boohoo for those 'suffering' corporations
Chicago Tribune
John McCarron
January 23, 2011
52 people like this. Be the first of your friends.
So moved am I by the plight of Illinois corporations, what with the big state income tax increase, that I'm asking you, dear readers, to keep sending those letters of outrage to your legislators and to your favorite newspaper.
To provide you with a little background, allow me to back up and recount the many, many horribles visited upon our corporations over the last half century.
It all started, I think, after World War II, when taxpayers paid for an interstate highway system for the purposes of national defense and summer vacations. Turned out the biggest impact fell upon companies that previously had been shackled to aging central cities tied to rails and rivers.
Why pay ever-higher local taxes to keep those crumbling cities afloat, our business brethren reasoned, now that semitrailers can operate from anywhere in the metro … or better yet, down South where they'd be rid of the labor unions?
So began the Great Jobs Exodus, a corporate trail of tears in which uprooted families of organization men left ancestral city neighborhoods such as Austin and Marquette Park for uncertain suburban lives in places like Schaumburg (Motorola) and Glenview (Kraft).
Oh, the pain of it. But fortunately for these refugees our state's place-based laws governing sales and property taxes enabled them to provide for themselves the very best schools and municipal services. What happened back in Chicago was, well, someone else's problem.
Sometime during the early '70s this trickle became a flood after tax lawyers discovered the new suburbs and Sun Belt cities could be induced to bid against one another to attract footloose corporations, or better yet, tax-gushing shopping malls and big-box discounters. In the big push to stay "competitive," states and towns dug deep to give companies free land and infrastructure, tax abatements of all kinds, even millions to train new workers to replace those left behind in the cities.
But corporate hardship did not go away, so in 1987 the Illinois Legislature began reforming the way our state taxes corporate income. Previously the formula took into account a firm's overall sales, number of employees and value of property — the better to offset the burden a company placed on public schools, roads and the rest. Now the tax on profits is based solely on that portion earned from sales within Illinois. This reform and others worked so well that one study by the state's Office of Management and Budget found that 48 percent of Illinois corporations with annual sales of more than $50 million paid zero state income tax from 1997 to 2005. Relief at last!
Yet still they suffered. Try as they might to slash labor costs by moving production to Mexican maquiladoras and beyond, our majors struggled to compete with the cheap imports that flooded in following passage of business-backed trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Corporations lobbied for "free" trade hoping to gain access to vast emerging markets in the developing world … only to discover governments there are less taken with the manifold benefits of free men and free markets. Several of them, especially China, have pinko national industrial policies — a concept long discredited here in the states — that make it all but impossible to export into their markets unless our companies take on local "partners," share technology, and ultimately, agree to make stuff there, not here.
So long-suffering businesses leaders have been busy signing deals with Chinese companies, including many that didn't exist a few years ago.
It was hoped these new partnerships — along with their God-given right to keep profits overseas so they can't be taxed in the U.S. — would finally bring relief. But no! Along comes the Illinois General Assembly — a lowdown bunch of scoundrels, I gather, from reading newspaper editorials and letters to the editor — to raise the corporate rate to 7 percent from 4.8. The outrage!
We can only hope Illinois corporations that still pay income tax aren't forced out of business, or to Wisconsin, or to open a mail drop in the Cayman Islands — like so many of the Fortune 500 have been forced to do — where we'll have to send our checks for haircuts and pizzas.
So keep those outraged letters to the editor coming. You could even send a small contribution to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce so it can keep up the fight.
Your gift might not be tax deductible for you … but I'm sure it will be for them.
John McCarron teaches, consults and writes on urban affairs.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0124-mccarron-20110123,0,94251.story
Chicago Tribune
John McCarron
January 23, 2011
52 people like this. Be the first of your friends.
So moved am I by the plight of Illinois corporations, what with the big state income tax increase, that I'm asking you, dear readers, to keep sending those letters of outrage to your legislators and to your favorite newspaper.
To provide you with a little background, allow me to back up and recount the many, many horribles visited upon our corporations over the last half century.
It all started, I think, after World War II, when taxpayers paid for an interstate highway system for the purposes of national defense and summer vacations. Turned out the biggest impact fell upon companies that previously had been shackled to aging central cities tied to rails and rivers.
Why pay ever-higher local taxes to keep those crumbling cities afloat, our business brethren reasoned, now that semitrailers can operate from anywhere in the metro … or better yet, down South where they'd be rid of the labor unions?
So began the Great Jobs Exodus, a corporate trail of tears in which uprooted families of organization men left ancestral city neighborhoods such as Austin and Marquette Park for uncertain suburban lives in places like Schaumburg (Motorola) and Glenview (Kraft).
Oh, the pain of it. But fortunately for these refugees our state's place-based laws governing sales and property taxes enabled them to provide for themselves the very best schools and municipal services. What happened back in Chicago was, well, someone else's problem.
Sometime during the early '70s this trickle became a flood after tax lawyers discovered the new suburbs and Sun Belt cities could be induced to bid against one another to attract footloose corporations, or better yet, tax-gushing shopping malls and big-box discounters. In the big push to stay "competitive," states and towns dug deep to give companies free land and infrastructure, tax abatements of all kinds, even millions to train new workers to replace those left behind in the cities.
But corporate hardship did not go away, so in 1987 the Illinois Legislature began reforming the way our state taxes corporate income. Previously the formula took into account a firm's overall sales, number of employees and value of property — the better to offset the burden a company placed on public schools, roads and the rest. Now the tax on profits is based solely on that portion earned from sales within Illinois. This reform and others worked so well that one study by the state's Office of Management and Budget found that 48 percent of Illinois corporations with annual sales of more than $50 million paid zero state income tax from 1997 to 2005. Relief at last!
Yet still they suffered. Try as they might to slash labor costs by moving production to Mexican maquiladoras and beyond, our majors struggled to compete with the cheap imports that flooded in following passage of business-backed trade treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.
Corporations lobbied for "free" trade hoping to gain access to vast emerging markets in the developing world … only to discover governments there are less taken with the manifold benefits of free men and free markets. Several of them, especially China, have pinko national industrial policies — a concept long discredited here in the states — that make it all but impossible to export into their markets unless our companies take on local "partners," share technology, and ultimately, agree to make stuff there, not here.
So long-suffering businesses leaders have been busy signing deals with Chinese companies, including many that didn't exist a few years ago.
It was hoped these new partnerships — along with their God-given right to keep profits overseas so they can't be taxed in the U.S. — would finally bring relief. But no! Along comes the Illinois General Assembly — a lowdown bunch of scoundrels, I gather, from reading newspaper editorials and letters to the editor — to raise the corporate rate to 7 percent from 4.8. The outrage!
We can only hope Illinois corporations that still pay income tax aren't forced out of business, or to Wisconsin, or to open a mail drop in the Cayman Islands — like so many of the Fortune 500 have been forced to do — where we'll have to send our checks for haircuts and pizzas.
So keep those outraged letters to the editor coming. You could even send a small contribution to the Illinois Chamber of Commerce so it can keep up the fight.
Your gift might not be tax deductible for you … but I'm sure it will be for them.
John McCarron teaches, consults and writes on urban affairs.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/ct-oped-0124-mccarron-20110123,0,94251.story
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