Baltimore: Freedom from Poverty Vigil & March

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Saturday June 24, 2006 · 10:17 PM PDT

2006/06/24 · 22:17

The United Workers is a human rights organization based in Maryland of low-wage workers working to create the political conditions for poverty’s end. This weekend the cleaners at Camden Yards and other day laborers organized an all-night vigil in front of the Orioles owner’s offices in downtown Baltimore. Workers also held a prayer breakfast and marched with supporters to draw attention to poverty’s wrongs and to how the publicly owned Camden Yards exploits low-wages workers for Peter Angelos’s private interests. Workers aired out Angelos's dirty laundry of profiting from poverty and using Camden Yards for his private gain at great cost to the community. Shirts we dirtied with poverty's ills and carried on a clothes line throughout the vigil and march.

Tom Kertes

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Monday April 10, 2006 · 6:37 AM PDT

2006/04/10 · 06:37

The UWA organizes Maryland's low-wage workers to end poverty. We organize through a human rights framework. Our goal is to help build a poor people's movement to end poverty.

Staff, volunteers and the Leadership Committee of the UWA at a recent rally for immigration with dignity in Washington, DC.

Human rights, as articulated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other human rights vision statements are by their nature, "universal." This is important. Things universal can transcend traditional barriers, such as barriers between races, between language groups and between national and religious divisions. But human rights are not the UWA's only organizing framework. The UWA is also, at our core, an organization led by the poor themselves. While all are welcome to work with the UWA, priority is placed on developing leaders from the ranks of the poor. And this requires class identity. Read More

Baltimore's poor planning Summer of Justice

Tom Kertes

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Wednesday April 05, 2006 · 1:08 PM PDT

2006/04/05 · 13:08

I am currently working with a group of low-wage workers in Baltimore whose goal is to secure the economic human rights of everyone. The UN's Declaration of Universal Human Rights includes the rights to housing, education, health care, just wages, labor organizing and to freedom from poverty.

This summer we are planning a series of Freedom from Poverty events and programs as we continue our campaign to organize the day laborers who clean Camden Yards after Orioles games there. The summer, Summer of Justice, follows last year's Summer of Honor and the Summer of Hope the year before.

Baltimore is a city engulfed with poverty. There are entire neighborhoods almost totally abandoned. Rows of houses are boarded up, emtpy, some falling apart. Parts of the city are in ruins. Tens of thousands of the city's residents are paid below minimum wage. Thousands more are homeless, without medical care and working two or three jobs just to survive. Read More

Can poverty be ended? Yes, and it's time to start. (w/ poll)

Tom Kertes

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Tuesday April 04, 2006 · 12:17 PM PDT

2006/04/04 · 12:17

Do you think it's impossible to end poverty? My experience with most other liberals is that it is widely believed that ending poverty isn't possible. I attribute this to three main causes. First, Americans tend to view poverty as a personal problem, as a problem with the poor person herself - rather than with the economic system. Second, many people tend to look backward in history when answering this question. Since poverty has existed throughout recorded history, it seems (so the logic goes) unlikely that it will ever be ended. Third, Americans are generally uncomfortable with discussions that involve class. We are much more comfortable (on relative terms) with issues of race and identity. And since race is already not an easy topic, class is near impossible to talk about. That results in there being few discussions about poverty outside of ways of "fixing" the poor or of providing some form of relief, as in charity. Read More

Baltimore's poor organizing for freedom from poverty

Tom Kertes

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Sunday April 02, 2006 · 11:23 AM PDT

2006/04/02 · 11:23

The UWA launched its Summer of Justice Campaign today at the April Fool's Day game between the Washington Nationals and the Baltimore Orioles. While this game was preseason, we choose to start our campaign the day that Peter Angelos, owner of the Orioles, treats Nationals fans about as well as he treats the cleaners at Camden Yards.

Oops, Cheney frames the debate: Did Bush lie?

Tom Kertes

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Monday November 21, 2005 · 1:26 PM PST

2005/11/21 · 13:26

Read Dick Cheney's speech today carefully. He says that it's okay to debate politics, so long as you don't debate one thing: Whether or not the Bush White House lied in order to get Americans to support his invasion of Iraq. By doing this, Cheney has framed the debate with this question: Did Bush lie? That's good for pro-peace Democrats and others who want to see the Iraqi occupation end sooner than later. Combine this with Murtha asking if there's any good to come from American troops in Iraq and it's clear that Bush is in trouble.

Cheney started today's speech by saying that he didn't say that "debate" is reprehensible, or that war critics are dishonest. He even claimed to like debate, and to accept its value even in times of war. Cheney even claimed to value reexamining the reasons that Bush sent America into war in the first place. Read More

Feingold's Filibuster Threat is Bush's End

Tom Kertes

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Friday November 18, 2005 · 3:45 AM PST

2005/11/18 · 03:45

Okay. It's over. No, really. It is. George Bush's Neoconservative Revolution is dead. It started with Cindy Sheehan's off-message camp in front of Bush's ranch. Bored Washington reporters stuck in Crawford had nothing else to report, so they made Cindy's camp into a media circus. Then, in a stroke of shitty luck, Katrina hit. Bush's advisors were out of town: Shopping in New York, getting married in Greece, buying a new house - doing those sorts of things. And so Bush was on his own, to show his true cold-bolded colors. Read More

Rovian Rules Uncovered: Closer Look at Cheney & Reid Remarks

Tom Kertes

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Thursday November 17, 2005 · 8:28 AM PST

2005/11/17 · 08:28

Cheney's speech last night is an excellent example of the Rovian Rules at work. The attack on Democrats for charging that Bush lied about going to Iraq was perfect in almost all ways, except at the highest level. Bush is clearly desperate, as his White House is now attacking Democrats on specific issues and charges, and not just by attacking individual persons.

DICK: The suggestion that's been made by some U. S. senators that the President of the United States or any member of this Administration purposely misled the American people on pre-war intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.

Rovian Rule (violated): Attack the person, not the issue.

Why this rule matters: The debate is about the person, are they or aren't they (fill in the blank). If the issue is attacked, the debate becomes (in this case) did Bush lie?
Read More

Bill Clinton: War a mistake

Tom Kertes

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Wednesday November 16, 2005 · 3:02 PM PST

2005/11/16 · 15:02

Bill Clinton broke protocol yesterday when he, a former President, spoke against Bush, the sitting President, while he (Clinton) was on foreign soil.

I don't care that he spoke on foreign soil. But partisan conservatives will, as will many ordinary Americans. And regardless if I or others don't care about protocol, Clinton's remarks as given on foreign soil will matter to many Americans. That means that Clinton's actions be examined in the context of where he spoke. He will be called a traitor. He will be asked to apologize. He will be used as a symbol to bolster the claim that Americans opposed to the war are actually Americans opposed to America. And that requires that we not only respond to what Clinton said, but also to where and when he said it.

Clinton was answering questions at a forum in Dubai. When asked about the war, Clinton said that it "was a big mistake." He said that Saddam being out of power is good, but that the US made mistakes. Clinton spoke mostly of logistical failures, such as that the US did not plan for what to do after toppling Saddam. Read More

Unspinning the new "roadmap" to No Child Left Behind

Tom Kertes

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Tuesday November 15, 2005 · 7:26 AM PST

2005/11/15 · 07:26

Last week the Department of Education presented an exciting new roadmap to the nation's governors. The roadmap is a blueprint for making sense of the "sometimes-complex" No Child Left Behind Law. In addition to mapping out the roadmap and printing out the blueprints, Secretary Spellings is "bright-lining" the principles that are the keys to understanding the Law.

"Along with annual assessment and closing the achievement gap by 2014, reporting data to show every child's achievement is one of what I call the "bright line" principles of No Child Left Behind," Secretary Spellings said. "On the road to achievement, we must continue to be guided by these principles. We must continue to have high expectations for every child. We must measure progress towards these standards. And we must hold ourselves accountable for reaching our goals."

cross posted: Political Porn Read More

Gonzales Launches New Copyright Clampdown

Tom Kertes

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Monday November 14, 2005 · 12:50 PM PST

2005/11/14 · 12:50

Intellectual property protection is being used to stymie innovation, to keep old business models intact, and to control knowledge. Last week Attorney General Gonzales announced new legislation that would criminalize intellectual property protection:

Gonzales: As we know, the strength of the American economy is dependent on the creative and entrepreneurial spirit of our citizens. At the heart of that spirit is the dedicated protection of intellectual property - and the innovations, jobs, and productivity that flow from it. source: Department of Justice

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Baltimore: Freedom from Poverty Vigil & March

Immigration with Dignity: We need to unite all low-wage workers

Baltimore's poor planning Summer of Justice

Can poverty be ended? Yes, and it's time to start. (w/ poll)

Baltimore's poor organizing for freedom from poverty

George Bush is Tricking Us (again)

Oops, Cheney frames the debate: Did Bush lie?

Feingold's Filibuster Threat is Bush's End

Rovian Rules Uncovered: Closer Look at Cheney & Reid Remarks

Bill Clinton: War a mistake

Unspinning the new "roadmap" to No Child Left Behind

Gonzales Launches New Copyright Clampdown