This week in progressive state blogs is designed specifically to focus attention on the writing and analysis of people focused on their home turf. Let me know via comments or Kosmail if you have a favorite state- or city-based blog you think I should be watching.
Inclusion of a diary does not necessarily indicate my agreement or endorsement of its contents.
At The Left Hook of California, Sarah McDermott writes—Hyatt Workers March for Justice:
Silicon Valley is booming, and it is service workers like those at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara that are making this boom possible. While the region’s top tech firms made a record $103 billion in profits in 2013, one in three Silicon Valley households does not make enough money to meet their most basic needs. It is literally a “Tale of Two Cities.”
But workers at the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara are not just sitting idly by and letting this happen. They are standing up and demanding justice and respect on the job! These workers are asking all people to honor the boycott of their own workplace and pledge NOT to EAT, SLEEP, MEET, or SPEND ANY MONEY at their hotel until they achieve a fair election process to organize without intimidation from management, a process that Hyatt has agreed to at other properties all over the country!
Hotel jobs like housekeeper, cook, bellman, dishwasher, and others often pay at the poverty level, while hotels like the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara rake in millions from tech related conferences and conventions. But where workers are organized, they have won fair wages, benefits, and job security. Their continued organizing ensures that hotel workers and all service workers share in the growing prosperity of Silicon Valley.
At 11 o’clock this morning, guests and clients of the Hyatt Santa Clara will be greeted by more than the registration desk today. A demonstration out front will demand justice for Hyatt workers, and show Hyatt that the working people of Silicon Valley will not back down!
Check out more progressive state blog excerpts below the orange gerrymander.
At Burnt Orange Report of Texas, Katie Singh writes—Lege Bans Planned Parenthood from Cancer Screening Program:
The Texas Legislature’s assault on women’s healthcare took another devastating turn yesterday, as a House-Senate conference committee approved a budget that would remove Planned Parenthood from the state’s Breast and Cervical Cancer Services program.
The new budget is a modification of the Republican-controlled Texas Senate’s earlier proposal for a tiered funding system to prioritize the allocation of funds for breast and cervical cancer screenings. That proposal would have affected cancer clinics in addition to Planned Parenthood, so the Lege changed their budget to only cut funding for health clinics affiliated with abortion providers. Planned Parenthood clinics that do perform abortions are already prohibited from receiving state funding for cancer screenings, but that wasn’t enough for the conservatives in the Texas Legislature. Now, thousands of low-income women will lose access to life-saving cancer screenings, simply because Texas Republican legislators want to spite Planned Parenthood.
Last year, Planned Parenthood received $1.2 million in funding, and provided close to 3,000 low-income, uninsured women with breast and cervical cancer screenings.
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Ohio Daily,
Anastasia Pantsios writes—
Kasich Is on the Campaign Trail, Trying to Play the Suckers Like He Played Ohioans:
PrideSource, a Michigan LGBT publication, has the good (?) news for LGBT people following the 2016 Republican presidential campaign. Taxin’ John Kasich hates you less than the other candidates, or at least he pretends to. Admittedly, that’s not a very high bar to clear, with virulent homophobes like Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee and Ben Carson in the field.
But Ohioans will recognize his remarks as classic Kasich: be as vague as possible and try to sound all warm and fuzzy with words of pseudo-compassion that have nothing to do with your actual record.
According to PrideSource, speaking to an audience in L.A., “Republican John Kasich, who is pondering a 2016 presidential run [he’s done pondering; he’s running until forced to stop], said Friday he's a man of faith who is reading a book on prayer but doesn't plan to dwell on social issues in a potential White House campaign.”
We in Ohio know what this means: it means he wants to avoid scrutiny by saying a lot of nothing, something he’s expert at, and hiding behind his sanctimonious religiosity. Unions? Never heard of them until …. Oh lookie, here’s SB 5. Women’s rights? Not thinking about that—until he signs them away in the dead of a Sunday evening. When Kasich says that he’s not thinking about something right now—look out!
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Uppity Wisconsin,
Steve Hanson writes—
Things that go bump in the night:
Last night was another of those "monster rears its head in the middle of the night" events in Wisconsin. The JFC has opened yet another chapter in their "Little Golden Book of Bad Ideas" and have created a new school funding monster.
Where to start? It's another one of those "we'll take away a gazillion dollars from the schools, then give some back so we'll look good" moments. Only the amount they give back is nearly impossible to determine. New school funding formulas confuse the issue. People with a bachelor's degree in—well, anything—get to be teachers. Expanded vouchers confuse the issue. And a new absolutely crazy idea to take over "failing" schools by a school czar in the Milwaukee County Government perhaps takes the cake as the worst idea to come out of the legislature yet. Wisconsin education is recently subject to a lot of give and take, but take seems to be winning by a landslide.
The new school takeover plan not only allows Milwaukee County to usurp power over schools, but it also potentially expands the scheme to "failing" schools in Racine and Madison. It seems the legislature is hell-bent to privatize schools at any cost, and to not even consider programs to improve what we already have. And the impact on the schools and taxpayers in the state? They don't really care.
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Show Me Progress of Missouri, writes—
White House Petition: an elementary school student civics assignment:
Visualize an elementary school classroom teacher assigning a project in civics to their students to create a petition at the White House site for any relevant subject that interests them. Then picture the presentation of the petition assignment in crayon. At the White House petition site:
We petition the Obama Administration to:
Keep Andrew Jackson on the American $20 Dollar Bill.
Recently, a Group had voted to change our nations $20 Dollar Bill image to a Woman. The vote is favoring Harriet Tubman for the Place of Andrew Jackson. Our nations Currency should not be changed to make a statement for Civil rights. We need to Keep our Nations Currency just as it is.
|
Because our currency never changes?
Over one thousand people signed this. We're doomed.
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Cottonmouth of Mississippi,
Matt Eichelberger writes—
Gov. Bryant would ask for your prayers for this law enforcement officer during this difficult time:
It takes a lot to get me blogging nowadays, but this did it. Last weekend, in the wake of the horrific and terrifying deaths of two Hattiesburg Police Department officers, Gov. Phil Bryant decided to weigh in on how society should view law enforcement officers. The entire op-ed is an embarrassment to our state for many reasons, but a major failing is in Gov. Bryant's overly-simplistic view of the world. To him, it's all Saturday morning spaghetti westerns, where the good guys are good and the bad guys are bad. Life simply doesn't afford anyone who's lived it the possibility to maintain such an illusion, unfortunately. And to be clear, Gov. Bryant doesn't believe that either. How could he in the wake of his appointees repeatedly heading off to the federal penitentiary? He's just writing that way because he thinks you think like that.
But in keeping with his entreaties to blindly stand by our law enforcement officers as they go after the bad guys, I'm sure that Gov. Bryant would ask you to keep Mr. Andre' Kennedy in your thoughts and prayers. Mr. Kennedy is currently being charged with capital murder (which is a whole other issue altogether), kidnapping, and armed robbery after he allegedly joined another man in robbing and terrorizing a Jackson doctor at his home this past weekend. Prior to his arrest, Mr. Kennedy had been working hard to keep us safe under the most extreme conditions as a prison guard for the Mississippi Department of Corrections.
*Personal note - I'm sure some of you will react to this post by saying that I'm not supportive of law enforcement. Incorrect. Pointing out that our governor's composition wouldn't garner a C+ in a junior high social studies class is being disrespectful and unsupportive of our governor, not of our law enforcement officers.
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Blue Virginia,
Andy Smookler writes—
ALEC's Threatened SLAPP Suit Against the LCV: Another Part of the Assault on Our Democracy:
Some thoughts about the press release that my wife, April Moore, put out earlier this week. In it, she challenged her opponent—Virginia State Senator (and apparent would-be-Virginia's Scott Walker), Mark Obenshain—to condemn the suit threatened by corporate powerhouse ALEC against the League of Conservation Voters.
ALEC's attempt to intimidate the LCV represents should be understood as part of the larger picture of how the Big Money Power is subverting American democracy.
This particular abuse of money power is not directly connected with the electoral process. Rather it is an attempt of Big Money to strangle the public discourse on which a healthy democracy depends, the flow of information and ideas that helps the American people give informed consent to their government.
Bringing such a suit—or even just threatening it—represents a serious abuse of the legal system to silence those people who are doing for the nation precisely what our founders had in mind when they constructed the American system of liberty: telling the public the truth about what's going on.
This kind of abuse of the legal system has a name: SLAPP, Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation.
Although America's founders set up the court system as a means for achieving justice, in suits like this, that purpose is turned on its head.
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Blue Jersey,
Bill Orr writes—
Is our governor wealthy? You betcha! Is he delusional? Seems that way:
Of course, wealth is not everything. Bob Marley said, "The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively." We can safely say our governor is wealthy. We can let history determine whether he has integrity and has affected people positively, although recent polls do not augur well. As to whether he is delusional, read on.
At an April New Hampshire event Gov. Chris Christie said, "I don't consider myself a wealthy man." Really? His just released Public Employee Financial Disclosure Statement indicates he and his wife Mary Pat Christie earned last year at least $693,000. Income over $385,000 places them in the top 1% of national tax payers. In addition, they reported accumulated wealth in various assets worth at least $1,235,000, not including their blind trusts for which they do not have to state the current value. In 2009, Christie estimated his net worth to be $3.8 million dollars. His Mendham Township house at the time was assessed at $2.26 million. Another more recent independent estimate of their net worth is $5 million.
In the statement they report no gifts, and he affirms he has completed ethics training in-person provided by the State Ethics Commission. Christie's Acting Attorney General has said he need not disclose the lavish gifts he receives while in office.
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Miscellany Blue of New Hampshire,
William Tucker writes—
O’Connor targets Guinta with direct mail:
Political newcomer Shawn O’Connor is taking advantage of Congressman Frank Guinta’s self-inflicted woes with a direct mail piece introducing himself to voters as “the right candidate to send Frank Guinta home – for good.”
O’Connor, the test prep entrepreneur who is financing his campaign with $500,000 in personal funds, is the only announced Democratic candidate for Guinta’s first district seat. In an email to Miscellany Blue, campaign spokesperson Joshua Bruner noted the mailer has been in the works for over a month. The “timing was completely unrelated to the FEC’s conciliation agreement with Congressman Guinta,” he wrote.
Whether or not Guinta’s name will even be on the ballot for the next congressional election is, of course, an open question – as is the timing of that election.
Guinta has thus far resisted calls for his resignation from many of the state’s Republican elected officials. U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte, the state’s highest ranking Republican, was the first to urge the congressman to step down after an FEC investigation determined Guinta funded his 2010 campaign with an illegal $355,000 contribution from his parents.
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Fort Boise of Idaho,
Tom von Alten writes—
The black helicopters are coming:
Rep. Heather Scott from the extreme north District 1 will not be changing her vote when it comes time in the special session starting tomorrow. It's live free or die time for her, as you can see from her legislative update, dated Friday but sent out today.
"I remind you that Legislators do not work for the Governor, Legislative leadership, the media, the Federal Government, the United Nations, The Hague or any political party. They work for you the citizen! I encourage you to call your two representatives and one senator and get involved in this issue! |
Dial it up to 20px and bold-faced for full effect of her punchline:
"This special session is the product of the federal government telling Idaho what to do, how to do it, and when it needs to be done by. When congress demands obedience from Idaho, and we submit, Idaho sovereignty is once again weakened and the tactic will likely be used again." |
Maybe for highway funding. Or healthcare insurance. Or education funding. A broadband network. Standardized identification in our driver's licenses. Railroad tank car standards. Mine safety. Financial regulation. Dam maintenance. Wildland firefighting. Food and drug safety. Student loan guarantees. Whatever.
But by all means, do carry on, Ms. Scott, with your vigilant fellow extremists and their spotting sly attempts to insert international rule into the Idaho law and create a global system of child support enforcement under international law. Just how many millions of dollars of other people's money are you willing to spend on this campaign?
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Intelligent Discontent of Montana, writes—
Lee Enterprises Gives Up Covering Montana Politics:
In news that would be shocking if it weren’t so incredibly disappointing, the Lee Newspapers chain in Montana has decided to send the state’s two most experienced political reporters out to pasture, preferring to focus their coverage not on the governance of our state, but instead on “people profiles and more reporting on the oil and gas industry, tourism, agriculture and general trends.” That’s little more than doublespeak for replacing the experienced reporting of Mike Dennison and Chuck Johnson with new reporters perhaps better versed in the new demand for content light clickbait to drive digital revenues, especially if those reporters will work for a lot less money.
Because every cent Lee Enterprises makes needs to line the pockets of the very executives who have driven the company (and its papers) to the brink of financial ruin, not to compensate reporters.
Maybe the future of journalism in Montana is aping year old Internet memes in a desperate bid for “relevance” or hard-hitting exposes about some of David Letterman’s favorite guests, but I have some difficulty understanding how either of those will play the critical role of the Fourth Estate that editorial boards periodically claim newspapers fulfill in our state.
Those pieces might generate a few more shares on Facebook, but they will certainly not help the people of Montana understand the complexity of implementing the Affordable Care Act or the history of the Montana Legislature’s role in the state, the kind of coverage that Dennison and Johnson offered for years
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Progress Illinois,
Ellyn Fortino writes—
Illinois Renters Must Earn $18.78 Hourly To Afford A Two-Bedroom Apartment, Report Finds:
Minimum wage earners in Illinois must work 91 hours a week, year round to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment in the state.
That's just one of many sobering figures in the National Low Income Housing Coalition's (NLIHC) annual "Out of Reach" report for 2015, which shows that the gap between wages and rents continues to widen both nationally and in Illinois.
According to the federal government's standard, rental housing is affordable when a household spends no more than 30 percent of its income on housing.
Without paying more than 30 percent of their income on housing, Illinois renters must earn $18.78 per hour, or at least $39,067 annually, to afford the Fair Market Rent (FMR) price of $977 for a two-bedroom unit in the state, according to the report.