Tag Archives: World News
20,500 jobs lost across Georgia, NOT WITHOUT YOUR SIGNATURE!
Over the next 11 days, the President will ask Republicans to make a choice:
Set aside party politics — or risk 20,500 Georgia jobs.
Because if a budget agreement isn’t reached by next Friday, the government will shut down — and the President has made clear that the current plan as proposed by congressional Republicans is not acceptable.
The final budget cannot be dictated solely by one party or a narrow set of interests — it will affect every American.
That’s why true leadership means making tough choices and putting people before party or ideology.
And that’s the kind of leadership we need over the next 11 days.
The President is calling on both sides to come together, but it’s up to us to show Republicans in Congress that we have his back. As negotiations heat up, we all need to speak out to make sure they get the message.
Congressional Republicans have less than two weeks to come to the table and help craft a responsible funding plan that won’t derail economic growth.
President Obama has laid out a plan that reduces the deficit by a trillion dollars. He’s committed to finding common ground to cut wasteful spending, but he won’t go along with a plan that eliminates nearly a million jobs, guts investments in education and innovation, and ends protections that keep our food safe and air and water clean.
We simply cannot afford any proposal that weakens our country or sets us back.
The Republican budget:
– Prevents the government from implementing health reform, rolling back critical patient protections and cost savings, and returning control of your health care to insurance companies;
– Slashes funding for preventive health services that millions of American women depend on through Planned Parenthood — and eliminates 2,200 community health center jobs across Georgia;
– Guts investments in education and infrastructure that will grow the economy and create jobs;
– Cuts Georgia homeland security investments by $2.3 million, hindering local law enforcement’s ability to keep our families safe; and
– Drops 5,693 Georgia children from Head Start, an early-education program proven to help students thrive later on.
And it could mean nearly 1 million American jobs lost — all without making a dent in the deficit.
With a shutdown looming, we’re approaching a critical moment that could quickly become a crisis.
Organizing for America will make sure Americans know that millions of people — from every district in this country — will be affected by these cuts.
And we’ll show lawmakers that we’re paying attention, we’re organizing, and we’re not going to stop. That we refuse to accept partisan games that could cost hundreds of thousands of jobs — or a government shutdown that puts our economy at risk.
Please add your name in support of the President today:
Have You Heard of Milton County-Atlanta?
Have you heard of Milton county?
If not, you soon will. State lawmakers have introduced several bills which are all different versions of the same measure that calls for the division of Fulton county and the creation of Milton county.
Republicans argue the new county is needed because the growth of north Fulton has left its citizenry under-represented and overtaxed. They also contend that there has been a track record of dysfunction and mismanagement in Fulton county that has cost taxpayers a lot of money, partly because Fulton county government is too big, unresponsive and poorly managed.
The new county would include the three new cities as well as Alpharetta, Roswell and Mountain Park to include a population of more than 310,000.
Democrats contend the move would be politically and racially divisive — Atlanta is majority black while north Fulton is predominantly white — and could sap vital financial resources from Atlanta and Fulton county.
“It’s a bad idea,” democratic state Sen. Vincent Fort has told reporters. “If Democrats can’t stop this, there’s no reason to have a Democratic Party in Georgia,” as reported in the Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
There is a strong push to stop the creation of Milton County and its potential effects. A meeting will be held this week:
When: Saturday, February 19, 2011
Where: East Point Public Library
2757 Main St.
Atlanta, GA 30344
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
Fulton County Commission Chairman John Eaves said Milton County proponents have misled North Fulton residents into thinking the new county will lower their property taxes and lead to providing better county services.
Click the link below to see video of Chairman John Eaves:
http://www.11alive.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=738233018001#/Milton%20County%20Deal/738233018001
A bit of history—
Georgia lost two counties in 1932 when Milton and Campbell counties were consolidated into Fulton as a cost-saving measure. Milton County was absorbed into Fulton County as it was facing bankruptcy during the Great Depression.
Of the 180 member House, Republicans currently hold 112 seats (62% of the vote); only 8 votes shy of a two-thirds majority.
Of the 56 state Senate seats, Republicans currently hold 35 (also about 62% of the vote). This leaves Democrats with 21 seats and Republicans short of two-thirds majority vote by only 2.
The measure must pass both chambers with a two-thirds vote.
Again, there is a strong movement to stop this by the many concerned citizens of the Atlanta metro area. There will be a meeting held on this important issue this week:
When: Saturday, February 19, 2011
Where: East Point Public Library
2757 Main St.
Atlanta, GA 30344
Time: 10:00am-12:00pm
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WHY? WHY? WHY?
Jared Loughner, the suspect in the Tucson, Arizona shooting rampage that left six dead, is being held without bail and has been assigned Judy Clarke, a lawyer who defended “Unabomber” Ted Kaczynski, as his attorney.
PICTURES: Arizona Shooting Victims
Loughner entered the courtroom Monday handcuffed and wearing a tan inmate uniform. His head was shaved and he had a cut on his right temple.
The 22-year-old is accused of killing six people on Saturday and injuring 14 others, including U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.
His expression was impassive as he walked in, looked straight at the crowd at the back of the room packed with reporters, then turned around to speak to his attorney, Judy Clarke. He responded “yes” when asked if he understood his rights.
The courtroom was under heavy guard with about a dozen U.S. marshals.
Loughner is charged with one count of attempted assassination of a member of Congress, two counts of killing an employee of the federal government and two counts of attempting to kill a federal employee. More charges are expected.
CORRECTION: Earlier reports incorrectly stated that Clarke had defended Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Timothy McVeigh.
Dirty Jokes+Santa Clause=Fired!
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS/KPIX) Santa Claus has been fired from a San Francisco Macy’s department store for being a bit too jolly.
According to CBS affiliate KPIX, John Toomey, who played Kris Kringle at the Union Square store for 20 years, was told Saturday that his “ho-ho-ho-ing” days are over after an adult couple complained about his dirty jokes.
The 68-year-old Toomey told the station that he asks older people who sit on his lap if they’ve been good. When they answer yes, he replies: “Gee, that’s too bad.”
If they ask why Santa’s so jolly, Toomey says it’s because he knows where all the naughty boys and girls live.
Toomey told KPIX that he has told those jokes for decades without any problems, and emphasized that he didn’t make such jokes with kids.
“Everything was going OK until this couple came in,” Toomey told the station. “I don’t know why they reported me. I don’t think I said anything untoward.”
He said he had asked Macy’s to reconsider their decision to terminate his employment, but apparently to no avail.
Macy’s spokeswoman Betsy Nelson said Tuesday that the store would not comment on personnel matters.
What Will People Do? What Will You Do? Act Now!
‘DROP DEAD’
That’s the message deficit hypocrites in Washington have for jobless Americans. They blocked action in Congress—and now more than 800,000 long-term job seekers have lost their emergency unemployment benefits. The total’s set to rise to 2 million by year’s end.
See the human cost of hypocrisy—and tell your senators to open their eyes!
Something in Washington reeks—and it’s not the dreary swamp the city was built on—it’s deficit hypocrites. You may have seen them on TV—folks who have no clue what life’s like for ordinary Americans. They are fighting for $700 billion in tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires but think maintaining emergency unemployment is “too expensive.”
These deficit hypocrites have basically told long-term unemployed workers to “drop dead.” Right now, more than 800,000 long-term job hunters have lost their emergency unemployment benefits. Every additional second of delay costs more than one worker his or her emergency lifeline.
We’ve updated our unemployment counter to track the ongoing cost of greed and purposeful, heartless delay in real time.(1)
>> Find out how many workers have lost emergency unemployment insurance—and tell your senators this is totally unacceptable.
Today—as you read this message—100 unemployed workers are in Washington, D.C., to lobby their lawmakers.
Their message is clear: We have an urgent jobs crisis. With five job hunters for every one opening, we need jobs now. And while jobs aren’t there, job seekers need a lifeline.
The unemployed workers on Capitol Hill—and the 2 million workers around the country who will lose their benefits by January unless Congress acts—need your help. That starts with demanding that your senators act and urging your friends to get involved.
See how many workers have lost their emergency unemployment—and urge your senators to act.
>> Then, share the sobering reality with your
In solidarity,
Manny Herrmann
Online Mobilization Coordinator, AFL-CIO
(1) Simulation based on the National Employment Law Project’s estimate of 2,013,058 workers who will lose benefits by Dec. 31, 2010.
Let’s Give the Respect to Veterans that is Due to Them…Male or Female!
</aCherish Cornish, 29, joined the Army when she was 20 years old. When she was discharged, she was 23 and didn't know how to live on her own — so she has struggled with homelessness. But since June, she has lived in a temporary housing facility run by Father Bill's & MainSpring, a private nonprofit group in Brockton, Mass.One of them is Cherish Cornish. Since June, the 29-year-old has lived on the fifth floor of a temporary housing facility run by Father Bill's & MainSpring, a private nonprofit group in Brockton, Mass. Cornish lives in one of five rooms reserved for homeless female veterans. She's struggling to make a life for herself after the military.
I come out and I'm 23, and so I just kind of came of age in the military. I wind up on my own again in an apartment. It's the first time I've had to pay rent since I was a teenager.
"When I joined the Army, I was barely 20 years old," Cornish says with a Southern accent, a legacy of years growing up in Texas. "I come out, and I'm 23, and so I just kind of came of age in the military. I wind up on my own again in an apartment. It's the first time I've had to pay rent since I was a teenager. It's the first time I had to pay a light bill — pretty much ever — and all these responsibilities and budgeting and stuff that I'd really never had to deal with in the military."
There are other complications. Cornish suffers from PTSD. It took the VA several years to diagnose her. Cornish believes her trauma stems from her service in Iraq. She was a transmission specialist working at isolated outposts monitoring and intercepting radio communications. Still, she thinks she lucked out, because often she'd just miss getting physically hurt.
"I was on a checkpoint doing some guard duty one day, and as soon as we left, a sniper attacked and we heard the gunfires," she says. "We were driving away and looked back and saw them engaged in actual combat. And we'd just left there."
Map: Women Veterans By State
Amy Street, a psychologist for the National Center for PTSD at Boston's VA health care system, says that women's roles in the military are different these days.
"These wars are unique in terms of women's roles — both in terms of the number of women who are serving, but also in terms of the types of duties and the types of responsibilities that they have in the war zone," she says. "And I'm not sure that our country's perception of women as warriors has caught up with what's happening on the ground."
There are misperceptions about what's happening when women soldiers return home. Women veterans are running into all sorts of obstacles, including homelessness. But many of these women aren't turning to the VA for help. Cornish says she tried, but clinics were too far away. And there were other problems.
EnlargeStella Johnson for NPR
Cornish points to patches on her jacket — she was born in Missouri, she did her basic Army training in South Carolina, and she completed her advanced individual training in Georgia.
"The groups that they did have around the area were almost all men," Cornish says. "And most of them did not believe that women were combat veterans. Most of them didn't believe women were veterans period — that we don't serve that much of a purpose in the military. And definitely in a combat zone. They just assumed that we were paper pushers — that we were far behind the lines. And that's not true."
The VA says it's working to improve its care for women. Still, they're not there yet, which is why women like Cornish go to nonprofits like Father Bill's & MainSpring.
"To have an organization like ours — that isn't necessarily associated with the military — it might be a little bit more accessible [for female veterans]," says April Connolly, a social worker at that program. "And I think that's the idea for the VA — to be involved with us, to really start reaching out to private nonprofits so that they're getting their services available, which is amazing to the people who have served."
So for now, Cornish has found a place that she can call home. For more info go to: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=131192165
