California NOW

Monday's Action Checklist

Last week, as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, the independent, nonpartisan Institute of Medicine released a critically important report on preventive health care for women. This report recommends that important preventive services should be covered by health insurance at no out-of-pocket cost to women, including annual well-woman visits, contraception and other services. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is now reviewing these recommendations.  Click here to sign the petition urging HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to adopt them.

Last week QVC cancelled an appearance by actress and Women's Media Co-Founder Jane Fonda after they received calls from viewers who opposed Jane’s appearance due to the continued hate-fueled lies regarding her activism during the Vietnam war.  We will not stand by and let her voice be silenced. Click here to sign a pledge standing with Jane for the truth.

The FBI still uses an archaic definition of rape.  This definition, drafted more than 80 years ago, excludes victims of forced anal or oral sex, rape with an object, statutory rape, and male rape. Moreover, this definition is often used by law enforcement to exclude rapes of women whose ability to give consent has been diminished by drugs or alcohol.  Click here to sign this important petition. 

The March 11 disaster at Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power facility should serve as a wake-up call here in the United States. Much can and should be done to better protect the public from the risks of nuclear power, and to address serious, long-standing shortcomings in safety and security at our nation’s 104 operating nuclear reactors.  The Union of Concerned Scientists and an NRC Task Force each recently released comprehensive recommendations that together address a range of safety and security issues, including severe-accident management, emergency planning, spent fuel storage, improved regulatory enforcement, and improved protection against terrorist attacks.  Write your governor and senators to urge them to demand that the NRC act quickly and decisively to adopt these recommendations, including upgraded safety and security measures for dealing with severe nuclear accidents, which will make you and your family safer.

Big Oil has claimed another victim: the Yellowstone River. Earlier this month, an ExxonMobil pipeline spilled 42,000 gallons of oil into the Yellowstone.  According to one nearby resident, “You go down to where the oil is, and you don't hear anything anymore. No birds, no toads, no crickets, nothing.”  This latest spill is yet another example of the costs of our oil dependence — and yet another reminder why we need to get off oil.  The Obama administration is considering the boldest step ever enacted to reduce our oil use by increasing fuel efficiency standards to 60 mpg by 2025. Sign the petition today to make this a reality.

 

Everything Old is New Again

Using immigration, state control of women’s bodies, legislatures, courts and the media (bought and paid for by corporations and the wealthiest) to maintain the power and privileges of the few is not new, but sure is getting old.

Recently President Obama released a video of a lecture discussesing politics in America.  In it, he states that people thinking about getting involved in politics must marry principal to the political process.  President Obama goes further to say that true understanding of the American system leads to the conclusion that compromise, even of our most core principals, is an absolute condition to engaging in American politics.  To illustrate the necessity and nobleness of continual compromise of core principals, the President cites Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation “compromise” in allowing Union slave states to maintain slavery during the war as a “compromise” of Lincoln’s anti-slavery position with the more important goal of defending the union.  President Obama, in a patronizing tone, goes on to state that compromise is part of the process of growing up, saying that no one ever gets 100% of what they want.

It is certainly true that the American system of government was designed to impede change and yes, those involved must always keep in mind that working toward change in America is a long and hard road.  Change leading toward a more perfect union is often incremental, but the reality of this design necessitates using the force of words – of ideas to break through the logjam of our system.  Engaging the American people in a discussion of how we want to govern ourselves and, more to the point, a discussion of our core principals is the duty of the President of the United States – a duty this President is beginning to make excuses for shirking.

Mr. President, what people in this country and around the world are angry at is your refusal to fully stand for the principals of freedom and equality for all the American people.   What is lacking is a full throated and unyielding appeal to the people standing up and stating the case for creating an America – a world based on recognizing every human being’s full humanity.

Dorothy Robert’s recently wrote, “This nation is at a crossroads.  One path is the one I have just described: adopting the view that human beings are naturally divided into races at the molecular level and looking to genomic science and technology to bridge the enduring chasm between racial groups.  The other road means affirming our shared humanity by working to end the social inequities preserved by the political system of race.  Which path we choose to follow is not only a question of scientific evidence.  It is a question of moral commitment.  There is no neutral scientific position on this question.  We have long had scientific confirmation that race is a political and not a biological category.  The re-creation of biological race in genomic science today, likes its invention by scientists in past centuries, results from an ideological commitment to a false view of humanity.”

We most certainly stand at a crossroads – the same crossroads that has divided humanity for centuries.  One road affirms our shared humanity based on the principal that all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights and must enjoy the equal protection of the law against discrimination based on their sexuality, sex or gender, race, color, age, ethnicity, disability, language, religion, immigration status, national or social origin, or other status.  The other road affirms dominance and supremacy of a select group, namely super-wealthy, white, heterosexual men.

We’ve been down the dominance road before, the rhetoric sounds all too familiar.  Paul Weyrich, the founder of American Legislative Exchange Council (“ALEC”), the corporatist group marrying principal with our political process stated unapologetically about the need to suppress voting saying, “I don’t want everyone to vote”.  For Weyrich and the corporatist who dominate ALEC, the people and their government are there to serve the few.  For them, the only core values of government and the law is to enforce their dominance and supremacy.  This is nothing new; the belief that some people are more equal than others has existed side by side with the principal that all human beings are born free, equal in dignity and rights.  This is America’s central contradiction – a contradiction that you, Mr. President, seem to believe is inescapable, which is far from reality.  We have been moving inexorably toward making a more perfect union – that is moving toward recognizing everyone’s full humanity – movement that must be willed forward by words attached to actions Mr. President.

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Monday's Action Checklist

The latest "Got Milk" campaign was just released, centering around the claim that milk helps reduce PMS symptoms.  The ads for this new campaign will feature the sexist stereotype of menstruating women as volatile monsters. It also supports the condescending idea that any angry woman can be talked down with puppies and glossy compliments. Click here to sign the petition, asking the California Milk Processer Board to end this insulting campaign.

A billboard campaign serving as race-based attacks on a woman’s right to choose have popped up here in California, spearheaded by the Radiance Foundation in coordination with California-based Issues4Life Foundation.  The Radiance Foundation and its supporters have accused Planned Parenthood of committing genocide against communities of color. Anti-choice bilingual billboards owned by CBS Outdoors were first put up in early July in Los Angeles and declared that “The most dangerous place for a LATINO is in the womb.”  These billboards stigmatize Latinas as being incapable of making responsible family planning decisions. The campaign now includes 60 billboards in the Oakland area, targeting African American communities.  The billboards have been intentionally placed along corridors in East and West Oakland that are home to low-income families and people of color. These billboards especially target African American women and stigmatize a personal, medical decision.  Please sign the petition NOW asking Jeff McCuen of CBS Outdoor to remove these billboards immediately.

Bath & Body Works is offering its customers, many of whom are pre-teen and teenage girls, antibacterial soaps with summertime scents containing triclosan, a toxic antimicrobial chemical that accumulates in our bodies.  This commonly used pesticide is also linked to the rise of "superbugs" – antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  The bioaccumulative chemical has been found in our bodies, in breast milk and in the environment. It is an endocrine disruptor with cancer concerns – a serious problem for public health, especially for pre-teens and teens.  Triclosan is found in the majority of Bath & Body Works antibacterial hand soaps (with the tagline: "spread love, not germs"), yet soaps containing triclosan are not more effective at preventing disease or illness than other, less-toxic products. Companies like Johnson & Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive have already taken steps to phase out of triclosan.   Click here to tell Bath & Body Works to be responsible by phasing out triclosan because that pesticide doesn't belong in soaps and lotions popular with our pre-teens and teens.

This week will be the first ever congressional hearing on repealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) and restoring the rights of all lawfully married couples -- including same-sex couples -- under federal law.  This hearing is an unprecedented step on the path to progress.  We need to finally repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) so that our country stops treating gays and lesbians as second-class citizens.  Senator Dianne Feinstein and others have introduced the Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal DOMA and restore the rights of all lawfully married couples, including same sex couples, to receive the benefits of marriage under federal law.  Click here to email your member of Congress, urging them to support the Respect for Marriage Act and repeal DOMA at this week's hearing!

Did you know that your California public library could be taken over by a private company? In Southern California, public libraries are being targeted for takeover by Library Systems & Services, Inc. (LSSI), a private company headquartered in Maryland and majority-owned by the private equity firm Islington Capital Partners.  LSSI currently operates 14 library systems and is eyeing more in California. When municipalities contract with private library service providers like LSSI, it often results in diminished library services and hidden costs to taxpayers. Concerns also arise over transparency and accountability.   The good news is that there's a bill (AB 438) in the California Senate that will help protect libraries from reckless privatization schemes.  The proposed legislation will require local officials to give their constituents adequate notice of plans to privatize and to demonstrate that privatization will benefit the community.  Click here to sign the petition asking state lawmakers to pass AB 438. 

Last week, the California State Legislature sent AB 96 to Governor Jerry Brown – a bill that would help save Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) services for California seniors.  The elimination of ADHC has left millions of California seniors at grave risk of losing necessary care.  AB96 would help bridge the gap by establishing the “Keeping Adults Free from Institutions” (KAFI) program, providing critical care to the neediest seniors and saving thousands from being institutionalized or forced into nursing homes.   Please contact the Governor’s office to encourage him to sign the legislation establishing the ”Keeping Adults Free from Institutions” Program!  Please click here to call or send a message to Governor Jerry Brown today.

Why California Needs to Create a State Bank

Recently Dylan Ratigan and the Huffington Post began a series entitled, “America For Sale: Is Goldman Sachs Buying Your City?”

In the first paragraph Dylan states, “In Chicago, it’s the sale of parking meters to the sovereign wealth fund of Abu Dhabi.  In Indiana, it’s the sale of the northern toll road to a Spanish and Australian joint venture.  In Wisconsin it’s public health and food programs, in California it’s libraries.  It’s water treatment plants, schools, toll roads, airports, and power plants.  It’s Amtrak.  There are revolving doors of corrupt politicians, big banks, and ratings agencies.  There are conflicts of interest.  It’s bipartisan.”

Ratigan’s investigation shows that Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and numerous other banksters are seeing “increased opportunity in ‘distressed assets’ (i.e. cities and states gone broke because of the financial crisis)” a crisis caused by Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the other banksters!

America and every other sovereign nation is on the  distress sale auction block, with groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) being so brazen as to have on their webpage, “select your game square” ALEC will help you privatize one of seven sectors: government operations, education, transportation and infrastructure, public safety, environment, health, or telecommunications.

These public assets must not be sold.  Instead, California should follow the eleven other states in beginning the process of creating a state bank.  Californian’s assets should be put to work for the people of California – for the benefit of Californians.  That’s why California NOW strongly supports AB 750 and urges the California Legislature to vote in favor of this vital piece of legislation.

As Ellen Hodgson Brown testified in support of AB 750, “State and local governments across the United States have huge amounts of capital that could potentially be leveraged into loans.  They collectively own trillions of dollars’ worth of assets accruing by virtue of their citizens’ tax dollars.  Besides tax revenues and real estate holdings, they maintain a variety of funds, including pension funds and “rainy day” funds.  This money is currently invested at very modest interest rates, largely in Wall Street financial institutions.  This capital could instead be leveraged into loans, if it were invested as equity in the state’s own bank.  At an 8% capital requirement, a bank can leverage capital by a factor of 12.5, so long as it can attract sufficient deposits (collected or borrowed) to clear the outgoing checks.”

Ellen went on to point out that “Making credit available to county and city governments, school districts and other agencies currently facing heavy debt loads that result in interest and principal payments filling the coffers of out-of-state lenders cannot help but benefit the state by keeping such moneys in-state.  One way to accomplish this is for the state to buy up the bonds and other debt instruments held by out-of-state parties and have the bond issuers pay the state instead.  The state could then set whatever interest rate it deems appropriate, which in some cases may mean the difference between the agency being able to continue to support its debt or go into default.   Regardless, the state and its citizens benefit by whatever interest is paid, as all of it would go to the state and not outside entities.

We can also look to the model in North Dakota where the state is buying up real estate loans from community banks. The collapse of the real estate market has had a huge negative effect on loan portfolio assets throughout the country, significantly impacting banks’ ability to lend. With the Bank of North Dakota buying up these loans from their community banks, those banks are in a better position to provide lending to small businesses and others than they could with those loans still on their books.”

Benefits deriving from the creation of a state bank are many, not the least of which is providing loan support to community banks that lend to California small businesses.  According to the most recent Census Bureau Survey of Business Owners (2007), the number of women-owned businesses grew by 20.1 percent between 2002 and 2007, compared to 5.5 percent for men-owned firms. In 2007, the Census counted 7.8 million women-owned business, representing 28.7 percent of all nonfarm businesses in the US.  See 2011 DOL Women’s Bureau Report    In California, that translates to 1,351,087 women who own businesses, employing nearly 1.9 million people and generating $318.2 billion in sales.  Having a source of lending that is dedicated to growing California small businesses including women owned small businesses would greatly enhance their growth and opportunities. 

Private banks just won’t do it.  In a June 30 article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Smaller Businesses Seeking Loans Still Come Up Empty,” Emily Maltby reported that business owners rank access to capital as the most important issue facing them today; and only 17% of smaller businesses said they were able to land needed bank financing. Why QE Failed:  The Money All Went Offshore.

The five largest banks now hold 40 percent of all deposits and 48 percent of all bank assets. These banks—Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, and PNC—currently control more deposits than the next largest 45 banks combined.  They are big, they are powerful, and they have lost interest in local lending. In the past three years, the four largest banks have cut back on small business lending by a full 53 percent. The two banks that were the largest recipients of TARP funds, Bank of America and Citigroup, have cut back on local lending by 94 percent and 64 percent, respectively.

Why? In 2010, the six largest bank holding companies made a combined $75 billion; and of this, $56 billion was in trading revenues—income from speculating in derivatives, futures, commodities, and currencies. If the too-big-to-fail banks win on these bets, they win big and can pocket the proceeds. If they lose, the federal government can be relied on to bail them out. In those comfortable circumstances, why lend to risky local businesses that might go bankrupt, or to homeowners who might default?

The legislature and the Governor have an opportunity to begin to take control of California’s future for all the people of California.  There are enormous problems facing this state and our country – creating a state bank is a corner stone in building a solid foundation for a bright future.  Contact  your legislator today and urge them to vote YES on AB 750.

Click here to watch a thoroughly entertaining but equally informative video on this subject.

The Loss of Betty Ford

Over the weekend, we lost one of our most courageous supporters.

Although Betty Ford will be best remembered as putting a human face on the problem of addiction, it was her role in advancing feminist issues that we are most grateful for.

In the mid 1970s, she was the first lady of the United States, married to a Republican president, in an era when first ladies did not speak out on controversial issues.  However, Betty did speak candidly on every hot-button issue of the time, including feminism, equal pay, ERA, sex, drugs, abortion, and gun control.

Following her White House years, Betty continued to lobby for the ERA and remained active in the feminist movement.

Today, we seem to call leaders courageous for simply speaking up on issues their supporters already agree with.  For example, when Democratic leaders speak up on behalf of unions, their supporters call them brave.  And when Republicans speak out against unions, their supporters refer to them as being brave.

I’ve always felt that true courage comes when, at great risk to your own reputation and position, you go ahead and speak out on issues because you understand it’s the right thing to do.  Courage is caring more about advancing our society than worrying about the potential personal consequences.

That’s what Betty Ford was – courageous.  She understood that she had a platform whereby she could help move our country forward and, even at great personal risk to her own reputation and standing, she took advantage of that platform.  She didn’t do it for personal gain – she did it for us.