Spare Change News Blog

With the quadrennial presidential election extravaganza reaching its peak, it’s useful to ask how the political campaigns are dealing with the most crucial issues we face. The simple answer is: badly, or not at all. If so, some important questions arise: why, and what can we do about it?

There are two issues of overwhelming significance, because the fate of the species is at stake: environmental disaster, and nuclear war.

The former is regularly on the front pages. On Sept. 19, for example, Justin Gillis reported in The New York Times that the melting of Arctic sea ice had ended for the year, “but not before demolishing the previous record – and setting off new warnings about the rapid pace of change in the region.”

The melting is much faster than predicted by sophisticated computer models and the most recent U.N. report on global warming. New data indicate that summer ice might be gone by 2020, with severe consequences. Previous estimates had summer ice disappearing by 2050.

“But governments have not responded to the change with any greater urgency about limiting greenhouse emissions,” Gillis writes. “To the contrary, their main response has been to plan for exploitation of newly accessible minerals in the Arctic, including drilling for more oil” – that is, to accelerate the catastrophe.

This reaction demonstrates an extraordinary willingness to sacrifice the lives of our children and grandchildren for short-term gain. Or, perhaps, an equally remarkable willingness to shut our eyes so as not to see the impending peril.

That’s hardly all. A new study from the Climate Vulnerability Monitor has found that “climate change caused by global warming is slowing down world economic output by 1.6 percent a year and will lead to a doubling of costs in the next two decades.” The study was widely reported elsewhere but Americans have been spared the disturbing news.

The official Democratic and Republican platforms on climate matters are reviewed in Science magazine’s Sept. 14 issue. In a rare instance of bipartisanship, both parties demand that we make the problem worse.

In 2008, both party platforms had devoted some attention to how the government should address climate change. Today, the issue has almost disappeared from the Republican platform – which does, however, demand that Congress “take quick action” to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency, established by former Republican President Richard Nixon in saner days, from regulating greenhouse gases. And we must open Alaska’s Arctic refuge to drilling to take “advantage of all our American God-given resources.” We cannot disobey the Lord, after all.

The platform also states that “We must restore scientific integrity to our public research institutions and remove political incentives from publicly funded research” – code words for climate science.

The Republican candidate Mitt Romney, seeking to escape from the stigma of what he understood a few years ago about climate change, has declared that there is no scientific consensus, so we should support more debate and investigation – but not action, except to make the problems more serious.

The Democrats mention in their platform that there is a problem, and recommend that we should work “toward an agreement to set emissions limits in unison with other emerging powers.” But that’s about it.

President Barack Obama has emphasized that we must gain 100 years of energy independence by exploiting fracking and other new technologies – without asking what the world would look like after a century of such practices.

So there are differences between the parties: about how enthusiastically the lemmings should march toward the cliff.

The second major issue, nuclear war, is also on the front pages every day, but in a way that would astound a Martian observing the strange doings on Earth.

The current threat is again in the Middle East, specifically Iran – at least according to the West, that is. In the Middle East, the U.S. and Israel are considered much greater threats.

Unlike Iran, Israel refuses to allow inspections or to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. It has hundreds of nuclear weapons and advanced delivery systems, and a long record of violence, aggression and lawlessness, thanks to unremitting American support. Whether Iran is seeking to develop nuclear weapons, U.S. intelligence doesn’t know.

In its latest report, the International Atomic Energy Agency says that it cannot demonstrate “the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran” – a roundabout way of condemning Iran, as the U.S. demands, while conceding that the agency can add nothing to the conclusions of U.S. intelligence.

Therefore Iran must be denied the right to enrich uranium that is guaranteed by the NPT and endorsed by most of the world, including the nonaligned countries that have just met in Tehran.

The possibility that Iran might develop nuclear weapons arises in the electoral campaign. (The fact that Israel already has them does not.) Two positions are counterposed: Should the U.S. declare that it will attack if Iran reaches the capability to develop nuclear weapons, which dozens of countries enjoy? Or should Washington keep the “red line” more indefinite?

The latter position is that of the White House; the former is demanded by Israeli hawks – and accepted by the U.S. Congress. The Senate just voted 90-1 to support the Israeli position.

Missing from the debate is the obvious way to mitigate or end whatever threat Iran might be believed to pose: Establish a nuclear weapons-free zone in the region. The opportunity is readily available: An international conference is to convene in a few months to pursue this objective, supported by almost the entire world, including a majority of Israelis.

The government of Israel, however, has announced that it will not participate until there is a general peace agreement in the region, which is unattainable as long as Israel persists in its illegal activities in the occupied Palestinian territories. Washington keeps to the same position, and insists that Israel must be excluded from any such regional agreement.

We could be moving toward a devastating war, possibly even nuclear. Straightforward ways exist to overcome this threat, but they will not be taken unless there is large-scale public activism demanding that the opportunity be pursued. This in turn is highly unlikely as long as these matters remain off the agenda, not just in the electoral circus, but in the media and larger national debate.

Elections are run by the public relations industry. Its primary task is commercial advertising, which is designed to undermine markets by creating uninformed consumers who will make irrational choices – the exact opposite of how markets are supposed to work, but certainly familiar to anyone who has watched television.

It’s only natural that when enlisted to run elections, the industry would adopt the same procedures in the interests of the paymasters, who certainly don’t want to see informed citizens making rational choices.

The victims, however, do not have to obey, in either case. Passivity may be the easy course, but it is hardly the honorable one.

(Reprinted with permission)

Cambridge Election Commission

The deadline to register to vote for the November 6th election is October 17th! Homeless individuals can register to vote using the mail-in voter registration form which can be accessed here. The Cambridge Election Commission recommends that homeless persons put the address where they are staying, even if it is temporary and on the streets, e.g. “Weeks Footbridge, Cambridge MA 02138,” or the address of an overnight shelter. To register, you need to list your MA driver’s license number or give the last four digits of your social security number. More information can be found here. Mail-in voter registration forms must be postmarked by the October 17th deadline to be eligible in time for November 6th.

Help support Homeless Empowerment Project, publishers of Spare Change News in The Giving Common Challenge, an initiative of The Boston Foundation. Tax-deductible donations, as small as $25, made between October 10 at 8am and October 11 at 8pm will help to place The Homeless Empowerment Project in the running for additional funding prizes.

Visit https://www.givingcommon.org/profile/1086113/ to make a donation today.

About The Giving Common Challenge

The Giving Common Challenge is a 36-hour event that will run from 8:00am EDT on October 10, 2012 through 8:00pm EDT on October 11, 2012. Over 60 prizes totaling $150,000 will be awarded to qualifying organizations during the Challenge period.

The Homeless Empowerment Project Mission

To empower the economically disadvantaged in Greater Boston through self-employment, skill development, and self-expression.

To reshape public perception of homeless and poverty.

To present by our own example that homelessness and economically disadvantaged people with the proper resources, empowerment, opportunity, and encouragement are capable of creating change for ourselves in society.

To produce a product that homeless and low income people can sell with dignity and through which they can showcase their talents and tell their stories.

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, OCT. 1, 2012…..While the number of uninsured Massachusetts residents has fallen since 2006 and the number who have visited a doctor has increased, the state’s shortage of physicians continues, with “critical” levels in a few specialties.

This year, neurosurgery joined internal medicine, urology and psychiatry as fields where there is a critical shortage, according to the Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Workforce Study released on Tuesday. Other fields in the slightly less drastic “severe” rating include family medicine, dermatology and general surgery.

According to the study, the most “in-demand” fields of medicine are the ones where patients have the most difficulty finding a doctor, and the shortages will be exacerbated by the Affordable Care Act as they were by the 2006 state-level reform.

“In Massachusetts, the percentage of insured residenPots has increased to 97 percent over the past five years; however 32.8 percent of insured patients indicated a problem obtaining health care in the past year,” the study says. “On a national scale, a similar problem will likely surface, given the number of physicians.”

In the period immediately following the 2006 law, patients around Boston and in the western part of the state were unable to see doctors because they were not accepting new patients, a development that may have added to more emergency room visits.

“[T]he challenges faced by Massachusetts residents in obtaining medical care are reminders that universal insurance coverage does not always guarantee access to health care,” the study said.

The shortage has been somewhat alleviated since 2006, when the number of specialties with critical or severe shortages shot up from six in 2005 to 11 in 2006. That figure peaked in 2008 at 12. This year’s total of seven specialties listed as critical or severe is down from last year’s total of eight.

Orthopedics was listed as in a severe shortage last year but not this year. Internal medicine has been at a critical shortage for the past three years.

The survey also measured doctor satisfaction, and found that the percentage of satisfied doctors and dissatisfied doctors was equal at 40 percent each. In 2010, the number of satisfied doctors edged the number dissatisfied but dating back to 2002, dissatisfaction has reigned among Massachusetts physicians. In 2003, 60 percent of doctors were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

“This year’s study has mixed results,” said Massachusetts Medical Society President Dr. Richard Aghababian, M.D., in a statement. “We still have shortages of physicians in key specialties, especially primary care, and, despite some positive trends, physician recruitment is problematic, particularly for community hospitals….. Yet we also see some positives, with more physicians willing to participate in accountable care organizations and global payments, and that bodes well as health reform continues to evolve.”

Community hospitals have been significantly more affected by the shortage than teaching hospitals. Teaching hospitals reported a 7.3 percent rate of “significant difficulty to fill vacancies” compared to 94.1 percent at community hospitals and a rate of 21.7 from 8,052 physicians surveyed.

Executives at the community hospitals listed lower salaries, high cost of living and lack of interest as reasons contributing to the difficulty in recruiting. Asked which specialty was most difficult to fill, the community hospital executives listed family practice, neurosurgery and internal medicine as the top three.

Western Massachusetts is more affected by the shortage than other areas of the state. The western region reported a 47.8 percent rate of “significant difficulty to fill vacancies” compared to 17.4 percent in Boston and 29.3 percent in Worcester.

A growing and aging population will live longer than previous generations and will develop more chronic diseases, contributing to the demand, according to the study.

Medical schools will aim to keep up with the increasing demand, the study says. In 2005, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended medical schools increase enrollment by 30 percent by 2015. The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts the number of physicians nationwide will climb by 168,300, or 24 percent, from 2010 to 2020. The AAMC predicts a nationwide shortage of 124,000 full-time physicians by 2025.

Chris Hazen
www.street-papers.org
Denver Voice

You will never know how strong you are until you become homeless. Serious adversity challenges you to an extent that you whole being excels. You will get sick on the streets. I don't mean a cold or a sniffle. I mean a lung infection that drags on for weeks. A lung infection that rises from your lungs into your ears and makes you head feel like as if it were sculpted out of concrete. You go to a doctor who flatly refuses to treat you because you are homeless!

You keep moving, trying to find work while every step costs you valuable energy. You go to interviews barely able to hear because your ears are blocked with mucus. You try not to look desperate at the interview, but you really need this job... any job. You know you can do the job. The interviewer reviews your application.

Quickly you know you made a critical mistake. You put the address of the shelter on your application. You are told that at this time they no longer are hiring. You know your mistake. You can't take it back. You go back out into the freezing cold.

You have no money for the bus to get back to the shelter. It is an eight-mile walk. You have three hours. If you don't make it back, you are going to spend the night out in the cold. This is the reality of being homeless. It is a long walk when there is really no one at the end of you walk to comfort you. There is no hot chocolate, no ginger ale with toast and all its healing properties waiting for you at the end.

But you go on, thinking that tomorrow you will go to another interview. You won't give them the address to the shelter. But what address do I give them? How will you get there? Your feet are blistered and cold. You try and pick up the pace. Luckily it is all downhill. You fall a couple of times. The falls seem to hurt more in the cold. It's getting dark.

The next morning you get up and are told that your time is running out at the shelter. You have to find a job or get out in the next two weeks. You go to a church to see if they could help you to get a bus pass to your next interview. Transportation is always an issue. They agree, but they want to call the company where I would be interviewing to verify that I am actually going to the interview. You politely refuse and say, "thank you." You say to yourself, "I am an adult trying to find a job. If they call the company to verify my interview time, I definitely don't have the slightest chance in Hell of getting the job."

You start the long six-mile trek up the hill. Why can't the sun come out? Why don't my boots keep me warm? I'm hungry. Then you start to talk to yourself, readying yourself for another interview. You pray a little along the way, bargaining with God. You really want to hear a voice call down from Heaven and tell you that everything is going to work out.

You get to the interview early. You can't go in 45 minutes early. It's cold! "Where can I wait?" you ask yourself. One dollar and eight cents is the fortune you have in your pocket. It can't buy a bus ticket, but it can get you a small coffee. You go into the diner. You get the coffee. It feels so wonderful in your cold hand. The waitress is kind; knowing that you are homeless and poorly dressed, and offers you a doughnut. You refuse, and thank her. Your pride got in the way, but you really appreciated that she offered you the doughnut. It felt good, but your pride was still as strong as ever. You do not want anything given to you … you want to work!

You leave the diner and get to the interview 10 minutes early. You look around the room. Everyone in the room was at least 20 years younger than you are. You wait. And wait. After two hours, a lady comes and introduces herself as your interviewer. She looks you up and down. She seems to focus on the grey in your hair, but maybe you are being self-conscience. Your suspicions quickly turn into reality.

The third question she asks is, "Why at this juncture in your life are you choosing to change professions?" It seemed like a somewhat loaded question. You knew you were not going to get the job at that moment. Before you can start to answer the question, the interviewer tells you that, "At this time we are not looking for someone with your experience, but we will keep you application on file if a future job should come available that better suit your qualifications."

It is still early in the day. You have a long walk ahead of you. The sun is starting to warm your back. You start the long trek, again, down the hill. A few tears stream down your cheeks. You stop to blow your nose. You are angry and upset at the same time. You continue on down the hill. You cross the big bridge. You feel alone.

You trudge along hoping that tomorrow will be the day that someone will say, "Yes," and you can finally get back to work. It seems like a long road so far. Forty-three applications filled out this month. Three interviews. Three rejections. Many emails.

Finally you reach the soup kitchen. The line is short. You ate something that filled you up. You were happy. You were thankful that for a moment someone had thought enough about you to cook you a meal. They don't know your name, but they were up early planning this meal just for you. If they can get up and prepare a meal for someone they don't know, you can certainly push forward no matter how many people say, "No."

By Michael Norton
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 27, 2012--The Massachusetts economy has downshifted to a "lower gear," held back by deteriorating global conditions, with slower growth expected to continue in the coming months, according to the latest from Massachusetts economic analysts.

According to a summary released Thursday morning of a MassBenchmarks editorial board meeting on Sept. 21, local economic analysts are seeing a slowdown in the state's important information technology sector due to softening worldwide demand and are mindful of the potential for implementation in the new year of "precipitous" federal government tax increases and spending cuts.

The analysts reported the national economic slowdown is affecting Massachusetts after the state experienced a period of growth that exceeded growth across the rest of the country. They attributed the national slowdown to contracting household balance sheets that are discouraging consumer spending, a "fiscal drag" caused mainly by state and local government layoffs, and conditions in the housing market.

"Among these factors, only housing seems to be beginning to rise, both nationally and in Massachusetts, as both prices and sales seem to be firming and even turning around," MassBenchmarks Editor Robert Nakosteen wrote, summing up the consensus of the board. "It is hard to envision a genuine economic expansion without a recovery in this vital sector, so this is a beneficial change."

Noting the Congressional Budget Office estimates the federal spending cuts and tax hikes scheduled to take effect at the end of 2012 would cause a recession, the economists agreed "there is little indication that our political institutions are capable of doing what is necessary to avoid this outcome."

With Republicans controlling the U.S. House and Democrats in charge of the U.S. Senate, Congress this session has repeatedly proven unable to find common ground on a host of issues, diminishing public confidence that Washington can chart a deficit reduction course that will facilitate economic growth. The fight for the White House between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney adds to the uncertainty.

"As one board member commented, 'When you begin an economic discussion and end up with a political discussion you have a problem,'" Nakosteen wrote in his meeting summary, while adding that economists are not at the point where they anticipate another recession in Massachusetts in the coming months.

The economists flagged a series of issues that are serving to slow down growth in Massachusetts:

-- Trade and exports between Massachusetts businesses and their foreign partners are slowing due to recessions in parts of Europe and slower economic growth in China.

-- Economists said the state's life sciences sector remains "strong," but information technology is taking a hit since investments in that area by U.S. companies have been "essentially stagnant" during the first two quarters of 2012 and sales of silicon computer chips are down worldwide. Massachusetts merchandise exports, which include information technology products, are down compared to last year.

"The slowdown in the nation's economy and in Europe and the rest of the world has caught up to Massachusetts finally," Northeastern University economics professor Alan Clayton-Matthews told the News Service Thursday morning. "There's really nothing on the short-term horizon which is suggesting that the national, European or Asian or the rest-of-the-world economies are picking up steam."

Noting recent job losses and "weak" tax revenue growth, Clayton-Matthews, a senior contributing editor to MassBenchmarks, said he believes gross domestic product growth in Massachusetts will be about 1 percent annualized in the third and fourth quarters of 2012, compared to 1.9 percent in the first quarter and 2.4 percent in the second quarter.

The members of the MassBenchmarks Editorial Board are:

-- Katharine Bradbury, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston;
-- Frederick Briemyer, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation;
-- Karl Case, Wellesley College;
-- Peter Doeringer, Boston University;
-- Robert Forrant, University of Massachusetts-Lowell;
-- Frank Levy, Massachusetts Institute of Technology;
-- Christopher Probyn, State Street Bank;
-- Jim Stock, Harvard University;
-- Andrew Sum, Northeastern University;
-- David Terkla, University of Massachusetts-Boston;
-- Paul Willen, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.

Jesse Call
www.street-papers.org
The Contributor - USA

His daughter is in the hospital and is about to die. Her blood work shows she has diabetes but does not know it. He has finally landed a job if he can start later today. She might get a job if she can interview tomorrow morning. The river's about to flood his campsite. She just got assaulted and robbed and needs help.

These are circumstances that the homelessness can face each day, and without access to a mobile phone, such individuals may not get the information or help they need in time. Health care providers, career counselors and those living on the streets say that having access to a mobile phone is essential for the homeless.

Federal and state governments have also long recognized mobile phone access as a need for those experiencing homelessness and poverty. Governments have teamed up with major cell phone service providers to offer free or low-cost cell phones to people with low incomes under the Lifeline Assistance Program. The Universal Service Fee that cell phone subscribers pay on their monthly bills covers the costs of the program, which was set up under a 1996 federal law. To qualify for a free mobile phone with 250 free minutes and 250 free SMS text messages, an applicant needs to show that his or her income falls below 35 percent above the federal poverty guidelines or that he or she is receiving other federal benefits such as SSI or food stamps.

"People shouldn't have to face the decision to pay for phone service or pay for food," said Jack Pflanz, spokesperson for Assurance Wireless, one of the providers of the Lifeline Assistance Program in Tennessee. "In today's society, I think it is essential that someone experiencing homelessness has access to phone service."

Tool for employment

Critics of the homeless contend that an individual should be doing everything they legally can to bring in more income in order to 'get back on their feet.' For many, this means securing additional employment, a task that is particularly challenging in its own right but which can be further complicated by the lack of regular access to a phone.

Unfortunately, most potential employers are not particularly understanding about the life circumstances of homeless people. Regardless of their housing status, these employers expect employees or potential employees to be available on short-term notice to complete interviews or show up for work. Most employers also expect employees to have his or her own phone number where he or she can be reached and can receive a message, according to local career trainers and counselors.

"In today's job market a job seeker must have an active email address and a reachable phone number," said Connie Humphreys, career development manager of Davidson County at the Nashville Career Advancement Center. "It is not enough to provide this information on a résumé. The job seeker has to regularly check their email and phone for messages and respond immediately. If an employer is not able to reach the applicant or the applicant does not respond quickly to the employer's call to set up an interview, the employer may assume that the person does not really want a job with their company."

This sentiment is echoed by the state-operated Tennessee Career Centers. "The easier you're accessible, the better likelihood you have for getting a job interview," said RJ Sherr, area manager for the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development. He adds that being able to be reached at a moment's notice for an interview should always be a prospective employee's goal. Too often, however, people without regular phone access call back too late, and find out the position has been filled or they are no longer accepting interviews.

"People shouldn't have to face the decision to pay for phone service or pay for food ... In today's society, it is essential that someone experiencing homelessness has access to phone service."

This is exactly why Debra Hyden, who currently homeless in Nashville, says she has a Lifeline Assistance Program phone. "For me, it's to find a job," she said while waiting for a meal from a local ministry. She says that the government-provided phones are the ones she sees most on the street and she expects most others also have them mainly to secure employment.

Also waiting for a meal at the local ministry is a woman who recently graduated from Vanderbilt University but now finds herself homeless because she defaulted on her student loans. She says she does not currently have a cell phone but wants to know more about the Lifeline Assistance Program after overhearing Hyden talking about it. She agrees that having a cell phone would be helpful to her in finding a job and feeling more secure.

Robert A., a veteran of the Marine Corps and vendor of Nashville's street paper The Contributor who is currently living out of his truck, says that he recently applied at a local Social Security office to get a Lifeline phone. "I'm trying to get a job," he explained, adding that the process for obtaining the phone is a lot of work in itself, which has kept him from having time to sell the paper and earn an income. Nevertheless, he says, having a phone will be worth the effort.

Accessing health care

Yet another reason that having access to a mobile phone can be essential to someone experiencing homelessness is that a phone enables more immediate access to medical care.

"Phone service is important for maintaining health," Pflanz at Assurance Wireless said. "Customers need to be in contact with doctors, clinics and drug stores to be able to get their prescriptions," he said.

The staff at United Neighborhood Health Services (UNHS), a local healthcare service provider that provides healthcare to those without insurance, agrees.

"A great number of our patients suffer from multiple chronic conditions and they are often serious, so it's important for us to be in contact with them," said Bill Friskics-Warren, who coordinates services for people experiencing homelessness at UNHS. "Fortunately, a lot of folks have the government-issued Assurance phones and a lot of folks have Cricket phones," he said, referring to the inexpensive prepaid cell phones that do not require service contracts, which he says some of his clients use. Cricket is one of many companies offering such service.

Reaching clients quickly can be essential in some circumstances, Friskics-Warren says, especially when laboratory work comes back and shows that a client has a condition that requires immediate treatment. "They may need serious and immediate attention and if we can't find someone we can't manage their condition," he explained.

Another circumstance that frequently arises at UNHS is when his organization is trying to help someone obtain the medication they need for free. "Medications of theirs come in that we've arranged for them to receive directly from the manufacturer through patient assistance programs," he said. "Being able to reach folks is essential."

Create a safety net

While reaching clients for health care concerns is important, Friskics-Warren at UNHS says that another important need for people experiencing homelessness is to be able to be reached by those who care about them.

"Family members will purchase cell phones and put some minutes on them so they can know that they are safe and OK during their time on the streets," Friskics-Warren said.

"It's all about relationships for people that live in poverty. That's how they survive," added Debbie Grant, E & T development coordinator at Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, who also serves as chairwoman of the Nashville Coalition for the Homeless. "So their cell phone may be to call a best friend or family member because that's going to be the person that can come and help them."

While she believes that access to a cell phone helps Goodwill's clients get jobs, she also says the access to support from others that a phone provides is key.

"Just having a viable means of communication is more important," she said.

Having a cell phone also helps keep families in touch, particularly for single parents who do not get to see their children all the time. Charlie Edward Keyes, who is also homelessness in Nashville, says he uses his phone to speak with his kids in Louisiana.

Pflanz at Assurance Wireless also tells the story of a man who became homeless after being laid off during the auto industry meltdown and how he used his phone to secure new employment and stay in touch and arrange meetings with his kids under a shared custody agreement.

Access to a mobile phone is also good for reaching out during emergencies.

"People might see me holding a lot of ones and mistake me for having a lot of money," Robert A. said. "What if they decided to rob me?"

Web and email access

Having a government-issued or cheap prepaid cell phone is one thing for critics, but often it's the quality of the phone that seems to bother them the most.

On Twitter, "Alex Ferrari" (@amferrari1), from Nashville, wrote: "At a red light on my way home a guy selling the contributor (paper homeless people sell in Nashville) pulls out a iPhone and makes a call…"

Similarly, "Annelise Walley" (@AnneliseWalley) wrote: "I was about to give this homeless guy on the street some money. Then I saw him pull his iPhone out of his sock. #Nashville."

One Twitter user took it a step further. "Mark Hobson" (@matchstickmgmt), also from Nashville, wrote: "If you have an iPhone, you shouldn't be allowed to sell the contributor. #fact."

However, as more and more employers are requiring immediate Internet and email access, having a smartphone is becoming more than a luxury for those on the street.

"One of the reasons a cell phone is important is so an employer can get back in touch with a person," Grant at Goodwill said. "However, more and more employers are using the computer and job applications that require an email address."

Most free or prepaid phones have very limited web capabilities, making checking email and accessing online applications difficult or impossible. Thus, people without Internet access on their phones have to resort to using public computers like those at the library or outreach organizations, which often limit access to traditional work hours, as well as the amount of time one can spend at a computer before it's the next person's turn.

Humphreys at NCAC echoes the need for people seeking employment to be able to check and respond to emails throughout the day.

"If the jobseeker doesn't respond quickly to an interview invitation, they may not respond to the calls and messages from customers, which will result in poor customer service," she said about employer expectations.

Thus, jobseekers that are able to purchase a smartphone may be making an investment that will-with time, and perhaps a new job-pay off.

After the re-election of George W. Bush, I was done with America. Less than a year into Bush’s second term, I left the United States for the first time. At the tender age of 34, I moved to Paris to be like James Baldwin. With money from a writing fellowship, I was confident that I was going to compose ‘the book’; but I was not convinced that I would return to the States. Upon the City of Lights streets, I would walk, wander and wonder. Having been seduced not long before my move by French existentialism, I wrestled with what it meant to be a Black preacher with an artist’s heart and a love for Sophia. I tramped about Paris, in a black scarf, black sweater and black pants because that was Baldwin’s attire when he first arrived in Paris.

I chose to live in Saint-Germain-des-Prés –the haunt of Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir. My small apartment was on rue Sabot and set above a café that was rumored to be where Baldwin and Camus had their infamous falling out. I was invited to give a humanity and nonviolence at Hotel de Ville de Lyon.

In the well-appointed lecture hall, gold Baroque sculptures lit by fifteen wall-mounted chandeliers and an additional twenty or so hanging from the ceiling, I began my discourse with two quotes as existential books ends: “The artist must never side with those who are the makers of history but rather those who are the victim of it,” admonished Albert Camus. In like manner, James Baldwin, my other soul mate, demanded that, “the artist must embrace that state of being that most men must necessarily avoid, that is the state of being alone.”

I have since returned to United States to live and to Paris every year. Through it all, I have maintained by artist’s sensibilities. In fact, my highest aspiration is to be an artist. As the election season enters into final lap, the course will be lined with unimaginative half truths. Family values and patriotism will be passed along like a beat up track baton--the possession of a losing team. The artist , however, will not be in that rat race or passive observer in the stands but rather, carving out a new path and space--seldom traveled but all the difference.

-Rev. Osagyefo Uhuru Sekou

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, SEPT. 20, 2012…..Gov. Deval Patrick pledged to the stay the course despite a gloomy jobs report released Thursday morning showing that despite an increase in government jobs the economy shed 4,800 total jobs in August, driving the unemployment up to 6.3 percent.

“This is not going anywhere near as fast as I or anyone else would like, especially if you are one of the people still out of work, but we’re pointed in the right direction, moving in the right direction and we’re going to keep going,” Patrick said.

The jobs report prepared by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and released by the Patrick administration showed an increase in the unemployment rate for the second straight month. The August job losses also ended a streak of eight consecutive months of job gains, leaving an estimated 218,800 residents unemployed, though the unemployment rate is still well below the 8.1 percent national average.

“I’m always concerned that we have a strong economy, but I’m also very confident of the strategy that we have pursued,” Patrick said, recounting the business owners he has met with who are staring new companies and hiring.

The increase in the unemployment rate from 6.1 percent follows a revised jobs report for July showing a more modest 300 job gain after a previously reported uptick of 1,600 jobs.

“We think the economy in Massachusetts is still heading in the right direction. This is a bit of a blip but we’re continuing to do everything we can,” Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Joanne Goldstein said.

The economy has created 31,400 jobs in 2012 and private sector jobs are up 29,900, according to the report, with the largest gains for the year coming in the professional, scientific and business services field and in trade, transportation and utilities.

The disappointing jobs report comes roughly seven weeks from election day in the midst of heated campaigns for Congress and the Legislature when unemployment trends, either positive or negative, can become fuel for candidates.

House Minority Leader Brad Jones (R-North Reading) called the report “further confirmation of an out-of-touch governor,” and said the administration’s approach toward economic recovery has not been “sufficient.”

“Instead of trying to unleash Massachusetts’ potential so the close to 219,000 unemployed or underemployed residents can get back to work, Governor Patrick is traipsing around the country playing chief surrogate for a President who doesn’t have a much better record of job creation or growth to run on himself,” Jones said in a statement.

Professional, scientific and business services lost 1,900 jobs in August, the first decline in the sector since June 2011. Trade, transportation, utilities also shed 1,400 jobs, attributed in the report to a decline in the retail market.

“The summer is always tricky around here because we find that there are some seasonal adjustments upwards from tourism but there are also jobs people don’t take over the summer because of child care issues or students who work all year that go home over the summer. I’m not sure August is necessarily an indicator of where the economy is going. These are snapshots, and limited snapshots, and we like to look at a broader period of time,” Goldstein said.

The largest job gains were posted in government with 3,400 jobs being added in August in the public sector, including 2,500 jobs in state government and 1,300 jobs at the federal level. Local government lost 400 jobs.

Goldstein said much of increase in state government jobs could be attributed to work-study students coming back to campus and increases in university staff as classes began for the fall semester at the University of Massachusetts and other public colleges.

“We have no evidence that the administration has grown jobs to that degree,” Goldstein said.

The unemployment rate is based on a monthly sample of households. The job estimates are derived from a monthly sample survey of employers.

Financial activities also showed an increase of 300 jobs for the month, and mining and logging added 100 jobs.

While manufacturing jobs showed no change in employment from July, construction lost 1,400 jobs and education and health services lost 2,600 jobs last month.

Leisure and hospitality employment dipped by 800 jobs, information lost 400 jobs and “other services” lost 100.

Restaurant and Business Alliance President Dave Andelman estimated 6,800 jobs have been lost in the leisure and hospitality industry over four months and called on the Legislature to pass a meals tax holiday bill to spur the restaurant sector.

In prepared remarks to the South Shore Chamber of Commerce on Thursday morning, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston CEO Eric Rosengren described a “very slow recovery” and said the slowdown in the global economy was a “significant” impediment to faster growth in the United States.

Rosengren said in 2012 “there has been no meaningful improvement in the unacceptably high level of the U.S. unemployment rate.” He said he supports monetary policy actions to promote faster growth, such as those already announced to keeping short-term borrowing rates low and provide a stimulus through the purchase by the Fed of $40 billion a month in agency mortgage back securities.

“These purchases of MBS should place downward pressure on U.S. mortgage rates, which should support the housing market by lowering borrowing costs and providing additional support for house-prices to appreciate from depressed levels,” Rosengren said.

He said he believes that the risks involved are “considerably smaller and more manageable than the risk of allowing the economy to stagnate for another year or more.”

[Michael Norton contributed reporting]

C. Quinn
State House News Service

Attorney General Martha Coakley was honored by the Greater Boston Food Bank Wednesday morning for her efforts in organizing the annual “Legal Food Frenzy” which raised more than 430,000 pounds of food for four Massachusetts food banks this past spring. During the past three years, the Legal Food Frenzy has raised the equivalent of a million pounds of food, Coakley told the News Service after an event in Beverly. Coakley said she has heard stories of families who never needed help before now seeking assistance from food pantries. Each spring – typically a slow time for food drive donations - Coakley’s office organizes a friendly competition among the legal community to raise money and collect donations. Her office gives away the “Attorney General’s Cup” to the group who collects the most. “For two weeks we engage in a competition with law firms, law schools, and other student groups and we compete to see who wins the cup,” she said. Coakley was honored by the Greater Boston Food Bank as part of a “Women Fighting Hunger” event held at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Boston. “They were kind enough to recognize me, but it is really recognizing our office and everybody in the legal community that has been so generous in giving to the food bank,” Coakley said. The attorney general’s food drive benefits the Greater Boston Food Bank, the Merrimack Valley Food Bank, the Worcester County Food Bank and the Food Bank of Western Massachusetts.

A homeless man lies on a retaining wall in Washington. Under current legislation, such activity can be deemed criminal by law enforcers. Advocates and homeless organizations across America are unifying in protest and calling for a Homeless Bill of Rights. Photo: REUTERS/Jason Reed

www.street-papers.org
Homeward Street Journal - USA

The United States has a long history of using mean-spirited and often brutal laws to keep "certain" people out of public spaces and public consciousness.

Jim Crow laws segregated the South after the Civil War and Sundown Towns forced people to leave town before the sun set. The anti-Okie law of 1930s California forbade poor Dustbowl immigrants from entering the state and Ugly Laws (on the books in Chicago until the 1970s) swept the country and criminalized people with disabilities for allowing themselves to be seen in public.

Today, such laws target mostly homeless people and are commonly called "quality of life" or "nuisance crimes." They criminalize sleeping, standing, sitting, and even food-sharing. Just like the laws from our past, they deny people their right to exist in local communities.

How can poverty be a crime?

In June of this year, Rhode Island took a meaningful stand against this criminalization, and passed the first statewide Homeless Bill of Rights in the country. The Western Regional Advocacy Project (WRAP)-a West Coast grassroots network of homeless people's organizations-is now launching simultaneous campaigns in California and Oregon. Rhode Island will only be the beginning.

Today's "quality of life" laws and ordinances have their roots in the broken-windows theory. This theory holds that one poor person in a neighborhood is like a first unrepaired broken window and if the "window" is not immediately fixed or removed, it is a signal that no one cares, disorder will flourish, and the community will go to hell in a hand basket.

For this theory to make sense, you first have to step away from thinking of people, or at least poor people, as human beings. You need to objectify them. You need to see them as dusty broken windows in a vacant building. That is why we now have Business Improvement Districts (BIDs) with police enforcement to keep that neighborhood flourishing by keeping poor, unsightly people out of it.

We have gone from the days where people could be told "you can't sit at this lunch counter" to "you can't sit on this sidewalk," from "don't let the sun set on you here" to "this public park closes at dusk" and from "you're on the wrong side of the tracks" to "it is illegal to hang out" on this street or corner.

Unless we organize, it isn't going to get much better soon. Since 1982, the federal government has cut up to $52 billion a year from affordable housing and pushed hundreds of thousands of people into the shelter system or into the street. Today we continue to have three million people a year without homes. 1982 also marked the beginning of homelessness as a "crime wave" that would consume the efforts of local and state police forces over the next three decades. Millions of people across the country sitting, lying down, hanging out, and - perhaps worst of all - sleeping are cited in crime statistics.

WRAP and our allies recently conducted outreach to over 700 homeless people in 13 cities; we found 77% of people had been arrested, cited, or harassed for sleeping, 75% for loitering, and 73% for sitting on a sidewalk.

This crow won't fly

We are right back to Jim Crow Laws, Sundown Towns, Ugly Laws and Anti-Okie Laws, local laws that profess to "uphold the locally accepted obligations of civility." Such laws have always been used by people in power against those on the outside. In other words, today's Business Improvement Districts and Broken Window Laws are, at their core, a reincarnation of various phases of American history none of us is proud of.

And they reflect a political voice now openly entering the political and media mainstream that dismisses social justice as economically irrelevant and poor people as humanly irrelevant.

This is not about caring for or even advocating for "those people." This is about all of us. As Aboriginal leader Lilla Watson said, "If you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together." If you are not homeless, if you are not the target now, then understand that you are next. Isolated and fragmented, we lose this fight.

But we are no longer isolated and fragmented. On April 1, WRAP and USCAI (US Canadian Alliance of Inhabitants) sponsored a Day of Action in 17 cities. We are one of hundreds of organizations and allies, from Massachusetts to New York and from Tennessee to California, all separate but all working together to give meaning to social justice and protect the civil and human rights of all of us.

We can only win this struggle if we use our collective strengths, organizing, outreach, research, public education, artwork, and direct actions. We are continuing to expand our network of organizations and cities and we will ultimately bring down the whole oppressive system of policing poverty and treating poor people as "broken windows" to be discarded and replaced.

To join the campaign for a Homeless Bill of Rights in both California and Oregon contact WRAP at wrap@wraphome.org who will connect you with organizers working in both states or others as this movement continues to grow.

For twenty years, we have published Spare Change News with limited money and staffing. In that time, we have published over 500 issues and have never missed an issue. Spare Change News is the nation’s oldest continuous street paper. SCN pioneered the homeless writer and leader model that has been emulated by papers throughout the world. As a member of the fourth estate (the press), our task is to hold the three branches of government accountable by pulling back the curtain on their inner workings and render elites accountable by informing everyday folks of those inner workings and unaccountable actions.

All of my adult life, I struggled for social justice, worked in social services and pastored in inner cities throughout the nation. I have a long history with working with the kind of population that makes up our vendor community; at one level it is the community that produced me. Our accent is on the voice of those who literally sleep outside our democracy.

As the new Editor-in-Chief, I am charged by the board to create a context for homeless and low income folks to speak their special truth to the world. I am guided by a tradition of writing embodied in the works of James Baldwin, Albert Camus, Susan Sontag, Toni Morrison, Angela Davis, June Jordan, Audre Lorde, Gore Vidal, Edward Said, and my beloved grandmother, Houston Cannon. The original magazine format of Spare Change News, The Crisis Magazine under W.E.B. DuBois, Albert Camus’ Le Combattant and Jean Paul-Sartre’s Le Temps Modernes are touchstones for our new editorial direction.

SCN founders have called us to tell the stories that would not be told if we did not tell them. We are charged to focus on poverty, economic justice and homelessness. At our best, the most affected tell their stories themselves. While this paper will not end homelessness or poverty, we are one note in a cosmic symphony of justice and imagination.

I look forward to walking with you toward a great democratic day--when all are housed and fed; each person according to their own need, abiding in a nation that judges its greatest against the quality of life of the least of these. As the South African freedom song says, “The road is long, muddy, and hard but we will get there. We do not know how but we will get there.”

-Rev. Osagyefo Sekou

Sister Simone Campbell gets off the bus in Columbus, Ohio, a day that included a visit to House Speaker John Boehner’s office. The tour was organized by NETWORK, a social justice advocacy group which is run by Catholic Sisters. The tour was intended to highlight the work Sisters do, meet the people they serve and witness the harm budget cuts would incur. Photo: Sam Rothbloom

Sam Rothbloom
www.street-papers.org / StreetWise - USA

Known as "Nuns on the Bus," these Sisters traveled to nine states where they delivered stump speeches, hosted daily press conferences, and visited local congressmen's offices all in an effort to galvanize support for what they call "a fair and compassionate budget."

From Des Moines to Washington, they engaged friends and foes alike. At nightly "friendraisers," they lauded fellow nuns, like the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin and the Sisters of Divine Providence in Pittsburgh, for their tireless work on behalf of the poor. And during the day, they took on their fiercest critics, like U.S. Reps. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Steve King (R-IA), whom they denounced for trying to gut Medicare and Social Security.

Their foray into grassroots politics vaulted them onto to the national stage where they attracted the praise of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as the ire of comedian Stephen Colbert who jokingly assailed them for preaching "radical feminism."

Now back in her DC office, Sister Simone Campbell, leader of the Nuns on the Bus, reflects on her 15-day journey and gives her take on what it is like to battle in the cutthroat world of American politics.

When she spoke of her trip, she painted two very different pictures of what she saw.

One was sanguine, filled with all the elements of a tour that the sisters could have hoped for - from overflowing crowds to fawning press coverage to the palpable yearning for change felt on the ground.

Sister Campbell remarked that their first stop in Des Moines closely resembled this scene. "The Sisters of the Humility of Mary created a service of over 300 people on the spot," she said. It was the ideal start for their journey, she added, as it gave them a much-needed glimpse of the passion and enthusiasm their mission engendered.

But their euphoria quickly evaporated once they spoke 1-on-1 with people who suffered needlessly as they waited for the federal government to come to their aid.

One particularly poignant moment for Sister Campbell was a conversation she had in Cincinnati with a family whose mother had recently passed.

"She was only 56," Sister Campbell said somberly. "She died because she didn't have health insurance."

Moments like these were a visual reminder for the sisters of why they devoted their life's work to social justice. The hardships of the people they spoke to were not mere isolated incidents; they were a microcosm of what is happening across the country.

College graduates are being thrust into a jobless market, families are amassing debt at a record pace, and seniors are delaying retirement in the face of depleted 401 Ks.

And all of this is happening while the wealthy appear to be sacrificing nil.

The Nuns on the Bus see this as a grave threat to the nation's welfare.

"We (as a nation) have two choices," Sister Campbell argued. "We can either be a nation of fear or a nation of fairness."

There was a long pause after she said that. Then a sigh. She didn't need ominous background music to make her point. Her silence gave away the answer. Just like so many Americans who have become disillusioned over the last few years, the sisters are worried. "We really don't want to become a nation of fear," she eventually stated.

But the worst has yet to come, the sisters predict. On their bus tour, they blamed government policies, like rampant deregulation and tax cuts for the very rich, for the country's economic malaise. They repeatedly said that government propped up the rich while casting a blind eye on the poor.

However, no piece of legislation is as draconian as the Ryan Budget, Sister Campbell said. "(It is) a summary of all the bad choices that can be made in one place," she flatly asserted.

Authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the controversial budget blueprint is a Republican's wish list. If enacted, Medicare would be cut, taxes would be slashed, and health care reform would be repealed. In addition, it contains elements of tort reform as well as an arbitrary spending cap.

Like almost every piece of major reform recently introduced in the polarized Beltway, it has been greeted with mixed reviews. Conservatives portray Ryan as a reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, calling him an intrepid warrior who is ready to take an axe to the welfare state. Liberals see him as more of a Rick Perry - a Tea Party radical whose political prominence is fleeting and whose promise to cut government spending in half is dangerous and unwise.

Sister Campbell's criticisms are more measured but equally scathing. When asked what the worst parts of the Ryan Plan were, she had difficulty selecting just one. She criticized it for giving "greater tax cuts to the wealthy under the guise that they would create jobs" and for giving "the Defense Department eight billion more dollars than it even asked for."

She ended her rebuke with a rhetorical question: "why should people at the margins of society pay the burden?"

If a single question could encapsulate the mission of the Nuns on the Bus, this would certainly be it.

Whether they were speaking to reporters from the Cedar Rapids Gazette or the Cleveland Plain Dealer; whether they were visiting Speaker of the House John Boehner's (R-OH) office or U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly's (D-IN); whether they were engaged in a serious dialogue with Bill Moyers (who traveled alongside them for a portion of their trip) or in a humorous interview with Stephen Colbert - their message was the always same: the poor should not bear the brunt of the country's burden.

It was a powerful emotional statement that exhilarated their allies and challenged their critics. But stirring rhetoric was just one piece of the brilliant case they constructed.

To give their message more credence, the Nuns on the Bus stopped at close to a dozen organizations committed to helping and empowering the poor.

In Dubuque, they visited the Dubuque Food Pantry to highlight the millions of people who suffer from starvation. In Chicago, they stopped at Mercy Housing to discuss the human impact of cuts to affordable housing. And in Cleveland, they went to the Children's Day Camp & Hunger Center to express the need for more government support for disadvantaged youth.

If their words were the opening statement that impressed their onlookers, the places they visited were the closing argument that brought scores of people into their fold.

"We touched something that was profound and deep," Sister Campbell noted. "We showed the faces of poverty that people often hear about but rarely ever see with their own eyes."

By touting the contributions of social advocacy groups across the country, the sisters shined light on an important band of spokesmen for the poor that often goes unnoticed: nuns. Every day, they met with a different group of nuns, each devoted in their own unique way to bolstering the poor.

These events showcased a running theme of the sisters' trip: the confluence of faith and social justice. Moments like these were deeply personal for Sister Campbell. "Faith has led me to know we are a community, much deeper than the political lines we would like to draw," she said.

However, the political lines still run deep - even through the Catholic Church where there is sharp disagreement over what issues its leaders should speak out on in the public square.

The Nuns on the Bus spoke to this directly in a press release in which they noted that "the Vatican recently criticized Catholic Sisters in the U.S. for spending too much time working for social justice instead of speaking out on issues such as gay marriage and abortion." They went on to say that "despite the controversy, Catholic Sisters stand with the Bishops in criticizing the Ryan budget."

Disheartened by the Vatican's response, Sister Campbell called it "painful for the faithful everywhere."

However, she quickly added that she and her sisters remain undeterred as they fight deep in the trenches for "systemic change."

As Sister Campbell ruminated about the future, she revealed how the insights she gained on the road shaped the ways she plans to tackle the challenges that lay ahead.

When asked if she thought the Ryan Budget was still on the table for Congress's next session, she showed no hint of naiveté, saying "absolutely" without a speck of doubt in her voice.

Nevertheless, Sister Campbell appeared optimistic. She was quite certain that the reactions she heard across the county to cuts to domestic services portended trouble for the GOP.

"There is a real hunger for communal change," she observed. "People are sick of hearing 'I, I, I and me, me, me.' [They know] those words do not reflect the soul of the country."

When asked about the influence the Nuns on the Bus had on the political debate, Sister Campbell passed on the opportunity to claim personal credit. Instead, she showered effusive praise on her followers, whom she applauded for "engaging the political process."

Her modest response belied the sense of power Sisters showed on the stump.

Regardless of whether the Ryan Budget takes effect, the Nuns on the Bus left a lasting imprint on the nation's consciousness by injecting issues like social justice and shared sacrifice - long considered taboo by politicians - into the political discourse.

The sisters have little time to think about that, though. They're too busy crafting immigration policy, meeting with members of Congress, and even lobbying Stephen Colbert to pony up some of his Super Pac money to their organization, NETWORK (the last time they spoke, he respectfully told them that "they have to wait in line").

But hopefully they will at least find the time to reflect on the virtues they exuded in the spotlight, for the honesty, seriousness, and intelligence they showed are desperately needed from today's leaders to solve the problems the sisters warned of on the trail.

Known as "Nuns on the Bus," these Sisters traveled to nine states where they delivered stump speeches, hosted daily press conferences, and visited local congressmen's offices all in an effort to galvanize support for what they call "a fair and compassionate budget."

From Des Moines to Washington, they engaged friends and foes alike. At nightly "friendraisers," they lauded fellow nuns, like the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, Wisconsin and the Sisters of Divine Providence in Pittsburgh, for their tireless work on behalf of the poor. And during the day, they took on their fiercest critics, like U.S. Reps. Joe Walsh (R-IL) and Steve King (R-IA), whom they denounced for trying to gut Medicare and Social Security.

Their foray into grassroots politics vaulted them onto to the national stage where they attracted the praise of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi as well as the ire of comedian Stephen Colbert who jokingly assailed them for preaching "radical feminism."

Now back in her DC office, Sister Simone Campbell, leader of the Nuns on the Bus, reflects on her 15-day journey and gives her take on what it is like to battle in the cutthroat world of American politics.

When she spoke of her trip, she painted two very different pictures of what she saw.

One was sanguine, filled with all the elements of a tour that the sisters could have hoped for - from overflowing crowds to fawning press coverage to the palpable yearning for change felt on the ground.

Sister Campbell remarked that their first stop in Des Moines closely resembled this scene. "The Sisters of the Humility of Mary created a service of over 300 people on the spot," she said. It was the ideal start for their journey, she added, as it gave them a much-needed glimpse of the passion and enthusiasm their mission engendered.

But their euphoria quickly evaporated once they spoke 1-on-1 with people who suffered needlessly as they waited for the federal government to come to their aid.

One particularly poignant moment for Sister Campbell was a conversation she had in Cincinnati with a family whose mother had recently passed.

"She was only 56," Sister Campbell said somberly. "She died because she didn't have health insurance."

Moments like these were a visual reminder for the sisters of why they devoted their life's work to social justice. The hardships of the people they spoke to were not mere isolated incidents; they were a microcosm of what is happening across the country.

College graduates are being thrust into a jobless market, families are amassing debt at a record pace, and seniors are delaying retirement in the face of depleted 401 Ks.

And all of this is happening while the wealthy appear to be sacrificing nil.

The Nuns on the Bus see this as a grave threat to the nation's welfare.

"We (as a nation) have two choices," Sister Campbell argued. "We can either be a nation of fear or a nation of fairness."

There was a long pause after she said that. Then a sigh. She didn't need ominous background music to make her point. Her silence gave away the answer. Just like so many Americans who have become disillusioned over the last few years, the sisters are worried. "We really don't want to become a nation of fear," she eventually stated.

But the worst has yet to come, the sisters predict. On their bus tour, they blamed government policies, like rampant deregulation and tax cuts for the very rich, for the country's economic malaise. They repeatedly said that government propped up the rich while casting a blind eye on the poor.

However, no piece of legislation is as draconian as the Ryan Budget, Sister Campbell said. "(It is) a summary of all the bad choices that can be made in one place," she flatly asserted.

Authored by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the controversial budget blueprint is a Republican's wish list. If enacted, Medicare would be cut, taxes would be slashed, and health care reform would be repealed. In addition, it contains elements of tort reform as well as an arbitrary spending cap.

Like almost every piece of major reform recently introduced in the polarized Beltway, it has been greeted with mixed reviews. Conservatives portray Ryan as a reincarnation of Ronald Reagan, calling him an intrepid warrior who is ready to take an axe to the welfare state. Liberals see him as more of a Rick Perry - a Tea Party radical whose political prominence is fleeting and whose promise to cut government spending in half is dangerous and unwise.

Sister Campbell's criticisms are more measured but equally scathing. When asked what the worst parts of the Ryan Plan were, she had difficulty selecting just one. She criticized it for giving "greater tax cuts to the wealthy under the guise that they would create jobs" and for giving "the Defense Department eight billion more dollars than it even asked for."

She ended her rebuke with a rhetorical question: "why should people at the margins of society pay the burden?"

If a single question could encapsulate the mission of the Nuns on the Bus, this would certainly be it.

Whether they were speaking to reporters from the Cedar Rapids Gazette or the Cleveland Plain Dealer; whether they were visiting Speaker of the House John Boehner's (R-OH) office or U.S. Rep. Joe Donnelly's (D-IN); whether they were engaged in a serious dialogue with Bill Moyers (who traveled alongside them for a portion of their trip) or in a humorous interview with Stephen Colbert - their message was the always same: the poor should not bear the brunt of the country's burden.

It was a powerful emotional statement that exhilarated their allies and challenged their critics. But stirring rhetoric was just one piece of the brilliant case they constructed.

To give their message more credence, the Nuns on the Bus stopped at close to a dozen organizations committed to helping and empowering the poor.

In Dubuque, they visited the Dubuque Food Pantry to highlight the millions of people who suffer from starvation. In Chicago, they stopped at Mercy Housing to discuss the human impact of cuts to affordable housing. And in Cleveland, they went to the Children's Day Camp & Hunger Center to express the need for more government support for disadvantaged youth.

If their words were the opening statement that impressed their onlookers, the places they visited were the closing argument that brought scores of people into their fold.

"We touched something that was profound and deep," Sister Campbell noted. "We showed the faces of poverty that people often hear about but rarely ever see with their own eyes."

By touting the contributions of social advocacy groups across the country, the sisters shined light on an important band of spokesmen for the poor that often goes unnoticed: nuns. Every day, they met with a different group of nuns, each devoted in their own unique way to bolstering the poor.

These events showcased a running theme of the sisters' trip: the confluence of faith and social justice. Moments like these were deeply personal for Sister Campbell. "Faith has led me to know we are a community, much deeper than the political lines we would like to draw," she said.

However, the political lines still run deep - even through the Catholic Church where there is sharp disagreement over what issues its leaders should speak out on in the public square.

The Nuns on the Bus spoke to this directly in a press release in which they noted that "the Vatican recently criticized Catholic Sisters in the U.S. for spending too much time working for social justice instead of speaking out on issues such as gay marriage and abortion." They went on to say that "despite the controversy, Catholic Sisters stand with the Bishops in criticizing the Ryan budget."

Disheartened by the Vatican's response, Sister Campbell called it "painful for the faithful everywhere."

However, she quickly added that she and her sisters remain undeterred as they fight deep in the trenches for "systemic change."

As Sister Campbell ruminated about the future, she revealed how the insights she gained on the road shaped the ways she plans to tackle the challenges that lay ahead.

When asked if she thought the Ryan Budget was still on the table for Congress's next session, she showed no hint of naiveté, saying "absolutely" without a speck of doubt in her voice.

Nevertheless, Sister Campbell appeared optimistic. She was quite certain that the reactions she heard across the county to cuts to domestic services portended trouble for the GOP.

"There is a real hunger for communal change," she observed. "People are sick of hearing 'I, I, I and me, me, me.' [They know] those words do not reflect the soul of the country."

When asked about the influence the Nuns on the Bus had on the political debate, Sister Campbell passed on the opportunity to claim personal credit. Instead, she showered effusive praise on her followers, whom she applauded for "engaging the political process."

Her modest response belied the sense of power Sisters showed on the stump.

Regardless of whether the Ryan Budget takes effect, the Nuns on the Bus left a lasting imprint on the nation's consciousness by injecting issues like social justice and shared sacrifice - long considered taboo by politicians - into the political discourse.

The sisters have little time to think about that, though. They're too busy crafting immigration policy, meeting with members of Congress, and even lobbying Stephen Colbert to pony up some of his Super Pac money to their organization, NETWORK (the last time they spoke, he respectfully told them that "they have to wait in line").

But hopefully they will at least find the time to reflect on the virtues they exuded in the spotlight, for the honesty, seriousness, and intelligence they showed are desperately needed from today's leaders to solve the problems the sisters warned of on the trail.

James Shearer
Spare Change News

Not that anybody asked me … but all this noise about the Chick-Fil-A controversy is, in a word, just noise.

The owner of this fast food chain, one Mr. Dan Cathy, made some remarks several weeks ago that his company is all about “family values” and that he himself is all for the traditional definition of marriage, which is between a man and a woman. He then went on doing the same thing that all homophobic idiots do, by bashing gays and invoking God and the Bible to justify their ignorance.

So why am I saying that it’s just a lot of noise, you ask? Well, look at it from where I’m sitting.

First of all, until this whole thing started, I really hadn’t heard of Chick-Fil-A (what a stupid name) and neither have most people in the circles I travel in. But my girlfriend, who is from the South, says it’s kind of like a southern version of McDonald’s.

Well, I’m not totally uniformed. I do know that a few years ago this company allegedly stuck religious CDs into their version of happy meals. Still, they were never really on my radar screen.

Mr. Cathy is entitled to his opinion even if it’s a moronic one, the First Amendment says so. And he and his company are allowed to donate money to whatever cause he wants, even if the American Family Association is nothing more than the KKK in business suits. There isn’t a whole hellava lot we can do about it, no matter how many kiss-ins or boycotts you assemble.

The best way to handle Dan Cathy and his ilk is just not respond to it, the media frenzy, and mayoral attempts to ban Chick-Fil-A from their cities only adds to the controversy and to Cathy’s over-inflated ego.

And lastly, folks, the whole protesting gay marriage and gay bashing in general has grown tiresome, like civil rights for blacks 50 years ago. Gay marriage and the rights of gay people are here to stay. Yes we will get idiots like Cathy and others who will no doubt get their message on the airwaves through some right-wing sympathizer, but we can choose to pay little or no attention to them.

As for me I don’t plan on ever eating at Chic-Fil-A. Nothing to do with the controversy, I’m a KFC man myself, and let it never be said that the founder of that popular chain, Col. Harland Sanders, never had an opinion or two. Also don’t mind eating at Church’s here and there, but most importantly folks, if you’re really offended by an owner of a fast food chain who says something you don’t agree with or has a clown for a mascot or the food doesn’t do anything for your taste buds, then just don’t go there. Besides, fast food isn’t good for you anyway.

JAMES SHEARER is a co-founder and board president of Spare Change News. The views expressed in his column are his own and not necessarily reflective of editorial board positions.

Mike Reilly
INSP

The work of Joseph Stiglitz, a professor at Columbia University in New York and former Chief Economist for the World Bank, is recognized worldwide. He has written a long string of books, numerous papers and a wide variety of essays and articles, many focusing on equilibrium in the world. In 2001, he shared a Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on the effect of unbalanced information amongst market players. Essentially, he showed that, in a transaction, people with more information about something will benefit over those with less.

Now, in a new book, he looks at those with more wealth than others and lays out the case for them to recognize they are wrong to think they are protected from the effects of inequality. Moreover, they are having an effect on society that wrenches it from its moral moorings - a move which will upset their world as much as everyone else's.

"The evidence from history and from around the modern world is unequivocal," he writes. "There comes a point when inequality spirals into economic dysfunction for the whole society, and when it does, even the rich pay a steep price."

Inequality has been around for centuries. But the stark vision of the huge gap that exists today has shocked the world. In the US, Stiglitz said in an interview in July, "twenty per cent of all income has gone to the top one per cent. Data for the US showed dramatically that the wealth of the typical American was wiped out. For two decades most Americans have seen no increase in their well being - all the increase has gone to the top."

The Occupy Movement adopted the phrase "the 99 percent" to identify everyone including the middle class as suffering while the top one per cent grab more and more of the economic pie. Asked why he wrote the book at this time, Prof Stiglitz told INSP: "The argument in the book is helping the 99 per cent to find out what can be done at the same time that it helps the one per cent see that it won't work for them."

"There comes a point when inequality spirals into economic dysfunction for the whole society, and when it does, even the rich pay a steep price"

In 'The Price of Inequality' Stiglitz stacks fact after fact, study after study and pages of footnotes in an unassailable indictment of the governments and policy makers who have let this happen. And he says this threatens destabilization of the world's leading economy, with an accompanying ripple effect. "As our economic system is seen to fail for most citizens, and as our political system seems to be captured by moneyed interests, confidence in our democracy and in our market economy will erode along with our global influence."

It is both scary and sad reading, the sort of fact-based narrative that evokes rage and a sickening feeling in one's belly. Stiglitz has a gift for making complex economic matters much easier to grasp than the daily flow of information through social and traditional media. Taking the 30,000-foot view, coupled with a staggering depth of statistical support, he paints an image which is already getting the attention of policymakers just weeks after the book's publication.

Inequality has risen like a 1,000-year wave on everyone's radar. Indeed, a special report on it in New Scientist on July 30 echoes Stiglitz's timely concern, looking at some of the science involved in inequality, even showing its effect on our health and well-being. "The policy implications seem obvious, if politically contentious," New Scientist says. "A more even distribution of wealth would improve health on national and global scales. But that appears unlikely to happen without a radical shift in western culture; in recent times governments of all political persuasions have presided over growing inequality."

Just what Stiglitz points out in his book, which keeps a laser focus on what is happening in the US: "I believe it is still not too late for this country to change course, and to recover the fundamental principles of fairness and opportunity on which it was founded" he writes. But, he cautions: "time is running out."

Some of Stiglitz's past books, especially on globalization, are worldwide teaching aids today. Asked whether he believes his 2012 call for action by Americans on inequality is having an effect, he replied: "I think I have reached many audiences. Among the foremost are those in economic policy-making, who are thinking about where the society is going. Then there are people who I would call the progressives in society and who want to know what solutions there may be. I think I have reached those two groups, particularly the second - rallying the ones who have a sense that the society is unfair and unequal."

"A third group, and I think I reach that group, is the people who are uncommitted voters - not sure what is wrong and what to do. They are trying to assess the arguments. I think I reached that group. That is becoming much more the centrist position - that inequality is bad for society and bad, too, for the economy."

Coming as it does in an election year for the United States, Stiglitz's warning about inequality and its erosive effect sets a special focus for leading American politicians who have fired up both the rightwing Tea Party and the Left - each of which, for different reasons, criticize the political lack of action on jobs, housing and the out-sized wealth of the top one per cent. But it does more than anger people.

"One of the things that disturb me is that the disillusionment people have with the current situation leads to having a variety of interpretations," Stiglitz says. "Just like in Europe, there is movement to extreme groups, both on the left and the right."

"As our economic system is seen to fail for most citizens, confidence in our democracy and market economy will erode."

"The Tea Party movement is in some sense a reaction to the failure of the establishment. While the analysis is right, they are wrong in the diagnosis: 'The government saved the bankers; therefore the government can't be trusted.' But they miss the point; it is an incoherent reaction to the failures." Government can and does help people through national health programs, infrastructure support and in many other ways, he notes. What needs to happen is that people must act to change the way government operates, not try to obliterate it.

"What we are seeing is a sense of anger at the way the system works. Very large sections of the populace feel it is unfair. There is a real concern about the disillusionment. There is a sense that people are suffering disempowerment. They think the system is rigged and they can't change it."

That simply is not the case, says Stiglitz. "The book tries to isolate what I would call the 'right corporatists.' This is the establishment's right center, the bankers and others, who don't really believe they are wrong, who are happy to get the bailouts and tax preferences." But, Stiglitz warns: "there is a lot more in common between right and left and progressives than they realize."

"One theme of the book is that there is a nexus between politics and economics and we have gone down the road to allow the one per cent to gain more control. We have to break into that vicious circle," he continued. "It is still the case that the 99 per cent are the majority. There are two ways change will occur. One, the 99 per cent will realize they have been sold a bill of goods, and two, the 1% will come to understand that their argument is not true [that they deserve what they get and that righting the imbalance will have a negative impact on society].

"The hope is that people will rise up, seeing that inequality is so strongly in place", Stiglitz said. "There is no guarantee, but I think if you look at the historical situation you can see action is required."

* Mike Reilly is a former Reuters journalist and volunteer editor for the INSP News Service in North America.

Danielle Batist
INSP

Street papers on all continents have seen the changing face of homelessness in recent years. A recent survey, released this month by the International Network of Street Papers (INSP) reveals the scale of the problem. A total of 89 INSP street papers worldwide participated in this survey (published July 2012), mainly in Europe (50 street papers) and North America (24 street papers). The survey focused on the 4-year period since the start of the crisis. Of the street papers participating in the survey:

72% have seen a change in their vendor base

16% says more people with families have become street paper vendors

Almost 20% says more young people have become vendors

20% says their vendor numbers are growing

78% have seen a change in the demographics of homeless/ unemployed population in their city/ country

37% say more young people have become homeless/ unemployed

21% say more elderly people have become homeless/ unemployed

A quarter say that more families have become homeless/ unemployed

A third say that more local people have become homeless/ unemployed

The economic crisis at large is quoted as the main cause of the changing demographic of homeless people. 40% say that a lack of employment specifically is the largest contributor to these changes, followed by a lack of affordable housing.

Gina Ginsburg
THE BIG ISSUE SOUTH AFRICA

Initially started as a feeding scheme by concerned mothers, the non-profit organisation has branched out and now offers more than 120 children between the ages of three and 18 alternative activities to the social ills that plague their community, such as storytelling, computer literacy, food gardening training, art therapy, educational programmes, sports and play.

While Mothers Unite is a community effort led by local women, director Gerry Gordon has been a major driving force. Compelled to make a difference in the lives of impoverished children through her own experience of growing up in a disadvantaged home, the 48-year-old Capetonian gave up her job in corporate sales to dedicate her full time to the project.

It's a sacrifice that's paid off. So impressed with the holistic project was the panel of judges for the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award for Cape Town, that they chose Mothers Unite as this year's winner out of 254 entries, earning the project a prize of R750 000. Gordon explains more about the project's mission to create a safe learning environment for children to develop to their full potential, and to just be children.

"Our core focus is children. We aim to offer children a positive alternative. Kids are treated well here. It is important for them to know that they can be spoken to and loved just for being a child. For the kids who come here, this is their world, their safe space."

Gordon says it all started in 2008 when a few hungry kids came to the home of Carol Jacobs, the original founder of the programme. When the kids told her they just wanted 'something to chew', Carol made a pot of soup. The next day she found double the amount of children on her doorstep. She asked two other mothers to help her, they started a small soup kitchen and it grew from there.

"I got involved and suddenly we were feeding up to 200 children in Carol's small home," he continues. "Eventually we decided to create a programme that would incorporate other support mechanisms these kids needed to make a positive change in their lives. We approached the City of Cape Town for land and we started with just one donated shipping container. It was a bottom-up approach within the community…we were able to become a community-based organisation and could grow from there."

"Our core focus is children. For the kids who come here, this is their world, their safe space."

Gordon says Mothers Unite works with kids in a holistic way by looking at their nutrition, education, creativity and, to some degree, their healing processes, because "these kids live in a challenging environment - poverty is their daily reality."

"All our children get a meal every time they come in after school. Mealtime is important; a safe time where kids can just relax, chat and have a meal. It is immensely valuable to just talk and listen to children.

We teach children to plant their own veggies in our organic garden and they reap the benefits. We use the garden produce in our meals. It's not a lot, and to sustain the project we rely mostly on food donations. But eating the food they have grown teaches them to appreciate nature and the environment. Many take the knowledge home with them and have started their own gardens. We have also planted trees and lavender, some of the only lavender you will find in Lavender Hills."

A lot of what Mothers Unite do is based on the input they receive from the kids they aim to help, as Gordon puts it: "they guide the process of how we develop the project because they know what they need. They need help with maths, so we get a maths tutor; they need books, we start a library; they don't know how to use computers, we offer computer assistance; and so on.

"The library we started up is important to get kids to love books and build their vocabulary, because many don't have books at home. We also read stories to them. Children absolutely love to hear stories and many of the kids who come here just don't get that in their lives.

"The principals I have spoken to say the biggest problem with kids from this area is literacy and numeracy, so we try and target that. Looking at their school reports, it's clear they have improved. What is also very clear is that they have high marks in 'life orientation'. That, I believe, is due to the programme."

Another service Mothers Unite began providing for the kids, as well as others in the community, is emergency response and first-aid training, which includes everything from CPR to bandaging wounds and burns, even dealing with mental illness. This has reduced the number of calls to ambulances that are often called in for situations which are not that serious, and Gordon believes the training helps empower a community to be self-sufficient.

"When gang-violence escalates we do, sadly, have a drop in attendance," says Gordon. "That's because it's either unsafe for kids to pass through gang areas or they are caught up in it. We take things as they come; it's just one of those realities we have to deal with. So we make sure we're here for them, that we listen to what they're saying and listen to what they need. For them, in the middle of this abnormality, that's important."

In July non-profit will open registration to take on more kids for the programme. "It's difficult; more kids want to participate than we can accommodate because we don't have enough resources," admits Gordon.

"We're using the award money from the Deutsche Bank Urban Age Award to implement our three-year plan. It involves sustaining our current programme and also adding two new projects. We're being careful not to over-extend ourselves - we'd rather be experts in what we do instead of taking on more projects than we can handle. We have to work smart.

"The passion, the tenacity, the perseverance - everything that happens here is because of the six women who are currently volunteering to run the programme. None of us gets paid a salary. Why do it? This is my life, this is what I love doing - I love serving people. And who better to serve than the children? They can't pay you back with money, but it is rewarding enough to see change happening over a period of time. That's my motivation; the more I can do, the happier I am."

She concludes: "I can't save all of Lavender Hills but what I can do is have a positive impact on the lives of one or two of the kids here. I would love to see some of the children come out of here and eventually have good careers and a happy life. These children might be a little different but they are by no means less valuable."

Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless
Press Release

Times are tough
... Together we can make it a littler easier.

Too often, many children do not begin the new school year with a new backpack and school supplies because of the simple fact their parents can not afford them. With your help the Coalition will make the school year brighten for hundreds of children in Massachusetts. For school aged children of these families, the lack of housing stability has a significant impact on their educational success. While it is impossible to completely isolate housing from the host of factors that affect educational outcomes, evidence points clearly to the major role that it plays in determining a child's long-term chances of succeeding in school. The ramifications of this instability are huge for not only these children but the future in which they will live.

Today, close to 3,700 families are in emergency shelters. This includes an estimated 7,000 children.

Needed Supplies

• BACKPACKS
• PENCIL CASES
• GLUE STICKS
• PENS (BLUE, BLACK, & RED)
• SCISSORS
• COMPOSITIONS NOTEBOOK
• BALLPOINT PENS
• SHARPIE MARKERS
• NO. 2 PENCILS
• POST-ITS
• COLORED PENCILS ASSIGNMENT NOTEBOOKS
• PENCIL SHARPENERS
• ERASERS
• BINDER DIVIDERS
• BOX OF CRAYONS
• PENCIL TOP ERASERS
• WATER COLOR PAINTS
• WHITE OUT
• BOTTLES OF WHITE GLUE
• HAND SANITIZER
• HIGHLIGHTERS NOTEBOOKS
• LOOSE-LEAF NOTEBOOK
• PAPER
• RULERS
• SCOTCH TAPE
• STAPLERS AND STAPLES
• KLEENEX
• CALENDARS
• FOLDERS
• CALCULATORS
• DRAWING PAPER CONSTRUCTION PAPER

How to Collect Backpacks and Supplies

You can collect supplies however is best for you! The following are some of the most common ways that have been done in the past:

• Placing a box for donations in a lobby or central office location
• Having everyone bring donations to a location or individual on a certain date or during a specific time period (2 or 3 weeks)
• Volunteers picking up supplies from friends, families, colleagues, civic groups or congregations
  Dates and Logistics

* The Coalition would like to have the supplies by mid August so that we can ensure all the supplies are distributed to the children in time for the first day of school.
* Small amounts can be dropped off at our warehouse located at 15 Bubier St.Lynn, MA 01901.
* The Coalition can pick up larger quantities of supplies if you cannot drop them off. Please let us know ahead of time so that we can schedule at time to collect them.

For more information on how to schedule a pick-up or set up a delivery

please contact:

Albenny Arcangel

Donations Coordinator

Furniture Bank

albenny@mahomeless.org

781.595.7570 X 13

781.595.7570 Fax

The Boston Landmarks Orchestra will be hosting free concerts at the Hatch Memorial Shell on the Charles River Esplanade on Wednesday evenings starting July 11, 2012.

Concert Schedule:

July 11, 7-9pm-- Boston Landmarks Orchestra presents the music of Aaron Copeland (1900-1990)

July 18, 7-9pm-- Performer from Villa Victoria Center for the Arts will perform Fiesta Sinfónica.
(There will an additional performance of Fiesta Sinfónica in Blackstone Square in the South End on Thursday,
July 19 at 6:30pm.)

July 25, 7-9pm-- The Landmarks Orchestra will perform its annual "green" concert in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Clean Water Act. A Clean Water Fair will begin at 6pm leading up to the concert.

August 1, 7-9pm-- The Boston Civic Orchestra will perform "Jupiter" from The Planets by Gustav Holst, Symphonie espagnole by Édouard Lalo, and Symphony No. 7 by Ludwig van Beethoven.

August 8, 7-9pm-- Singers from Boston's Lyric Opera will perform popular works by Puccini, Wagner, Mozart, and Bernstein.

August 15, 7-9pm-- The Longwood Symphony Orchestra will perform Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 21.

August 22, 7-9pm-- The Landmarks Orchestra will highlight several solo musicians in Landmarks Virtuosos.

August 29, 7-9pm-- Symphonic Shakespeare will combine orchestral music inspired by Shakespeare in a collaboration with Commonwealth Shakespeare Co.

Last week we received the following question from a reader on our website.

“I'm a Boston citizen, and I was wondering if handing out foods in public park in boston is illegal like in Philadelphia. I have recently started to hand out PB&J sandwiches to homeless. I am not associated with any volunteer group, but just doing it with my family. But I heard it's illegal for some cities and I saw your editorial about it. So it is illegal? “

Our social media editor inquired with the Boston Police Department, Boston Department of Inspectional Services and the Boston Department of Parks and Recreation and was able to confirm that it is LEGAL to distribute free food in Boston. Informal distribution can happen spontaneously without requesting any permits. Anyone wishing to set up a table would need to wade through a bit of red tape. Here is the email response from the Boston Parks and Recreation Department.

“An individual with a backpack full of sandwiches may hand them to the homeless. If a larger “operation” is planned, like tables and chairs a person/vendor/corporation would need to go through the permitting process which is outlined at this website: www.cityofboston.gov/parks
Please note, that some food-related permitted events need several city department signoffs.”

----------------

Check out these stories on Philadelphia ban on food distribution which is being challenged in Federal Court by the Philadelphia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

Judge to Decide Where Philly’s Homeless Can Be Fed
Philadelphia Enquirer, Monday, July 9, 2012
http://www.philly.com/philly/news/070912_Judge_to_decide_where_homeless_...

Law That Targets Homeless Imperil Programs That Feed Them Outdoors
The Salt | NPR’s Food Blog, Friday, July 6, 2012
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2012/07/06/156328035/philadelphia-bans-...

By Michael Norton
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

JULY 8, 2012…Gov. Deval Patrick on Sunday signed a $32.5 billion state budget that raises state aid for public schools by 4.5 percent and counts on $700 million in health care cost savings to achieve balance.

Patrick found only $32.1 million in objectionable spending in the budget crafted by the Legislature over the past few months. He vetoed $10 million of a proposed $20 million human services salary reserve, $10 million for the probation department, $5.1 million to continue operating Taunton State Hospital, $3.5 million for a school district reserve, $400,000 for a State Police benefits fraud unit, and $3.1 million in earmarks.

While the total amount of vetoes was small compared to the overall budget, the spending plan relies on significant savings, estimated at $700 million, largely through management, procurement and contracting efforts to reduce the state’s tab for health care, the largest expense in the state budget.

The budget supports spending with $350 million drawn from the state’s reserve account, leaving the rainy day fund with a projected balance of $1.28 billion.

Patrick administration officials said the 4 percent budget growth rate in fiscal 2013 is less than the assumed growth rate of state revenues collections in fiscal 2013, which began on July 1.

Patrick on Sunday also signaled his support for another sales tax holiday weekend in August. The governor included in a new spending bill a plan to use a one-time payment to the state’s General Fund of $20 million to account for sales tax revenues that would be foregone during a tax-free weekend next month that retailers say will lift their businesses and offer consumers reduced prices.

In other budget actions, Patrick agreed to stricter penalties for driving without a license in Massachusetts, returned with amendments changes to electronic benefits for welfare recipients, and approved a requirement that mutual insurance companies provide clear disclosure to their members of compensation paid to executive officers.

Suzanne Hanney
StreetWise

Food stamps are at the heart of dramatically different federal budget deficit reduction proposals in the U.S. House and Senate, to the consternation of both recipients and advocates.

"Once they start chipping away at the program and try to reduce SNAP [Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program] funding or restrict eligibility or reduce the benefits, it's sort of a slippery slope," said Diane Doherty, executive director of the Illinois Hunger Coalition. "Kids can't learn when they're hungry so if we cut benefits, it's a current crisis but a dark march into the future when we have an unhealthy workforce and unhealthy children because they don't have access to healthy food."

"Without SNAP, over 180,000 low-income Cook County seniors would be left in the cold when it comes to their ability to access food," said Amy Terpstra, associate director of the Social IMPACT Research Center at Heartland Alliance and author of a report that showed food stamps provide 89 percent of federal food assistance to older adults in Chicago. When federal funding is considered, there are an average of 406 meals per older adult annually in the city, according to the study.

The average SNAP household has income at just over half the federal poverty guidelines, Doherty said. A family of four with before-tax income of $2,422 could qualify for a maximum benefit of $668 -- which not many receive. In the five years since December 2006, the number of Illinois recipients has grown 49.4 percent, to 1.82 million people. Their $254.3 million in benefits is "free federal money that goes to feed people." Each of their benefit dollars creates $1.80 in the local economy in the form of grocery store jobs, she said.

SNAP recipients who have seen the headlines about program cuts of $4 billion to $33 billion are worried their food will go away, said Bob Dolgan, spokesperson for the Greater Chicago Food Depository. "This is while they are facing incredible challenges: unemployment, cutbacks in wages, and all the other economic effects we've seen in the past few years."

The Senate Agriculture Committee passed a plan that would cut direct payments to farmers on unplanted acreage by $23 million over the next decade and food stamps by $4 billion. Farmers would be paid for a "shallow loss" when crop yields or prices on planted land fall before their historic average, according to the Associated Press. More serious losses would be insured.

The House version leaves subsidies intact but takes all its $33 billion in cuts from the food stamp program; it would eliminate three million people of the 46 million people receiving them, according to the Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) web site. But if left unchanged, SNAP costs for the next five years would be $400 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office via AP.

Both committee versions must pass their full chamber and be reconciled before passage and the larger cuts are unlikely to survive the Democrat-controlled Senate, Reuters' Emily Stephenson noted in April. "But the vote by voice underscored Republicans' preference for domestic spending cuts over defense cuts or tax hikes as they try to avoid automatic cuts that take effect in January."

These across-the-board, "automatic cuts" of $98 billion come from the failure of the deficit reduction super-committee to reach consensus last fall. Agriculture bore the biggest share of six committees since directed by House Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) to cut $261 billion through 2022, according to Reuters.

www.street-papers.org / StreetWise - USA

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 27, 2012……With a new fiscal year set to dawn Sunday and the MBTA's proposed budget far out of whack, the Legislature on Wednesday approved a bill delivering an emergency bailout, largely by redirecting millions of dollars in auto inspection fees to the agency.

The final version of the bill cleared the House 127-24 and passed the Senate 27-9. Supporters said the bailout was needed to rescue the massive transit agency that serves as a transportation lifeline for many in eastern Massachusetts. Opponents described an agency “out of control” and turning to taxpayers after spending recklessly.

The bill provides $49 million in inspection fees to the T and sends $3.5 million to regional transit authorities. With Gov. Deval Patrick’s signature, the bill would become law.

Patrick and Transportation Secretary Richard Davey in March suggested tapping into the Motor Vehicle Inspection Trust Fund to bail the MBTA out of a $160 million budget gap that is largely being addressed with an average 23 percent fare hike sent to take effect on Sunday.

Davey and Patrick got almost as much as the $51 million in fee revenues they originally sought for the T but not before absorbing some outrage from critics, who criticized the transit authority’s management.

“There is either a conspiracy of ignorance in that transportation building or there is a culture of arrogance,” said Sen. James Timilty (D-Walpole), who said the transit authority is outdated and mismanaged and voted against the bill when it came before the Senate on Wednesday afternoon.

Senators were piqued by an Ernst & Young audit presented Tuesday, which revealed “gaps” in the MBTA’s management procurement and inventory of materials.

“We can decide whether to subsidize the kinds of things that are going on in this report,” said Minority Leader Bruce Tarr (R-Gloucester). “Or we can decide to say to the folks at home right now, who are afraid that the trains may not run sometime soon, or the bus may not be there on the schedule that it’s on now or that when they get into their car they’re going to be charged even more to pay for these kinds of problems. Maybe we could say to them that we are good stewards.”

Members of the MBTA Board of Directors in early June ripped the House and Senate for not passing the bailout quickly enough, and one senator took the opportunity to respond.

“Spend, spend, spend, and then ask the question: Do we know where the inventory is?” said Tarr, who described the MBTA as “an agency whose philosophy is spend first, ask questions later.”

There is little disagreement among state officials that there are significant problems throughout the MBTA and the rest of the transportation system.

"We have a broken transportation system. It was broken when we inherited it five years ago, it was disorganized, mismanaged and inefficient in many respects," Patrick said during a press conference in March, adding, "The system remains underfunded. I think everyone knows that."

The bailout would be a one-time fix, but lawmakers expect to revisit transportation financing and policy next year.

An emergency preamble was added to the bill so that it will take effect immediately after it is signed into law.

The bailout bill sends $49 million from the inspection trust fund to the MBTA and $2 million from the trust to regional transit authorities, which can only then be used for “preventative maintenance expenses”. It would also send $1.5 million from the snow and ice budget to regional transit authorities.

The final version, which was rewritten by the House, includes slightly lower penalties for far evasion, though they are higher than the current $15 fine for the first offense.

The Senate version (S 2317), like Patrick’s original version, would have increased the fines to $75 for first offense and up to $350 for the third offense. The House version (H 4215), which will be sent to Patrick’s desk, has a fine schedule of $50 for a first offense and $300 for a third offense. The new version poised to become law also increases to 30 days, the amount of time offenders have to pay their bill or request a hearing, up from 21 in the previous Senate version. Those who attempt to “fraudulently evade” a fare by using a fake ticket or other means would be subject to a fine of between $50 and $500 under the legislation.

The bill requires the MassDOT Board of Directors to hold six public hearings and then submit a long-term transportation plan, which would include recommendations for new revenues that could be used for transportation.

The bill also requires MassDOT and MassPort to submit reports on the procedures that would need to be taken to transfer ferry service from the MBTA to Massport, which oversees Logan International Airport and the Port of Boston. The legislation also instructs the governor’s administration to submit a report on the effect of fare hikes on the seniors and people with disabilities by Jan. 1, 2013.

[Michael Norton contributed reporting]

By Michael Norton
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 26, 2012. Encouraged by Gov. Deval Patrick's statements Monday after they questioned his commitment to defeating "anti-immigrant" budget proposals, activists have called off a planned hunger strike and State House sit-in and instead will send thank-you delegations to Patrick's office and hold a press conference Wednesday to claim "victory" in the budget battle.

"I'm on your side. I've said that a million times," Patrick told a small group of activists Monday afternoon as he left his office to meet with legislative leaders. "These provisions aren't before me yet. I've been as clear as possible, not just with you but with the Legislature that if they come before me, it's over . . . When it comes to me, if it comes to me, I'm on your side."

Immigrant rights activists aligned with Jobs With Justice and Student Immigrant Movement early Monday gathered outside Patrick's office, urging him to oppose budget plans advancing in the Legislature to tighten strictures on employers, the state's Registry of Motor Vehicles, public housing agencies and MassHealth, requiring verification of immigrant status. Lawmakers also want to charge the attorney general with enforcing existing laws prohibiting employers from knowingly employing an unauthorized immigrant, making the employer subject to criminal charges, including up to one year in jail.

Lawmakers supporting the initiatives say they're taking steps to safeguard limited taxpayer funds and driving privileges.

"If there are sides to be taken here, I'm sorry that the governor has taken the side of those who would defend the abuse of the system by those who are here illegally," Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr told the News Service Monday.

Lilly Huang, public education coordinator for Jobs With Justice, told the News Service Tuesday that activists are gearing up to announce an 11 a.m. press conference and rally outside the State House Wednesday.

"This rally is really to claim it as a victory," Huang said. "We want to respect Governor Patrick and thank him for openly saying he's against these anti-immigrant amendments . . . We have faith in the governor that he is going to veto these amendments."

Asked if declaring victory may be premature, given the potential for veto overrides, Huang said that if overrides occurred, "we would have another discussion about who to target and what to do." She added, "We're not scared. We're not afraid to come out and make our voices heard."

Before Patrick addressed the activists Monday, an aide to the governor told them earlier in the day that the administration would not commit to a course of action on pending legislation until it was able to see final language as part of its review of bills that reach the governor's desk.
Lawmakers are on alert for a $32.4 billion budget deal this week, although negotiators have not agreed yet to all of the details.

By Michael Norton and Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 25, 2012……With just two senators present, the Senate on Monday morning approved a bill that food stores in Massachusetts have been pressing unsuccessfully for a decade.

Under the bill, which has already cleared the House, grocery stores in Massachusetts would no longer be required to put price tags on each item and could instead deploy price scanners for consumers to use.

If the bill becomes law – lawmakers told the News Service they hoped to get it to Gov. Deval Patrick’s desk today - Massachusetts would become the last state in the nation to eliminate individual price tag requirement for grocery and food stores. The supermarket industry has fought for years to stop tagging each item; consumer groups say the move is bad for shoppers trying to compare prices.

“We’re extremely disappointed. This is a time we ought to be providing more and better price disclosure, not less. And in the end, I think the consumers are harmed,” said Deirdre Cummings, a lobbyist for MASSPIRG who said she hoped Patrick would veto the law.

Jon Hurst, president of the Retailers Association of Massachusetts, was one of a handful of people on hand to see the bill approved, with only Sens. Stanley Rosenberg and Michael Knapik in the chamber.

“It’s a long time coming,” Hurst said after the vote. “It’s never gotten this far. It’s something we’ve been working on for more than a decade.”

Hurst said a law approved in Michigan last year made Massachusetts the only state left with an item pricing requirement. He said studies show the law can add up to 10 percent to food prices.

“This is one of those laws that put us at a competitive disadvantage,” said Hurst.

Chris Flynn, president of the Massachusetts Food Association, said the bill would provide more accurate pricing to the consumer as well by doing away with the “archaic” and “problematic” practice of pricing each item with a pricing gun.

Flynn cited a state survey from last December, which showed price scanners had a nearly perfect record of 99.46 percent accuracy, but Cummings said there is not sufficient oversight of retailers who use the self-scanners. Cummings cited a 2009 study by the non-profit Consumer World, which showed only 30 percent of 144 scanners surveyed were completely functional and in full compliance with regulations.

“Given the track record, we need to ensure that if we’re going to allow supermarkets to use that inferior substitute, we need to have some mechanism to ensure they’re working properly,” said Cummings, who also supports more scanners per square foot and enforcement of the regulation that requires scanners to be able to print their own price tags. She said the changes would make it more difficult for consumers to compare the price of something already in the basket with a similar item on the shelf because it would no longer be printed on the item itself.

Cummings said sticker pricing is more popular than self-scanners among consumers and objected to the lack of debate or roll call vote on the legislation.

“Neither in the House or the Senate is there one recorded vote on this,” Cummings said. “There’s no way the consumer or the voter can hold anybody accountable.”

Flynn said the change was a “compromise” that will be a victory for consumers and supermarket owners. The bill, which would take effect next January, does not do away with all sticker pricing; it allows stores to apply for a waiver, replacing sticker pricing with self-scanners, Flynn said. That waiver includes a required affidavit that the store will not lay off any employees because of the labor savings, Flynn said.

“Labor budget stays the same. You’re just able to have these workers do activities that are more productive to the consumer,” Flynn said. It will also create a more regimented system for accurate pricing rather than relying on the accuracy of scores of employees with their own pricing guns.

“The problem with these stickers, too, is they fall off,” said Flynn. He said that under the bill, if a shopper is over-charged for an item that shopper can either take the item for free or a $10 credit on the actual price, depending on which is less expensive to the store. The bill would also subject stores to fines reaching as much as $5,000 for breaching the waiver agreement.

Hurst said the state’s original item pricing requirements were included in a 1971 regulation put in place by the attorney general. In the 1980s, he said, the item pricing law was codified by the Legislature and Gov. Michael Dukakis, with some exemptions allowed in the food industry. Hurst said former Attorney General Thomas Reilly in 1998 lifted item pricing requirements for non-food items.

Under the bill, in order to stop individually pricing items, stores would be required to go through an application process that includes an accuracy check of their scanners. Stores must also disclose the correct prices of items in a "clear and conspicuous manner." Grocery and other food stores must also still display the price of each item on the shelves, and the legislation (H 4089) details requirements for shelf pricing.

The bill also sailed through the House in May without debate or a recorded vote.

According to Hurst, the state’s 1998 scanner accuracy law means that even with stores deploying electronic self-scanners, Massachusetts will have “the strongest consumer protection pricing law in the country.”

Under the bill, price scanners must be located in the store every 5,000 square feet - which equates to approximately every few aisles in larger supermarkets, according to proponents of the change.

by Mike Volpe
US DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

WASHINGTON — Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis today announced the award of 64 grants totaling more than $15 million that are aimed at providing approximately 8,600 homeless veterans nationwide with job training to help them succeed in civilian careers. The grants are being awarded under the U.S. Department of Labor's Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program.

"Today, the Department of Labor is taking an important step to help homeless veterans reintegrate into the American labor force," said Secretary Solis. "This is a complicated challenge that requires an ‘all hands on deck' response. Our grantees span communities across the country, from the District of Columbia to Puerto Rico, and we salute them for their commitment to assist those who've served."

Funds are being awarded on a competitive basis to state and local workforce investment boards, local public agencies and other groups, including faith-based and community organizations. These recipients are familiar with the geographic areas and populations to be served, and have demonstrated that they can provide effective help to homeless veterans.

To assist homeless veterans with reintegration into the workforce, in addition to the new grants announced today, during the upcoming program year, the Labor Department will provide more than $19 million in funding to support continuing HVRP grants. Under these grants, homeless veterans may receive occupational, classroom and on-the-job training, as well as job search and placement assistance, including follow-up services. HVRP is recognized as an efficient and effective program, and is the only federal program that focuses exclusively on ensuring the employment of veterans who are homeless.

Grantees of this program coordinate their efforts with various local, state and federal social service providers to maximize the assistance available for homeless veterans. More information on the Department of Labor's unemployment and re-employment programs for veterans can be found at http://www.dol.gov/vets/.

More evidence that just chasing away the homeless is bad public policy, from the New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/20/us/after-cleanups-san-jose-stores-prop...

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 14, 2012……Three years after it was ordered by Gov. Deval Patrick, the state’s Jobs Commission is putting together its report on the strengths and weaknesses of the Massachusetts economy.

Commission Chairman Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) told commission members on Thursday morning that Friday would be the “drop dead” deadline to turn in drafts to be added to the full report.

A draft of the analysis section of the report outlines characteristics that are intrinsic to Massachusetts, such as the weather and the high number of college graduates, and characteristics that could more easily be changed.

The draft recommendations include lowering business costs and encouraging purchases from Massachusetts companies, along with more investments in infrastructure, education and research.

“Overall we’re doing pretty well,” Spilka said. She went on to say, “There’s some of it clearly beyond our control.”

Draft subcommittee reports recommend a universal certification to identify people qualified for working in advanced manufacturing and aligning qualified job applicants with employers that are hiring. According to the minutes of a May 5 commission meeting in Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center had 263 open positions.

“People are looking for work. There are jobs available,” said Spilka at Thursday’s meeting. “The connections just aren’t fully happening. Some areas of the state it’s happening better.”

At another commission meeting, in New Bedford on March 9, New Bedford Mayor Jonathan Mitchell said that to catch up with Greater Boston’s highly educated population, New Bedford should receive a “full scale” university, according to meeting minutes. The old whaling city along Buzzards Bay has other advantages, however. Mitchell said that for the past 11 years it has been the “number one” fishing port in the country.

The commission, which held its first meeting in early 2011, has held fact-finding meetings throughout the state. At a March 28 meeting in the State House, Eric Nakajima, senior innovation advisor in the Office of Housing and Economic Development, said the state’s 7,000 manufacturers have reported an increase in productivity, and today’s manufacturing jobs require more sophistication than they did a generation ago.

The state’s economy also faces several hurdles, according to a draft section of the report. There are not enough skilled workers to fill high-tech manufacturing jobs. The labor force is aging and losing numbers, while younger people have had trouble finding jobs. There are many different worker training programs, which can make it confusing for employers seeking to hire somebody, the draft report said.

Health care costs are higher in Massachusetts than elsewhere, and the state has not successfully communicated the “actual business climate and tax burden” to business leaders, the draft said.

The state’s climate is also a drawback in some ways, by increasing energy costs and creating a “negative impact” on tourism and agriculture, the draft report said.

A criminal record has been a major hindrance toward employment for some, though that might change as a criminal offender records information reform recently went into effect, according to people who testified at the May 5 hearing.

Press Release

The Homeless Empowerment Project/Spare Change News announced that it will be holding a 20th Anniversary Celebration and Annual Meeting on Thursday, June 21, from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at the Inn at Harvard, 1201 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge. Cambridge City Councilor Marjorie Decker will serve as the official host, and the keynote address will be presented by State Representative Byron Rushing.

The Celebration will include a reception, poetry readings by Books of Hope, a gospel choir performance by Follow Hymn Interfaith Community Choir, and a silent and live auction. The Celebration will also feature an historical exhibit: “The Homeless are not Faceless.” Tickets may be purchased online at http://sparechangenews.net/tickets. Tickets will also be available for purchase on the night of the event at the Inn at Harvard. Anyone seeking more information about the event may contact Vincent Flanagan at director@sparechangenews.net.

Over the last twenty years, Spare Change News has striven to simultaneously elevate the voices of the homeless and others facing economic adversity in the Greater Boston area, and to provide opportunities for economic empowerment, self-expression, and skills development. The paper is published by an incorporated 501(c)3 organization, the Homeless Empowerment Project (HEP), which has a broader mission that includes a Speaker’s Bureau and computer and writing workshops for the homeless and economically disadvantaged.

For the vendors who sell it, Spare Change News is a lifeline. Vendors buy the paper for 25 cents per issue, and sell it for $1, keeping the proceeds as their profit. They also receive a modest stipend for
writing for the paper. Economic empowerment is very much part of the mission of Spare Change News.

The paper is now part of the International Network of Street Papers, a network that supports and develops over 120 street press projects in 40 countries, in 24 languages, with a combined readership of 6 million per edition.

By Colleen Quinn
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, JUNE 12, 2012….A commission created in the wake of the Chelsea Housing Authority scandal has completed its work, and come up with 37 specific recommendations, including one requiring all housing authorities to hire independent auditors to look over their financial statements.

The Commission on Public Housing Sustainability and Reform was created by Gov. Deval Patrick after revelations that former Chelsea Housing Authority executive director Michael McLaughlin deceived state officials by grossly underreporting his exorbitant salary. The task force met for 60 days to quickly come up with some recommendations to improve transparency and accountability.

Patrick also wanted to look at the management and possible regionalization of housing authorities. The governor also proposed imposing new reporting and auditing requirements on local housing agencies and capping executive pay at $160,000 at the locally run authorities.

Aaron Gornstein, state undersecretary of housing and community development who led the task force, said their work represented a direct response to problems in Chelsea and Medford housing authorities. Commission members plan to continue discussing their final report this week.

“Through this cooperative process and with all stakeholders at the table, we have developed a comprehensive set of recommendations to improve the operations of public housing and the services provided to residents,” Gornstein said.

Gornstein said he was pleased with the “broad consensus” reached among the group. The commission included lawmakers, housing authority directors, municipal officials and representatives from the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

“We are pleased with the outcome. We had very active participation from the groups represented,” Gornstein said after the final meeting Tuesday morning.

If the commission’s recommendations are adopted by the Legislature, each housing authority will be required to hire their own independent firms, at each authority’s expense, to audit their books. They do not need to hire a preferred firm, but can pick their own. Under current law, housing authorities are audited by state auditors at least once every three years, with some discretionary power available to the state auditor’s office to audit more frequently if an issue comes to their attention.

During the commission’s last meeting, Steven Merritt, executive director of the Norwood Housing Authority and the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials’ appointee to the governor's task force, said that when he has hired independent auditors in the past it cost his authority $4,500. Rep. Russell Holmes (D-Boston), another member of the task force, said he questioned whether the audits would cost each authority more money.

Colleen Doherty, executive director of the Taunton Housing Authority, responded “Can I just say, it could be worth every dime.”

Another task force recommendation would require smaller housing authorities, with less than 250 housing units, to create a unified system where they share resources and centralize some functions. There are 244 housing authorities statewide.

In March, some housing authority directors who gathered at the State House for an annual luncheon said they do not oppose regionalizing some services, and pointed to several authorities where such efforts have been successful, but argued pooling of resources should occur locally.

The commission recommended the creation of single, unified housing authority property management system consisting of local staff, regional supervision, along with technical staff and centralized back office assistance. Smaller housing authorities will be mandated to participate in the unified property management system. Gornstein said idea will create efficiency while still preserving local control.

The commission’s soon-to-be released report creates recommendations in five areas: asset management and governance; preservation of extremely low-income housing; funding for long-term preservation and sustainability; statutory and regulatory framework; and public process and transparency.

“I give a lot of credit to DHCD. We made far more progress than I expected from a 60-day commission,” said Sen. James Eldridge (D-Acton), a member of the commission.

Gornstein said he expects an advisory committee will be appointed to implement the commission’s recommendations if they are turned into law by the Legislature.

By Andy Metzger
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 11, 2012�� Even if the state chose not to fund the $1.3 billion Green Line Extension, several of the revenue-generating ideas tied to that project in newly released documents will need to be used to keep state transit authorities afloat, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey told the News Service.

Those ideas include a new cent-per-mile tax on vehicles, casino revenue allocated to the MBTA and tying the gas tax to inflation.

"I've not heard any credible source whatsoever saying we're spending too much on transportation or enough on transportation," Davey said "So I think the conversation is beginning, and the first step is to admit you have a problem."

However, to Senate Minority Leader Bruce Tarr, the problem is the state's goal of expanding the Green Line through Somerville and into Medford when the whole system is heading toward another deficit next year.

"Why wouldn't we consider postponing it or avoiding it until the folks who run the MBTA say they can restore it to solvency without extraordinary measures like tax increases," Tarr told the News Service. He said Davey should make clear distinctions between "what is required versus what is desired."

The Federal Transit Administration requires the MBTA to have a strong financial footing to receive New Starts funding, which would make up 42 percent of the Green Line project's cost. Davey said he hopes federal funding will eventually make up half the $1.3 billion project.

Earlier this year, the MBTA engaged in a wrenching public process of 31 sometimes boisterous and confrontational public meetings before raising fares to cover most of a roughly $160 million deficit. Fare hikes averaging 23 percent will take effect on July 1.

The MBTA still faces an immediate budget gap and lawmakers are poised to advance a bill providing some funding to regional transit authorities while delivering the bulk of $51 million in surplus vehicle inspection fees to the T.

The House plans to take up a T bailout bill Wednesday; the Senate will take up the proposal soon after, Senate Transportation Chairman Thomas McGee told the News Service. If the $51 million plan does not go through, the MBTA will recommend bridging the budget gap with service cuts not additional fare hikes, according to Davey.

House Speaker Robert DeLeo has postponed long-term fixes for the MBTA until the start of the next legislative session, in January 2013. Meanwhile Gov. Deval Patrick's administration has pushed the need for an "adult conversation" about transit funding though Patrick dismissed the revenue-generating ideas alluded to in a recent Federal Transit Administration letter as "hypotheticals."

"You got to wait for my plan. We're thinking through what our options are," Patrick told reporters. "We want a fix not just for this project, not just for the T but for all of transportation and one that's good for 20 years or more and we're going to have a very engaged and serious debate in this building and beyond about how to do that."

Even without a firm plan in place, the conversation has begun for some, who like Tarr, oppose the idea of new taxes to fund the transit authority.

Hours after the News Service reported on the FTA letter outlining transportation funding options, Restaurant and Business Alliance President Dave Andelman - founder of The Phantom Gourmet - released a statement opposed to the $.01 per-mile statewide tax, saying, "Discouraging people from moving around the state will stop the economy from moving too."

Tarr suggested "revisiting employee compensation," seeking out sponsorships and improving fare collection as routes to put the MBTA on solid financial footing. He also said that given overall state transportation funding problems "it really strains credibility" to consider extending the Green Line to Medford, though he is "sympathetic" to the fact that Somerville was promised the new transit line as environmental mitigation for the Big Dig.

Tarr said he thought his colleagues would feel similarly nonplussed, but Rep. Denise Provost (D-Somerville) is looking forward to her colleagues' efforts toward finding funding for a backlog of repair needs at the MBTA, as well as regional transit authorities, roads and bridges.

"If I were not an optimist I could not do the job that I do," said Provost, who has filed legislation to raise the gas tax the past two legislative sessions and said the MBTA needs alternative sources of revenue to stay afloat.

"Even if there was not an application for federal funding for the Green Line Extension, which I think will bring money and jobs into the Commonwealth, it would still be necessary to bring our transportation system into a state of good repair," Provost said.

Both proponents and opponents of the Green Line Extension agree that the state does not currently have the money to afford the project.

"We cannot pay for the current system that we have today and we certainly can't pay for expanding service going forward," said Davey, though he said the state would follow a court order to complete the project. "By law we have to do it, so it's going to go forward," Davey said.

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 11, 2012….A possible transfer in the next year of MBTA ferry operations to the Massachusetts Port Authority would be studied under a T bailout bill that received initial House approval Monday morning.

The bill rescues the T from its near-term budget crisis, but drops a plan favored by some House members to immediately transfer ferry operations and assets to Massport. The bill would instead examine the potential sale of T-owned piers, parking lots and boats to the port authority within a year, while sweeping the state’s motor vehicle inspection trust fund of $51 million in surplus fees to close the red ink remaining in the MBTA’s $1.7 billion budget.

The new bill (H 4161) also includes $3.5 million for regional transit authorities, and House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey said an agreement was reached on Friday with the Senate to support an additional $3.5 million for RTA’s in the fiscal 2013 budget, bringing the total increase to $7 million.

Under the bill, the Department of Transportation would be required by July 9 to report back to the Legislature on the time required to prepare for sale to the port authority in fiscal 2013 of ferry properties in Quincy, Hingham and Charlestown, including commuter boat service piers.

MassDOT would also be required to report by August 13 on the procedural requirements to transfer operation and ownership of the commuter boats “Lightning” and “Flying Cloud” to Massport during fiscal 2013, and Massport would have until August 31 to develop and present a plan to take over ferry operations.

The bill calls for $6.5 million in surplus snow and ice removal to be spent on transportation, with $5 million dedicated to the MBTA and $1.5 for regional transit authorities. Gov. Deval Patrick’s proposed MBTA bailout legislation did not include any funds for regional authorities.

“I’m happy to say this does recognize the equity argument that the inspection trust fund has to help everyone in Massachusetts,” said Rep. William Straus, co-chairman of the Transportation Committee.

The House will likely pass the latest version of the bill Wednesday, with the T facing a July 1 deadline to balance its budget without resorting to additional cost-cutting or revenue-raising moves – an average 23 percent fare hike is scheduled to take effect July 1.

House Ways and Means polled the bill out of committee on Friday. The bill advanced Monday during a lightly attended informal session and the House set a 5 p.m. Tuesday deadline for amendments.

The House-controlled Transportation Committee had recommended transferring operation of the ferries to Massport by July 1 in order to use funding from the sale of properties to balance the MBTA’s books and provide some relief to regional bus services. Both Massport and the Patrick administration expressed concerns about how quickly the transfer could happen, noting approvals needed from the Federal Aviation Administration.

House leaders say they’re still actively considering the transfer of ferry operations to Massport, but the bill now moving through the House no longer counts on that switch to happen before the start of the fiscal year.

“It’s not going to happen July 1, but I still am determined it has to happen this fiscal year. There is yet to be anyone in public, either in Massport or the governor’s office or administration, who has made any case that takes away from Massport clearly being the preferred agency to be running the ferry service,” said Straus.

“Also, I defy anyone to say that from a financial standpoint Massport is not the better agency to take on this obligation,” Straus told the News Service Monday morning.

Without additional aid from Beacon Hill, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, who oversees the T, said last week he would look at cutting back further on bus and rail passenger service.

While the majority of the $51 million in surplus inspection fees will go to the MBTA, $2 million will be dedicated to support regional transit authorities, some of which are facing similar financial hardships. Gov. Patrick had proposed using all $51 million for the MBTA, but lawmakers balked at using fees collected from drivers across Massachusetts to bail out the MBTA without sending some of the money to areas outside of the T’s district.

The new plan cut by nearly half the amount of funding the Transportation Committee had originally recommended for the regional transit agencies, but Dempsey told the News Service the House budget conferees agreed on Friday to back an additional $3.5 appropriation included in the Senate budget.

“I think we just want to do some due diligence,” Dempsey said of delaying the ferry transfer. “We are supportive of the concept and want to do that. It’s just how we do it, and how quickly we get there.”

The bill would also impose fines for fare evasion on buses, trains and trolleys of $75 for a first offense; $200 for a second offense; or $350 for a third or subsequent offense.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to begin discussions on a possible bailout of the MBTA this week. The ailing transportation system needs assistance covering a $50 million dollar budget gap in order to avoid additional fare hikes and service cuts. In response to widespread protests from T-riders and local organizations (including Spare Change News), the MBTA backed away from it’s initial proposals to entirely meet the pending budget gap with service cuts and fare increases, settling for a more modest increase.

Governor Patrick and MBTA officials are urging the legislature to divert excess funds collected from inspection fees into the MBTA budget--a move the House Transportation Committee fears will spark the ire of residents that live outside of the range of the MBTA.

This afternoon at 2:00, Transportation Secretary Richard Davey, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino, Transportation Committee Co-chair Sen. Thomas McGee, Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, Chelsea City Manager Jay Ash, and Salem Mayor Kimberley Driscoll will gather at the South Station Concourse for a public discussion of transportation financing.

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The Senate passed its version of a foreclosure prevention legislation Wednesday, hoping to slow down an uptick in foreclosures by getting lenders and homeowners to work out modified loans when possible. The House passed its own bill (H 4087) last month and it appears likely that the branches will find common ground on a bill before formal sessions end for the year on July 31. Gov. Patrick on Wednesday said he recognized the need for foreclosure legislation. Before adopting the bill (S 2287) on a voice vote, the Senate adopted an amendment that would allow homeowners to seek mediation proceedings, with a third party mediator, between themselves and the mortgage lender. Sen. Karen Spilka, the amendment’s sponsor, said it is “another tool to try to get the parties to the table to resolve the renegotiation process.” The proposed program would be run by the Massachusetts Office of Public Collaboration at UMass-Boston. Under the Senate bill, banks would be required to conduct a comparative analysis of a loan modification versus what they would receive in foreclosure. If a modified loan is worth more than the amount the bank expects to recover through foreclosure, the lender must offer a modified loan to the borrower. The Senate bill (S 2287) passed without a roll call vote. Sen. Anthony Petruccelli, the co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Financial Services which worked on the bill, said the foreclosure problem is not going away. Although the number of foreclosed homes dipped in 2011, it is on the rise again in 2012 - up 7 percent, Petruccelli said. “We know foreclosure is an issue that continues to plague our communities,” he said. Estimates predict that more than 100,000 homeowners in jeopardy of losing their homes could be eligible for loan modifications under the legislation, he said. The Senate bill establishes a 150-day timeframe for determining whether a modified mortgage loan is offered and requires borrowers to notify creditors of their planned course of action. The bill also requires creditors, before publishing notices of a foreclosure sale, to record an affidavit in the registry of deeds certifying that the creditor took reasonable steps and made a good faith effort to avoid foreclosure.

STATE HOUSE NEWS

Housing activists from local community groups will camp out overnight on the State House steps following demonstrations in favor of proposed amendments to a foreclosure-prevention bill. The bill (S 2287) aims to reduce foreclosures and will be debated in the Senate on Wednesday. A coalition of community groups called New England Workers and Residents Organizing Against Displacement (NEW ROAD) wants the passage of two or three amendments to make the bill to go farther toward protecting homeowners and tenants. One amendment filed by Sen. Harriette Chandler (D-Worcester) would require mediation between the lender and the homeowner in a foreclosure; another filed by Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton) would allow homeowners whose house is foreclosed to keep living in the house as rent-paying tenants; and the group is hoping a third amendment will be filed to remove language in the bill, which they say gives banks more freedom to foreclose and to expand the types of mortgages covered under the legislation. NEW ROAD is made up of activist groups throughout the state and Rhode Island, including City Life/Vida Urbana Bank Tenants Association. NEW ROAD intends to demonstrate from Tuesday through Wednesday, until the bill is passed, with a small contingent braving the drizzle to camp overnight and possibly enter the State House on Wednesday, according to a press release. Amendments to the bill are due at 3:30 p.m., Tuesday.

STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

The Senate plans to take up its own version of legislation aimed at preventing unnecessary foreclosures on Wednesday. After the House passed legislation encouraging loan modifications to stem the steady tide of foreclosures, the Senate Ways and Means Committee on Monday kicked out its own bill (S 2287) and with a skeleton crew on hand adopted an order requiring amendments to the bill to be filed by 3:30 p.m. Tuesday. According to a Ways and Means Committee summary of the Senate bill, it establishes a 150-day timeframe for determining whether a modified mortgage loan is offered and requires borrowers to notify creditors of their planned course of action. The bill also requires creditors, before publishing notices of a foreclosure sale, to record an affidavit in the registry of deeds certifying that the creditor took reasonable steps and made a good faith effort to avoid foreclosure.

By Matt Murphy
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, MAY 30, 2012…. Ratcheting up the pressure on for-profit education firms, Attorney General Martha Coakley on Wednesday confirmed that her office is investigating deceptive loan and recruitment practices at some for-profit colleges and certificate programs where students often graduate with overly burdensome debt, or fail to graduate at all.

Coakley joined Boston City Council members to raise serious concerns about for-profit colleges targeting low-income residents and veterans with false promises of job placements, often leaving students saddled with unaffordable debt and without a job to afford the payments.

In addition to pursuing "legal avenues" stemming from consumer complaints to her office, the attorney general said she also wanted to get information to consumers to be aware "high pressure sales tactics," guarantees of jobs after graduation, and encouragement from recruiters to lie on financial aid applications.

Coakley testified before a council subcommittee at Boston City Hall, where Councilor Ayanna Pressley convened a hearing to look into the feasibility of a public awareness campaign surrounding for-profit colleges and universities.

For-profit colleges include many well-known names such as Phoenix University, Devry and Kaplan University that advertise extensively on subways, buses and television for both online and campus courses.

Though Coakley's office declined to comment on the scope of her investigation, the Boston Globe reported earlier this month that the Washington Post Co., which operates Kaplan Career Institute campus in Boston, and Corinthian Colleges Inc., which runs Everest Institute campuses in Brighton and Chelsea, had received requests for information from Coakley in late April.

Coakley said for-profit schools are heavily reliant on taxpayer funds and use aggressive recruiting tactics to target potential students who can qualify for government aid, but are often more expensive than not-for-profits and leave students in greater debt. She said the cost to attend one of these schools is six times as much, on average, as a community college and twice as expensive as a four-year school.

"When students default on their loans the for-profit colleges are able to keep that money while the students are left to deal with the consequences," Coakley said.

Coakley's office said federal financial aid accounts for nearly 90 percent of for-profit school revenues, and that without Pell Grants and federally guaranteed loans, for-profit schools would likely not exist. In 2009, Coakley said for-profit schools received $4 billion in Pell Grants and $20 million in federal subsidized loans, and the 16 largest organizations made $2.7 billion in profit.

In total, 53 percent of for-profit students borrowed more than $30,500, more than double the amount at private non-profit colleges, and only 4 percent of students left school without debt, according to the attorney general's office.

Coakley on Tuesday also announced that she had signed on to a letter to Congress from 22 attorneys general calling on lawmakers to impose the so-called "90/10 rule" on the GI Bill and Veterans Assistance educational programs prohibiting for-profits from deriving more than 90 percent of their revenue from Department of Education funding.

"We are increasingly concerned with the schools' marketing, especially targeting our young people and veterans, and that they are overpromising graduation and placement rates," Coakley said.

Pressley said many for-profit institutions "maliciously target" those they know they can "make a pretty penny" from. "It's a vicious cycle and we must do our part to break it," Pressley said.

Ruthie Liberman, the vice president for public policy at the Crittenton Women's Union, told councilors that they have a waiting list of clients seeking assistance with student loan debt, many of whom have attended one or more for-profit colleges.

Several clients and former students testified that they left school with $8,000 to $30,000 in debt, and were either still unemployed or found work making too little to afford their rent and loan payments, causing them to default. One student, a single mother of two, said she still has $8,000 in debt for the medical assistance program she signed up for at an unmentioned school, and only found out later she could have taken the same courses at Bunker Hill Community College for $3,000.

Liberman said the Crittenton Women's Union supports the creation of public awareness campaign to alert consumers about the risk associated with attending one of these for-profit schools.

Officials from Empire Beauty, formerly known as Blaine, urged the council not to "vilify" all proprietary schools, insisting that Empire Beauty was conscientious about making loans affordable to its students with a default rate equal to that of community colleges.

"As a public official I've been on the receiving end of being lumped together so we don't want to demonize all for-profit schools," Pressley said, adding that she just wanted to "put them on notice" that they were being watched.

City Councilors Matt O'Malley and John Connolly also attended the hearing, and aides from Sen. William Brownsberger's and Rep. Thomas Sannicandro's offices were in attendance.

From State House News Service:

By Colleen Quinn
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

BOSTON, STATE HOUSE, MAY 29, 2012.....When House and Senate lawmakers debated the annual budget this year, homelessness – and the question of what to do with the thousands of families living in motels and hotels across the state – took center stage for lengthy debates in both branches.

Both the House and Senate funded programs in the fiscal year 2013 budget to prevent families from becoming homeless; set aside money to aid previously homeless families get started in new homes; and increased funding for rental assistance. But the branches are in a quandary over what to do with the more than 1,500 families living in hotels and motels across the state, creating frustration among legislators.

Placing families in hotels and motels for months on end is unfair to them, a burden on the communities that host them, and doesn’t solve the problem, several lawmakers said during debate.

Sen. James Welch – who was part of a lengthy discussion in the Senate – told the News Service Tuesday that it was “without a doubt the worst state policy that I have seen.”

In Welch’s district, which includes Springfield, West Springfield and Chicopee, there are currently 255 families living in motels or hotels. Welch and other senators said the state’s policy of placing families in hotels when family shelters are full is unfair to them.

“I don’t know how we as a commonwealth can actually say this is a viable option,” Welch said. “As we continue to ignore it, I think we are doing a disservice the families. It fails the families; it fails the taxpayers; and it fails the communities that host these families.”

Families placed in motels are basically on their own, he said. Outreach workers with large caseloads try to do the best they can, but the structures to help people are not really in place at a motel, Welch said.
Sen. Michael Knapik (R-Westfield) said he is frustrated there has not been some headway made on the problem during the last year. There were 1,600 families in hotels and motels last year, and despite millions of dollars earmarked to address the issue, nothing changed, he said.

The state got away from housing people in motels during the mid-2000s, but when the recession hit in 2008 there was an explosion of families needing emergency shelter that pushed people into motels.

“We opened up the hotels and motels again, really after not learning a lesson in the early 2000s,” Knapik said. “The system was not able to respond quick enough.”

In Holyoke there are 133 families in motels; Chicopee has 109 and West Springfield has 106. Knapik argues after spending close to $75 million on the HomeBASE program, the state should have seen more progress. “Not to make any progress in a year, I think is unacceptable,” Knapik said.

“I hope whatever we do in the budget in 2013 it is going to make a dramatic improvement in these numbers,” Knapik added.

Aaron Gornstein, the undersecretary for housing and economic development, said the state does need to focus more on getting families out of hotels and motels. Both the Massachusetts Rental Voucher program and increases to the RAFT program will help, he said.

The RAFT program (Residential Assistance for Families in Transition) will also prevent thousands of families from becoming homeless, according to homeless advocates. Both the House and the Senate set aside $8.8 million for fiscal 2013, up from $260,000 in fiscal year 2012. RAFT helps families pay rent, move-in costs or back utilities to avoid homelessness.

“We are going to put these new resources to work very quickly. I do expect we will show results,” Gornstein said. “We have a great concern about families staying in hotels and motels. It is a high priority.”

Starting July 1, the HomeBASE program will give eligible families who are in shelter up to $4,000 to help move into more permanent housing. But the rental assistance part of the program is still frozen to only families already enrolled. For fiscal 2013 the House allocated $83.3 million, while the Senate budgeted $90.7 million.

Gornstein said the federal government has reduced funding for affordable housing during the past several years, leading states to pick up the burden.

“That is a big factor in trying to meet the demand,” he said.

Sen. Kenneth Donnelly (D-Arlington), who sponsored a budget amendment in the Senate to make sure eligibility requirements for emergency assistance were not restricted, said he agreed with those who argue hotels and motels are not the answer.

“We cannot disregard the fact that we are going to need emergency shelter,” Donnelly said. “We all agree permanent housing is the best option. But we cannot be in a situation where we have women and children that are on the streets, or anybody that is on the streets.”

One solution lawmakers need to look at is increasing funding for the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program, Donnelly and others said. The rental voucher program helps people move into permanent housing. The House funded MRVP at $46 million, while the Senate budget funded it at $42 million.

Advocates for the homeless anticipate the $46 million in the House budget for the MRVP program will help 935 families move out of motels and into more permanent housing.

Donnelly said it is an issue the state “really needs to spend some time on.”

“I don’t think we are out of this economic downturn. We need to make sure we are providing for housing,” Donnelly said.

The issue of housing families in hotels also spills in school district budgets, as communities that host homeless families in hotels are federally required, under the McKinney-Vento Act, to pay for school transportation costs without reimbursement from the state. In its version of the budget, the House included $11.3 million to reimburse communities that pay school transportation costs for families; the Senate did not include any money in its budget, instead opting to launch a study commission to look at the costs to communities.

As the budget moves to the conference committee stage, homeless advocates say their major focus will be on preserving eligibility for emergency shelter, including motels and hotels, and maximizing funding for the rental voucher program, said Kelly Turley, legislative director for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.

“There are so many programs that have been cut. Housing and homelessness programs have been protected in this budget,” Turley said. “But we are very concerned that there are categories of families that won’t be able to access shelter.”

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of Spare Change News, StoryStream conducted a storytelling session with many of the homeless vendors. They talked about their experiences selling the paper on the streets of Cambridge -- what it means to them to be part of the business, what their experiences have been, and their views of our city and its people. http://cctvcambridge.org/node/93715

From State House News Service:

With the Senate ready to begin debate on its fiscal 2013 budget Wednesday and a majority of senators apparently backing an amendment to eliminate tighter restrictions on shelter eligibility for homeless families, Undersecretary for Housing and Community Development Aaron Gornstein said the Patrick administration is urging the Senate to reject the amendment.

"The governor strongly support the Senate Ways and Means proposal, which we think is a reasonable and balanced approach to serving families in emergency situations and preserving the safety net," Gornstein told the News Service Tuesday evening.

The Senate budget, released from the Ways and Means Committee last week, restricts to four "narrow" categories families considered eligible for shelter, and will prevent thousands of families from finding shelter, homeless advocates say. Sen. Kenneth Donnelly (D-Arlington), Sen. James Eldridge (D-Acton), and Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) are pushing an amendment (Amendment #288) to repeal the categories and return eligibility to standards established in 2011. Gornstein said of the amendment, "It would cost a significant amount of money to continue the emergency shelter system that exists now and undermines our effort to provide a housing-first response."

Under the proposed restrictions, families who leave a domestic violence situation would only be eligible for shelter if they seek assistance immediately after they leave the abuse. Someone who stays with family or friends before seeking state shelter would not be eligible, according to homeless advocates. Another restriction says a family is eligible for shelter if they have been laid off from a job within the past year, but if that person survived on savings for a while, they would not be eligible for shelter if more than a year passed. A third category says if a family is evicted from their home because of someone else's actions - a significant other or another family member - they could not seek shelter, Eldridge said. A fourth category allows families evicted because of a sudden increase in rent to seek shelter, but if they manage to pay the increased rent for some time, and then end up homeless later, they are not eligible for assistance, advocates said.

Gornstein said the changes, also largely included in the House budget, would allow the state preserve the safety net, while still investing in programs that support more permanent housing options for homeless families. "This would set us back in terms of moving forward toward a housing first response as opposed to focusing a vast majority of our funding on emergency shelter," Gornstein said.

Gornstein also disputed Eldridge's assertion that the number of restrictions to accessing shelter have been growing, stating that no changes have been made previously to shelter eligibility. The undersecretary said he hopes senators had the facts they needed to make an appropriate decision.

From State House News Service:

A Senate budget amendment that eliminates tighter restrictions on shelter eligibility for homeless families has attracted majority support in that branch a day prior to budget debate, with 22 senators signing on in support.

The Senate budget, released from the Ways and Means Committee last week, restricts to four “narrow” categories families considered eligible for shelter, and will prevent thousands of families from finding shelter, homeless advocates say. Sen. Kenneth Donnelly (D-Arlington), Sen. James Eldridge (D-Concord), and Sen. Karen Spilka (D-Ashland) are pushing an amendment (Amendment #288) to repeal the categories and return eligibility to standards established in 2011.

“We have a situation in Massachusetts since the fiscal crisis of 2008 where we have thousands of homeless families,” Eldridge said. “We are concerned about the social safety net being ripped away.”

Under the proposed restrictions, families who leave a domestic violence situation would only be eligible for shelter if they seek assistance immediately after they leave the abuse. Someone who stays with family or friends before seeking state shelter would not be eligible, according to homeless advocates. Spilka said she worries most about the children of homeless families. “Nobody would want to exclude them from shelter,” she said.

Another restriction says a family is eligible for shelter if they have been laid off from a job within the past year. If someone was laid off and survived on savings for a while, they would not be eligible for shelter if more than a year passed, according to advocates.

A third category says if a family is evicted from their home because of someone else’s actions - a significant other or another family member – they could not seek shelter, Eldridge said.

A fourth category allows families evicted because of a sudden increase in rent to seek shelter, but if they manage to pay the increased rent for some time, and then end up homeless later, they are not eligible for assistance, advocates said. “There have been growing restrictions in general on access to shelter,” Eldridge said. “There are those of us in the Senate who have fought back against that, and that is what we will be doing this week.”

Debate on the Senate budget begins Wednesday.

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Joel Foster

On the first night of Occupy Boston, when protesters flooded Dewey Square and set up a makeshift tent village, I overheard a conversation. It was spoken between a young kid watching the action unfold and an older guy, who identified himself as a former Democratic activist.

The gist of the conversation was that these protests were the left’s response to the Tea Party and, any day now, the democrats would cling on and make this all about Obama’s reelection.

Even then, I felt that this guy was completely off the mark. At least I’d hoped he was.

Because on that first night, there was no shortage of folks with Ron Paul shirts, libertarians who were just as sick as the rest of the 99% at seeing the rotten political machine carrying on as usual. I figured, rather than make this the antithesis of the Tea Party protests, the Occupy movement should invite the Tea Party into the fold. I know it sounds crazy, especially with the images of ignorant and sometimes racist views of Tea Partiers that we’ve seen on TV.

But we all need to remember that the media helps shape how we view specific groups and those people had nothing to do with the original Tea Party. Rather, the group was eventually co-opted by the hard-line Republican Party and steered away from their original goals, which had more to do with fighting the Fed and government corruption than it did with reducing corporate regulations, as it is now.

So here we find the Occupy movement at a crossroads. Do they accept people who may not share all of their views in order create an overwhelming response to the abuses that both group’s oppose?

I feel that it would be unwise not to. While we’re seeing the media portray both movements as enemies of each other, it’s interesting to notice that, at heart, both Occupy and the Tea Party were spurred to action by the same event: the bank bailouts.

In essence, both groups are incensed at the level of corruption that exists between big corporations and the government. While they disagree on the minutiae, the underlying goal is common. Besides, do you ever expect a mass of people to agree on everything?

Here's a venn diagram that was drawn up by Slate's Jacob Weisberg.

So you see, not so different after all.

Harvard Professor Lawrence Lessig also weighed in on the subject, speaking to the crowd at Occupy Wall Street. He said that, no matter what you might think of them, the Tea Party is part of the 99% and, as a result, should be included.

Even more convincing is the seeming endorsement from Tea Party co-founder Karl Denninger, who said:

”Back in 2008, I wrote that we will actually see change is when the people come, they set up camp, and they refuse to go home. That appears to be happening now.”

The mainstream media continues to pedal the Tea Party versus Occupy narrative, even though it never would have existed were it not for the media to fan its flames. But remember, conflict sells. Good guys versus bad guys, Republicans versus Democrats. It sells papers to start a fight by fitting us all into categories and setting us loose on each other. What we often forget, as humans, is that we often want the same things. Justice and peace come to mind.

Strength comes in numbers. If the Occupy movement really wants to make a lasting statement, they need to recruit a more diverse crowd. What would be more diverse, and powerful, than two supposed enemies joining together? Rather than focus on the divisive issues, they should stick to the underlying message: namely, that government and corporations have been in bed for too long and it is time to wake up.

JOEL FOSTER is a freelance writer and founder of www.mindwafers.com

Joel Foster

Last Friday, September 30th saw the launch of OccupyBoston, a local movement in solidarity with the protests in New York. Other major cities around the country, such as Miami, San Francisco and Washington D.C., also started their own "Occupations" to fight back against government corruption and corporate greed. Taking their cues from the protests in Tahrir Square, the movement is decentralized and mostly run by young people, experienced in grassroots activism but untouched by the taint of organized politics. After a week of the protests, the media finally started giving the movement some attention, although much of it delivered in a negative or condescending tone.

Like many people who first heard about these mass protests, I was cynical upon reaching Dewey Square, across the street from the Federal Reserve building of Boston. At first, it was exciting to see such a diverse crowd of people standing up for themselves. Black, white, brown, teens, kids, adults, everybody seemed to be represented as the people marched across the street while the cops, who didn't seem to be bothered by the protesters, kept the people from being hit by oncoming traffic. A marching band let loose some infectious beats while a huge, paper machete head danced through the crowd. It was exciting. But a look around the block quickly brought me back to the ground.

When I looked around at the people not taking part, I expected some degree of curiosity. Instead, all I saw were iPhone zombies, presumably updating their status updates or playing Angry Birds. This said a lot to me at that moment. The people involved in this protest saw what was going on; that the middle class is disappearing and the American dream is being shredded like some incriminating Bank of America paperwork. The challenge isn't getting people to occupy Boston. Rather, the challenge is getting everyone else to pay attention in an age of distraction. So needless to say, I was a bit let down.

I was unsure, up that point, what the exact plan was. Were we just going to stand around? Was someone going to speak? But around 8:00 my spirits lifted back up when the Occupation truly began. A group of about ten people stood on an improvised stage, a sign above reading "Media" in black sharpie. Because of a city ordinance against using amplified equipment, the leaders were forced to use what's been dubbed "The People's Mic" which came to prominence during the New York protests. For those unfamiliar, the People's Mic sounds a bit silly but trust me when I say that in these situations, with little resources, it works well. Basically the message of the speaker is repeated by the crowd, naturally amplifying the message so the entire crowd can hear. I laughed at first but it soon created a sense of cohesion among the group.

The amount of organization among the group was staggering. The Occupation leaders assembled a team of lawyers for any future arrests, a food tent, a supplies tent. It was soon apparent that this wasn't just a group of hippies who decided to camp out in a park; this was legit.

Like New York, Occupy Boston plans to stay in Dewey Square indefinitely (should be interesting come winter) and marches are planned each day during times when the most Boston foot traffic occurs.

To see the crowd defying the stereotype that the "young people don't care" was exhilarating and it was hard not to be moved by the sacrifice and work that went into the Occupation. It's easy to criticize but it's even easier to do nothing about a system that we all know is rotten and set to implode. Of course, OccupyBoston will need to expand their reach over time, involving older folks, which will be difficult in terms of having the older generation take orders from the younger. The group would also do well by avoiding partisan politics and inviting those of all backgrounds to join. Remember, the protests are against government corruption, which transcends the tired democrat versus republican arguments. In that vein, they should be careful not to bring pet issues into the mix, as left leaning protests can often end up looking like liberal yard sales, with a confusing blend of issues clouding the focus.

Those skeptical of the movement, such as "liberal" websites such as The Daily Beast and other mainstream media outlets keep asking what the protesters are actually seeking. At a time when people receive information in soundbites, Occupy needs a succinct answer to that question or they will quickly disappear from the media radar. I would say that the group's demands are pretty simple: We demand that our voices actually count for something.

It's not that young people don't care, it's that they feel like they're not being heard. And as money continues to decide elections, it looks as though they may be right.

JOEL FOSTER is a freelance writer and founder of www.mindwafers.com

We should recognize that the recent Senate Special Election reflects the strengths and weaknesses of U.S. campaign system. Highlighting the campaign process of culturally similar industrialized countries can help to shed light on alternative campaign practices and spending on elections. Two of our European allies have a comprehensive election system like the United States but similarities change after that. Both the United Kingdom
and Germany permit government and private funding under a managed system of regulations.

The current law regarding campaign financing in the United Kingdom is contained in two acts the Representation of the People Act 1983 (RPA) and the Political Parties Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (PPERA). The UK system of regulating campaign financing focuses on limiting the expenditure of political parties and individual candidates, rather than limiting the donations that can be received by these parties and individuals. There are three types of election regulations: 1) To promote a party or its policies; 2) Expenditures incurred by a third party; and 3) Election expenditures incurred on promoting a specific candidate. The party that wins the most seats in at the general election (Parliament) forms the government. Allocation of 2 million pounds (4 million dollars) is made to eligible parties based on legislation by party size from the Electoral Commission. Parities can collect funding from citizens, corporations, and associations registered with the EC. The 2005 election in the U.K. saw the Conservative and Labor Parties receiving most of the financing, with the Liberal Democrats taking the balance.

On the other hand, the political parties are the main players in the German election process rather than the individual candidates or members of Parliament. Germany elects the Federal Diet, the federal legislature, by popular vote every 4 years. The members of the Federal Council, The other chamber of the federal legislature, is appointed by the state government. The length of election campaigns is not defined by federal law. Germany has provided public funding to the political parties in every election since WWII. The Federal Constitutional Court has frequently ruled on the fair distribution of government funds to the parties and on the tax treatment of private donations, thus causing frequent changes in legislation. Parties receive funds in proportion to the latest election results plus a matching fund consisting of private donations. Financial statements must be submitted to the legislature on a yearly basis. Individuals may deduct 50 percent of their donations from taxable income or claim a tax credit. There are no limits on private or corporate contributions. The disbursement of funds is based on Euros, and a party may not receive more public annual funds than it has earned or otherwise generated during the year. Private funding of political parties is also encouraged, as a counterweight to heavy government funding. Private donations must be disclosed immediately. Donations from charitable organizations and from trade unions, professional associations, and industrial or commercial associations are prohibited.

Back in the U.S., I expect that the recent Supreme Court decision lifting the ban on corporate campaign spending will create havoc and contribute to more head butting elections in the near future.

It never, well almost never amazes me at the stupidity of some people when it comes to certain things, take the latest idea around homelessness, The state legislature the same folks who brought us the budget crisis are now considering a bill to ban sex offenders from shelters, Check that homeless sex offenders from homeless shelters and homeless advocates are actually OK with this, These are level three offenders and this no doubt is a knee jerk reaction to the alleged rape in MGH a few weeks ago by a man who was both a level 3 and homeless. Memo to Beacon Hill the alleged crime took place in a bathroom of a medical facility, not in a shelter, And do we know for sure that this guy was actually homeless, The Homeless have enough stigma to deal with the last thing they need is to have the all homeless people are sex offenders label attached to them, Am I advocating for sex offenders, HELL NO, I'm advocating for homeless people who aren't. and while we're on the subject of advocating why exactly are homeless advocates behind this move, lets see no support for a homeless hate crime but in support of baning homeless people from homeless shelters, talk about your priorities, I understand the argument in theory, Shelters are not equipped to handle sex offenders and yes my good friend from Somerville is right in fearing that one incident could indeed close down his shelter, But this is the state's fault for not having a plan on how to handle these folks just like there is no plan on how to handle anyone released from prison or DSS or DYS custody or any kind of a plan really to address anything, The only thing they seem to know up there is cut, raise, kick out, or take bribes, oh and we can now add drunk driving to the list, But really why didn't anyone address before now, ANYONE, ANYONE. Offenders have it bad enough, No one is going to hire them, and housing, not a chance. This is also a knee jerk reaction to the budget cuts, Providers need to free up beds and quickly as this spat of nice weather is not going to continue, beds are a must.  But there is also a safety issue, in the first place level 3 offenders should not be in any shelter that has Women and Children, Also people in shelters should always feel safe, Secondly is there a plan in place if this ban goes through, according to state law level 3 sex offenders who stay in shelters, are required to report to police stations every 45 days If they are just thrown into the streets how will that happen, How will police be able to keep track of them, By checking every park and playground in the state, I bet there's no plan for that, and not that I want to scare folks but desperate people do desperate things to survive, and it's human nature to do whatever is necessary to achieve that goal,  Like commit a crime and go to jail, I bet no one in the State House is losing sleep over that. Homeless advocates and the public should come out against this ban until there is some kind of real plan in place, this is a public safety issue just not a shelter one, And I mean a real humane plan, not just chase them to the woods like some states in the south have done, Sure their crimes are heinous but we are all human and we should not sink to their level, If level 3's are that dangerous and they don't have a suitable place to go then there needs to be an alternative of some kind, I don't know what that would be, Then I would be Governor, oh that's right he doesn't know either, The other thing that frightens me about this is that it could open a can of worms, What next anyone with a severe handicap or mental illness has to be banned from shelters, what about kids under the age of 18, Think not, It was also said once that the Internet is just a fad it will fade away, that worked out well huh, See where I'm going with this, That's why this is a stupid idea

James Shearer

1. Gwen, The Homeless Doll

           When someone first mentioned this story to me I thought they were pulling my leg, but low and behold it's true. The American Girl Doll collection, which is owned by Mattel, is a big hit for its portrayal of little girls from all walks of life. Their latest addition is Gwen (for more, see the story by Shannon Moriarty, page 6 of this issue). At first glance she looks like your average doll but then you read her story, one of which accompanies all of the dolls, and you see Gwen is homeless. Her story is not unlike a great deal of homeless stories—she lives in a well to do neighborhood with her mom and dad, life is pretty good, then all hell breaks lose. Dad walks out and after struggling with being a single parent, Gwen's Mom loses it. One thing leads to another and little Gwen and her Mom end up homeless and sleeping in a car. Sad. Now it seems this little doll and her story has caused some minor controversy but not the kind you may think. The rancor over this is coming from well to do parents who are outraged that Mattel is exposing their little girls—and thereby themselves as well—to homelessness. Well I say good for Mattel. The reality is that stories like Gwen's are all too real. Homelessness doesn't just happen to people living on Main Street, it also happens to those on Wall Street. It doesn't take much to end up out there, just a wrong turn. Take for example the Globe article a few weeks ago about a former Boston police officer who now makes his address at Pine Street. Anyone can end up homeless. I can't get over the fact that people are so upset over this doll, but then again yes I can. People don't want their kids to see the realities of life. They'd rather have them live in their lilly white perfect world. You know, Mom, apple pie, and those ever annoying Leave it to Beaver reruns (Gee Wally, you mean homeless people really exist?). Yeah Beav they do. There are little Gwens all over this country and it's time you, Eddie Haskell, and everyone else did something about it.
 
2 The Square
 
    A couple of weeks ago I came across a Boston Globe about Central Sq that talked about how much the place has changed and also about the strong police presence that recently has been sweeping the streets clean of drug dealers. I take my hat off to the CPD for these efforts. What bothered me about the piece is the willingness of some Square residents to attribute drugs and crime in the area to the homeless who frequent it. First of all let me say this: your garden-variety homeless person (If there is such a thing) doesn't have time to peddle drugs. Their more immediate concern is where they can spend their day until Casper shelter opens at 4pm. I always hear Square residents complaining about homeless folks in the neighborhood. My question for those folks is this: where in the hell are they supposed to go? It's not like the City has built a plethora of day centers for them, On the contrary The City of Cambridge has went to great lengths to gentrify Central Sq, not to just get rid of homeless people but to also discourage poor people from gathering there period. The Square no longer has that homey community feel to it that used to set it apart from the more yuppie atmosphere of Harvard Sq. Instead it most of its businesses now cater to the suit and tie crowd that seems openly suspicious and hostile to anyone who can't afford a latte. The place is flush with yuppies who crowd Starbucks and shop at the Square's more high end facilities. Even the Can-Tab has changed from what was a great neighborhood blues bar to one that fills up at night with screaming alternative rock well to dos who talk about the goings on in The Office TV show or what Paris is wearing. Most of the benches that used to sit at every storefront were removed years ago in a failed attempt to keep the homeless from congregating on them. Now shoppers who want to sit and take in the Square’s atmosphere can't. The City in its zeal to make Central Harvard Sq East has robbed it of folksy charm. Yes there are a couple of good spots left, but overall Central Sq is gone, not because of the homeless but because of greed and stupidity. True that it's no longer “mental square,” but at what cost?
 
3.Health Care
 
    As many of you know it's Breast Cancer Month. I recently came across a story that upon reading both sadden and angered me. It involved a young woman who was diagnosed with Breast Cancer at 25. The thing that pissed me off about the story was how this young woman first found a lump in her breast and immediately went to her doctor and was told there was nothing to worry about. She continued to get sick so she sought attention from another doctor six months later, who informed her that she had stage IV Breast Cancer and might not live to see 30. Now I don't know the whole story and I'm not a doctor, but I can't help but wonder why this wasn't caught the first time around. Didn't the first doctor run tests? I've heard of cases like this, and in many of them doctors don't run tests. What does this have to do with the health care debate, you ask? Well it's a fact that sometimes doctors and Hospitals can't or won't run proper testing because they are bound to greedy HMO's who simply refuse to pay for expensive tests unless you’re bleeding to death, and sometimes not even then. Now I don't know if that was the case with the young woman from the story, but there are scores of stories of people out there who if they had been diagnosed earlier would have had a chance at a full and productive life. The maligned public option would address much of this problem, because it would force HMO's to administer early testing or risk losing a patient to a government run option. And for those greedy bastards that would mean losing money, and they don't want that. Hey I don't necessarily want government-run health care either, but if it's going to save lives sign me up. And you should too—lets work to stop the greed of HMOs. The lives of our mothers, wives, and daughters depend on it.

While my position of editor at Spare Change is a hat I wear with considerable pride, it is not the only decoration that habitually adorns my oft-reeling head. In fact, my primary professional role is that of a graduate student in clinical psychology, a field with which I am in frequent contention. Since initiating studies in the doctoral program in which I now matriculate, I have repeatedly questioned the function of clinical psychology in society, the integrity of its practices, and what it means for my own moral dissonance to be an agent of its systems.
    The more I learn about the practice of psychology on both meta and micro levels, the more uneasy I feel. Broadly, I am concerned with the role of the field in the maintenance of a certain status quo in society, particularly that of hierarchal class stratification. Pragmatically, this means that psychologists too often work to maintain the separation between themselves and those whom they purport to help, by generating top-down solutions to problems. While mental health professionals clearly have a measure of expertise through education and experience, it is wrong for psychologists to position themselves as objective ‘fixers’ of problems. Instead, I believe we can do better work as listeners, coaches, and coordinators who would empower people to create bottom-up change within their own lives, as well as within their communities.
    On a more micro or practical level, I am disturbed by the disconnect between the ethical ideals of beneficence and ‘do no harm’ that are espoused by professionals and the street level perspectives frequently expressed by those who know the mental health system as patients. The cover story of this issue (see Morley, page 4) relates to an aspect of psychology’s own ‘schizophrenia.’ While mental health policy and practice will often present through rhetorical flourishes about working in the patient’s or client’s best interests, when you ask the patient or client about her or his experience, resulting stories will often narrate impressions of the psychologist’s or the system’s interests getting served first. If this is the case, who and what are mental health professionals really working for?
    How does all of this psychobabble relate to the world here at Spare Change? Beyond the shallowness of the common stereotype that the majority of people on the street are homeless because of mental illness, it is true that psychological stress and the socioeconomic realities of poverty, unemployment, incarceration, physical disability, minority population membership and homelessness are deeply intertwined. However, one major reason for this interconnection is systemic rather than individual—many people must receive psychological diagnoses just to be entitled to services, such as subsidies for food or housing. For people who cannot afford to pay a private shrink, a therapist must list a diagnosis in order to receive compensation from insurance providers. In still other cases, stress or trauma that accompanies circumstances that deviate from the mainstream (such as homelessness) is pathologized because norms for psychological well-being were determined by the middle-class.
    Homelessness continues to grow in contemporary America, with accompanying increases in usage of mental healthcare services. Psychology has historically remained largely removed from the search for solutions to social issues such as homelessness. Yet if a recent column by American Psychological Association (APA) president Dr. James H. Bray entitled “Psychology’s contribution to ending homelessness” (October 2009 Monitor on Psychology) is any indication, perhaps the sense of responsibility within the field is shifting.
    While I commend Dr. Bray’s recognition of psychology’s obligation to work to eradicate homelessness, I doubt that his statement acknowledges any need to abandon a predominantly top-down model for intervention. While “Enlisting the resources of experienced clinicians and researchers; training graduate students to recognize and respond to the mental health needs of homeless persons; and collaborating with other professionals, agencies, and community stakeholders…” are good suggestions, Bray does not once mention how mental health professionals can improve their services to the homeless based on the perspectives of those who actually are homeless.
    In order to truly effect positive social change, psychology practitioners must coordinate with other professionals in policymaking, healthcare, and community organization as well as members of the community themselves to craft initiatives from the bottom-up. Such work would let all people define for themselves what is the meaning of well-being, a redistribution of power that would represent a true paradigm shift in the field of psychology.   

I and the rest of the Spare Change editorial staff have intentionally avoided mention of the subject in the pages of recent issues. My thoughts were that there are moments for the raising of awareness and moments when things are better left unsaid. The moment in question, I had thought, belonged to the latter.
    I have shied from discussion of the tent city that has recently gained publicity in Harvard Square precisely because I—along with some of the encampment’s residents—recognize that publicity could harm people who have already been rendered vulnerable by myriad circumstances. Now, however, since the story has seeped onto the pages of the Boston Globe and leaked onto youtube, I feel obliged to comment.
    As a journalist I have deep reverence for the power of media to function in a capacity for advocacy, especially for silenced or underserved peoples. I agree with the notion that it is important that the public be aware of social issues that might otherwise go unnoticed by a mainstream that is more frequently connected to the couch than the street. In so many ways, knowledge acts as a vehicle for change and the open dissemination thereof is one fundament of a democratic and just society.
    Yet in the case of the Harvard Sq. tent city, I chose to remain silent, deliberately not directing reporters and photographers to the site, although I was well aware of the encampment’s existence. I held my tongue primarily because I am acquainted with some of the tent city’s regular residents, and I am familiar with their wishes to remain under the radar. I kept quiet out of respect for their situations, out of respect for their simple desire not to be exploited.
    In contrast to the presentation of the local tent city rendered by the Globe, not all of the residents share Mr. Kenneth O’Brien’s defiant contempt for Cambridge authorities. I strongly admire Kenny’s iron will and unrelenting capacity to fight for his rights. Yet I also understand that not everyone would say, “If they come to move me, I’ll tell them, ‘Arrest me’.” Some individuals who encounter situations of homelessness are simply trying to get back on their feet as quietly and as quickly as possible. Not everyone is fortified by the same 35 years that Kenny has spent on the street. 
    The Boston Globe tent city story is informative and I commend Ms. Irons, its author, for discussing the drastic increase in the number of homeless individuals in Cambridge between 2008 and this year (33%!). Yet its portrayal of the tent city is somewhat misrepresentative. For instance, Irons writes “Others, including those weary of shelters, have been pitching tents in the woods, behind buildings, and in public parks in a struggle for autonomy.” While this vaguely romantic (and distinctly American) image of the ‘self-deterministic’ individual turning his back on the system and going rogue is scintillating, it is not necessarily reflective of the reality lived by many people on the street. Not everyone is weary of shelters—in fact, at least some of the Harvard Sq. tent city’s residents are there simply because area shelters are currently full. Pitching a tent is the only discernable means by which to weather the time spent on waiting lists for a bed.
    As for the ‘struggle for autonomy,’ I find it quite surprising that Ms. Irons chose not to speak with nor even mention Spare Change in her article, considering that we are one of the few organizations in the Metro area truly committed to supporting homeless men and women’s needs for autonomy over dependency. Here, we don’t give handouts—instead, we offer the opportunity for people to independently earn and work their ways out of poverty through self-employment. If the Globe were truly interested in how area homeless are working outside of the system to improve their lives, it would have spoken with at least one vendor.
    Likewise, if the Globe were truly committed to the interests of the homeless instead of those of its readers, it would have thought twice about potentially jeopardizing the situations of the men and women currently calling Cambridge Common and Flagstaff Park home. If Harvard Square’s tent cities are shut down, local newspapers will have the opportunity to enact righteous journalism through advocacy. I hope that the Boston Globe would join us here at Spare Change in the fight.

James Shearer   

    This past week, Gov. Patrick announced that there was a budget shortfall of oh say $600 million or so. Naturally, Joe Taxpayer will have to pay for it with severe cuts to cities and towns already under the knife, (pun intended). Patrick may even cut some 2,000 state jobs before Christmas. Talk about a lump of coal in your stocking.
    "Painful as it is," Patrick said at last Thursday's press conference, "We have to adjust." What do you mean we Governor? You mean us, you don't have a damn thing to worry about. You and your family seem to be doing pretty well, living comfortably and cozy in Milton. You’re not in danger of losing your job (well not yet anyway), you won't have to tell the wife and kids that there may not be food or shelter for them this year let alone presents under the Christmas tree. You do not know what us regular folks are dealing with sir, so PU-LEESE spare us the ‘we’ crap.
    For my fellow regular folks keeping score at home, this is the 4th (count ‘em) 4th time this year that we have been subjected to this bullshit and Governor, it stinks. In my opinion, this is just another disappointment in a litany of disappointments since Patrick took office. When he was elected almost three years ago there was so much hope, so much promise (sounds familiar, I know, but Obama still has time). Yet all we've gotten is broken promises (anyone remember the 5-year plan to end homelessness? Anyone?), and budget cuts. Oh and there was that casino thing, and Patrick even backed away from that, unwilling to take on someone who was a bully and a common…er…wait, innocent until proven guilty right? RIGHT.
    So what happens next you ask? You know what happens next, cuts across the board and the hardest hit will no doubt be the agencies that serve the poor and homeless. Shelter beds will be cut or close altogether. Cities and towns will have to do away with things like elder services and daycare, food pantry's will either have to cut back or close altogether. Vital services like police and fire agencies will have to take a back seat.
    All this just in time for what portends to be a very nasty winter season. Gee thanks Governor. You know the drill about how it all went down—the hastily called press conference where the Gov. with his co-defendants behind him wring their hands and tell us how painful this is for all of them. Then they all go back to their cushy, pricey homes, sit by nice warm fires, bake cookies, and drink $100 dollar bottles of wines, (and lest we forget that when they drive to dinner they do so in state owned vehicles) and generally make merry while we worry about grandma having to eat dog food and keep her faulty heater on.
    I expected more from Patrick I really did, but like the cold-hearted gentleman he replaced, he hasn't done much of anything. Now I know there will be people that will right me and tell me how mean spirited I am and how Patrick has done so much. To those people I say don't kill a tree by writing, instead show me what he's done. I personally don't see much change, oh and then maybe I do…. Yes things have actually become WORSE!
    I have one burning question for Patrick’s defenders—what the hell happened to all of that stimulus money? Didn't Massachusetts supposedly get a rather large sum because of the Gov.’s connection to you know who? What happened to that?  Wasn’t there supposed to be enough to sustain us for a bit? What happened to all the job creation and boost to the state economy we were hearing about?
    I want an answer and all of you should too, but you know we won't get one, at least not a straight one. And you know what folks, the fact is that in all likelihood this guy will get reelected. Watch, it will be a tight race until you know who shows up to press the flesh for his old buddy, and all the liberals will forget and forgive Deval's shortcomings. Then he'll get four more years that is unless someone in his own party grows a set and challenges him. Hmm…oh who am I kidding.

This document was offered on the website of The Boston Globe soon after the July 16th incident. It was then taken down for undisclosed reasons, then later re-posted in abbreviated form. Note the discrepancy between the original 911 call transcript by Ms. Whalen (available at http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1187334&pos=...) and the text in the police report. In her actual words, Ms. Whalen never mentions the race of the men she saw on Gates' porch until prompted by the dispatcher, upon which she says that one might be Hispanic. Meanwhile, the police report--written by Officer Crowley--says that Whalen reported 'two black males with backpacks.' Please submit your comments about this police report, the case itself, or the broader implications thereof, below.

After the government of Zimbabwe decided to get rid of the local dollar whose value had been destroyed by inflation, goods have finally begun to reappear in stores and prices are falling. But some Zimbabweans are finding it even harder to make a living because they now have to survive solely off their allowance. People can no longer sell on the black market either, but some are being resourceful and selling the old, worthless Zimbabwe dollars to tourists for as much as $20. The government is seeking $5 billion for long-term recovery, which relies on the satisfaction of Western donors that Zimbabwe is on the road to stability. Unemployment in Zimbabwe is over 90 percent, and three million people have already left the country in search of other jobs.

This document was offered on the website of The Boston Globe soon after the July 16th incident. It was then taken down for undisclosed reasons, then later re-posted in abbreviated form. Note the discrepancy between the original 911 call transcript by Ms. Whalen (available at http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1187334&pos=...) and the text in the police report. In her actual words, Ms. Whalen never mentions the race of the men she saw on Gates' porch until prompted by the dispatcher, upon which she says that one might be Hispanic. Meanwhile, the police report--written by Officer Crowley--says that Whalen reported 'two black males with backpacks.' Please submit your comments about this police report, the case itself, or the broader implications thereof, below.