Activist organizer Sandra Verthein is throwing her backing behind Rick Munoz for Chicago City Clerk. In an email sent to her own supporters she says:
It's time to bring reform, transparency and accountability to the Clerk's office!
Independent Democratic Alderman Rick Munoz is running against incumbent Dorothy Brown for Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. This is an office that desperately needs reform -- together we can make that happen!
See the full email after the jump.
Verthein was instrumental in the creation of Northside Democracy for America and of late has been active in promoting Independent Voters of Illinois - Independent Precinct Organization (IVI-IPO). These two progressive organizations have been among the most active progressive organizations in the Illinois and Chicago electoral arena. These are in addition to the personal organizations of some progressive office holders.
(Sorry about the lack of specifics in this boiler plate press release. But that's the way the rhetoric bounces. It would have been nice if they had indicated which aldermen made an effort and specifically what was removed and what was left. - Jeff W. )
Joint statement by Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) and Occupy Chicago
At 12:30 today, Rahm Emanuel officiated over the death of the Bill of Rights in the City Council chambers.
Ordinances designed to severely restrict First Amendment rights of speech and assembly were presented on December 14th. The stated target was to prepare to repress protestors during the summits of NATO and the G8.
At first, aldermen and the media all agreed that no one would oppose Emanuel on this.
In response to mayor's attack on civil liberties, the Coalition Against NATO/G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) joined together with Occupy Chicago and several unions to unite our efforts to defend of civil liberties in Chicago. By last week, aldermen had felt so much pressure from constituents that they had to speak out.
Emanuel then moved to withdraw first one, and then another, of the most criticized pieces. Protests continued to grow; Emanuel retreated further; the protests mounted, and he retreated even further.
Finally, a version was reached that the council opposition could vote for, hoping that the movement would not condemn them. The final version is still a significant attack on democratic rights; its passage is a defeat for our movement.
The mayor has not achieved his true objective, though. Emanuel looks at the new Chicago he has inherited, with protestors in so many places, and he wants to put the genie back in the bottle. It's not possible.
We have the right to protest against war, austerity, and inequality. Mayor Emanuel, you'll see us in the streets of Chicago: our streets.
It's not often that we find ourselves on the same side as our Republican Senator and on the opposite side of our Democratic one. Of course the atmospherics work better for the Republicans. When one characterizes it as Hollywood versus Silicon Valley Entrepreneurs, that works well for them. But for the Democrats it might appear as Hollywood versus hippies. Oops.
At the moment I am no more a fan of mass protests than I am of electoral politics. Neither particularly effect change. For either to work you need to get a lot of people on the same page. If that work gets done then actually both can work quite effectively.
So perhaps I should amend my first statement. I do not see sufficient upfront organizing by either protest movements or progressive electoral movements to effect change by the either the protest tactic or the election tactic.
From CANG8 Press Release:
CHICAGO, January 12: Activists with the Coalition Against the NATO and G8 War & Poverty Agenda (CANG8) this afternoon received a permit from the City of Chicago for a Saturday, May 19 march from Daley Plaza to McCormick Place, site of the NATO / G8 summits to be held May 19-21.
"The issuance of this permit shows that the current ordinances, while not perfect, are more than adequate for large public events in our city, and that the Mayor should rescind his proposed anti-protester ordinances," said Andy Thayer of CANG8. "These proposed ordinance changes have been roundly condemned by all civil liberties experts who have reviewed them. The time to withdraw them is now."
The cover letter from the City accompanying the CANG8 permit contains a disturbing "escape clause," which reads, "In the event [that] the Secret Service designates specific security zones or areas that impact your route, please note that the Chicago Department of Transportation will work with you to find an alternate route for your event."
"We reject the notion that the Secret Service should reject permits that have already been approved," said Thayer. The feds have had at least six months to study the security issues surrounding the summits. In the event that they attempt to make large sections of the city inaccessible, we demand that the City insist that the protests proceed unimpeded and unmolested. Anything less would be hypocrisy on the Mayor's part."
The City Council is scheduled to vote on Emanuel's ordinance changes at its meeting on Wednesday, January 18. Two City Council committees are scheduled to discuss the changes on Tuesday, January 17 - the Committee on Budget and Government Operations at 10 AM in the 2nd floor City Council chambers, and the Committee on Special Events, Cultural Affairs and Recreation at 1 PM in Room 201A.
An organization I belong to has hundreds of members. During a recent general membership meeting, one of them stood up and pitched the idea that the group should be selling his brand of electricity to the rest of us as a fundraiser.
The board of directors asked him to confirm whether his is a multi-level marketing venture. The response: “You say that like it’s a bad thing.”
Thus the retail electricity market in the era of “unbundling” the costs of energy supply from those of delivery suddenly appeared to take on a somewhat pyramidal shape. The meeting incident plus my own community’s pursuit of a municipal energy aggregation program prompted me to investigate these developments more closely.
In the famous Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles, the crew of the Enterprise finds itself in danger of being swamped by the incredible growth rate of what at first appeared to be adorable little creatures. Tribbles are an apt metaphor for employee pension systems that threaten to consume so much of an employer budget that the fundamental mission of the employing unit is imperiled.
On the surface, no one except a grinch could begrudge a generous pension, just as only the sour and malevolent Klingons disliked tribbles. Wouldn't we all like to retire in fuzzy comfort? The problem with pensions lies in growth rates.
The following is a non-ideological look at how and why defined benefit systems have been cratering under their own weight and would do so even if all contributions had been made. In particular, defined benefit plans with the payout levels now seen in Illinois and many other jurisdictions are only sustainable if high levels of return on invested funds are achieved. To assume such rates, however, is to disregard sound, conservative planning principles in favor of wishful thinking.
The following gets a little wonky and requires a graphic aid. The spreadsheet below, seen here as a JPG and downloadable as an Excel file if you click here, illustrates the built-in tribble-like problem. The spreadsheet uses a simple example of a 1-person pension plan, looking at just one employee's contributions and withdrawals. Bear in mind that the results would hold for a 100- or 1000-person plan. As I discuss in detail below the fold, what the math reveals is the workings of a fiscal time bomb.
BILL TITLE: Making appropriations for military construction, the QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Conference Report H R 2055 YEA-AND-NAY 16-Dec-2011 1:46 PM Link to Full Vote - 2012 Appropriations
On November 13th, Team HOPE heard from Lauren Taylor, a member of the Communications Committee (iirc) from OccupyChicago.
I reached out to OccupyChicago for a couple of different reasons. First of all, one of our members is the driving force behind OccupyHomewood, which has held protests in front of the Chase Bank on 183rd in Homewood. But I also wanted to start a discussion on what kind of effect the OWS movement might have on the 2012 elections (which is a major organizing interest of Team HOPE).
The discussion we had was very lively. Both sides of the discussion represented their viewpoints well and with respect. And the people who attended got a lot out of it.
This video clip is Lauren's introduction. Because no one really mans the cameras, there was no practical way of recording the whole discussion.
Chicago’s Board of Trade building (1930) is a sentinel of agrarian capitalism. Captured by its stone façade are two emblems of agriculture, an Egyptian holding a stalk of wheat and a Native American a sheaf of corn. They are hooded and tired, defeated by combine harvesters and phosphates, by the congealed capital of the vast agro-businesses that turned the fields into factories. Watching the development of this new kind of farming, John Steinbeck wrote, “The monster has to have profits all the time. When the monster stops growing, it dies. It can’t stay one size.”
Corn bushels and hog bellies would be traded in the Board of Trade’s pit, adding financial turbulence to the normal trials of nature that afflict farmers. Soon the commodities of the soil would no longer be center stage, as the Board of Trade grew to be an enormous base for the trading of derivatives (it merged with the Mercantile Exchange, and as the Chicago Merc is the largest trading platform for derivatives). Fictions on fictions sucked in social wealth. No wonder that the Board of Trade decided to build its mausoleum across the road from the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Agriculture had been handed over to Money.
(Broken up for faster front page loading. - promoted by wegerje)
Several Occupy Illinois groups came together Saturday in Springfield for Occupy Your State Capital Day. I've been to enough protest rallies that it gets routine, but this event had some of the most exciting, energetic moments I've seen at any grass-roots political event.
A WAND TV reporter posted a short video that gives a feel for the day.
It started with reading a proclamation from Occupy Wall Street. Then several Occupy groups from central Illinois, including Occupy Peoria, were given a chance at the mic. Bloomington-Normal brought a large delegation and had someone sing a great song on banjo.
Occupy groups from across Illinois will be in Springfield for the national day of action happening at state capitals. Reporters may be forced to write a new narrative other than "they don't know what they're protesting for."
I have been scornful of Representative Mike Quigley of IL-05. I have always wanted him to represent his district more progressively. More like Jan or Jesse. I get it that his district is considered somehow less progressive than Jan's northern lakefront district or Jesse's southern poverty district. But frankly that argument doesn't wash with me as I consider it a messaging and framing issue. If Paul Wellstone can represent the same state as Jesse Ventura then Mike can represent a district of quite comparable politics.
So when I saw that Bernie Sanders and thirteen others have composed a letter demanding an investigation of the environmental disaster that is the Keystone XL Pipeline I immediately opened the letter to see if Jan had signed on so I could tout her here.
