Vol. XXXIV, Number 3 March 2014       http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/2014/March
The Fight for $15 Finally Comes to Portland »
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MORE ON:

The Ukraine
Wrong side of history’ plea
Russian billionaire sells stake in major firm a
day before sanctions
Putin completes expected annexation of Crimea
Putin bans US politicians,
Obama stiffens "sanctions"

http://www.theportlandalliance/

Lots of Poetry! 
ThePortlandAlliance.org/MaryOtte
New Poetry from  Mary Ought Six
Walidah Imarisha
Two Poems by Walidah
Buddy Bee
Three by Buddy Bee

and more...

 

ThePortlandAlliance.org/hastie

Obey
 

Living in America,
sometimes makes me think
I live in a luxurious concentration camp.  I can have anything I want as long as I obey certain rules.

Accepting Submissions!
http://wordsmithcollection.blogspot.com/2013/06/accepting-submissions.html


Breaking News

How Privatization Perverts Education

Read the Article at BuzzFlash


Drone Killing the Fifth Amendment: How to Build a Post-Constitutional America One Death at a Time

Read the Article at TomDispatch


Excessive Radiation Levels Detected at New Mexico Waste Site

Read the Article at Reuters


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Eyes Wide Shut!

by Yugen Fardan Rashad



By Norman Solomon

Now the shoe is on the other foot. It is Obama defending the principle of “national sovereignty”while Putin is using the military “humanitarian intervention” rule promulgated most outspokenly by Obama’s UN Ambassador Samantha Power and National Security Advisor Susan Rice.

Picture of Michael Munk Tribune Photo L. E. Baskow


Peter C. Little: Alliance Photographer




 

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Stumping for Justice in Stumptown

The Fight for $15 Finally Comes to Portland

by SHAMUS COOKE

Like the Occupy movement before it, the “fight for $15” came to Portland as a transplant. Portland activists watched events in Seattle with a skeptical eye, but Seattle’s “fantasy” of $15 was transformed into an emerging reality, now replete with the support of the Mayor and City Council who are working on a plan to implement the new minimum wage. 
Tom Engelhardt /
Tom H. Hastings theportlandalliance.org/hastings
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Salt and Terror in Afghanistan

by Kathy Kelly

In late January in a room in Kabul, Afghanistan, I joined several dozen people, working seamstresses, some college students, socially engaged teenagers and a few visiting internationals like myself, to discuss world hunger. Our emphasis was not exclusively on their own country’s worsening hunger problems. The Afghan Peace Volunteers, in whose home we were meeting, draw strength from looking beyond their own very real struggles.

Theresa Kennedy-Dupay
Kucinich /
Michael Munk /

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Obama won the ‘08 primary because he opposed the invasion while Hillary defended it. He tried to keep the US occupation going but the Iraqis
refused to immunize US troops who commit war crimes as Obama demanded.
Any Obamatons left after this disgraceful rant?-MM
Myers / Military Personnel
Cheating on tests!
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Mark Schwebke /
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Lawrence S. Wittner


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Today, a top US military official candidly admitted
what we have known for years...
The  war in Iraq was about oil. 

US Uncut's photo. Source: http://bit.ly/1htrcNb  Thank Global Climate Convergence for the meme. 


Admiral Dennis Blair said:  We Sent Troops to Middle East...
Because of Oil-Based Importance of Region."

At the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs hearing titled, “The Geopolitical Potential of the U.S. Energy Boom,” Admiral Dennis Blair — former Director of National Intelligence, President and CEO of Institute for Defense Analyses and Commander in Chief of U.S. Pacific Command — admitted the Iraq war was about oil.  more:  http://desmogblog.com/   (Old News!)

          LABOR RADIO SHOW
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/laborradio
 KBOO Community Radio  90.7 FM presents: Labor Radio Show
 6:00-6:30 pm Every Monday Night!
CALL-IN and join the conversation! : 503-231-8187  March 31st, 2014
Host: Michael Morrow-- 5th Monday
Guests Juan Carlos Ordonez and Scott Moore

http://laborradiocollective.blogspot.com/2014/03/taxfairnessandincomedisparity.html
What the U.S. really needs is

universal single-payer nonprofit health care!

metzmad.JPGhttp://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/healthcare
Checkout The Alliance Healthcare Portal


Anesthesiologist Samuel Metz addressed the crowd at a rally in Pioneer Square in 2009. He was joined by a number of doctors, all in white caps, who support healthcare reform.  And right now, in March 2014, nothing has changed.  We need and deserve universal single payer nonprofit health care.  And this does not require anything but courage and a presidential signature.
(Picture above and story excerpt below by Faith Cathcart & The Oregonian)

on March 17, 2014 at 4:00 PM, 

By Samuel Metz, M.D.

Imagine all your medical information imprinted on one wallet-sized card. Then you lose it. Is this an inconvenience, or a catastrophe?

In France, Taiwan and other countries providing universal health care at lower cost, it’s an inconvenience. Get a replacement, and all is well. No harm, no foul.

But not here. In Oregon, and anywhere in the U.S., your medical records determine the kind of care you get, and maybe if you get any care at all.

  It’s a life or death issue.          http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/healthcare


"Commemorating" the Vietnam War: One Marine's Perspective

Camillo Mac Bica, Truthout: "March 29 has been designated 'Vietnam Veterans Day,' according to a proclamation issued by President Obama in 2012. Now, I have no problem acknowledging the debt owed to all whose lives were affected by this war. What I find intolerable is that our leaders are incapable of telling the truth about the war."

Read more about this and other issues:       http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/truthout


Connecting Earth Day to May Day

Next month's convergence calls for "a solution as big as the crisis barreling down at us."

Nurses protest the possible Keystone XL Pipeline as a threat to the health of people and the planet (Steve Rhodes)Nurses protest the possible Keystone XL Pipeline as a threat to the health of people and the planet (Steve Rhodes)

"PEOPLE, PLANET and peace over profit."

That's the slogan for the Global Climate Convergence, a campaign of education and activism set for later this month, with 10 days of action running from Earth Day on April 22 to May Day, the traditional holiday celebrating workers' struggles.

The Global Climate Convergence marks an important moment in the broadening ecological struggle--a recognition that climate change is inextricably linked with capitalism, and that our struggle for environmental justice must be just as closely linked to the struggle for social justice and workers' rights.
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/socialistworker


The Walmart Portal at The Alliance
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/walmart

Up Against Wal-Mart

At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back.


A New Postal Alliance!

A new postal unity
Retired letter carrier Jamie Partridge reports on a new alliance that aims to combine the rank-and-file power of all four postal workers' unions.
Gathered in Chicago for the APWU national day of action in 2012 (Carole Ramsden | SW)Gathered in Chicago for the APWU national day of action in 2012 (Carole Ramsden | SW)
"THE U.S. Postal Service is under unprecedented attack...The four postal unions stand together to end the attack." The mid-March proclamation of "A Postal Union Alliance" might seem just common sense to the outside observer, but to rank-and-file postal workers and their allies, it was a huge breath of fresh air.
http://uspsactivismresource.blogspot.com/2014/03/a-new-postal-alliance.html
 

Whitelandia Teaser, March 2014

Facebook: facebook.com/pages/Whitelandia/1438458399705603?ref=hl
WHITELANDIA is a 90-minute documentary examining the history of state sanctioned discrimination against Black Americans in Oregon and how that discrimination continues to be a destructive force today. ...Watching their homes and businesses disappear one by one, the film reveals the ongoing displacement of Black Americans as their neighborhoods succumb to a nonstop in-migration of upper-middle-class White families. With a city government favoring the higher income residents for the increased tax base they bring with them, and a foreclosure rate nearly double that of whitesWHITELANDIA is a 90-minute documentary examining the history of state sanctioned discrimination against Black Americans in Oregon due to the targeting of Black Americans for predatory mortgage loans, traditionally Black neighborhoods are all but gone…and Oregon's Black population seems to simply be vanishing. The film leaves us to speculate whether Oregon's original goal of establishing a white homeland may well be close at hand. As one Black resident interviewed asserts, "I don't live in Oregon, I survive in Oregon."



1gcc2


There is a call for ‘deglobalization’ which refers to orienting our communities to build local economies, to produce goods that are needed and to become more self-reliant. A detailed plan for this is outlined in the blog on systemic alternatives.

We have an opportunity right now while trade deals are stalled to redefine global governance. Collectively, the people can confront the dominant paradigms and global power structure and rebirth a world grounded in the principles of human rights and protection of the planet. Resistance is not only protest, but includes acts of creation. When you get involved in your community to build democratized economies, you are part of the global transformation.   http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/occupation


http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/aflcio

Stand with Darigold Workers

On Sunday, March 2nd at 1:00pm workers represented by the United Farm Workers from Darigold Dairies will hold a rally at Portland State University in downtown Portland.    These workers aren’t crying over spilled milk.


NW Alliance Portal to NW Labor Press:

http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/nwlaborpress

Union Organizing

After obstruction and delay,
City of Portland ordered to proceed with union election
for park rangers

City obstructed and delayed for a year, but now park rangers get to join DCTU…

More on these stories... http://ThePortlandAlliance.org/nwlaborpress/
Pictures above include work by W Labor Press associate editor Don McIntosh, as published in NW Labor Press.


A Portal to OCPP!
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/ocpp

News Release
 
March 19, 2014 
 
For more information contact:  

  

  • Jason Gettel, Policy Analyst (541) 285-1751
  • Juan Carlos Ordonez, Communications Director (503) 310-7138
  • Chuck Sheketoff, Executive Director (503) 873-1201 
Profitable Corporations Pay No Oregon Income Taxes
 
State corporate income tax avoidance spans the nation

 

Some highly profitable corporations are finding ways to avoid paying any state income taxes, Oregon and national data show.
 
At least 24 corporations that made a profit in Oregon in 2011, including eight with profits of over $5 million, paid no Oregon income taxes for that year, according to the Oregon Center for Public Policy's review of the most recent Oregon Department of Revenue data.
 
In total, 38 profitable corporations paid less than Oregon's corporate minimum tax for tax year 2011, said Jason Gettel, policy analyst with the Silverton-based think tank. The corporate minimum tax increased from $10 to a sliding scale ranging from $150 to $100,000 when voters approved Measure 67 in 2010.
 
Meanwhile, a national report released today found that, when adding up the income taxes paid to all states, 90 profitable Fortune 500 companies paid no state income taxes in at least one recent year....

NOTE TO REPORTERS AND EDITORS:

Read a copy of this news release here (HTML) or here (PDF).

Lawrence Lessig's March to End Corruption

Bill Moyers, Moyers & Company:In the footsteps of Doris "Granny D" Haddock, activist Lawrence Lessig led a two-week, 185-mile trek through the winter cold in New Hampshire to raise awareness of corruption in American politics.

Watch the Video and Read the Transcript


Cover Photo

t
Socialist Council member Kshama Sawant's response to Obama's
State of the Union address in January. Please listen!

 

Ibrahim Bilal Mubarak came up with the idea, that those who embrace community might get together and embrace one another.

With just days to go before the first strike in its history, the Portland Association of Teachers (PAT) won a tentative contract agreement from Portland Public Schools (PPS) officials that achieved the teachers' most important demands.

The victory was the product of a hard-fought campaign stretching back months, against a school district that was determined to push concessions on teachers in line with its commitment to the corporate school "reform" agenda. But the PAT countered with a determined struggle that united rank-and-file teachers--who, in the face of all the intimidation served up by the district and the media, voted almost unanimously to authorize a strike--and that mobilized support from students, parents and the community.
http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/socialistworker


Donna Boyd of Portland, Oregon,
Joins International Delegation of Women to Visit Women of Gaza

In a response to a call from the women of Gaza, Donna Boyd is joining an international coalition of 100 women traveling to Gaza to witness the hardships facing the 1.7 million residents, deliver humanitarian aid, and call attention to the need for a longer-term strategy to achieve peace and justice for Palestinians.  The delegation will attempt to enter Gaza through Egypt at the Rafah border on March 6th.  They will be in Gaza for International Women's Day, which is on March 8th, and return to Egypt on March 12th.  The delegation will be delivering solar lamps to the women of Gaza, who have been facing severe electricity shortages.
 
This is the first time since the overthrow of Egyptian President Morsi that a large delegation has attempted to enter Gaza through the Egyptian border.
"The women of Gaza are needing now, more than ever, a show of support from the outside world.  They are enduring hardships that have been imposed upon them by conditions beyond their control.  These hardships have been created by a power that has kept them under siege, restricting free movement, depleting their economy, water, electricity, and most of all, human dignity.  It is our responsibility to expose this situation to the people of the world, to create international pressure to right this situation."
 

Unveiling the Dangers of GMO foods and Toxic Food Dyes

   by Don Dupay    http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/toxicfood
 

    All my life (until now) I have been eating packages of yellow cheese puffs. I love the damned things, the cheesy taste and all. Absentmindedly I recently put on my reading glasses and looked again at the pretty pictures of the cheesy things displayed on the package. I noticed one of the ingredients was yellow dye #6, what the hell, I thought? I always believed they were yellow colored because of the cheese on them. But no...they are dyed yellow. Now my detectives mind went into action, I discovered there are other dyes, including blue #1, blue #2, green #3, red #3, red #40, yellow #5, yellow #6 and citrus red #2. Worse yet, the cheesy things were cooked in corn oil, a GMO poison created by the Monsanto company. 


Portland Films: The Alliance Film Guide:  Scheduling, Reviews, and More...
Check it out! Finally Got the News- (1970) a filmCheck it out! about the revolutionary struggle of Black autoworkers in Detroit... watch it as a double feature with the documentary about the injured GM workers in Bogota. Don't miss these films! Connects the struggle of the autoworkers in Bogota with the struggle of the League of Revolutionary Black Workers in Detroit in 1970.
Both links are available at http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/film

Inequality for All

Published on October 8th, 2013

inequalposterAt the heart of the film is a simple proposition: what is a good society, and what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of our nation’s economic health? We are endeavoring for Inequality for All to be a paradigm-shifting, eye-opening experience for the American public. We want to accurately show through a non-partisan perspective why extreme income inequality is such an important topic for our citizens today and for the future of America.

Starts Friday October 11th

60

- See more at: http://hollywoodtheatre.org/inequality-for-all/#sthash.MLjShSBy.ZqntgYHh.dpuf

Inequality for All

Published on October 8th, 2013

inequalposterAt the heart of the film is a simple proposition: what is a good society, and what role does the widening income gap play in the deterioration of our nation’s economic health? We are endeavoring for Inequality for All to be a paradigm-shifting, eye-opening experience for the American public. We want to accurately show through a non-partisan perspective why extreme income inequality is such an important topic for our citizens today and for the future of America.

Starts Friday October 11th

60

- See more at: http://hollywoodtheatre.org/inequality-for-all/#sthash.MLjShSBy.ZqntgYHh.dpuf

Another Florida Man Gets Away with Murder

Bobby Worthy, CEO and President of The Justice League, leads a chant outside of the Duval County Courthouse as the jury enters the fourth day of deliberations in the trail of Michael Dunn, Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014, in Jacksonville, Fla. Large crowds gathered outside the courthouse to wait for a
verdict in the Dunn trial. Dunn was convicted Saturday of attempted murder in the shooting death of a teenager during an argument over loud music, but jurors could not agree on the most serious charge of first-degree murder. (AP Photo/The Florida Times-Union, Kelly Jordan) http://www.ThePortlandAlliance.org/skanner


By George Curry,
NNPA Columnist







 
"People have only as much liberty as they have the intelligence to want
and the courage to take.”
Emma Goldman
The right to rebellion is the right to seek a higher rule... GEORGE ELIOT

Help support local media!


                                                      And Checkout The Alliance Community Action Calendar

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Shannon Wheeler's Too Much Coffee Man Portal at The Portland Alliance

Too Much Coffee Man

http://wordsmithcollection.blogspot.com/2013/06/writing-creative-arts-cutting-edge-of.html