Anti-Drone Demonstrators Return to Brighton
Demonstrators against the use of remote-controlled drone weapons of mass destruction returned to the 12 Corners in Brighton on Wednesday September 12 after a 3 week absence. "We took a week off after the Labor Day parade" according to organizers Rochester Against War. The large model drone was once again on display and protesters held several smaller replicas mounted on sticks.
This was the first demonstation since the start of classes at the schools across the street. Several students spoke with demonstrators and asked for more information. This action also drew a larger than usual number of hecklers some shouting "nuke them all."
More actions are planned at the same location on alternating Wednesdays, 5-6pm. The next one will be on September 26.
Photos from Rally at City Hall for Windom-Bey Family
For a detailed description of this action and why it became necessary, please see Take Back The Land's article here.
http://rochester.indymedia.org/node/73477
Here are the pictures from the event
Labor Day Parade
Rochester gathered for its annual Labor Day parade on September 3 2012. Local unions were out represnting and political candidates followed. Of note was the less than welcome reception given the delegation of Congressional candidate Maggie Brooks. Republican Brooks is challenging incumbent Democrat Louise Slaughter for her seat in the US House of Representatives. Brooks is currently the Monroe County executive and has pursued a strong anti-labor and pro-corporate agenda. Slaughter is considered one of Labor's staunchest allies in Congress. Brooks' contingent in the parade was booed, but in what was obviously a prepared response, the marchers began cheering and making noise themselves, drowning out the hecklers.
An issue of strong local importance is hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for natural gas. It has caused earthquakes and poisoned water supplies in other states where it is permitted. While Monroe County is well north of the coveted Marcellus shale where the frackers want to drill, Brooks has expressed interest in having the County accept waste water from fracking operations for treatment in its sewage plants. Fracking wells can produce up to 5 million gallons of contaminated water. The County's treatment plants were designed to remove human sewage. Fracking water contains a cocktail of toxic chemicals the fracking companies won't even reveal the identities of. It has also been found to contain radioactive substances such as radium.
Grafitti artists were out the night before drawing anti-fracking messages on streets and sidewalks to greet parade goers. Writing on sidewalks with chalk is not illegal in Rochester since it is not permanent. The heavy rain that fell the day after Labor Day likely washed it away, so here are some pictures of the art work.
Video: RPD Officer Assaults & Robs Mark Zullo
Groups Target Chase Bank for Divestment
Local activists gathered at noon August 27 2012 in front of the local JP Morgan Chase bank headquarters. Members included Metro Justice, Band of Rebels, Take Back The Land, Rochester Red And Black and the International Socialist Organization. Chase bank has been responsible for a large number of illegal foreclosures and evictions. Chase was bailed out after the 2008 financial crisis and one of the provisions was that it work to keep distressed families in their homes. It has not complied.
Chase holds millions of dollars in deposits for the City of Rochester, taxpayer money. One major demand of the groups is that the City remove these deposits and instead put them in more responsible, locally-run banks. Other cities in New York including Buffalo, Binghamton and Hempstead have already done so.
The protesters caused such a stir that bank security locked the doors, only letting card-holding customers and employees in during the event. A bag of garbage collected from a Chase-foreclosed home was dumped in front of the door. It was later cleaned up. Once again, the people clean up Chase's mess.
Politics and a Movie
Over a dozen community members gathered Wednesday evening for a viewing of “Heist: Who Stole the American Dream?” at the Worker’s United Union Hall. The film screening was hosted by members of Metro Justice.
The movie covered a range of political topics and hot button issues that certainly played to a politically aware audience. “Heist” offers audience members different theories on the ills of America that one would not normally hear on mainstream news stations found on television and radio. There was even a section of the film devoted to how mainstream media is leading the public to a greater misunderstanding of the current political reality. At the end, “Heist” suggested some ways people could help fight against things like big banking malpractice by moving your money to local credit unions instead.
The planned discussion after the documentary focused more around local empowerment rather than a review on the movie itself. Some of the themes of the discussion revolved around changing the voting system to get rid of the two party mentality and the importance of unionization, not only in the workplace but as a community.
There was also a shout-out to those interested to come to 1 Chase Square Monday at noon for the Chase Divestment Protest and Rally.
Buerkle and Reed Need to Answer for Their Vote on "Forcible Rape"
With all the coverage of Todd Akin's statement about rape and abortion, we need only look at two local Congressional members, who share similar beliefs. Both Ann Marie Buerkle and Thomas Reed cosponsored the bill H.R. 3 that uses the words "forcible rape". What does that mean? Does that mean that the women who are victims of rape would be interrogated about the force used by the the perpetrator to see if it was "forcible rape" before she could terminate a pregnancy that was the product of this violent act? Would there have to be a certain number of bruises, contusions, cuts, broken bones…. to qualify as a "forcible rape"?
Many women choose not to report rapes because of the way they are treated by law enforcement and the judicial system. Women who have reported their assaults, have reported being questioned about what they were wearing, why were they in a certain area, and their past sexual history; as if their behavior or wardrobe was the reason that they were violated. Women that do have the courage to come forward and report an incident, according to Buerkle and Reed, would have to prove that they were "forcibly raped", in order to get an abortion paid for with public money. What do Reed and Buerkle say to the women who are sexually assaulted while in the military, who are already facing a climate of denial and retaliation when they report the violation?
Buerkle and Reed ran on less government and keeping government out of citizens lives. How much more could government intrude on a person's life then denying women the privacy and respect of making her own decisions regarding terminating a pregnancy or not. By denying a woman the ability to terminate pregnancy produced through rape, the woman is being made a victim of these lawmakers as well as the perpetrator. We need to call them out on this and not let them squirm out of answering for their vote and assault on women.
Link to summary of H.R. Bill 3:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:HR00003:@@@D&summ2=0&
Welcome to the Peon Camp
So, getting back to the single African American mother around the age of 21 I wrote about July 8: let's call her Sherry. Sherry gets money from DHS for housing. In late June, I got this correspondence from DHS (also called DSS) shown below:
The yellow arrow points to the correct amount of Sherry's rent specified in her lease. This is the amount I must charge to meet my monthly expenses, which include insurance, building maintenance and property taxes. A portion of my property taxes goes to Albany to help people like Sherry get housing.
The red arrow shows the amount DHS reduced her monthly rent payment to as of July 1st. If Sherry, who isn't working, can't make up the difference of $126.50 each month she will incur late fees and eventually be evicted. Most DHS tenants try to get a family member to subsidize their rent payment at that point, or they get a lawyer from Legal Aid to help them negotiate with DHS to get the maximum amount. Legal Aid is paid for by United Way.
Sherry told me DHS didn't have enough money to pay her rent after taking out money for her RG&E bill. RG&E is generally paid for by HEAP when the client receives welfare. When I called Sherry's caseworker, I was told that if Sherry's rent was too expensive, she would simply have to move out. Sherry had been living in the unit for 4 months, and though she didn't want to give up her apartment, she left voluntarily, breaking her lease. Under these circumstances, I was entitled to keep her security deposit, nonetheless I received phone calls from Sherry's case manager at Strong and even Legal Aid inquiring about her "refund."
What happened to Sherry? Even though she wanted her own apartment and she was only guaranteed housing for 5 months, DHS persuaded Sherry to move back into the shelter by making it impossible for her to pay her rent. The day she returned her key, she showed me the 2-page form she received from DHS:
The red arrows show that, despite what Sherry's caseworker told me, DHS can somehow afford more than twice the amount it would cost for Sherry to have her own private apartment, where she can live with her daughter like a human being. I was told by another former DHS victim that if I had given her back her security deposit, she would have gotten no cash allowance (3rd red arrow).
Instead, DHS prefers to kennel this young Black female and her child at Melita House, a new shelter recently opened in Irondequoit, like dogs. The situation is as racist as it sounds. She's even losing her food stamps (below).
You might think the situation I'm depicting above, which is true, horrifying, long-standing and happens all over the city of Rochester, is only misfortunate for the poor suckers who get stuck in the system because they're criminals and drug addicts. Maybe you think it isn't your problem because you're not a landlord or because you refuse to rent to DHS clients. Maybe deep-down you think all landlords are scum.
Nearly two years ago, I ran across the following letter left behind on a Staples copy machine lens:
This landlord, a man who owned 3 buildings, was looking at the end of his career and his ability to support his family, and most probably homelessness. It does not say whether he refused to rent to DHS clients, as an increasing number of Rochester landlords claim they do.
But I can promise you that, like most Rochester city residents who own their own homes, he was not a rich man and he struggled to pay his property taxes. After he could no longer pay, he was probably forced out of his home and sent to a shelter. And at some point, when everyone is homeless and no one owns property, there will be no more money for DHS to send people to shelters. We are all going to the peon camps.
This is large scale tax fraud that needs to be stopped. Are you in?
Additional Information: Part I: American Peon Camps in the 21st Century
Street Theater Greets House Speaker John Boehner in Rochester
A group of political street theater performers were on hand to greet House Speaker John Boehner on his August 4 visit to Rochester. Boehner was in Rochester to raise funds for Republican candidate Maggie Brooks, currently Monroe County Executive. Brooks is challenging Democratic incumbent Louise Slaughter's house seat.
The event was organized by Local 828 of the CSEA, a union representing Civil Service workers. Brooks has a record of cutting jobs and benefits of public workers in the county, and giving the funds to wealthy developers and bankers. Boehner has championed similar distributions of wealth to the wealthy as House Speaker and it is expected that if elected Brooks would be a staunch supporter.
There were not a lot of spectators at the event. According to organizer Ove Overmyer this was not meant to be a mass gathering, rally, or protest such as those put on by groups like Occupy Rochester and Band of Rebels. It was political satire, with actors dressed in top hats, fur coats and (fake) diamonds to call attention to the problem of a few rich becoming richer while others fall into poverty.
Also on hand was Liz Henderson, a local organic farmer, to call attention to a farm bill which was stalled in Congress largely due to Boehner and the Republicans. The bill would have provided funding for small local farms. Instead the funds were used to bail out large agribusinesses that were hurt by this summer's drought.
Happy 47th Anniversary Medicare!
Metro Justice and Band of Rebels organized a rally in celebration of the 47th anniversary of Medicare that was held at the Monroe County building in Rochester, NY. Participants were not only celebrating Medicare's anniversary, but advocating for expansion of Medicare for all, handing out information to those interested on the issue and bringing attention to the fact that Maggie Brooks who is running against Louise Slaughter for Congress refuses to state her position on medicare and the Ryan budget.
In 1912, Teddy Roosevelt, included healthcare in his platform when he ran for President. Harry Truman tried to get Congress to create a national health insurance plan that would be open to all americans. John F. kennedy attempted to get a national health care plan for seniors, but was unsuccessful. Not until Lyndon B. Johnson's administration was there the creation of a single payer health insurance program, although it was limited to the Americans over 65 years of age. In 1972, Nixon expanded Medicare to cover those Americans with long term disabilities. There have been other changes during the decades since Medicare was established, some strengthening the program, others moving in the direction of privatization.
Medicare and the government do not control the cost of the health care system in general and costs have skyrocketed. Health care costs are controlled by providers, hospitals, health insurance corporations and pharmaceutical corporations. With medicare covering the part of society that tends to have higher health care costs, more and more costs are being passed onto medicare recipients. One of the arguments for medicare for all is that it would be a larger more diverse pool of recipients. It is also argued that instead of money going to advertising and administration costs which happens in the current health care system, the money in medicare for all could be directed to patient care. With almost 50 million people uninsured in the U.S. and many more underinsured, would it not benefit the society as a whole to take the focus on profits out of health care and concentrate instead on quality healthcare for all?
One of the issues that is being discussed during the 2012 Presidential and Congressional campaigns is the proposed Paul Ryan budget. Paul Ryan is a member of the House of Representatives from Wisconsin. Under Ryan's proposed budget, medicare would cease to exist as we know it. It would create a voucher program, pushing more and more of the costs onto beneficiaries. The age of eligibility would increase from 65 to 67. it would gradually undermine medicare by making the the pool of beneficiaries smaller, sicker, thus making it much more costly. The Ryan budget would effect most people in a variety of ways other than just medicare, but in general would increase the wealth at the very, very top of society and lower the income more and more on the majority of people. Creating a bigger divide between the super wealthy and everyone else.
Video of rally:
http://blip.tv/indy-tv/rochester-ny-celebrates-47th-anniversary-of-medic...
You can see information on these issues by going to the links below:
http://www.library.arizona.edu/exhibits/udall/congrept/89th/650331.htm
http://www.healthcare-now.org/category/resources
http://www.healthcare-now.org/takeaction/books-and-videos
