Give Me Liberty: The New Americanism by Nat Hentoff

Give Me Liberty: The New Americanism by Nat Hentoff: "For the past six years, more Americans have become aware of this fragility—as some of our basic liberties continue to recede, now reaching a new, especially dangerous development in the Military Commissions Act of 2006, spawned by the Bush-Cheney administration.

Among its 'chilling' provisions, Leahy says, 'inserted [by the White House] in the dark of night in the final days before the bill's passage,' is a greatly expanded definition of 'enemy combatants.' This expansion includes 'people that any group of decision-makers selected by the President decides to call 'enemy combatants' '—and put into cells.

If these prisoners are legal noncitizen immigrants in this country, they will have no habeas corpus rights to go into court to challenge why they are being held—and they can be 'detained' indefinitely. If American citizens are declared 'enemy combatants,' they can have lawyers in our courts, but the MCA severely diminishes their rights to due process." MORE

The Shape of Things too....

ID Refusniks To Be Prisoners In Their Own Country: "People who attempt to resist the forthcoming Big Brother ID card and database system in the UK will never be able to leave the country according to the Government official in charge of the scheme.

As the UK Daily Mail reported last weekend:

James Hall, the official in charge of the supposedly-voluntary scheme, said the Government would allow people to opt out - but in return they must 'forgo the ability' to have a travel document.

As of 2009 anyone who applies for a passport in Britain will also be issued with an ID card, for which they must also provide fingerprints, biometric details such as a facial scan and a wealth of personal details - including second homes, driving licence and insurance numbers.

When asked what would happen to ID card refusniks, Mr Hall stated: 'There is no need to register and have fingerprints taken - but you will forgo the ability to have a passport'."

The Truth: Top 10 Reasons for Attending a College

http://www.localschools.com/

Want to know what your peers are saying are the most important factors when choosing a college? The answers are very interesting!

1. Your boyfriend/girlfriend goes to the school or wants to
2. It's a party school
3. Your best friend is going there
4. The student body(ies) look great!
5. The beach near campus or skiing/snowboarding is awesome
6. The tuition is cheap (relatively)
7. The campus looks beautiful online
8. Your parents went there
9. The school has a prestigious reputation
10. You want/don't want to be far from home

College should be a mix of social and educational stimulation. Make sure you get the best of both worlds -- don't be too much of a partier, or too much of a bookworm either. Do what makes you happy and live a well-rounded life.

What do you think? Why are you considering the schools you're looking at?

Why Aren't We Shocked? - Volume 21 No. 2 - Winter 2006 - Rethinking Schools Online

Rethinking Schools Online: "'Who needs a brain when you have these?'
— message on an Abercrombie & Fitch T-shirt for young women

By Bob Herbert

In the shootings at an Amish schoolhouse in rural Pennsylvania and a large public high school in Colorado, the killers went out of their way to separate the girls from the boys, and then deliberately attacked only the girls.

Ten girls were shot and five killed at the Amish school in October. One girl was killed and a number of others were molested in the Colorado attack.

In the widespread coverage that followed these crimes, very little was made of the fact that only girls were targeted. Imagine if a gunman had gone into a school, separated the kids on the basis of race or religion, and then shot only the black kids. Or only the white kids. Or only the Jews.

"

Financial Literacy Workshop

Free Lunch and $10 or $10 gas card at the YSP Financial Literacy Workshop

Your Money Counts

Adult Financial Literacy Workshop

Saturday, March 24, 2007 /10 am to 3 pm

Monumental Mission Ministries (Auditorium)

2228 Wylie Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA. 15219

3 ways to Pre-register

By faxing this form to Your Sister's Project, Inc. (412) 227-0922

By Calling Your Sister's Project, Inc. at (412) 377-3358

By e-mailing: YurSisterProject@aol.com

Pre-Registration ends March 17, 2007

There is no registration fee for the workshop and lunch will be provided for free

Regrets for Slavery by Walter Williams -- Capitalism Magazine

"Regrets for Slavery by Walter Williams (March 6, 2007)

Both chambers of the Commonwealth of Virginia's General Assembly passed a resolution saying government-sanctioned slavery 'ranks as the most horrendous of all depredations of human rights and violations of our founding ideals in our nation's history; and . . . the abolition of slavery was followed by . . . systematic discrimination, enforced segregation, and other insidious institutions and practices toward Americans of African descent that were rooted in racism, racial bias, and racial misunderstanding.' The General Assembly also expressed regret for the 'exploitation of Native Americans.' " MORE

AlterNet: Rights and Liberties: From Sex Workers to Restaurant Workers, the Global Slave Trade Is Growing

MORE:

"Ten Million Children Exploited for Domestic Labor" -- this title for a 2004 U.N. study hardly needs explaining. The U.N.'s surveys found 700,000 children forced into domestic labor in Indonesia alone, with staggering numbers as well in Brazil (559,000), Pakistan (264,000), Haiti (250,000), and Kenya (200,000). The U.N. report indicates that children remain in servitude for long stretches of time because no one identifies their enslavement: "These youngsters are usually 'invisible' to their communities, toiling for long hours with little or no pay and regularly deprived of the chance to play or go to school." UNICEF estimates that 1 million children are forced today to sell their bodies to sexual exploiters. In a single country, Uganda, nearly 40,000 children have been kidnapped and violently turned into child soldiers or sex slaves.

NPR : Subprime Loans: One Woman's Story

NPR : Subprime Loans: One Woman's Story

Economy
Subprime Loans: One Woman's Story

Listen to this story... by Renee Montagne

Morning Edition, March 16, 2007 · Jennie Halliburton, a 77-year-old widow from Philadelphia, answered an ad offering to "consolidate her debt." She soon found herself with a "subprime loan" that she can't afford and may cost her the home she refinanced. Her lawyer, Allan White, says Halliburton should never have been granted the loan.

NPR : Urban Poor Cope with Help from Informal Economy

NPR : Urban Poor Cope with Help from Informal Economy

Sharelle, 43, lives in subsidized housing in Harlem. She hasn't had a job in years – but she works all the time. She runs an after-school day care in her apartment, where children are laughing and playing cards. She also looks after an elderly woman in her Harlem neighborhood twice a week.

"I do the housekeeping, clean her bedroom, do the kitchen," said Sharelle, who didn't want her last name aired.

Sometimes she gets a few extra dollars helping her neighbors fill out state tax forms or babysitting. If Sharelle reported this income to the government her rent would go up, so almost all the work she does is under the table.

"Miss Hinxson is off the books, their mother is off the books, the little girl Courtney that I went to pick up is off the books," she said. MORE

Transcending the Organization

Transcending the Organization - Schambra Trust Authenticity and Community

The nonprofit sector is identified with small, immediate community and compassion; government is viewed as distant, alienating and unresponsive. It’s been that way for decades, incidentally, through administrations from both parties. Skepticism about big government is often thought to be the hideous spawn of the Reagan Revolution. But in fact, the first shift toward skepticism came from the New Left back in the ’60s, when it attacked Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society as a manipulative, inhumane monstrosity, and opted instead for local, participatory democracy. And participatory democracy is exactly what the nonprofit sector provides, when it’s at its best—it provides immediate, face-to-face civic engagement. You shouldn’t compromise that by attaching your reputation for local democracy and community—your credibility—to a hulking derelict of an institution that Americans have long since decided doesn’t care about them and can’t do anything to address their anxiety and unsettledness. MORE

Getting Teens to Pay Attention

Advertising Age - MediaWorks - Getting Teens to Pay Attention

The aim of the Teen Road Safety campaign was to get teenagers to pay more attention when they were on or near the road. The problem was telling them in a way that didn't come across as simply more adult grief.

The insight that drove the campaign was the issue of friends. If death was too heavy a concept to consider, how about the impact on your circle of friends?

A 30-second ad was created by real teenagers and shot on their medium of choice, the mobile phone. It showed a group of friends larking around by the road before one of them walks into the road without looking and pays a terrible price.

The ad was then distributed via an unbranded website -- notlooking.co.uk -- as well as via mobiles to seed the message prior to its official launch. A week later it was unveiled as a government message in a cinema ad in key movies.
MORE

The Electronic Product Environmental Asssessment Tool

Welcome to EPEAT©
The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool

What is it?
EPEAT is an environmental procurement tool designed to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebook computers and monitors based on their environmental attributes. At the same time it helps manufacturers promote environmentally preferable products. EPEAT is the implementation of the IEEE 1680 Standard for Environmental Assessment of Personal Computer products (including laptop and desktop computers, and monitors).

Why is it important?
Electronic products are a part of everyday life, and continued and expanded use of electronic information and communications technologies is likely a key to achieving global sustainability. However, with our current industrial technology and infrastructure electronic products also have unacceptably high social and environmental impacts. Electronic products often:

a. Are very resource intensive to manufacture;
b. Contain significant amounts of toxic and environmentally sensitive materials;
c. Use electricity inefficiently;
d. Have a relatively short useable lifespan;
e. Are inefficiently and/or ineffectively recovered and recycled.

To help alleviate these problems, many organizations are striving to purchase environmentally preferable products and they are using their purchasing power to make products greener. However, until recently it has been very difficult for most purchasers to determine what products are environmentally better than others. EPEAT is an easy-to-use system to help purchasers deal with the technical complexities of determining which products are actually preferable.

How Can I find an EPEAT product?
A searchable listing of EPEAT registered products is maintained on a Product Registry. See http://www.epeat.net

More information?
EPEAT is a project of the Green Electronics Council. For more information, just contact us.

What else to do with our prison communities

SVTC: pubs with descriptions

Toxic Sweatshops:
How UNICOR Prison Recycling Harms Workers, Communities, the Environment, and the Recycling Industry
A 2006 SVTC exposé report on abuse of prison labor in the e-waste recycling industry.
For the first time, prison inmates and staff blow the whistle on deplorable health and safety conditions within UNICOR, a controversial government corporation operated under the Dept. of Justice that uses captive prison labor in a range of industries, including the dismantling of toxic e-waste. Read more

Inmates Will Replace Migrants in Colorado Fields - New York Times

Inmates Will Replace Migrants in Colorado Fields - New York Times
Under the program, which has drawn criticism from groups concerned about immigrants’ rights and from others seeking changes in the criminal justice system, farmers will pay a fee to the state, and the inmates, who volunteer for the work, will be paid about 60 cents a day, corrections officials said.

Concerned about the possible shortage of field labor, Dorothy B. Butcher, a state representative from Pueblo and a supporter of the program, said, “The workers on these farms do the weeding, the harvesting, the storing, everything that comes with growing crops for the market.”

....Although chain gangs and prison farms have long been staples of American correctional culture, the concept of inmates working on private farms is unusual. But there are signs that other states are following suit. The Iowa Department of Corrections is considering a similar program because of a migrant labor shortage in that state.

Several Iowa farmers called recently to request inmates in lieu of migrant workers, said Roger Baysden, the director of the state’s prison industries program. One farmer asked for as many as 200 inmates, Mr. Baysden said.

“This feels like the re-invention of the plantation,” said Christie Donner, the group’s executive director. “You have a captive labor force essentially working for their room and board in order to benefit the employer. This isn’t a job training program. It’s an exploitative program.”

But Ari Zavaras, executive director of the Colorado Department of Corrections, said the merit of a hard day’s work outdoors was invaluable to an inmate.

“They won’t be paid big bucks, but we’re hoping this will help our inmates pick up significant and valuable job skills,” Mr. Zavaras said. “We’re also assisting farmers who, if they don’t get help, are facing an inability to harvest their crops.”

With the start of the farming season looming, Colorado’s farmers are scrambling to figure out which crops to sow and in what quantity. Some are considering turning to field corn, which is mechanically harvested. And they are considering whether they want to pay for an urban inmate who could not single out a ripe watermelon or discern between a weed and an onion plant.

“This is not a cure-all,” Mr. Pisciotta said. “What our farm laborers do is a skill. They’re born with it, and they’re good at it. It’s not an easy job.”

WP: Cherokee Nation may expel blacks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

WP: Cherokee Nation may expel blacks - washingtonpost.com Highlights - MSNBC.com

Cherokees, along with Choctaws, Chickasaws, Creeks and Seminoles, were long known as the "Five Civilized Tribes" because they adopted many of the ways of their white neighbors in the South, including the holding of black slaves.

in Pgh- Youth Workforce Development Conference

Youth Workforce Development Conference
The 2nd annual Youth Workforce Development Conference, presented jointly by YouthWorks and Urban Youth Action, will be held on Friday, April 27, 2007. The conference theme is: Connecting the Dots: Converging Resource for Tomorrow’s Workforce. A new addition is the Youth Career Fair on Saturday, April 28th, co-sponsored by YouthLINK. Both events will be held at the Omni William Penn Hotel. Youth workforce development professionals, educators and community leaders are invited to submit proposals for workshop presentations. Contact: Karen Bryant, 412.281.6629 x213 or kjbryant@youthworksinc.com

The Implications of Service Offshoring for Metropolitan Economies

An examination of service offshoring—the movement of service jobs overseas—forecasts higher than average job losses in twenty-eight U.S. metropolitan areas between 2004 and 2015. Information technology jobs, and the metropolitan areas where they are concentrated, will be hardest hit. To cushion the service offshoring blow, the paper urges federal, state, and local leaders to together pursue policies that boost productivity and innovation, assist workers who are harmed by offshoring, and modernize approaches to economic and workforce development.

Findings

Service "offshoring"—the movement of service jobs from the United States to other countries, especially low-wage countries—has emerged as a concern of both political and business leaders in recent years. Using occupational data, this study projects the likely job losses from service offshoring between 2004 and 2015 in 246 U.S. metropolitan areas. It finds that:

# Twenty-eight metropolitan areas, with 13.5 percent of the nation's population, are likely to lose between 2.6 and 4.3 percent of their jobs to service offshoring, higher than the average loss among the metropolitan areas studied. Five metropolitan areas—Boulder, CO; Lowell, MA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; and Stamford, CT—are likely to lose between 3.1 and 4.3 percent of their jobs to service offshoring between 2004 and 2015, while 23 others are likely to lose between 2.6 and 3 percent of their jobs. However, 158 metropolitan areas are likely to lose no more than 2 percent of their jobs as a result of service offshoring.

# Large metropolitan areas and metropolitan areas in the Northeast and West are generally more vulnerable to service offshoring than small metropolitan areas or metropolitan areas in the Midwest or South. Job losses from service offshoring between 2004 and 2015 are projected at 2.4 percent for metropolitan areas with populations of one million or more but only 1.7 percent for metropolitan areas with populations below 250,000. About 2.3 percent of jobs in Northeastern and Western metropolitan areas are likely to be offshored, compared to 2.2 percent in Midwestern metropolitan areas and 2.1 percent in Southern ones.

# Metropolitan areas with large concentrations of information technology service jobs or backoffice jobs are generally more vulnerable to service offshoring than other metropolitan areas. Between 2004 and 2015, service offshoring is likely to cause the loss of 2.6 percent of jobs in metropolitan areas that specialize in information technology services and 2.4 percent of jobs in metropolitan areas that specialize in back-office services but only 1.9 percent of jobs in other metropolitan areas.

# At least 17 percent of computer programming, software engineering, and data entry jobs are likely to be offshored in particular metropolitan areas. Employment of computer programmers, data entry keyers, and software engineers (applications) is projected to fall by at least 17 percent between 2004 and 2015 in Bergen-Passaic, NJ; Boston, MA; Boulder, CO; Danbury, CT; Denver, CO; Hartford, CT; Minneapolis, MN; Nashua, NH; Newark, NJ; Orange County, CA; San Francisco, CA; San Jose, CA; Stamford, CT; and Wilmington, DE because of service offshoring. In Bergen-Passaic, 14 to 17 percent of customer service representatives' and insurance underwriters' jobs are projected to move abroad.

Overall, the loss of service jobs to offshoring in the near future will be modest. However, offshoring's impact will be greater in metropolitan areas with high shares of information technology or back-office service jobs and in particular occupations within metropolitan areas. To reduce vulnerability to service offshoring, federal, state, and local leaders should work in concert to pursue policies that boost productivity and innovation, assist workers who are harmed by offshoring, and modernize approaches to economic and workforce development.

BLACK and AMERICAN HISTORY MONTH

February is both Black History Month and American History Month.
The fact is, Black history is inextricably interwoven with American history.
Explore the Black aspects of American history with Annenberg Media resources.

> Our brand new series "America's History in the Making"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/ahm1.html> provides information about African enslavement, the Civil War, and Reconstruction.
In the coming weeks, look for links to Video on Demand and the series Web site.

> "Primary Sources: Workshops in American History" asks the question, "Who freed the slaves?" and uncovers the complex answer through primary source documents.
Go to the series Web site
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/prim2.html> for Video on Demand, lecture transcripts, relevant documents, and classroom applications.

> Programs 9 through 12 of "A Biography of America"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/boa3.html> cover the era of American slavery and its aftermath, and Program 24 covers the Civil Rights era.

Find coordinated resources on the series Web site, such as this interactive activity
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/boa4.html> counterposing the very different programs of Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois for improving the situation of African Americans.

> "Social Studies in Action: A Teaching Practices Library, K-12" Program 18, "The Amistad Case," shows an effective 8th-grade history lesson employing a mock trial.
Find a summary of events, Video on Demand, and more on the series Web site
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/sslib5.html>.

> "The Africans" <http://learner.org/redirect/february/afr6.html>
reveals the African side of the trans-Atlantic slave trade in Program 4, "Tools of Exploitation."
Other programs in the series discuss various aspects of African history and culture. Click on "Buy Videos and Materials" for purchasing options.

For Literature and Art:

> Read about many authors of different eras, such as Ralph Ellison, Zora Neale Hurston, Harriet Jacobs, and Frederick Douglass
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/apass7.html> on the Web site for "American Passages: A Literary Survey."
The site also offers links to Video on Demand, lesson activities, and more.

> The searchable American Passages artifact archive contains thousands of historical images, such as this one of a 1943 Harlem street scene alongside verses of a
poem from Countee Cullen's "From the Dark Tower."
The archive contains photos of Malcolm X <http://learner.org/redirect/february/x9.html>
and other figures, fugitive slaves
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/slave10.html>, and much more.

And don't leave the site without creating your own slideshow!

> For ideas on presenting African American literature, watch "The Expanding Canon: Teaching Multicultural Literature in High School"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/canon11.html>. On the series Web site, discover the historical significance of the works of Keith Gilyard
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/canon12.html> and other authors.

> Middle school teachers will benefit from "Teaching Multicultural Literature: A Workshop for the Middle Grades"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/tml13.html>.

On the series Web site, find the poem "Africa Rising"
, a 6th-grade literature lesson using the documentary "Eyes on the Prize" <http://learner.org/redirect/february/tml15.html>, and other material exploring African American historical themes.

> For elementary grades, see "Engaging with Literature: A Video
Library, Grades 3-5" <http://learner.org/redirect/february/engl16.html>,
particularly Program 6, "Building Community."
The program shows lessons built around historical fiction, including "I Have a Dream: The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr." and "Walking the Road to Freedom: A Story About Sojourner Truth."

> A companion of "American Passages," our series "Artifacts & Fiction: Workshop in American Literature"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/artfic17.html> delves deep into hands-on teaching.

Watch Workshop 3, "Social History"
, which considers the rhetorical dimensions of actual slavery documents as context for understanding literature of the era.

> Learn about the life, works, and historical significance of poet Langston Hughes with our hour-long documentary in "Voices & Visions"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/vv11.html>. The program features discussion of Hughes by author James Baldwin.

> The series "A World of Art: Works in Progress"
<http://learner.org/redirect/february/artwk20.html> includes a documentary on artist Beverly Buchanan, whose innovative art focuses on the shack as an important symbol of the rural South.

Youth and High School Reform, National League of Cities, Institute for Youth, Education, and Families

LINK--
http://www.center-school.org/nlc.php

On Wednesday, October 25, 2006, the Center for Schools and Communities and the National League of Cities offered a live, online presentation on ways municipal leaders and public care systems are working to reengage older youth (16-24) who lack strong connections to school, work and the broader community.

The session previewed forthcoming research findings that will soon be released in a National League of Cities' Institute for Youth, Education, and Families publication.

The publication is built around case study research of eight U.S. cities, including Philadelphia....MORE

Ninth Annual Young Producer’s Award

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced the 9^th Annual Young Producer’s Ward. It is a scholarship program for high school seniors intending to major in a communications-related field when they enter college. The scholarship is worth $2500 and a first-runner up scholarship is available for $500. The scholarships will be awarded to the individuals who prepare the most creative and effective storyboard and script for a 30-second televised public service announcement (PSA) dealing with the following topic: “Bullies: Don’t Be One; Don’t Tolerate One”. In addition to the monetary award, the winner will have an opportunity to work with area television professionals to produce a broadcast-quality PSA based on the storyboard. Once the PSA is produced, it will be aired on local television stations.

See their website at www.natasmid-atlantic.org/ypa.htm for entry forms, script format, storyboard format, content guidelines and research information. The deadline for submission is February 23, 2007.