This & That

MoveOn.org

Reagan did what?

Thanks to Liberals Are Cool for the image.

 

 

 

 

350.org

It's been a busy week for President Obama -- and for folks on the west coast working hard to tell him to reject Keystone XL.

Hundreds of people greeted him at his fundraisers in both Seattle and San Francisco with big demonstrations to stop the pipeline.

Click LIKE to thank these folks for bringing the message right to the President!

 

 

350.org

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving for our friends in the US. It's a holiday with troubled roots, but it's also an opportunity to reflect on all the amazing (amazing.) work that the US climate movement has done together so far in 2013.

It's been quite a year. And there's only more to come. Thank you for all of your organizing, your courage, and sharing all the news that the world needs to know.

Thanks friends!

Top left photo: Shadia Fayne Wood. Top right: Adam Elliott

 

 

 

NationofChange

If passed, though, Los Angeles would join a growing number of other cities that have banned or passed significant restrictions on charities attempting to feed the homeless, including Raleigh and Orlando.

Los Angeles Considering Proposal to Ban Feeding Homeless People in Public

ow.ly

There’s a perpetual yuppie belief that society’s true failing isn’t the fact that half a million residents don’t have shelter, but that some...

 

 

Daily Kos

People are hungry and private charity simply cannot make up for the SNAP cuts.

Food banks struggle to find enough Thanksgiving turkeys after food stamp benefit cuts

dailykos.com

As Republicans fight to slash billions from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, food banks are struggling with the food stamp benefit cuts that already happened...

 

 

Leo Maley

http://www.thenation.com/blog/177403/tough-thanksgiving-food-stamp-families

Tough Thanksgiving for Food Stamp Families | The Nation

thenation.com

Food stamp programs have already suffered from cuts; and many more are scheduled to take place at the end of November.

 

 

The Occupied Wall Street Journal shared Kasama Project's photo.

We are not the beneficiaries of their "recovery."

 

 

Oil Change International

As if the destroyed land, water, and communities weren't reason enough to stop the tar sands. LIKE and SHARE if you agree it's time to stop the madness -- and read more here: http://bit.ly/TarSandsSecrets

 

 

 

 

Sign this if you think it is time to get children into homes and off the streets: http://j.mp/I6ELbC

 

 

Mitt's delusion

NEVER HAPPENED! Poor Mitt is delusional!

Can we discuss the unfunded post-retirement benefits?
The slashed funding for the state crime lab that allowed the statutes of limitations to run out before evidence was tested?
Can we discuss the unfunded infrastructure projects?

And those increased fees that represent increased taxes?
How about the state debt Mitt increased?

Doesn't anyone remember the disaster Mitt and Muffy left behind? 

Romney  and his Massachusetts record

Noting that he worked with a legislature that was 85% Democratic, Romney said that he came into office with a multibillion-dollar budget gap.

“We didn’t go to work fighting each other, we came to work to work together. We found a way to do that. So we cut spending, we actually reduced the amount of money government was spending. And then we cut taxes 19 times,” Romney said, not noting that he raised many fees. “We made our state more business-friendly. The result of all this was our job growth went from the basement up 20 points--up 20 states, that is. And then we were able to balance our budget. And by the way our $3-billion budget gap turned into a $2-billion rainy-day fund. Those principles could work to get America together. We’ve got to do it. We can’t do this without the help of the people across the aisle.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-romney-talks-early-voting-hurricane-sandy-and-his-massachusetts-record-20121027,0,1591579.story

...homeless children....

As G.W. Bush and Dick Cheney left office, the housing market was collapsing, the financial market and bogus financial instruments already wreaking havoc on the global economy.

As unemployment predictably mushroomed and then housing foreclosures along with it, the only evidence of "Trickle Down" was children without homes.

When the cause is housing foreclosures, shouldn't we target the cause to prevent an escalation?


OPINION: State must fund safety net for homeless children
GateHouse News Service
Posted Feb 10, 2012

There are sound reasons for a government policy that calls for homeless students to be allowed to stay in the school they know even when their family is forced to seek shelter in a neighboring community.

Yet if Massachusetts tells local school districts they must adhere to such a policy, state law says it must also be responsible for the cost.

That responsibility, however, has not been met and as a result local communities are being unfairly forced to carve millions of dollars out of already strained school budgets to transport students from one school district to another.

This needs to be rectified.

A recent survey by the state auditor’s office found that Brockton and Weymouth were among the communities hardest hit by such costs, which statewide last year reached $11.3 million.

Brockton expects to spend $285,000 this year, and Weymouth is on track to spend about $217,800. At the other end of the spectrum are towns such as Cohasset and Duxbury, where there are no such costs.

State Auditor Suzanne Bump recently determined that these expenditures constitute an unfunded state mandate and has rightfully called on the governor and Legislature to pass a supplemental budget to reimburse affected communities.

The situation stems from the state’s participation in a federal program that provides funds for homeless services, but also requires states that accept the funds to abide by certain federal requirements, including one that says children who become homeless can stay in the same school even if their family finds shelter in another community.

In such circumstances, both the sending and receiving school district have been splitting the cost of transportation, which is provided in modes ranging from school bus to a taxicab.

For most of us, it’s hard to imagine the stress children feel when they and their family suddenly find themselves homeless. That’s why we support the idea that they should not be separated from friends and teachers who can give them a sense of stability when their lives are anything but. Yet Bump’s investigation has made it clear that the financial burden associated with that policy must be borne by the state. Forcing local school districts to indefinitely pay it is wrong.



Read more: http://www.enterprisenews.com/topstories/x1085185739/OPINION-State-must-fund-safety-net-for-homeless-children#ixzz1mCc7SzYU