Living wages, Sick Pay, Benefits, Humane working conditions, and streets without panhandlers--they all depend on a system that provides cash welfare to people in need. Yet welfare seems to have moved beyond being a dirty word to becoming an invisible or irrelevant and embarrassing support program in the eyes of the politically progressive US population. Have you ever heard them chant "Welfare not Warfare" in any protests?
In European countries workforce pay and benefits are far superior and far more humane than in the US. And you rarely see panhandlers on their streets. That is in great part because all European countries provide a 'Family Pension' or 'Child Allowance,' a guaranteed monthly cash for all children of all populations--rich, poor, working class or middle class--AS WELL AS cash welfare support and other benefits for victims of poverty.
When the government ended our cash welfare program for mothers and children in poverty in 1996 by changing it into a forced unpaid work program, Congress did not raise minimum wage for 11 years. Nor did job benefits improve. Employers had millions of US women who would now accept sub-poverty, no-benefit jobs to avoid working 30 hours a week for no pay and a miniscule welfare check. (Average welfare check is about $390 and never raised in most states since 1996.) Over ten million US people, mainly moms and kids, are now trying to survive on ZERO income and no cash benefits. Of course petty crime has increased with so many people surviving on zero income. The streets are filled with penniless people. Rather than resort to crime, panhandlers work long hours on street corners across the country begging for cash from Americans who would rather not see them or acknowledge the harsh nature of their work. Yet this humiliating, exhausting job is one of the only ways for Americans with zero income to honorably generate a bit of cash. But the long-term success of this wonderful $15-an-Hour movement depends on America funding a cash welfare system for families in need. ---Pat Gowens,, Director of Welfare Warriors, Welfarewarriors.org, fighting for the lives of mothers and children in poverty since 1986
As of Oct. 28, panhandling is illegal on certain medians and ramps in the city of Milwaukee. The Common Council passed an ordinance making it illegal to beg for money on any median less than 5 feet, or on specific on and off ramps deemed "dangerous" by the city. Violators could face a fine of up to $200. We believe the real reason for this law is that people do not like to be confronted with the fact that there are economically poor people in their midst. Many people become belligerent at the begging people calling them lazy bums, leeches, liars or see them only as drug addicts or alcoholics. Worst of all is the refusal to even pay attention to them. We give to others when it is possible because we want to recognize them as human beings created by God who are our sisters and brothers in need. We do not question their integrity or demand a list of reasons why we should be helping them. Peter Maurin called panhandlers “ambassadors of God.” “What we give to the poor for Christ’s sake is what we carry with us when we die. As Jean Jacques Rousseau says: ‘When man (woman) dies, s/he carries in his/her clutched hands only that which s/he has given away.’ We seem to think that poor people are social nuisances and not the Ambassadors of God.” --Don Timmerman
“Think what the world could look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do our Bibles!” ---Dorothy Day Also, think what the world would look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do the flag.
JOKES
A husband in bed with his wife moved his hand up and down her side. His wife said, “Oh, that felt good. Do it again.” The husband said, “No. I found the remote.”
A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to the dentist. "I want a tooth pulled, and I don't want any pain killers because I'm in a big hurry," the woman said. "Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we'll be on our way." The dentist was quite impressed. "You're certainly a courageous woman," he said. "Which tooth is it?" The woman turned to her husband and said, "Show him your tooth, dear."
When I was young my parents told me anyone can become president. Now I am beginning to believe it. Where does the bee pee? At the BP station, of course.
The problem with political jokes is that they often get elected. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
INTERESSTING FACTS
In the Calais. France refugee camp some 40 companies made lots of money from the privatization of lorry inspections to the manufacturing of tear gas canisters, barbed wire, bulldozers, deportation buses as well as building fences and walls along the highway. ---Corporate Watch At least 4,220 refugees have died attempting to cross over the Mediterranean Sea so far this year—more than in all of 2015. ------Democracy Now, 11/4/16
The pharmaceutical industry seem to be colluding on prices . Prices of brand name insulin products have gone up a lot in recent years to the point where many people with diabetes have had a hard time paying for their life-saving vials. By the way, the patent on insulin expired over 70 years ago and yet there is virtually no generic competition for some of the most popular insulin products on the market. Americans already spend nearly 40% more per person on prescription drugs than Canada - the next most expensive industrialized nation. – People’s Pharmacy
For the 6th time in our history, a candidate for U.S. President got the most votes but still lost the White House. Does America really have a democracy? -----RSN, 11/10/16 In Wisconsin, 300,000 registered voters lacked the photo ID necessary to cast their ballots. Trump won Wisconsin by 27,000 votes—Progressive Turnout Projec
t
Vice-presidential candidate Pence was one of the candidates that received the most funding from Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, who during the Bush-Cheney years operated what amounted to a Christian supremacist neo-Crusader militia. He invited and welcomed and threw a party for Erik Prince in the aftermath of the Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007, when Blackwater operatives killed a dozen and a half Iraqi civilians, including small children. ---Jeremy Scahill
Recently, 300 protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline were injured, and a Jewish woman, Sophia Wilansky, may lose her arm after being hit by a concussion grenade thrown at the protesters by the police and national guard. Des Moines Catholic Workers, Jessica Reznicek & Julies Brown, joined by Mississippi Stand Water Protractor, Travis Brennan, are fasting & vigiling outside, in front of the IA Utilities Board (IUB) Office in Des Moines, beginning a 24/7 occupation until the pipeline is shut down. Caitlin and Alex from Casa Maria went to Standing Rock to deliver supplies and money. Police have already used $10 million of tax money protecting the pipeline for Energy Transfer Partners. --- Salo
n
The Dakota Access pipeline is funded directly by 17 banks, such as Citibank and Wells Fargo ($47 million invested) . Researchers with the nonprofit Food & Water Watch found that 38 banking institutions are involved in funding the proposed Bakken pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The place where the Bundy’s standoff at Malheur Refuge occurred was on land of the Burns Paiute Tribe, which the Bundys knowingly desecrated. They reportedly dug latrines through recognized cultural sites and destroyed sacred objects in the museum that were hundreds of years old. They were never prosecuted for this or for using guns against federal officials who told them to leave the land. On the other hand, many Native Americans and supporters, who refuse to have any guns at Standing Rock, have been arrested and given heavy fines for being on their own land trying to protect the environment and water they use. The Bundy militia were fighting for their right to make money while the Native Americans are fighting to save our water.---- The Guardian, 11/4/16
Global Witness reports that 2015 was the most deadly year for human rights defenders yet. According to the group, at least 185 defenders around the world were killed, 122 of them in Latin America.---Oxfam America
Percentage change since 2014 in the number of U.S. railway workers who have tested positive for drug use : +43 Percentage of the world’s oceans that remains unprotected for marine life. : 96%
Portion of U.S. workers who believe strongly in their company’s values : ¼% Number of U.S. states in which it is legal to sentence a minor to life in prison without parole : 31 Percentage of Americans who favor the death penalty: 49%
Number of countries that the United States bombed over a three-day period in September : 6 Percentage of direct U.S. military aid that will go to Israel next year : 54% ----Harper’s Index
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said they believe U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan and at secret detention facilities elsewhere in 2003 and 2004 They say the U.S. military tortured 61 detainees, and the CIA tortured another 27. ---CLG, 11/20/16
A record November snowfall of 43 inches fell on Xinjiang, China They had 50 hours straight of snow.----CNN
California's six years of drought has left 102 million dead trees across 7.7 million acres of forest land. ---EcoWatch
Bolivian President Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency as residents of La Paz and other major cities struggle with extreme water shortages amid Bolivia’s worst drought in a quarter-century.---Democracy Now, 11/22/16
EVENTS
Thursday, Dec. 8 ---VIGIL AT ICE , Noon to 1 p.m. at Knapp & Broadway, to stop deportations and separating families.
Sponsored by Voces De La Frontera.
Thursday, Dec. 15----Noon to 1 p.m. VIGIL TO STOP GUN SALES. If people who sell drugs are prosecuted then people who sell guns should also be prosecuted. Both are accomplices of violence and harm to others. Guns are made to do violence to people and animals.
Code Pink is inviting us to join the International Boycott HP Network and the Palestinian BDS National Committee for a November 25 - December 3 week of action against Hewlett Packard for their role in supplying technology for Israeli apartheid and occupation.
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Fall is turning dark and bleak, leaves have turned brown and are strewn on the ground. We who work for peace and justice also find a cold, bleak feeling within. With Donald Trump becoming president-elect we are fearful for vulnerable people and for our environment. The following is a quote from Dorothy Day. May it help us move forward. “”People say, What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, word and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” ---Peace and Hope, Roberta
We of the Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community wish all of you a joyful celebration of Christ’s birthday and a better and more peaceful New Year. We thank all of you who make it possible for us to do the work of hospitality, helping the needy with basic needs of food, clothing and furniture and working for justice and peace issues. “What you do to the least of these you do also to me.” ---Christ
In European countries workforce pay and benefits are far superior and far more humane than in the US. And you rarely see panhandlers on their streets. That is in great part because all European countries provide a 'Family Pension' or 'Child Allowance,' a guaranteed monthly cash for all children of all populations--rich, poor, working class or middle class--AS WELL AS cash welfare support and other benefits for victims of poverty.
When the government ended our cash welfare program for mothers and children in poverty in 1996 by changing it into a forced unpaid work program, Congress did not raise minimum wage for 11 years. Nor did job benefits improve. Employers had millions of US women who would now accept sub-poverty, no-benefit jobs to avoid working 30 hours a week for no pay and a miniscule welfare check. (Average welfare check is about $390 and never raised in most states since 1996.) Over ten million US people, mainly moms and kids, are now trying to survive on ZERO income and no cash benefits. Of course petty crime has increased with so many people surviving on zero income. The streets are filled with penniless people. Rather than resort to crime, panhandlers work long hours on street corners across the country begging for cash from Americans who would rather not see them or acknowledge the harsh nature of their work. Yet this humiliating, exhausting job is one of the only ways for Americans with zero income to honorably generate a bit of cash. But the long-term success of this wonderful $15-an-Hour movement depends on America funding a cash welfare system for families in need. ---Pat Gowens,, Director of Welfare Warriors, Welfarewarriors.org, fighting for the lives of mothers and children in poverty since 1986
As of Oct. 28, panhandling is illegal on certain medians and ramps in the city of Milwaukee. The Common Council passed an ordinance making it illegal to beg for money on any median less than 5 feet, or on specific on and off ramps deemed "dangerous" by the city. Violators could face a fine of up to $200. We believe the real reason for this law is that people do not like to be confronted with the fact that there are economically poor people in their midst. Many people become belligerent at the begging people calling them lazy bums, leeches, liars or see them only as drug addicts or alcoholics. Worst of all is the refusal to even pay attention to them. We give to others when it is possible because we want to recognize them as human beings created by God who are our sisters and brothers in need. We do not question their integrity or demand a list of reasons why we should be helping them. Peter Maurin called panhandlers “ambassadors of God.” “What we give to the poor for Christ’s sake is what we carry with us when we die. As Jean Jacques Rousseau says: ‘When man (woman) dies, s/he carries in his/her clutched hands only that which s/he has given away.’ We seem to think that poor people are social nuisances and not the Ambassadors of God.” --Don Timmerman
“Think what the world could look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do our Bibles!” ---Dorothy Day Also, think what the world would look like if we took care of the poor even half as well as we do the flag.
JOKES
A husband in bed with his wife moved his hand up and down her side. His wife said, “Oh, that felt good. Do it again.” The husband said, “No. I found the remote.”
A woman and her husband interrupted their vacation to go to the dentist. "I want a tooth pulled, and I don't want any pain killers because I'm in a big hurry," the woman said. "Just extract the tooth as quickly as possible, and we'll be on our way." The dentist was quite impressed. "You're certainly a courageous woman," he said. "Which tooth is it?" The woman turned to her husband and said, "Show him your tooth, dear."
When I was young my parents told me anyone can become president. Now I am beginning to believe it. Where does the bee pee? At the BP station, of course.
The problem with political jokes is that they often get elected. We hang the petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office.
INTERESSTING FACTS
In the Calais. France refugee camp some 40 companies made lots of money from the privatization of lorry inspections to the manufacturing of tear gas canisters, barbed wire, bulldozers, deportation buses as well as building fences and walls along the highway. ---Corporate Watch At least 4,220 refugees have died attempting to cross over the Mediterranean Sea so far this year—more than in all of 2015. ------Democracy Now, 11/4/16
The pharmaceutical industry seem to be colluding on prices . Prices of brand name insulin products have gone up a lot in recent years to the point where many people with diabetes have had a hard time paying for their life-saving vials. By the way, the patent on insulin expired over 70 years ago and yet there is virtually no generic competition for some of the most popular insulin products on the market. Americans already spend nearly 40% more per person on prescription drugs than Canada - the next most expensive industrialized nation. – People’s Pharmacy
For the 6th time in our history, a candidate for U.S. President got the most votes but still lost the White House. Does America really have a democracy? -----RSN, 11/10/16 In Wisconsin, 300,000 registered voters lacked the photo ID necessary to cast their ballots. Trump won Wisconsin by 27,000 votes—Progressive Turnout Projec
t
Vice-presidential candidate Pence was one of the candidates that received the most funding from Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater, who during the Bush-Cheney years operated what amounted to a Christian supremacist neo-Crusader militia. He invited and welcomed and threw a party for Erik Prince in the aftermath of the Nisoor Square massacre in Baghdad in 2007, when Blackwater operatives killed a dozen and a half Iraqi civilians, including small children. ---Jeremy Scahill
Recently, 300 protesters of the Dakota Access Pipeline were injured, and a Jewish woman, Sophia Wilansky, may lose her arm after being hit by a concussion grenade thrown at the protesters by the police and national guard. Des Moines Catholic Workers, Jessica Reznicek & Julies Brown, joined by Mississippi Stand Water Protractor, Travis Brennan, are fasting & vigiling outside, in front of the IA Utilities Board (IUB) Office in Des Moines, beginning a 24/7 occupation until the pipeline is shut down. Caitlin and Alex from Casa Maria went to Standing Rock to deliver supplies and money. Police have already used $10 million of tax money protecting the pipeline for Energy Transfer Partners. --- Salo
n
The Dakota Access pipeline is funded directly by 17 banks, such as Citibank and Wells Fargo ($47 million invested) . Researchers with the nonprofit Food & Water Watch found that 38 banking institutions are involved in funding the proposed Bakken pipeline, which would stretch from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The place where the Bundy’s standoff at Malheur Refuge occurred was on land of the Burns Paiute Tribe, which the Bundys knowingly desecrated. They reportedly dug latrines through recognized cultural sites and destroyed sacred objects in the museum that were hundreds of years old. They were never prosecuted for this or for using guns against federal officials who told them to leave the land. On the other hand, many Native Americans and supporters, who refuse to have any guns at Standing Rock, have been arrested and given heavy fines for being on their own land trying to protect the environment and water they use. The Bundy militia were fighting for their right to make money while the Native Americans are fighting to save our water.---- The Guardian, 11/4/16
Global Witness reports that 2015 was the most deadly year for human rights defenders yet. According to the group, at least 185 defenders around the world were killed, 122 of them in Latin America.---Oxfam America
Percentage change since 2014 in the number of U.S. railway workers who have tested positive for drug use : +43 Percentage of the world’s oceans that remains unprotected for marine life. : 96%
Portion of U.S. workers who believe strongly in their company’s values : ¼% Number of U.S. states in which it is legal to sentence a minor to life in prison without parole : 31 Percentage of Americans who favor the death penalty: 49%
Number of countries that the United States bombed over a three-day period in September : 6 Percentage of direct U.S. military aid that will go to Israel next year : 54% ----Harper’s Index
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court in The Hague said they believe U.S. forces committed war crimes in Afghanistan and at secret detention facilities elsewhere in 2003 and 2004 They say the U.S. military tortured 61 detainees, and the CIA tortured another 27. ---CLG, 11/20/16
A record November snowfall of 43 inches fell on Xinjiang, China They had 50 hours straight of snow.----CNN
California's six years of drought has left 102 million dead trees across 7.7 million acres of forest land. ---EcoWatch
Bolivian President Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency as residents of La Paz and other major cities struggle with extreme water shortages amid Bolivia’s worst drought in a quarter-century.---Democracy Now, 11/22/16
EVENTS
Thursday, Dec. 8 ---VIGIL AT ICE , Noon to 1 p.m. at Knapp & Broadway, to stop deportations and separating families.
Sponsored by Voces De La Frontera.
Thursday, Dec. 15----Noon to 1 p.m. VIGIL TO STOP GUN SALES. If people who sell drugs are prosecuted then people who sell guns should also be prosecuted. Both are accomplices of violence and harm to others. Guns are made to do violence to people and animals.
Code Pink is inviting us to join the International Boycott HP Network and the Palestinian BDS National Committee for a November 25 - December 3 week of action against Hewlett Packard for their role in supplying technology for Israeli apartheid and occupation.
NOTES FROM 21ST STREET: Fall is turning dark and bleak, leaves have turned brown and are strewn on the ground. We who work for peace and justice also find a cold, bleak feeling within. With Donald Trump becoming president-elect we are fearful for vulnerable people and for our environment. The following is a quote from Dorothy Day. May it help us move forward. “”People say, What is the sense of our small effort? They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time. A pebble cast into a pond causes ripples that spread in all directions. Each one of our thoughts, word and deeds is like that. No one has a right to sit down and feel hopeless. There is too much work to do.” ---Peace and Hope, Roberta
We of the Casa Maria Catholic Worker Community wish all of you a joyful celebration of Christ’s birthday and a better and more peaceful New Year. We thank all of you who make it possible for us to do the work of hospitality, helping the needy with basic needs of food, clothing and furniture and working for justice and peace issues. “What you do to the least of these you do also to me.” ---Christ