KC AFSC Peace and Justice Alert – October 5, 2013

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"We make the rules of the economy –

and we have the power to change those rules."

~Robert Reich

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Dear Peacemakers, I have been in Chicago the past several days with AFSC staff from across the country working in AFSC’s Wage Peace network. It was a special opportunity to be with dedicated and insightful staff to plan and reflect on our work on federal budget priorities, U.S. militarism, corporate misappropriation of our democratic processes and organizing in times of increasing economic disparity. I write during the government shutdown caused by Tea Party extremists, who hold us hostage with many believing that no government is no loss. The orchestrated gridlock in D.C., the crusade for smaller government and efforts for more austerity must not demoralize and make us feel powerless. During my time with AFSC staff, metaphors for social change were discussed. These included images of surfing the wave, snowballs growing and collecting mass, tipping points, elected leaders being balloons tied to the rock of cultural change. Whatever the image, I hope you will renew your efforts and help build and ride the wave, push that snowball, and move the rock of cultural change… to create more justice and peace that will come, maybe not tomorrow, but through our many actions and work together over time. I left the AFSC meetings with new ideas for work to strengthen a culture of peace, economic justice and shared security in Kansas City and across the country and world.

AFSC interns

created this Budget Mania

game to engage youth in learning about federal

spending and revenue policies and needs in our community.

A wave of change it coming. We invite you to join us in our work:

Attend our next Move the Money Budget Priorities meeting, on October 8, Tuesday, 5:30pm at the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO. At the meeting I will share some new budget priorities work ideas and build on the work we have done.

October 11, Friday, 7:30pm for the premiere Kansas City showing of “Inequality for All” featuring Robert Reich at the Tivoli Theater, Westport Manor Square, 4050 Pennsylvania, KCMO. We will have a short talk and discussion following the screening of the film. The event is cosponsored by AFSC, Friends of Community Media, KC Move to Amend, and Jobs Now! Coalition

October 6, 4:00pm, Government Spying In The U.S.: A Forum- At the forum we will also remember the 12th anniversary of the Afghan War.

See below for these activities, other calendar events, and articles, alerts and more. Thanks for all of your work for our community.

Sincerely,

Ira Harritt KC Program Coordinator American Friends Service Committee 816 931-5256, iharritt@afsc.org

Check out these articles below:

About 15% of Americans Live in Poverty, So Why is No One Talking About It? Congressional “Mad Dogs” Render the Powerful Powerless When Federal Contracts Turn Into Corporate Welfare Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence 'black budget'

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Upcoming Peace and Justice Activities

Click on link or scroll down for more information about the peace and justice activity

October 6, 4:00pm, Government Spying In The U.S.: A Forum, Featured Speaker:

Gary Brunk, Executive Director, ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri at All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church 4501 Walnut Street, KCMO

October 7, Monday, 1:30pm, Court Support: Twenty-four resisters crossed the

property line at KC's new nuclear weapons parts plant on July and 3 hearings are scheduled. You can do "court support." Come listen to our proceedings, all at Municipal Court, 1101 Locust,

October 8, Tuesday, 5:30pm, Budget Priorities Campaign Meeting, Join us to help

identify and plan a campaign around one or more local issues to showcase misdirected federal budget priorities and the resulting local unmet needs. We will update each other on the current budget debate / actions (debt ceiling threats, deficit driven actions, sequestration, austerity, etc.). And we will consider other ways we can impact the budget discussion in the media and around the “water cooler” and build a movement to change spending and tax policy.

October 18–20: 20th Annual Peace Colloquy at Community of Christ Temple, 201 S.

River Blvd., Independence, MO 64050. Programming for ages 5 and up at this “Peace, Justice, and Song” weekend will create experiences of the transformational power of song as it gives witness, proclaims the gospel, promotes peace with justice, and inspires us to act. Highlights include a kick-off hymn festival, more than 20 inspiring workshops, and a complimentary hymnal. See rates for children, youth, college students, and adults, and register online at www.CofChrist.org/peacecolloquy.

October 21, Monday, 6:00 to 7:30pm, Strategies for Social Change: Nonviolence

Action Brainstorm, We will use a “critical path analysis” process and brainstorm and evaluate tactics for social change. Imagine a public policy goal where a corporate player resists change that you want to explore. Bring your ideas and help innovate. At the AFSC office, 4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO

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1st and 3rdSaturdays, 1:00pm, Bradley Manning Support Rally, Join us outside the gates of

Ft. Leavenworth, in support of Bradley Manning through his court martial trial in February.

EVERY Tuesday, JOIN THIS Peace Demonstration between 5PM - 6 PM in the median strip

on the south corner of the intersection at 63rd & Ward Parkway, Kansas City, Mo. For more information email '63rd Street Patriots' at schwartzkatz@sbcglobal.net

Weekly Wednesday, Noon, Jericho Walk for Immigrant Rights gather outside KansasCity

Immigration Court, 2345 Grand Blvd., KCMO Info at http://www.ijamkc.org/

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SPYING! GOVERNMENT SPYING IN THE U.S.: A FORUM

Where: All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church

4501 Walnut Street, Kansas City, MO 64111

When: October 6, 2013, 4:00 PM

Featured Speaker: Gary Brunk, Executive Director, ACLU of

Kansas & Western Missouri

The speaker will be followed by a panel of legal experts for audience

inter-action & discussion about the current nature of surveillance & the

rights of citizens.

Meet & greet reception following panel. Meet local leaders actively pro-

testing and resisting the military-industrial complex and the surveillance

state.

Sponsored by: United Progressives of Kansas City, Unitarian Universalist Service Committee of All Souls Unitarian Universalist Church, Kansas City Greens Foundation, ACLU of Kansas & Western Missouri, Gray Panthers of Kansas & Western Missouri, Peace Works, National Lawyers Guild,

Consolidated Social Work Services, American Friends Service Committee, Children of Incarcerated Parents, Voices of the People

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News and Alerts

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on Saturday, October 5, 2013 by the Guardian/UK

About 15% of Americans Live in Poverty, So Why is No One Talking About It?

Mainstream media give very little coverage to poverty and the working class. It's a public interest failure by Daniel Medina

It's not my intention to belittle the government shutdown or the political showdown underway

between President Obama and the GOP, but more often that not, America's fickle news media is

dominated by one subject. It's what gets left out that is often more telling than what everyone (or

at least the news) is talking about.

Remember the food stamp fight? It was only two weeks ago that the Republican-controlled

House of Representatives passed a bill that would strip $40bn from Snap (the Supplemental

Nutrition Assistance Program, aka the food stamp program) over the next 10 years by imposing

work requirements and eliminating waivers for "some able bodied adults". The move, which

would effectively cut support for millions of poor Americans, was seen by critics as a heartless

attempt by House Republicans to hack away at the nation's dwindling social safety net. But, what

is more outrageous is that it took a draconian piece of legislation to even get the nation's

attention on what has become one of the country's most ignored issues: poverty.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism found that out of 52 mainstream

media outlets analysed, coverage of poverty amounted to less than 1% of available news space

from 2007 to 2012. It's even more astonishing considering that period covered a historic

recession.

One of the report's conclusions was that media organizations chose not to cover poverty because

it was potentially uncomfortable to advertisers seeking to reach a wealthy consumer audience. As

Barbara Ehrenreich, who contributes articles on social issues for Time Magazine, put it:

They don't want really depressing articles about misery and hardship near their ads.

Poverty coverage is seen as non-lucrative, time-consuming and involves high levels of

commitment that editors are unwilling to give their reporters in this age of newsroom budget

tightening. The greatest irony, however, is that poverty, as Tampa Bay Times media critic, Eric

Deggans, told The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard earlier this year "is in some

ways the ultimate accountability story – because, often, poverty happens by design".

More: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/05-4 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on Thursday, October 3, 2013 by Common Dreams

Congressional “Mad Dogs” Render the Powerful Powerless by Ralph Nader

SHUTDOWN – blared the Washington Post headline. None of the powers-that-be could stop a

small faction of Republicans in the House of Representatives from shutting down many federal

government operations starting on October 1.

Suddenly the powerful Business Roundtable and U.S. Chamber of Commerce are powerless,

along with two hundred corporate trade associations, who see Uncle Sam as their big customer.

Suddenly, the Republican dominated National Governors Association, together with Mitt

Romney, the Party’s presidential nominee in 2013, are powerless. Also powerless so far are the

allegedly sovereign people, who want uninterrupted safety inspections, enforcement of labor and

environmental laws, children’s nutrition and educational programs (like Head Start), student loan

processing, veterans benefits, detection of epidemics, access to national parks, and inspections of

nuclear power plants.

All of the above want the federal government to stay open. Most of them do not want to see

800,000 federal workers (out of two million) furloughed. It doesn’t matter to House Republicans.

About thirty-five to forty obscure, foot-stomping Republicans have scared the easily frightened

House Speaker, John Boehner, and his curled-lip deputy, Rep. Eric Cantor, into doing what no

foreign enemy since the British burned Washington in 1812 has been able to do. This cohort,

representing the most cruel, ignorant, narcissistic Republicans in the Party’s history, has closed

down much of the national government.

Usually lapdogs for big business or business lobbies back in their one-party dominated

Congressional Districts, this small echo chamber in the House, assisted by some of their ilk in

the Senate, have become “mad dogs.” These “mad dogs” do not obey their owners, they

embarrass them and make our tepid economic recovery shudder. They shake foreign allies’

confidence in the super-power, whose lawless military Empire budgets are mostly untouched by

the shutdown.

To make matters more calamitous, these “mad dogs” are also attempting to block the increase in

the nation’s debt ceiling later this month that is necessary to pay for bills already incurred. Just

the rhetoric by these ideologically inebriated Republicans is giving the stock marketers and the

big business barons nightmares.

The ostensible reason for these “mad dogs” frothing at the mouth is Obamacare, or what is

euphemistically called the Affordable Care Act, which does little to control the drug, hospital

and insurance industry’s prices. These congressional canines bark daily that the American people

are against “big government” Obamacare. They fail to point out that a solid segment in the polls

consists of Americans who oppose Obamacare because they want full Medicare for all, or what

is called single-payer – a far more efficient, accessible, and simple system with better outcomes

and opportunities for disease and injury prevention. Under single-payer, everybody is in, nobody

is out, with free choice of doctor and hospital. (Visit singlepayeraction.org)

Why is this Republican faction – a minority in its own Party – so extortionately against

Obamacare that they would shut the government down? The answer is simple: Obama. They do

not like him. Moreover, these Congressional “mad dogs”, well paid and insured by taxpayers,

prefer the present ‘pay-or-die’ gouging marketplace that, according to a peer-reviewed study by

Harvard Medical School researchers, takes the lives of 800 Americans each week who cannot

afford health insurance to be diagnosed and treated in a timely manner.

The question remains: Why have all these power brokers suddenly become powerless, including

all the business lobbies? One explanation is that hyped-up Tea Party activists can threaten

primaries against moderate Republicans. In addition these “mad dogs” are in a feeding frenzy

and cannot see any reality beyond their pack.

Most puzzling are the allegedly sovereign people, including federal employees, their families and

the millions of workers around the country who extend or rely on federal operations. True, there

are a few scattered protests around the country. In France, were the Parliament to shut down the

government, the French would likely sack the Parliament. In Washington, D.C., the press

reported an “eerie silence,” before and after midnight struck on September 30. And they might

have added – around the country.

How can this not embolden the “mad dogs” further?

It is one thing for America to be a nation of sheep, controlled by the multinational corporate

supremacists who have no allegiance to our country other than to control it and ship jobs and

industries to repressive regimes abroad. It is quite another matter altogether to be sheep led by

“mad dogs” from uncompetitive Districts, whose sheepish voters brought them to Congress

where they are exercising their slash and burn plundering.

Who is in charge here? Our Constitution opens with the words “We the People,” not “We the

Congress” or “We the Corporations.” That is why people are deemed sovereign.

That sovereignty is in our hands only if we exercise it and challenge our wayward politicians.

Time again for that oft-repeated but ignored cliché: Wake up America! (Easy first step – the

Congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121 or find your member of Congress’s email address

here.) Tell Congress they are putting their own jobs at risk by allowing the shutdown to continue.

More: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Published on Saturday, October 5, 2013 by In These Times

When Federal Contracts Turn Into Corporate Welfare by Michelle Chen

Where does the corporate bottom line end and the public interest begin? Through the voodoo

economics of federal contracting, Washington's "partnerships" with private corporations have

drained the public trust straight into the pockets of top corporate executives.

The progressive think tank Demos calculates in a new research report that private contractors

have funneled up to $24 billion in federal funds into executive salaries. Yet, according to the

analysis, the same system of contracted firms—from defense manufacturers to concession stands

at national tourist sites—also employs hundreds of thousands of poverty-wage workers at the

bottom.

Federal contractors are currently subject to a very loose limit on the amount of an executive's

salary that can come directly from federal subsidies: about $763,000. Extrapolating from survey

data on the top contractor executive salaries fromthe Government Accountability Office, Demos

estimates the aggregate share of public money that is ultimately funneled into executive pay at

$23.9 billion.

Besides taxpayers, those who stand to lose most from these skewed CEO pay schemes may be

the low-wage laborers carrying out the actual work of the contract projects, such as repairing a

school or building a bridge. These are the workers featured in another recent Demos analysis of

contractors, showing that “an estimated 560,000 Americans employed by federal contractors

were paid $12 an hour or less.”

More: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/10/05-2 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Inside the 2013 U.S. intelligence 'black budget' Washington Post

The pages in this document appear in the summary of the Office of the Director of National

Intelligence's multivolume FY 2013 Congressional Budget Justification — the U.S. intelligence

community's top-secret "black budget." It covers many of the high-profile agencies, such as the

Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, as well as lesser-known

programs, including those within the Treasury, State and Energy Departments. This budget does

not include funding for intelligence-gathering by the military.

Although the government has annually released its overall level of intelligence spending since

2007, it has not divulged how it uses those funds. See detailed breakdowns of how the U.S.

government allocates resources across the intelligence community and within individual agencies

in the annotated pages below.

More: http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/inside-the-2013-us-intelligence-black-budget/420/ And

Funding the intelligence program The CIA, NSA and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) receive more than 68 percent

of the black budget. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Program’s (NGP) budget has

grown over 100 percent since 2004.

More: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/national/black-budget/ --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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4405 Gillham Rd., KCMO 64110

(816) 931-5256

The information and events described in AFSC Peace and Justice Alerts are intended to educate and assist

members of our community in becoming active in working for a more just and peaceful world. Inclusion of a listing does not necessarily imply that AFSC KC agrees with all points of view that will be represented at the

event.

The American Friends Service Committee is a Quaker organization that includes people of various faiths who are committed to social justice, peace, and humanitarian service.

Its work is based on the Quaker belief in the worth of every person and faith in the power of love to overcome violence and injustice

Ira Harritt KC Program Coordinator American Friends Service Committee 816 931-5256 iharritt@afsc.org http://afsc.org/office/kansas-city-mo