Tag Archives: HD Moore

Weekly Address: Making 2014 a Year of Action to Expand Opportunities for the Middle ClassIn this week’s address, President Obama said 2014 will be a year of action, and called on both parties to help make this a breakthrough year for the United States by bringing back more good jobs and expanding opportunities for the middle class.

Click here to watch this week’s Weekly Address.

KUOW Series Preview: Sacred Catch

01/20/2014 Nativegrl77

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Attitudes about Middle/Lower class & the Poor …

01/20/2014 Nativegrl77

We are at the beginning of a New Year 2014, yet the behavior in Congress stinks lest we talk about the things going on at the state and local levels with questionable political actions by Governors and Politicians that lean conservative. Do not get me wrong, leaning right is okay. It is when you find out that Republicans, voted into office may not have given full disclosure as to exactly what they have planned for their constituents after all. It makes you wonder why folks, clearly suppressed don’t organize and revolt more often.

another rant, but not exactly mine …

While annoying attitudes about the Middle/Lower Class and the Poor linger we must all press on …We must educate motivate and recruit potential voters to put better Representatives for the People in Congress … not to mention better Governors; all of whom should do the People’s Business, not for a small group of benefactors !

HIM:

In January of 2009, Joe Biden said the middle class was left out of the last economic boom in America now suffers because of it and President Obama supposedly initiated a task force to improve the quality of life for the American Middle Class. ** Many such comments have been made by several administrations over the last several decades.

I think the best advice is not to impose federal programs/regulations that work toward transforming the middle class into the rest of a society that denies itself nothing regardless of the ability to pay for it. To help the middle class, start by reducing and limiting federal subsidies for the less fortunate and eliminate them for the lazy. At the same time scrap tax & investment programs, only the upper crust can take advantage of, reward fiscal responsibility by leveling the playing field (make the words “equal opportunity” mean something again).

Promote individual responsibility to mortgage only what can be repaid, applaud the ability to recognize the difference and put on a pedestal the integrity to put both in play.

Government cannot create jobs or wealth. You have seen firsthand how command economies have run the rest of the planet into the ground while America became the envy of the world. What’s happened to us is corruption. Corruption with the size and scope to turn Freedom and Liberty asunder.

Harry, I am the Middle Class…. but it’s not a measure of my wealth – rather it’s a mind-set and it’s what’s in my heart. I rarely think about being rich because deep down inside I do believe it’s not possible to get that way without at some point wrongfully taking advantage of others and/or breaking the rules BUT I DON’T WANT TO BE POOR EITHER FOR EXACTLY THE SAME REASON. I don’t want to lead… I don’t want to follow…. I don’t want anything to do with politics. All I want is to be left alone to peaceably be responsible for myself and no-one else unless I see fit and I despise the desires of government to treat me otherwise. I am not your enemy nor am I an enemy of anyone… however, you Sir, have proven a thousand times over to be mine.

ME:

I read and re-read your comment and while I believe, what VP Joe Biden said is true. it is obvious that you do not and if I may take it even farther you sound like a Ron Paul supporter who I feel… let me say that again … whom I feel is an isolationist deep down and some other things that really have no place here. I believe the government is there when the People cannot do for themselves and if you have watched, listened and heard what happened while George Bush was President you might side with me though he did prove without a doubt; he had absolutely no control of the government. The idea that “he and his people” waged 2Wars 2huge Tax cuts without a pay for then decided to wait until the very last-minute as Americans prepared to vote in 2008 Presidential election to let us know quite vaguely that our economy was at risk. I know I was not alone, wondering and sensing something was wrong and while Hank Paulson held several pressers telling everyone that we need $$ because our countries economic stability was about to collapse or had. That taxpayers had to help the banks etc. because they were too big to fail and we cannot tell you how the money will be used or how much -which really meant that the Private Sector had done something and it wasn’t good. The damage done needed government intervention, maybe not the way Hank Paulson& George Bush handled it but the tangled weave woven of our monetary system is not only a national problem but also an international one. Our system is still at risk … you may not have felt it …I did …my state government started laying off people and while it was not given a lot of PR … I have to say way too many co-workers working for the state lost half if not more of their 401S ….and the climb up was slow . The House of Bush lost its credibility by waging 2Wars and giving his rich friends 2 tax cuts and a lack of regulation by an unqualified 8yr tenure of spending. This could not have been recalibrated by the market or private sector … because they were the problem right they didn’t figure it in, bankers etc. org like country wide did some awful things and that dragged not just the middle class it managed to create ”the new working poor” unable to pay their housing mortgages. Though folks in the know say, people should not have gotten into loans they could not afford a lot more to that story than meets the eye… BofA knows and so does country wide … Sir, there are at least 300 million people in the US of A and the Government thank goodness is there to take up where others cannot …I like and want FEMA,FDA regulations regulating food, FAA, the dirty air and water available for ALL Americans because I know I cannot regulate these things. I am happy our Government takes care of those things and let us not leave out Teachers, Firefighters, EMTS or the Police … all usually government jobs. I am not a States Rights believer. I still cannot believe any state would and should privatize such important jobs …and to know that in this yr. of 2011,people who don’t or cannot pay for the protection of their homes or belongings gets absolutely no service while their house burns down is far beyond my understanding of any libertarian ideology and as far as corruption? I still feel like America was raped by our fellow Americans by the financial system and those JOB Creators the banksters abused their power and while VP Biden is your enemy he and President Obama has been our savior in my eyes. The governing body has had to put aside the status quo for trying something new, pushing, promoting a balanced call to action. Unfortunately, the status quo is far more acceptable than doing the right thing … We can all see that by tuning into the rhetoric from Republicans and the Tea party who just tried to take our economy and our Democracy down again. I am certain that we are our brothers keepers and with the right balance….

Capitalism will live on, hopefully in lower case c. If we have learned anything it is that absolute power can create absolute corruption …like banksters and anyone affiliated should be warned and our future better when the proper amount of regulations are implemented … so that AIG, BP, the Massey mine and disaster like it are regulated …and the keystone pipeline as well. I believe we need a Congress that is concerned about our fiscal issues but who don’t forget the past and the damage done … Republicans seem bent on the status quo and VP Biden and President Obama want ALL Americans to do well- I support that. It is all about balance. I feel if President Obama’s first few months or 2yrs in, Congress had acted for the good of ALL Americans instead of Republicans deciding to take the President down, or those blue dogs and yes some clintonites held grudges. Imagine if all these members of Congress had done what we taxpayers actually pay them to do – put People over Profit, Country over Political Party. No task forces no filibusters no personal BS – I wager more regulation but balanced and a respect for the People’s vote in 2008- I do not live in an isolationist country though we all have the right to privacy. I would say that income inequality, racism, the war waged on worker and women’s rights are the enemy of mine

HIM:

Submitted on 2011/12/24 at 3:01 PM

No, quite the contrary…. the middle class has indeed been kicked in the teeth for nearly 5 decades. Year after year, decade after decade the middle class has lost ground to the wealthy and yet forced to pay more for the poor because government tries to feed, clothe and house them yet at the same time turns it’s back on corrupt manipulation of the economy. Both sides of the political aisle in the US have been equally vile and corrupt for a long long time. Until we address this and rid ourselves of it, we will never be able to right ourselves. Arguing Democrat vs Republican nonsense is just the rhetoric used to feed the fire… to keep your focus off all the criminal intent between Washington and business. There’s nothing wrong with honest Democrat/Republican doctrine/values. What’s going on today has little to do with either and it’s time we grow up… face it…. and do something about it.

There are plenty of laws to provide for a decent and civil society as long as we are willing to enforce them. The problem today with asking our government to capture and punish the bad guys is that many in government ARE the bad guys. USA Today reports that 57 members of Congress are included in the top 1% of the wealthiest Americans. In fact, the report says that in all, Congress holds 249 millionaires. Interesting that both Republicans and Democrats evenly make up the list and gee what a surprise to find out that most of them amassed their wealth after taking office. We know these guys are all just astute investors/businessmen because they’ve told us so. There’s no taking advantage of non-public market information going on in Washington. This is America – remember…. the land of equal opportunity for all who are willing to work.

ME:

Submitted on 2011/12/24 at 4:28 PM | In reply to

Well, having read this response means you really did not read mine. I was agreeing that the Middle Class has suffered for quite some time. If I remember, you are against task forces to remedy the issue. I believe we agree on some of the issues but clearly disagree at how those issues can and should be handled.

I lean left. I believe that I am my brother’s keeper and as a person of colour, it is in my own best interest to make sure that not only are minorities treated like others, with respect, equality and have access to all the same opportunities to move up. It makes America an even better place and as far as Democratic or Republican rhetoric? there is a stark difference … getting money out of Washington if that is your main interest means starting on the local level. The status quo pays but it starts in your State where the best or most promising are courted. I have no problem with the idea …”getting money out of Washington” what I do take issue with is how folks act like it just started and blame President Obama for the ills of at least 20yrs of destruction having come to bear on his watch. I am upset Bush was allowed to skate without so much as a question … when did the bs really start ,why didn’t you implement a pay for the 2Wars waged 2Bush Bonus dollars . I read your comment …my question is … did you feel this much about it for the nearly 5 decades you state we have been kicked in the teeth for? I watch and listen to various pundits on cable yelling screaming and then blame the Obama Admin. Where were they during the House of Bush and unlike some, I have no problem with that 1-2% of self-made million/billionaires who have tried to give back. I do take issues with the Cantor, Boehner and McConnell’s clearly having a positive upward agenda for the 1-2% but not for the Mid-lower classes. As I said, I have no problem with capitalism with a small c. I agree Congress is sometimes vile, greedy and speaks for the 1% … but that is usually when Republicans are out of control like Bush. I support President Obama, but am not very happy with conservadems, conservative members of Congress, Tea Party members or Republican Governors throwing us under the bus. We must ask a Republican … what kind of an America are they trying to move us into when they live ,love and push income inequality … class warfare – and just so you know … folks are willing to work yet those JOB Creators keep offshoring jobs making life unequal as more opportunities dry up.

HIM: I have no further comment other than to wish you a Merry Christmas.

ME: Thank You … and A Happy New Year to you …

First Posted on 12/24/2011 … The we Vs them mentality is at work and the post still relevant.

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Paid Sick Time

01/20/2014 Nativegrl77

A Better Balance Joins New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio As He Announces Legislation to Extend Paid Sick Time to Hundreds of Thousands of Additional Workers in New York City

For nearly five years, A Better Balance has been working to make paid sick time a reality for all working families in New York City. We were thrilled to help broker the agreement last year that finally led to passage of the NYC Earned Sick Time Act. This major legislation will go into effect on April 1, 2014, and extend paid sick time to 1 million workers in NYC who currently receive no paid time off when they or their loved ones are ill. When the compromise was reached, A Better Balance Co-President Sherry Leiwant was quoted in the New York Times noting that the bill, despite its critical benefits and important precedent, was not perfect; some manufacturing workers were excluded, and many employees of small businesses would only receive unpaid sick time under the law. We have not given up hope of strengthening this legislation to protect an even greater number of New Yorkers.

Today marks a huge milestone in our efforts to expand paid sick time in New York City! This afternoon, we stood with NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito outside Esmeralda’s Restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn as the Mayor announced legislation to strengthen the Earned Sick Time Act. Mayor de Blasio is sending the City Council a bill that would lower the business size threshold for paid sick time to reach more New Yorkers and cover manufacturing workers on the same basis as other workers; under the Mayor’s proposal, workers employed by businesses with 5 or more employees will be able to earn up to 5 days of paid sick time, while workers in smaller businesses will receive up to 5 days of unpaid sick time to care for themselves or an ill loved one. This legislation will extend paid sick time to hundreds of thousands of workers in NYC who would not otherwise receive paid sick time when the Earned Sick Time Act goes into effect on April 1, 2014! The Mayor’s bill will also increase the time in which workers can file complaints, expand the definition of “family” in the law to cover grandparents, grandchildren, and siblings, and empower the city to proactively enforce the Earned Sick Time Act by initiating its own investigations.

At his press conference today, Mayor de Blasio thanked the “A Better Balance and Paid Sick Days Coalition” for its leadership on this issue! We have been providing assistance to the Mayor’s office on this legislation, and we look forward to working in coming weeks with the Mayor and City Council members. As the City Council considers the Mayor’s legislation and weighs other potential changes to the Earned Sick Time Act, we will do everything we can to ensure passage of the strongest law possible. We are also continuing to work with city officials on the development of administrative rules and regulations that will facilitate the law’s implementation in April.

Passage of this expanded paid sick time law is only the beginning. With your continued support, A Better Balance is engaging in outreach throughout NYC to inform workers about their sick time rights. As the effective date of this law (April 1, 2014) draws closer, we must ensure that workers are aware of their rights, businesses understand their legal obligations, and violations are effectively enforced. If you would like to learn more about our outreach efforts or get involved, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 212-430-5982.

Thank you,

The ABB Team: Sherry, Dina, Phoebe, Jared, Elizabeth, Liz, Risha & Rachel

P.S. To learn more about our work visit our webpage. Check out our blog on work/family legal issues, like A Better Balance on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!

Donate now to A Better Balance. Together we can improve the lives of families across the country.

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Michael Bell Team : Plea for a Change

01/16/2014 Nativegrl77

Please, read the letter and have 3 more friends to sign the petition. Thank you! http://www.change.org/ab409?utm_source=supporter_message&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=petition_message_notice

THE LETTER:

TO: Committee on Criminal Justice Representative and Chair, Joel Kleefisch Room 307 North State Capitol P.O. Box 8952 Madison, WI 53708

Re: AB 409 Dear Members of the Committee I am a retired City of Kenosha police detective with over 31 years of law enforcement experience. During my career with the Kenosha Police Department, I earned 57 awards and letters of commendation and completed the Wisconsin Department of Justice Death Investigation School, along with numerous other police related training programs. For nine years, I served on the Board of Directors of the Kenosha Professional Police Association, most of those years as the Association treasurer. I was also an active member of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association for nearly three decades. I graduated from UW-Parkside with Summa Cum Laude honors and a triple major of sociology, history, and political science. I hold five secondary teaching licenses with the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction. I earned these licenses through the post-baccalaureate teacher certification program at UW-Milwaukee. I currently work as a full time social studies teacher at an alternative high school in Milwaukee for at-risk youth. In my spare time, I volunteer as an investigative consultant for the Chicago Innocence Project, where I work with college journalism students who intern with the project. This letter, the attached affidavit with supporting documents, and my testimony will make many people uncomfortable. My testimony will address the elephant in this hearing room. We all know it is here. Most of us, including me, do not want to acknowledge it. I will be testifying about a law enforcement culture in some police agencies that fosters an environment where the concealment of facts and evidence, untruthfulness, and other unethical and criminal behavior by police officers is both tolerated, and in many cases, expected. Only the most naïve among use will deny the evidence of the existence of police and prosecutor misconduct in their investigation duties. On May 20, 2012, the National Registry of Wrongful Convictions issued a report titled, Wrongful Convictions in the United States, 1989–2012. This report, which received extensive media coverage upon its release, documented 873 individual exonerations in the United States from January, 1989 through the end of February, 2012. As of December 10, 2013, the number of individual exonerations is up to 1,255. Of these 1,255 individual felony exonerations, thirty-one are Wisconsin cases. Of these thirty-one Wisconsin exonerations, “official misconduct” is listed as a contributing factor in six of these cases. To put this in perspective, since 1989, it is confirmed that six Wisconsin citizens were deprived of their fundamental constitutional right of liberty by the misconduct of Wisconsin government officials. Taking a citizen’s liberty by official misconduct is just a notch below taking a citizen’s life. The 2012 report also documents 1107 additional exonerations that occurred in groups due to thirteen police scandals where it was determined that law enforcement officers engaged in patterns of misconduct that affected the integrity of sets of criminal convictions. Researchers concluded that the numbers of known individual and group exonerations is only a fraction of the total number of wrongful convictions that actually occur in the United States. The report also lists the contributing causes for the wrongful convictions in the 873 cases of individual exonerations across categories of felonies. This data is contained in the table that follows that has been copied and pasted from page #40 of the 103-page report. The table shows that official misconduct, which includes perjury and failure to disclose exculpatory information or evidence by government agents, and perjury and false accusation, on the part of civilians, are the leading causes of the wrongful convictions in the set of 873 individual exonerations the report studies.
The Innocence Project is a New York based national “umbrella” innocence project. According to its web page, it is a “. . .national litigation and public policy organization dedicated to exonerating wrongfully convicted individuals through DNA testing and reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.” The Innocence Project defines and illustrates “government [official] misconduct” as follows: Common forms of misconduct by law enforcement officials include: • Employing suggestion when conducting identification procedures • Coercing false confessions • Lying or intentionally misleading jurors about their observations • Failing to turn over exculpatory evidence to prosecutors • Providing incentives to secure unreliable evidence from informants

Common forms of misconduct by prosecutors include: • Withholding exculpatory evidence from defense • Deliberately mishandling, mistreating or destroying evidence • Allowing witnesses they know or should know are not truthful to testify • Pressuring defense witnesses not to testify • Relying on fraudulent forensic experts • Making misleading arguments that overstate the probative value of testimony One may ask, “What does data regarding official misconduct in wrongful conviction cases have to do with AB-409, which is the subject of this hearing?” The link is clear. Some police officers and prosecutors commit perjury, conceal evidence and other critical information, and disregard basic rules of conflict of interest to deprive innocent citizens of their liberty by incarcerating them by wrongful conviction.

It is not a stretch to think they would engage in this type of misconduct to protect their co-workers from being held accountable for unlawful use of deadly force. It is the mirror image of wrongful conviction. This type of official misconduct is intended to shield a co-worker from being held accountable for unlawful use of deadly force, thus depriving a citizen of another fundamental constitutional right, the right to their life.

In the fall of 2012, Investigative Consultant Ira Robins asked me to provide an affidavit related to evidence that I possessed related to criminal misconduct by many high ranking City of Kenosha Police officials, including the Chief of Police. Mr. Robins submitted this affidavit, along with other information that he developed, to the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. Mr. Robins asked for a federal investigation into a pattern and practice of criminal civil rights violations on the part of the Kenosha Police Department. Arguably, the most egregious of these civil rights violations was the death of Michael Bell at the hands of the Kenosha Police in November of 2004. Based on information that I have obtained, I believe the federal government is conducting this investigation. We will, of course, have to wait and see if indictments are issued.

My affidavit documented and provided evidence of numerous cases of concealment of evidence, altering of evidence, perjury, and other criminal acts by high ranking Kenosha Police officials, in addition to the numerous illicit acts involving the Kenosha Police investigation into the death of Michael Bell. Some, but not all, of this information is already available in documents that I filed with the City of Kenosha Police and Fire Commission, the Kenosha County District Attorney, and the Wisconsin Department of Justice. None of these agencies acted on this information. Their indolence ultimately forced the unresolved issues to be submitted to the federal government so they could step in and protect the interests and constitutional rights of Wisconsin citizens. Currently, the affidavit that I provided to the United States Department of Justice is not a public record because, as far as I know, they are investigating these crimes.

Investigative Consultant Ira Robins also asked me to review the thousands of pages of documents, still photos, and videos that the City of Kenosha turned over to Michael Bell’s attorneys in his federal civil suit over the death of his son. After my review of these materials, I have concluded that the shooting of Michael Bell was an intentional act that resulted from an unfortunate, unavoidable, but entirely understandable circumstance. I believe that one of the four officer’s holstered handgun got caught in the side mirror of a car during the struggle with Michael Bell. This caused the officer who’s handgun was caught in the mirror to honestly believe that Michael was attempting to disarm him. His hysterical cries to the other officers due to his mistaken belief that he was being disarmed resulted in Michael being shot in the head. This officer compounded the tragedy when he committed suicide in October 2010.

The affidavit related to my theory is included in the packet of material that I provided to all of you. I respectfully request and strongly recommend that you take the time to read it.

However, based on the thousands of pages of discovery documents that the City of Kenosha provided Michael Bell’s attorneys, the likely scenario that the Officer’s holstered gun was caught in the car mirror during the struggle was never considered nor explored as a factor in the death investigation. To this day, unless the Feds are conducting an inquiry, this likely “gun getting caught on the car mirror” theory, has yet to be officially investigated. There are only two possible reasons why the Kenosha Police Department, who were investigating their own officers, failed to traverse this avenue of inquiry. 1. Utter and inexcusable incompetence. 2. Intentional conspiracy to conceal and deceive. With either reason, AB-409, should it become law, would prevent future instances in which a police department pre-disposed to corruption or incompetence could attempt to investigate their own officers who are involved in the death of a citizen.

My dear sister is a police officer in southeastern Wisconsin. Several years ago she shot an armed attacker in the line of duty. Recently, during one of our discussions about this bill, she told me that any police officer involved in a justifiable shoot would have no fear of and would welcome the review of their actions by the entity established when AB-409 becomes law. If I was not retired from law enforcement and was still an active officer, I would also prefer having the protection of the law to prevent a life sentence in a virtual prison for submitting to the peer pressure and participating in the crime of covering up a questionable or unlawful use of deadly force.

Many critics of this bill claim it adds an unnecessary level of government bureaucracy. I ask you and these critics these questions. Is protecting the natural right of the individual to life and liberty unnecessary? Is having a legal system where individual citizens are protected by due process unnecessary? I proclaim that critics of this bill demonstrate either inexcusable ignorance or a prince-like disregard of our country’s founding moment. Respectfully, Russell Beckman