Social justice union-busting?

David Russitano, a restorative justice adviser in San Francisco at Paul Revere Elementary School and a candidate for his union's executive board on the Educators for a Democratic Union slate, looks at the politics of school layoffs in his city.

April 19, 2012

A teacher from San Francisco joins in protests against budget cuts in Sacramento in March
THE SAN Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) is asking educators to shoulder the burden of the economic crisis--and wants to trample the union contract in the process.
The School Board voted 5-to-1 on February 29 to send out pink slips to 245 teachers and 249 paraprofessionals. The board also decided to bypass seniority in implementing the layoffs by exempting the 14 schools in the so-called Superintendent's Zone, using social justice language to justify their attack.
According to an SFUSD press release, the district created the "Superintendent's Zone of 14 schools located primarily in the Bayview and Mission neighborhoods of San Francisco to focus more resources on closing the achievement gap in some of the city's historically lowest performing schools...In skipping certificated employees in the Superintendent's Zone in the layoff process, the district is living up to its commitment to access, equity, and social justice."
As a member of United Educators of San Francisco (UESF), I know that there is no social justice in this these layoffs. For starters, the schools have been placed in the zone on an arbitrary basis. Other schools serve the exact same student demographics, but are left out of the zone. As a UESF document pointed out, all public schools in San Francisco have a mix of students, and there is no clear way that these schools have been chosen.
In fact, some of these schools have already been targeted for reforms under state legislation required by the federal Race to the Top program. For example, Carver Elementary was forced last year to use the turnaround model, which meant they had to replace at least 50 percent of their classroom teachers and the principal.
However, Carver is in the Superintendent's Zone, and will be skipped over for seniority for layoffs this year. How is it possible that they replace a majority of teachers one year ago and then claim social justice to jump seniority the next? SFUSD wants to have its cake and eat it, too.
Even worse is that the exemptions are conditional. They are not for all staff at these schools, but only for teachers. Our most vulnerable union members, the paraprofessionals, will be laid off.
Overwhelmingly, paraprofessionals work directly with students who need the most attention. Paraprofessionals are not compensated at living wages and have been left out of most pay raises. Why is it okay to lay off paraprofessionals, mostly people of color, at a school, yet save the mostly white teachers? That doesn't sound like social justice.
Furthermore, the high turnover in these schools is not primarily because of layoffs. The main reason people leave is because their job feels overwhelming. Singlehandedly, teachers and paraprofessionals are supposed to overcome the achievement gap when capitalism creates this gap in the first place.
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TO PERFORM the task of overcoming the achievement gap, educators are given tools that don't work. What you find at the "bottom 5 percent" schools is testing, testing and testing. At my school, Paul Revere, which has students from pre-K to 8th grade, first graders are tested every single week in math and language arts. The first graders can't fill in their own Scantron bubbles, so the teachers take their own valuable time and, along with parent volunteers, bubble in the tests.
Some teachers started to keep track of the amount of time spent testing in the later grades. They recorded in excess of 67 hours for this school year alone. Yet all this testing has done is discourage teachers--and it has not closed the achievement gap at all.
Educators have been great at implementing these inadequate tools, despite knowing that more testing is not going to close the gap. This leads to good teachers getting demoralized, as they are tired of being blamed or labeled as bad teachers.
The final kick in the face is that SFUSD has enough money in the bank to avoid layoffs this year. With $55.8 million in unrestricted reserves and an additional $23.3 million in restricted funds, they could easily keep teachers and paraprofessionals on the job. And if they really cared about social justice, they would be hiring people.
There is nothing about social justice in what the district is doing, so why is this happening now?
It is not coincidental that UESF and SFUSD have just started bargaining a new contract. In addition to the layoffs, SFUSD is asking for $36 million in concessions at the bargaining table. In a way, their playbook is the one used in Los Angeles two years ago, in which seniority was attacked on the basis that schools disproportionately affected by layoffs should be exempted from such cuts.
In San Francisco, the district is trying to put different groups against one another: teachers in the Superintendant's Zone vs. teachers out of the zone; teachers vs. paraprofessionals; and finally, teachers vs. the community. In making this attack on seniority, and using social justice as its reason, the district is trying to break our unity.
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FORTUNATELY, UESF has already begun to fight back, with a rally of 300 people at the school board March 14. Many passionate and talented teachers spoke about the way the district was attacking the community.
Among those protesting was Van Cedric Williams, who has been a teacher for 10 years. He said:

Do I teach my students to be good students by pitting their friends against each other, by pitting their employees against each other? We know that you have $55 million in reserve funds. You need to make the tough decision to spend it on the teachers. I tell my people invest in yourself and do well, but the school district won't and that's a shame.

A teacher at El Dorado Elementary told the school board:

I read with interest when the Superintendent told the [San Francisco] Chronicle that the layoffs won't tilt the earth on its orbit. That may be true factually--you could lay off all the teachers in the district, and the earth would not be tilted. But I invite you to come to El Dorado and tell our community that laying off seven to 15 classroom teachers does not, in fact, make a big tilt.

To justify its policy of concentrating teacher layoffs in some schools and exempting others, SFUSD officials point to the district's achievement gap between white and Black students. Of the seven largest urban districts in California, SFUSD is number one for test scores for white students. For Latinos, it is slightly worse, at third. But for African American students, it is last.
So there is definitely a need to close the achievement gap in San Francisco. It will take a movement that demands more resources for schools. UESF is a part of the solution by fighting to obtain additional funding for these schools. Seniority and the union help protect activists who are fighting for justice in the schools and in the community.
The movement for education justice will also have to take on wider issues like housing rights and stopping foreclosures (one block in the historically African American Bayview neighborhood has 14 foreclosed homes on it). If we are serious about the achievement gap, we need a new civil rights movement in San Francisco that fights for raising the standard of living for the most hard-pressed communities of color in this city. This is what we in Educators for a Democratic Union are committed to.

 

 via: The Socialist Worker

Lives stolen by the police

April 19, 2012

Rekia Boyd and Stephon Watts are two of the latest victims of police murder in the Chicago area. Rekia was a 22-year-old living on Chicago's West Side. She was shot by an off-duty officer who opened fire at a group of people standing on the edge of a city park, injuring one man and striking Rekia in the head. Stephon was an autistic 15-year-old killed in his own home by Calumet City officers supposedly responding to a call for assistance. The police claim Stephon threatened them with a butter knife.
In both cases, the police officers have not been punished in any way. In fact, on April 18, the Cook County state's attorney announced officially that no charges would be filed against officers in the murder of Stephon Watts.
Relatives of Rekia and Stephon were among the speakers at an April 11 forum in Chicago titled "Trayvon Martin and the Fight Against the New Jim Crow." Other speakers included Keeanga Yamahtta-Taylor of the International Socialist Organization, Bishop Tavis Grant and Rev. Jeanette Wilson from Operation PUSH, Allisah Love of the Free Howard Morgan campaign, and Simeon Wright, the cousin of Emmett Till, who was killed by racists in 1955.
Here, we print the speeches of Rekia's brother Martinez Sutton, and Steven Watts and Wayne Watts, Stephon's father and uncle. You can watch the full meeting at WeAreMany.org.

Stephon Watts and Rekia Boyd

Martinez Sutton

HI. HOW are you all doing? For those of you who don't know, I'm the brother of Rekia Boyd. For people who didn't hear the story, she was out enjoying herself in Douglas Park. It was an unusually hot winter day, about 74 degrees, and so she was enjoying some of the weather.
She had to go and use the washroom, so a friend of hers let her use the washroom, and as she came out, a little crowd was confronted by an off-duty officer, Detective Dante Servin. He had words with one of the young men from the inside of his car. Nobody knew that he was an officer, nobody knew who he was. He was not an African American, and he was around the neighborhood at one o'clock in the morning--I mean, the first thing somebody's going to think is, you know, he's coming to buy drugs.
Words went back and forth for a second, and before everybody knew it, a gun was displayed outside the driver's side window. And anywhere from 10 to 18 shots rang out. Now this officer claimed that he was scared, that he feared for his life. But 10 to 18 shots don't sound like fear to me. Sounds like you're out hunting. You're shooting to kill.
There were two people shot that night. Mr. Cross was shot in the hand, and the way that he was shot and the way the bullet entered, it was more of a defensive wound--he was trying to shield his face. And another bullet hit my sister in the head.
She laid there for close to 30 minutes before she received any help. The ambulance couldn't get through. They had to roll the gurney almost a block just to come and get her. The hospital was a mere four blocks away.
When she got to the hospital, nobody touched her for six hours. Six hours! She laid there with a bullet in her head, clinging on to life. One surgeon finally had the courage to touch her, because she was young. Her vitals were still strong, and the doctor said that, you know, she hadn't given up on life. So she took the chance until her brain swelled, and of course she had to stop.
Now, my sister got shot around 1 o'clock in the morning. My sister was staying with me. I wasn't notified until 10:30 in the morning. I'm looking at the news, praying for a family of a 22-year-old girl who got shot in the head. I'm sending my prayers out to this family, and saying, you know, nobody can even enjoy themselves no more.
I come to find out when they knocked on my door, I'm the family that I'm praying for--my little sister.
She wasn't found with drugs on her. She wasn't found with any weapon--nobody in the crowd had a weapon. Nobody displayed a gun. According to Dante Servin, somebody showed one, but police were on the scene in less than 30 seconds. Where did the gun go?
When the detectives knocked on my door, they asked for me by name: "Are you Martinez Sutton?" I said, "Yes, what's the problem?" They said, "Are you the brother of Rekia Boyd?" I said, "Yes, what's going on?" They said, "Well, she's been involved in a crime." "A crime?" I said, and my eyebrows went up. I said, "What did she do? Where is she?" They said, "Well she's been shot in the head, she's laying in the hospital in critical condition--that's all the information we have. This is where you can find her at, and this is the number you can call to find out what's going on. Sorry." And they walked away.
That was the last contact I had with the police. Nobody called and offered the family condolences. We didn't even get a Hallmark card, a card at the funeral or anything.
You know, I miss my sister. I miss her coming upstairs, sitting in my chair for about 30 minutes, talking to me about improving her life. Talking to me about her ambitions and goals. And the craziest thing is, the day I planned her funeral was the day she was supposed to move down to Bloomington and start her life anew.
Now she can't do that. Why? She's six feet in the ground. Not able to move, not able to talk for herself, defend herself or anything--while this monster is still on the streets, working for this police department that's talking about how "we're investigating." What needs to be investigated? Nobody did anything wrong that night. Nobody.
And one of the most crazy things of all is that where my sister laid, near an alley, is right behind the officer's house. I guess nobody told you all that--right behind his own house. He came down the one-way street the wrong way, in his personal vehicle. He could have been intoxicated. We're not 100 percent sure yet, because nobody told us anything.
We're just looking for answers, and these tears on my face, they're not tears of defeat. They're not. I'm not going to stop. They're tears of determination. They're tears of anger.
They're just trying to sweep this under the rug. I want you all to know the rug has just been lifted off the floor. We're going to keep pushing for this until I get justice for my sister. Thanks you all.
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Stephen Watts

Hello everyone, thank you for inviting me here. On February 1, my life changed. My baby was taken from me. He was murdered by Calumet City police officers.
It hurts so bad to talk about it that I'm going to introduce my brother and let him explain it to you. Because I'm in a lot of pain. I've seen four therapists, three psychiatrists. I can't sleep at night, I have to take pills. My baby is gone, he's six feet under, and he's not coming back. And there's nothing I can do about it. So, Wayne Watts, if you'd like to come up here.

Wayne Watts

We'd like to thank everybody out there for inviting us this evening. We as the Watts family stand in agreement with all the families here--Trayvon Martin, Rekia Boyd, Howard Morgan. But we also will need your help. We want justice, and we want justice now.
There's two police officers who came to my brother's house, and shot and murdered my nephew, and they could be walking around and talking to anybody--we don't even know their names. I've called, and I've called, and I've called, and no one will give us any information. Nothing. It's just a blank-out on what's going on.
This pain is horrendous. This pain is unimaginable. I'm sitting here listening to the stories, and I can feel all this pain going down to my toes because it's horrendous.
They shot and murdered my nephew in front of his father. We all, as parents, have this fear that one day, somebody's going to come knocking on your door. Right? We have this fear as a parent--I'm worried about my child, where is my child, where are they? Oh god, I can't find them, have you seen them? Because we're worried that something's going to happen.
But can you imagine seeing your baby's life taken in front of you. His last breath, and you see it.
My brother has been suffering immensely. He blames himself, constantly, over and over again. I said, "Stephen, you did not let these people come to your house to murder your child." He told me when they came in there that day, he told them it was alright, that he had things in order. They said, "No, we have to see Stephon."
He didn't call 911. He called non-emergency, because this was what we were afraid of--because he's a young Black child, just made 15 years old and had autism.
And you're talking about the police. We went up to the police station, and my sister-in-law was screaming and hollering, "You killed my baby! You killed my baby!" The officer told her, "Have a nice day." She screamed out, "What do you mean, have a nice day? You killed my child." And he's standing there, and he just smirked. And smiled.
Then they had a police press conference, and the police chief said, "We've been to the house nine or ten times, but Stephon crossed the line this time. He crossed the line." An autistic child--what line did he understand in his head? What line did he cross? I don't understand lines. What do you mean? And these officers are supposed to be trained for this.
So this pain is immense. I keep going over it in my head. What could I have done to save this baby? Could I have said another word? Should I have done this, should I have done this. And my brother is going through monumental pain. We're trying to go to church, we're trying to see psychiatrists, and every day, I have to hear him say, "It's my fault. It's my fault." I said, "Stephen, it's not your fault." He says, "It's my fault. I killed my baby. I killed my baby."
And so we need your help, because we want justice for Stephon Watts. I want justice. So I'm asking you guys to please sign this petition for us so we can get justice. They will not give us any information--they won't give us anything.
I'm asking for help. As a matter of fact, for my baby, I'm begging for it. We need help--to hold him up. So I can keep him standing up, so he can keep on fighting for his baby.
They were best friends. He keeps telling me, "Bro, I don't know what I'm going to do. My best friend's gone." He's gone. He's in the ground with that box over his head.
This stuff has got to stop, and it's got to stop now.
So I made this promise to my little brother. My health is not in the greatest shape. But I told him, until my dying breath, we will fight for your child. We will fight, I will turn over every rock, every stone and whatever I got to do, but I want justice.
I'm not talking about money. You cannot replace that baby. No amount of money can replace that child--not to see his face, not to see his children, not to see his marriage. All of that is all gone.
We had dreams for Stephon. We talked about what he was going to do when he grew up because he loved computers. So he thought that he's going to be a computer repairman, he's going to buy his own house. None of that will happen anymore--none of that.
So he's suffering now, and I'm standing up here to try to be his rock. And I will continue being a rock, brother. Because like I said, I don't know when the time is going to come when he stops blaming himself.
[Trayvon Martin's father and mother] said today that you have good times, and you have bad times, and that's what he has. For a minute, he's smiling, and the next minute, I'll look at him and ask, "What's wrong?" And he says, "He's gone."
So we are asking for your help. Please sign these petitions for us, because we are trying to get justice. We got to stop this, and we got to stop this now. This is 2012. This can't ever happen again--stop it now. Justice for these families! Justice for these families! We want justice, and we want justice now!

via The Real News

News Stories

April 19, 2012

Norman Solomon on Why Fight for a Seat in Congress Norman Solomon: Progressives should build a movement and contend for political power Go to story | Go to homepage Inequality and Instability - Part 2 James K. Galbraith: The Bush years - Growth demanded new markets among debtors who previously had not qualified for mortgages Go to story | Go to homepage Spring Revival: Occupy Wall Street Seeks to Rejuvenate Movement Occupy activists converge in New York's Central Park ahead of May Day actions Go to story | Go to homepage The Promise What you have been seeing on TRNN is just a taste of what's to come; we need your support now view

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The Occupy Movement

Tax Day Protest: Andre Segarra, CWA Local 1102 Is the Occupy movement being hijacked? Cornel West: Why Support Occupy? (Remix) Hoodiez (The Trayvon Martin Justice Song!) Flashmob Performs the General Electric Slide in GE Lobby

Best of the web

Julian Assange interviews Hezbollah leader Troop Photos With Dead Afghans: How It Affects US Mission Are you guilty of thought crimes at the TSA? Bernie Sanders on the Plutocratic Society Are taxes fair in the US?

Political Humor

Romney To Travel Back In Time To Kill Liberal Versions Of Himself Latinos for Mitt Romney? Supreme Court Freedom & Restraint President Obama on Secret Service Sex Scandal The Day In 100 Seconds: Mo' Money, Mo' Problems

Global Warning

Wildflowers for Bees in London Scientists: Fish Sick Where BP's Oil Spill Hit Bizarre weather in Sydney The Great 2012 Penguin Census Talk Business to Me - Microsoft's Dirty Cloud

News from AFL-CIO
April 19, 2012

Union members and retirees at Whirlpool urged shareholders at the company’s annual meeting to rein in “golden coffins” and quizzed CEO Jeff Fettig about retiree pension and health benefits and plant closures.

Thought you knew enough about CEO pay? Check out our brand-new AFL-CIO Executive PayWatch—CEO Pay and the 99%. Last year S&P 500 Index CEOs saw an average 14 percent pay boost—to $12.9 million. Compare that to the average 2.8 percent raise for workers lucky enough to have a job. On the searchable site, find out about the shady world of private equity where Mitt Romney is the new poster boy, cash-hoarding corporations, the role mutual funds play in CEO pay and more. Read more and comment. 

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 Workers Challenge Whirlpool’s ‘Golden Coffins’
 Wal-Mart: One More Reason Why We Need Equal Pay
 ALEC Disbands Key Task Force as More Corporations Sever Ties
 Public Investment Best Engine for Economic Growth
 Speakers Oppose ‘Blunt Instrument of Program Consolidation’ at Job Training Hearing
 Scott Walker’s No Abe Lincoln

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Read more important news of the day on the issues working families care about.

News of the movement for April 19, 2012

Journalism and Beyond

News Corp. Operated Like 'Shadow State'

News Corp. is a "toxic institution" that operated like a "shadow state" in British society, according to a Labour MP who is the co-author of a new book about the phone-hacking scandal.

Dan Sabbagh and Lisa O'Carroll, The Guardian

British Prosecutors Consider Charges in Phone Hacking Case

The wide-ranging police inquiry into phone hacking and other wrongdoing at Rupert Murdoch’s tabloid newspapers moved a step closer to possible criminal prosecutions when Scotland Yard sent files on 11 unidentified people, including four journalists and a police officer, to the Crown Prosecution Service.

John F. Burns, New York Times

Video: Getting Away with Murder

Committee to Protect Journalists's Mará a Salazar-Ferro names the 12 countries where journalists are murdered regularly and governments fail to solve the crimes. Where are leaders failing to uphold the law? Where are conditions getting better? And where is free expression in danger?

Committee to Protect Journalists

Pentagon Sought to Stop Paper from Using Photos

The grisly photographs of American soldiers posing with the body parts of Afghan insurgents during a 2010 deployment in Afghanistan were the source of a dispute between the Los Angeles Times and the Pentagon lasting weeks.

Brian Stelter, New York Times

Save the Internet

CISPA Will Give U.S. Unprecedented Access, Internet Privacy Advocates Warn

Washington looks set to wave through new cybersecurity legislation next week that opponents fear will wipe out decades of privacy protections at a stroke. The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) will be discussed in the House of Representatives next week and already has the support of 100 House members. Opponents fear the way it is currently drafted will open up ordinary citizens to unprecedented scrutiny.

Dominic Rushe, The Guardian

The Racial Reality that Makes Online 'Security' Bills So Scary

The Internet's been ablaze this week with news about CISPA, a new cybersecurity bill that's set to be introduced on the House floor next week. Vocal critics have likened it to SOPA, the doomed anti-piracy bill that caused widespread outrage and protests earlier this year. Even though the two bills are markedly different, they both touch on very sensitive topics for people. Just how public is the private information we share? And who has the right to share it? It's a concern that’s uniquely important to communities of color.

Jamilah King, Colorlines

Tech Firms Face Netroots Uprising

In the wake of SOPA, everyone hailed the new power of the tech lobby to rile up the online masses and stop Congress in its tracks. But now, the netroots are turning on tech companies.

Elizabeth Wasserman and Jennifer Martinez, Politico

The Impending Cybersecurity Power Grab -- It's Not Just for the United States

While 'Stop Cyber Spying Week' is focused on U.S. initiatives, Canadians should be concerned as well as the adoption of a privacy-invasive U.S. cybersecurity strategy is likely to have serious implications for Canadian civil liberties. For this reason, Canadian civil society groups have joined the protest.

Katiza Rodriguez, EFF

Media Policy at the FCC

Verizon Trading Beachfront Spectrum for Penthouse Airwaves

Verizon Wireless has long talked up its extensive 700 MHz holdings as the crème-de-la-crème of 4G spectrum, referring to them on numerous occasions as "beachfront property," compared to the more modest spectral real-estate many of its competitors own. But Verizon revealed it planned to sell off many of its beachfront 700 MHz licenses in exchange for permission to buy the very same low-rent spectrum it's derided in the past.

Kevin Fitchard, GigaOM

Critics Slam Verizon Spectrum Plans

Critics of Verizon's planned purchase of cable operator spectrum were quick to jump on the company's announcement that it was putting the 700 MHz spectrum it got in an FCC auction on the block contingent on the approval of the purchase of AWS spectrum from SpectrumCo.

John Eggerton, Broadcasting & Cable

SCOTUS Asked to Back FCC Rules

The Obama administration urged the Supreme Court to review the FCC's decision to fine CBS for Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" during the 2004 Super Bowl.

Brooks Boliek, Politico

Future of the Internet

ALEC Wants You To Pay 750 Percent More for High-Speed Internet

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is the most powerful corporate front group you've never heard of. Drawing the vast majority of its financing from big corporations, the group allows these firms to help write bills that it then secretly passes off to state legislators to get turned into laws. The next time you groan at the thought of paying your broadband bill, remember that some of America's biggest corporations are funding a group that works to make sure your city is barred from offering a cheaper and faster service.

Zaid Jilani, AlterNet

A History Lesson: Wireless Spectrum 'Crisis' Hoopla vs. Solid Network Engineering

Despite the fear-mongering by North America's wireless phone companies that a spectrum crisis is at hand -- one that threatens the viability of wireless communications across the continent, some of the most prominent industry veterans dispute the public policy agenda of phone companies like AT&T, Verizon, Bell and Rogers.

Phillip Dampier, Stop the Cap!

Save the News

Are Campaign Ads Coming to PBS?

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco struck down a ban on political ads on noncommercial TV and radio stations. Not surprisingly, the prospect that Elmo and the Dowager Countess now might have to share the airwaves with attack ads prompted a mild freakout.

Gavin Aronsen, Mother Jones

Public Broadcasters Ponder Political Ads

Public radio and television stations are weighing the opportunities and risks of accepting political advertising following a federal court ruling that found an existing ban on such ads violates the First Amendment, and that running them would not undermine public broadcasting's mission.

D.C. Denison, Boston Globe

The Future of KCET

The station says it is making 'progress' in reinventing itself after bolting PBS in 2011, but revenue is way down and few new shows have been produced. Critics question its survival.

James Rainey, Los Angeles Times

"The World Tomorrow" - Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange TV Show

via :The voice of Grey Hat (hat Tip)

"The World Tomorrow" - Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange TV Show

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Posted by VOGH Reporter On 4/15/2012 11:18:00 PM

"The World Tomorrow" - Wikileaks Founder Julian Assange TV Show

Do you want to catch Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, if the answer is yes then a golden opportunity is coming for you. In a CNN report it has been come to light that Julian Assange plans to debut a talk show, "The World Tomorrow," on Russia's state-funded television network next week. Assange and RT, an English-language international satellite news channel, would not release the guest lineup in advance, but hinted that the first interview would be controversial. WikiLeaks has asked followers on Twitter if they can guess the show's first guest. "Any bets on who The World Tomorrow's first mystery guest(s) are?" it tweeted.
"You've been waiting and we've been teasing," said RT's website of the show, which will also be released online. The talk show set for launch Tuesday is creating a stir in global media circles. Commentators outside Russia have questioned the apparent link the show creates between Assange and the Kremlin, given RT's government-funded status.
It is unclear how or from where Assange, who is under house arrest in the United Kingdom while fighting extradition to Sweden, will present the show. Assange, in the online trailer, says that the experience of interviewing guests -- described by RT as opinion formers, some of them dissidents -- while under house arrest brings a different dimension to the process. "RT is rallying a global audience of open-minded people who question what they see in mainstream media and we are proud to premiere Julian Assange's new project," Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan said in a statement on the television network's website.
"We provided Julian a platform to reach the world and gave him total editorial freedom. He is absolutely the right person to bring alternative opinions to our viewers around the globe." "The World Tomorrow" will be broadcast [simultaneously] on three RT channels, in English, Arabic and Spanish.
The WikiLeaks website for "The World Tomorrow" said Friday there would be 12 shows in total, each featuring a 26-minute edited interview. "RT is the first broadcast licensee of the show, but has not been involved in the production process. All editorial decisions have been made by Julian Assange," the website said. 

Last two big bang from Wikileaks was Spy Files where he said that Govt is using Malware For Surveillance.  Spy Files—includes confidential brochures and slide presentations that companies use to market intrusive surveillance tools to governments and law enforcement agencies. The documents published by Wikileaks include 287 files that describe products from 160 companies. Few months ago Wikileaks released 5 Million emails from Stratfor Global Intelligence, which was named GI Files (Global Intelligence Files)

Via :The Republic

Corruption Is Why You Can’t Do Your Taxes in Five Minutes

By Matt Stoller posted Apr 15th 2012 at 1:00PM

Here’s a chart of Intuit’s lobbying expenditures in Congress, courtesy of Open Secrets. I suspect that some of that nine million dollars of lobbying by that company since 2008 has gone to making it more annoying for you and me to file our taxes.
Here’s what I mean.
In some countries, the equivalent of their IRS sends citizens a form listing what they owe.  In California, the state has a program called ReadyReturn that lets you do this for California state taxes.  You sign it and send it back, and it takes a few minutes. But for most of us, this isn’t how it works.  We gather our tax forms and various banking information, and spend the weekend facing a difficult bureaucratic set of forms, hoping we did it all correctly.  Or we use a costly tax filing service or software.
Candidate Barack Obama promised to end this nightmare.  He said he would “dramatically simplify tax filings so that millions of Americans will be able to do their taxes in less than five minutes.”  The IRS would use information it “already gets from banks and employers to give taxpayers the option of pre-filled tax forms to verify, sign and return.”  Experts, he said, estimated this would save 200 million total hours or work and $2 billion.
You can file this under yet another broken campaign promise.  And why?  Who doesn’t like an idea that is so simple and convenient and just generally helpful?  Well, the large software makers, for one.  Intuit in fact lobbied incredibly hard to kill the California program Ready Return (complete with attacks from right-wing tax groups).  Intuit wasn’t completely successful, but under their pressure, California budgeted only $10,000 to get the word out to residents about the program.
And the risk to Intuit is real – here’s what Intuit said in its investor report, describing risks to its business model.

“Our consumer tax business also faces significant competition from the public sector, where we face the risk of federal and state taxing authorities developing software or other systems to facilitate tax return preparation and electronic filing at no charge to taxpayers.  These or similar programs may be introduced or expanded in the future, which may cause us to lose customers and revenue. For example, during tax season 2010, the federal government introduced a prepaid debit card program to facilitate the refund process. Our consumer and professional tax businesses provide this service as well.

In other words, Intuit will lose a lot of money if the government makes it easier to file your taxes.  So how did Intuit manage to prevent the implementation of Obama’s campaign promise?  Here’s what Intuit had to say about its strategy.

Although the Free File Alliance has kept the federal government from being a direct competitor to Intuit’s tax offerings, it has fostered additional online competition and may cause us to lose significant revenue opportunities. The current agreement with the Free File Alliance is scheduled to expire in October 2014. We anticipate that governmental encroachment at both the federal and state levels may present a continued competitive threat to our business for the foreseeable future.”

What is the Free File Alliance?  It’s a coalition of 14 software makers that have signed an agreement with the IRS to provide tax preparation software to the public.  You see, the IRS was mandated to provide free online tax prep services to the public, so it outsourced this to existing commercial tax preparers.  This agreement was first signed with the Bush administration IRS in 2002, renewed in 2005, and then renewed again under the Obama administration in November, 2009.  Even today, despite the Obama campaign promise and demonstrated success around the world, the Free File Alliance indicates on its web page that “Treasury has indicated it does not want the IRS to enter into the tax software business.”  And Intuit said on its investor report that this alliance “has kept the federal government from being a direct competitor to Intuit’s tax offerings.”
I’ve been emailing back and forth with White House liaison Jesse Lee over the past few days about this.  I’ve asked why the administration has not implemented its campaign promise on pre-filed returns, and I included the information about the Free File Alliance.  The agreement with the Free File Alliance does not in fact preclude the IRS from implementing a pre-filing program, so it’s possible this is in the works.  Jesse Lee replied, “checking on this’”  I’ve sent two follow-up emails, and I’ll let you know what else he says.
(This is part of a series we’re running at Republic Report on how corruption affects ordinary life.  The first blog post in this series was “Corruption Responsible for 80% of Your Cell Phone Bill“).

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