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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Thus far, Robert, only you, Deb and Bart have replied to the article and
my reaction to it. Does anybody else have any ideas or anything to add?<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Kris<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> robert
[mailto:gram.graham@sbcglobal.net] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, September 19, 2010
11:32 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> graham2639@mindspring.com;
'PAA discussion'; '<st1:PersonName w:st="on">Deb Shafto </st1:PersonName>'<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [PAA-Discuss] <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">U.S.</st1:place></st1:country-region> POVERTY
FIGURES - Jesse Jackson & WashingtonPost</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>I am reading this kind of stuff every day <a
href="http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21009">http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=21009</a> and
what I am witnessing by trying my hand at trading in currencies etc is that
they (banksters) have figured out how to make money with money
so...........they just don't need to lend money to keep the economy
going.......therefore they just don't need us at all.........our job is to
consume and pay taxes.........and they have calculated how to diminish services
by privatizing everything........including the election process.........now
since <a
href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission</a>
we as citizens can no longer compete. I agree with Kris that
"voting" is not going to change a gd thing.........but go a little
further suggesting that this is how they manufacture
consent/permission.........if you do vote you are endorsing/giving
permission ........your only problem is that you didn't get the candidate
you wanted to win. If they control the candidates via the money
trail......they control the process. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>I am tired of eating shit sandwiches
too, when all it would take is raising up as slaves and revolting.....or
at least co operating with each other.........but I would go so far to say that
even on this list there are many that do not see ourselves as slaves. </span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=blue face=Arial><span style='font-size:
10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:blue'>from smoking mirrors guy:</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Some of us are big picture people and some of us are into the details.
I’m a big picture person myself. What I tend to notice are the major
forces that account for the present state of being. The foremost condition I am
noticing is the revealing and unveiling powers that are at work in the world of
the moment. The mass media is a lying disinfo machine that props up, apologizes
for and promotes the agenda of corporate fascism. This is countered by an
amazing amount of internet and street level chatter that is in direct
contradiction to carefully woven and globally repeated lies. 9/11, like June,
is “bursting out all over”.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>You have to be capable of a wide and objective perspective in order to
see with clarity, the operations of the predatory liars and banking interests,
which run counter to the greater good of the people. You have to be honest with
yourself. You have to be in a position to say. “I don’t want any
position, power or influence in this shitstorm of murder, oppression and
lies.” When you can do that it comes clearly into view. It’s very
tough for those with families and occupations that are required to support
them. You can’t be a fearless crusader for truth if you have too much to
lose. You also can’t be a fearless crusader, unless you know what the
truth is, because the truth won’t support you otherwise and so the first
thing you have to say is, “I don’t know” and then there is a possibility
that you will be informed by the truth, which takes the statement of personal
limitation of knowledge to be the right starting point for a relationship with
it.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>This strikes the ordinary mind as extremely contradictory. How can you
not know and then know? It seems that you have to have certitude that the truth
exists and that it has certain characteristics of a living thing which acts
upon falsity with a corrosive effect. You have to be able to see that we are in
a period of tremendous change, which demarcates the passing of the old world
and the emergence of the new. This can also be extremely difficult because the
old world is enraged. It put so much time and trouble into thieving, lying,
mass murder and global crowd control, making it near frantic, that all of its
activities are now being exposed to an ever greater degree, as time speeds up
and exposure becomes exponential.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>You can’t turn over a rock anywhere it the world today without
seeing a Zionist plot underneath it. It doesn’t matter to me whether
there are Masons, illuminati’s or whatever else engaged in the global
oppression and deceptions. Get rid of Zionism and their agents and tools and
you will have gotten rid of the underpinnings of all of the rest. The central
banks have to be destroyed. The media has to be wrenched from the hands of the
corporate vampires, the corporations have to be dissolved; principally concerns
like Monsanto, BP and Rothschild, among others. Every Zionist organization
needs to be criminalized and disenfranchised and named as enemies of greater
humanity. The world has to rise up and name them as agents of a world wide,
murder incorporated. This can only come about when they are more and more
exposed and more and more caught out in the operation of their business as
usual. They have to go, period. <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>
has to go; its residents scattered to the winds and the land returned to the
Palestinians. <st1:City w:st="on">Jerusalem</st1:City> has to be declared an
international city state, like The <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Vatican</st1:place></st1:country-region> and The Vatican needs to be
cleaned from the top down.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>The great lies upon which <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> are based must be exposed to
the eyes of the world. Their role in the Bolshevik Revolution and <a
href="http://www.thetruthseeker.co.uk/article.asp?ID=13445"><font
color="#007f00"><span style='color:#007F00'>their murder of the German people</span></font></a>
must be set before the world as well as their role in 9/11 and the murder and
displacement of millions in the <st1:place w:st="on">Middle East</st1:place>.
This is all going to happen and is happening. If the winds of positive change
are at our backs, tomorrow is going to be a bad day for <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region>. If not,
another bad day will appear. This loathsome murder factory of a country has to
be expunged from the world stage because it is carrying out false flags all
around the world and then blaming it on the people they wish to attack and
destroy. The press spins the lies and public opinion follows. 9/11, The London
Tube, The Madrid Train Station and Mumbai are all Zionist false flag
operations. Somehow they have seduced the world’s leaders into going
along with the program and I can only assume this has to do with a control of
the world’s currencies and global blackmailing operations, along with
threats of murder and mayhem in boardrooms, homes and small airplanes.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>They have gotten control of phone systems all around the world and are
the owners of security companies that are in charge of a great many of the
sensitive and dangerous sites around the world. The beginning of restoring
order to the emerging new age is in having Zionism declared an international
criminal organization. The agendas and actions of Zionism must be declared
criminal so that it is seen as the Nazis were portrayed at the end of World War
2. Zionists and Zionism must be expelled from every country in the world and
put somewhere that they can’t harm the rest of us. They founded and own
Monsanto. They own a controlling interest in BP. They are the Rothschilds.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>They own 96% of the world’s media. They own the entertainment
companies, publishing and music industries and a whole lot more. They own the
American congress. .2% of the population on Planet Earth did not come by these
possessions and level of control through honest industry. They got this by
gaining control of the money supply, which they manipulate to their own ends.
The founding Rothschild announced this practice and policy a long time ago. They
have manufactured lies to make themselves out to be victims when they are the
chief victimizers on the planet. What they have stolen must be taken from them
and it will, whether humanity can come into accord about it or not. Powerful,
unseen forces are at work toward their destruction. It is a fait accompli. It
doesn’t matter what anyone does, their time has come and they must go.
The universe is outraged at their behavior and you will see it happen while you
are still here. It’s over and it’s marching to completion now.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I am not afraid of these people. My fate is not in their hands and they
can do nothing without permission. You should not be afraid of them either. You
will never get free of them as long as you fear them. Their power is over and
being withdrawn by the moment. Goldman Sachs needs to be torn apart by massive
hands and scattered like polluted confetti over the brokerage houses of Wall
Street. It’s in advance of a parade of free and marching people, taking
back their own rightful possessions from the demons who defrauded them of what
was theirs. The sick and sycophantic cowards in governments, religions and
businesses need to be called what they are, ‘enablers in global suffering
and misery'. Their doom is upon them.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>They cannot harm you. Align yourself with the changing course of the
tides of transformation. Walk away from their world. Do not buy their crap. Do
not pay attention to them. Do not pay taxes. Work as a subversive and
revolutionary in your jobs against the intentions of your employers. Drag your
feet. Don’t vote in their elections. Drop out of helping to prop up the
engines of your persecution and watch the whole thing come down around their
ears. Plaster the bus kiosks and lampposts; telephone poles and every available
surface with the truth about these bloated swine.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>They are making it illegal to grow your own food, while even animals
won’t eat what they are forcing upon you. Are you okay with this? Are
they suddenly going to change when they have never ever changed before except
when they were forced to? This is not like all the other times. This time they
can’t just migrate into control of what replaces them. This time they
pay.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>If you don’t step away from the whirlpool of the old world being
sucked away into the invisible recycling machines, then you are going to go
with it. For many there is no escape as they would choose no other exit even if
one were offered. Like someone said recently, “Even if they proved that
9/11 was an inside job, I still wouldn’t believe it”. Some of you
can see and some of you know there’s more to what is going on than you
can see. We need to act upon our faith in greater possibility and let our
ideals become something more than words we trot out to make ourselves look good
around hypocrites who do the same. We are not the same. We have the ability to
find the way out because we have not lied to ourselves to protect our places
among the contemptible of our times.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabIndex=-1>
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<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Ron and Kris Graham</st1:PersonName> [mailto:graham2639@mindspring.com]
<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Sunday, September 19, 2010
10:16 AM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> 'PAA discussion'; <st1:PersonName
w:st="on">Deb Shafto </st1:PersonName><br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> U.S. POVERTY FIGURES -
Jesse Jackson & Washington Post</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>I vehemently disagree with part of the first line of <st1:City w:st="on">Jackson</st1:City>’s
letter: </span></font></b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>Today's US Census report on poverty in the <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>
is a clarion call to our nation and our elected leaders. </span></font><b><font
size=2 face="Comic Sans MS"><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";
font-weight:bold'>The <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region></st1:place>
Census Report’s figures on poverty are a clarion call to every single
American in this country who is hurting and struggling daily. Our elected
leaders couldn’t care less about impoverished Americans. They are so far
removed from the struggles of every day people that they cannot possibly
understand or care about anyone other than themselves, their own families and
the next greenback that ends up in their pocket or campaign coffer.<font
color=black><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></font></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>People are either already mired in poverty or sliding headlong into it at
break neck speed because a few people among us are taking way more than their
share and rigging the system so that the poor and middle class are in serfdom
for perpetuity. Ron and I are struggling every month on a retired
educator’s income because we help my kids out quite a bit when
they’re struggling, and we have our own bills to pay, as well. There is
only so much money to go around. It does not surprise me that an asshole like
Mitch McConnell would say that the rich are being hit hardest by the recession
and that they MUST have a tax cut or they won’t create jobs anymore. This
rhetoric is all that B-movie bad actor, brain dead Ronald Reagan trickle down,
voodoo economics bullshit that so many ignorant Americans have swallowed. The
ONLY thing that has trickled down, and it hasn’t trickled down, it has
barrel assed down the side of Shit Mountain, is just so much shit in the form
of lost jobs, abysmally low incomes, sickness, hopelessness, lost dreams, no
dreams and the sad reality for the poor and middle class that this is as good
as it gets. What makes me angry is that as good as it gets will be reality
unless the poor and middle class decide they are not going to take this lying
down. We have GOT to get off our knees and up on our feet ready to do whatever
it takes to change our situations. I don’t know about you guys, but I am
sick of smelling shit, wallowing in shit, eating shit and being covered in shit
day in and day out. I’m ready for a big breath of fresh air and a nice
long bath. I want to be up on a mountain and not at the bottom of <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Shit</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Mountain</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>.
I don’t mean I want to have more than anybody else, either. I just want
to see that there is a sky above me and a bright sun and fresh air and that we
don’t have to be sinking into unhappiness and desperation for the rest of
our lives.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Now, as I see it, we can do one of two things. We can either turn our
backs on this system and start doing things locally among ourselves and
creating our own economic and social systems, or we can violently rise up and
wreak all kinds of havoc and rid the world of the wealthy scum.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Those are the only options I see. Voting is not going to change a
goddamned thing, and I know it. That being said, I’ll probably go to the
polls and vote only for the Greens, but ONLY because I respect what
they’re trying to do and want to support their efforts. I like those
Greens I know personally, but I haven’t decided fully whether or not
I’m even going to vote. Frankly, I’m extraordinarily torn because I
have a visceral objection to participating in a sham system that only serves to
perpetuate inequity and criminality and lend legitimacy to said system. I think
even the Greens know that what they are doing in the way of running for office
and participating in this electoral system is a waste of time. I think
we’d all be better off meeting together and coming up with a game plan
for how to utterly reject this inequitable system and create our own economic,
social, medical and spiritual community. Bunches of heads with bunches of good
ideas and bunches of hands ready to get to work will help get us out of the
mess we have helped create. We cannot dismiss anyone who is willing to listen
and learn and help create something sustainable, equitable and sane. We will
either swim together or we will sink together. None of us is an island. None of
us wants to take this on alone. I think together, though, we can do this.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>I would appreciate feedback. Thanks.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Kris<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> Judith Emerson
[mailto:jemer3405@hotmail.com] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> Saturday, September 18, 2010
10:24 PM<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> kashimaecho@yahoo.com<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> <st1:country-region
w:st="on">U.S.</st1:country-region> POVERTY FIGURES - Jesse Jackson & <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place> Post</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'><strong><b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>CENSUS REPORT ON
POVERTY</span></font></b></strong><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Rev. Jesse
Jackson: An Open Letter to Our Nation's Leaders</span></font></b></strong><br>
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'><a
href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-jesse-jackson/an-open-letter-to-our-nat_b_720445.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=091710&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-jesse-jackson/an-open-letter-to-our-nat_b_720445.html?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=091710&utm_medium=email&utm_content=BlogEntry</a></span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
Today's US Census report on poverty in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place> is a clarion call to
our nation and our elected leaders. <br>
<br>
We in the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">United States</st1:country-region></st1:place>
possess the greatest resources and wealth ever known to humankind. So to have
over <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>44 million
people -- 14% of our population -- & 20% of our children living in poverty</span></font></b></strong>
strains the soul of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>.
That fully <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>1
in 4 Americans -- 72 million people -- are "near poor"</span></font></b></strong>
(officially, a <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>family
of 4 earning just $32,634 in 2009)</span></font></b></strong> should call us
into action. It's a moral disgrace. <br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>The American
Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009 is credited w/saving or creating 1.4
million to 3.3 million jobs, & kept more than 6 million additional
people from falling into poverty.</span></font></b></strong> Despite these
efforts, it is unfathomable to think that poverty continues to grow in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>:
three million more in 2009, and <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>more people liviing in poverty now than 50 yrs ago</span></font></b></strong>
when data was first published.<br>
<br>
These realities are devastating. <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>In 2009, poverty jumped to 14.3%, & the number
of people w/o health-care insrance broke 50 million for the very first
time. The unemployment rate swelled from 7.7% at the beginning of the
year to 10%. the unemployment rate of African-Americans & Latinos is
nearly double & sometimes even triple the national average. </span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
The middle class continues to sink. Major cities around the country are losing
public transportation jobs, public school teachers, public housing and home
foreclosures are on the rise. The effect of such devastating poverty is <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>undercutting excellence in public
education & it is overwhelming American families. </span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
I just spent a week on a bus tour meeting and with congregations, students, and
workers at plant gates in <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Michigan</st1:State></st1:place>.
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Astonishingly, <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:City w:st="on">Detroit</st1:City></st1:place> has 90,000 vacant
homes &/or lots & not one nat'l chain grocery or retailer.</span></font></b></strong>
While <st1:City w:st="on">Detroit</st1:City> faces mounting hardships, we
bailed out General Motors, a company whose <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>#1 market for Buick is <st1:country-region w:st="on">China</st1:country-region>,</span></font></b></strong>
and <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>new
manufacturing plants are being built there & in</span></font></b></strong> <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on"><strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>Mexico</span></font></b></strong></st1:country-region></st1:place>.
<br>
<br>
The cries of babies in Appalachia, the tears of mothers in the rural South, and
the frustration of workers laid off in cities across America -- is this the
face of America in 2010?<br>
<br>
As people of conscience, as elected leaders of the greatest democracy in the
world, we ask ourselves, is there not a need for <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>a new War on Poverty</span></font></b></strong> or a
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Great Society
plan</span></font></b></strong> similar to that enacted by President Lyndon B.
Johnson? Dr. King's cry for a Poor People's Campaign has come full circle. <br>
<br>
There must be a sense of urgency to address this <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>moral & economic crisis.</span></font></b></strong>
In Stimulus I, we have watered the leaves. We need Stimulus II to water the
roots. <br>
<br>
In <st1:country-region w:st="on">Iraq</st1:country-region> and <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">Afghanistan</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
we had a plan for security, stability, investment, reconstruction, and
rebuilding infrastructure. Our people, our cities, our nation deserve nothing
less.<br>
<br>
The Poverty Report is a call to Congress to create a FY 2011 budget that
expands funding to "war on poverty" programs supporting <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>employment, education, & basic
human needs.</span></font></b></strong> Focus on the least of these, and <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>extend the TANF Emergency Fund</span></font></b></strong>
-- not the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans -- to expand subsidized
jobs programs. Extend the reforms to the earned income tax credit, or EITC, and
the child tax credit, or CTC. Focus on extending programs that support the
least of these, not those with the most. <br>
<br>
Expand the weatherization program -- and enact a modern-day urban homesteading
program where the urban unemployed can reclaim lost homes, learn carpentry,
plumbing and green job skills to rebuild <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region
w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>. We can begin to work our
way out.<br>
<br>
Congressional leaders, take the bold step of <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>committing to reduce poverty by 50% over the next 10
yrs -- half in ten!</span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
give us a listening ear. The people are restless and rising up. <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>,
please hear our plea. There is not time to waste. It's time for a change. <br>
<br>
===================================================================<br>
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Capitol
Hill Reaction to Poverty Figures Sidetracked by Political
Concerns </span></font></b></strong><br>
<a
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/17/AR2010091707346.html">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/17/AR2010091707346.html</a><br>
by Michael A. Fletcher<br>
<st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>
Post Staff Writer <br>
Friday, September 17, 2010; 10:59 PM<br>
<br>
Deborah Weinstein, a longtime advocate for the poor, calls the news that one in
seven Americans is living in poverty "a national emergency." <br>
<br>
But for much of <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:State w:st="on">Washington</st1:State></st1:place>'s
political class, the shocking new poverty numbers provoked not alarm about the
poor but further debate over tax cuts for the middle class. <br>
<br>
<strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>"We know
that a strong middle class leads a strong economy," President Obama told
reporters in the Rose Garden on Friday, as he used the new census report, which
also showed that middle-class income has dipped slightly over the past decade,
to continue making his case for limiting the cuts to family incomes under
$250,000. </span></font></b></strong> <br>
<br>
Meanwhile, Republican leaders in the House and Senate had no reaction to the
poverty report. But earlier in the week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) took the Senate floor to argue for extending the tax breaks to
everyone, saying, "We can't let the people who have been hit hardest by
this recession and who we need to create jobs to get us out of it" be
subject to a tax increase. <br>
<br>
McConnell's spokesman later clarified the statement, saying that McConnell
indeed believes the economic downturn has hit the poor harder than it has
high-income business owners, who also have suffered. <br>
<br>
The reluctance of political leaders on both sides of the aisle to directly
confront the fact that growing numbers of Americans are slipping into poverty
reflects a stubborn reality about the poor: They are not much of a political
constituency. <br>
<br>
"We talk to many people on Capitol Hill who do believe poverty is
important and is a blight on our nation," said Weinstein, executive
director of the <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Coalition
on Human Needs, <a
href="http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/t/3748/signUp.jsp?key=4631">http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/t/3748/signUp.jsp?key=4631</a>
</span></font></b></strong> an alliance of national organizations that
advocates for the poor. "But we are also up against a general recognition
that <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>poor people
don't vote in great numbers. And they certainly aren't going to be making
campaign contributions. That definitely puts them behind many other
people & interests when decisions are being made around
here." </span></font></b></strong> <br>
<br>
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-Wash.), who counts among his legislative accomplishments
bills to extend unemployment insurance and to provide housing for people
suffering from AIDS, said that the current downturn has expanded the definition
of the poor. No longer are the poor the chronically impoverished who scrape
along at the bottom of the economic pecking order in good times and bad. They
now include many working people who have been thrown out of their jobs by a
brutal recession. <br>
<br>
"The fact is, increasingly, we are talking about people we know,"
McDermott said. Still, he said, "For most elected officials, there is
nothing politically in talking about the poor. In fact, they don't vote very
well and they are not very participatory in political life. <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Politicians tend to talk to people
who get involved."</span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
McDermott said he has been urging his colleagues to take a fresh look at
poverty. The new report showed that the ranks of the American poor soared to
their highest level in half a century in 2009. Meanwhile, <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>millions more are existing just
beyond the poverty line,</span></font></b></strong> which is about <strong><b><font
face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>$22,000 a yr for a family of
4. </span></font></b></strong> <br>
<br>
The official poverty rate is just one aspect of the economic upheaval unleashed
by the recession. <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span style='font-family:Tahoma'>Since
2007, the country has lost almost 4 million wage earners.</span></font></b></strong>
And for the first time since the government began tracking health insurance in
1987, the number of people who have health coverage declined, a circumstance
destined to change when the Obama-led health-care overhaul fully kicks in by
2014. <br>
<br>
With foreclosures continuing to rise and long-term unemployment at record
levels, McDermott said, the legacy of the economic crisis will affect society
in a way the country has not experienced since the aftermath of the Great
Depression. <br>
<br>
Even amid the devastating downturn, Americans seem ambivalent toward the needy.
The instinct to help those in tough straits is often constrained by a lurking
feeling that the poor are to blame for their own problems. Or, that what helps
the needy might take something away from everyone else. <br>
<br>
<span id=aptureEndContent></span><!-- sphereit end -->The debate over extending
unemployment benefits, which now last as long as 99 weeks, generated increasing
commentary that the benefit was sapping people of the desire to work. <br>
<br>
Andrew Kohut, president of the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Pew</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Research</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></st1:place>,
said that more than two decades of polling shows that a solid, if fluctuating,
majority of Americans believe government has a responsibility to care for the
poor. <br>
<br>
"But as you begin to ask more specific questions, you get lower levels of
support for specific programs as people worry about costs, taxes and the rise
of government," Kohut added. "Plus, there is a great deal of
political polarization of this." <br>
<br>
A 2009 Pew survey found that <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>63% of Americans believed government should take
care of those who cannot take care of themselves. But that number fell to
48% when people were asked whether government should help the needy even if it
increases the debt. Nearly 2 in 3 Democrats, 43% of independents &
29% of Republicans agreed with that statement. </span></font></b></strong><br>
<br>
All of which explains why even many staunch Democrats have not talked much
about poverty. <br>
<br>
On Thursday, hours after the Census Bureau released the poverty numbers, Obama
issued a written statement that quickly broadened the discussion beyond the
poor. <br>
<br>
"Today, the Census Bureau released data that illustrates just how tough 2009
was," the statement said. <strong><b><font face=Tahoma><span
style='font-family:Tahoma'>"Even before the recession hit, middle class
incomes had been stagnant & the number of psople living in poverty in <st1:place
w:st="on"><st1:country-region w:st="on">America</st1:country-region></st1:place>
was unacceptably high, & today's numbers make it clear that our work is
just beginning." </span></font></b></strong> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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