Child Homelessness Surges in America

As the Republicans seek to destroy the social safety net and self-proclaimed "family values" spend millions of dollars to oppose gay rights, especially gay marriage - all because they claim to be concerned about "the children" - child homelessness is surging in America.  While all these funds are spent on anti-gay efforts, these same "family values" organizations spend nothing on aiding children or families.  The hypocrisy is absolute.  An article in The Daily Beast looks at the surging problem of child homelessness.  The referenced report can be found here. Here are highlights:

The number of homeless children in the U.S. has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report. The report, which will be issued Monday, blames the nation’s high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing, and the effects of pervasive domestic violence. The report by the National Center on Family Homelessness calculates that nearly 2.5 million American children were homeless at some point in 2013.

The number is based on the Department of Education’s latest count of 1.3 million homeless children in public schools, supplemented by estimates of homeless preschool children not counted by the DOE. The problem is particularly severe in California, which has one-eighth of the U.S. population but accounts for more than one-fifth of the homeless children with a tally of nearly 527,000.

[T]he federal government has made progress in reducing homelessness among veterans and chronically homeless adults.  "The same level of attention and resources has not been targeted to help families and children," she said. "As a society, we're going to pay a high price, in human and economic terms."

Child homelessness increased by 8 percent nationally from 2012 to 2013, according to the report, which warned of potentially devastating effects on children's educational, emotional and social development, as well as on their parents' health, employment prospects and parenting abilities.

[N]either federal nor state housing assistance nor incentives for developers to create low-income housing have kept pace with demand.  "We need more affordable housing or we need to pay people $25 an hour," she said. "The minimum wage isn't cutting it."

"Fixing the problem starts with adopting an honest definition," said Bruce Lesley, president of the nonprofit First Focus Campaign for Children. "Right now, these kids are sort of left out there by themselves."

Lesley's group and some allies have endorsed a bill introduced in Congress, with bipartisan sponsorship, that would expand HUD's definition to correlate more closely with that used by the Education Department. However, the bill doesn't propose any new spending for the hundreds of thousands of children who would be added to the HUD tally.

Yet another example of "American exceptionalism" that the right wing likes to extol.

Right-Wing Christian Fanatics Threaten Religious Freedom in America

I have often maintained that the militant Christian Right - those I call Christofascists - are a clear and present danger to America, particularly religious freedom for all.  They want nothing less than a theocracy with themselves and politicians who grovel to them setting the agenda for all Americans.  While not as violent as ISIS (at least not yet), these people demonstrate a similar mindset - it's got to be their beliefs that trump those of everyone else.  It is crucial that the larger public cease giving any deference to these people or their hate and fear based beliefs. A piece in Politicususa looks at this growing threat.  Here are excerpts:

In the conservative movement, particularly the racist religious right segment of the movement, there is a tendency toward demanding conservative purity, racial purity, and increasingly religious purity that all define their distorted vision of an American Utopia. Much to their despair, and due to the makeup of America’s population, there will never be anything remotely pure in this nation, whether it is in politics, race, or religion. What is curious, is that although America is not, was not, and never will be a Christian nation, there are signs that a religious purity crusade is gaining traction.

As it turns out, just the mention of any religion that does not adhere to American Neo-Christianity’s hate-filled tenets is enough to drive “the faithful” into a violent rage. In Arkansas recently, a local Unitarian Universalist church reached out to the community in a letter alerting the residents that their “church” was all inclusive and welcomed all people regardless of race, religion, or sexual preference; like Jesus Christ preached. The letter incited typically religious right intolerance and hatred that drove some vile human being to shoot out the church’s windows and leave a hate-filled, racist, homophobic, and Islamophobic rant threatening the church’s leader.

In Maryland this past week, in response to several requests for the school board to recognize an Islamic holy day like every Christian holy day, the board voted to strike all references to all religious holidays, including Christian holidays, from the scholastic calendar rather than recognize the Muslim holiday. . . . The co-chair of the Equality for Eid Coalition, Zainab Chaudry, said, “They would remove the Christian holidays and they would remove the Jewish holidays from the calendar before they would even consider adding the Muslim holiday to the calendar.”

Throughout the nation, there is a concerted effort to portray any faith other than  Christianity as impure. It was reported here a couple of weeks ago that there is a very well-organized movement to incite Christian parents to assail local teachers, schools, and parent-approved history curriculum because it “portrays Islam in a light” members of the Christian religion cannot countenance. In a fairly large California city, every year when religious leaders gather to plan how to help feed and clothe the poor and homeless, clergy from the Christian community refuse to  participate because Muslims, Buddhists, Unitarian Universalists, and Jews are involved.

It is revealing that the religious right’s devout hatred for any faith outside of their distorted interpretation of Christianity has effectively  debased, contaminated, and polluted the teachings of their namesake Jesus Christ under the guise of Christian purity.

More Sunday Male Beauty

What Happened the Last Time Republicans Had a Majority This Huge?

Despite the fact that voter turnout in the 2014 midterm elections was the lowest in 72 years, some in the Republican Party - generally the Christofascists and their political whores in the GOP - incredibly see themselves as having a "mandate" to proceed with their agenda of doing everything to undermine Barack Obama and batshitery in general.  Call it hubris, detachment from objective reality or some thing else, the GOP might do well to remember some accurate history (something the GOP seems to have difficulty doing) so as to avoid the mistakes of 86 years ago.  A piece in Politico looks at that needed history lesson.  Here are excerpts:

Since last week, many Republicans have been feeling singularly nostalgic for November 1928, and with good reason. It’s the last time that the party won such commanding majorities in the House of Representatives while also dominating the Senate. And, let’s face it, 1928 was a good time.

America was rich—or so it seemed. Charles Lindbergh was on the cover of Time. Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. . . . . and presidential nominee Herbert Hoover gave his Democratic opponent, Al Smith, a shellacking worthy of the history books.

The key takeaway: It’s been a really, really long time since Republicans have owned Capitol Hill as they do now.

But victory can be a fleeting thing. In 1928, Republicans won 270 seats in the House. They were on top of the world. Two years later, they narrowly lost their majority. Two years after that, in 1932, their caucus shrunk to 117 members and the number of Republican-held seats in the Senate fell to just 36. To borrow the title of a popular 1929 novel (which had nothing whatsoever to do with American politics): Goodbye to all that.

A surface explanation for the quick rise and fall of the GOP House majority of 1928 is the Great Depression. 

But what if the Republicans of 1928 owed their demise to a more fundamental force? What if it was demography, not economics, that truly killed the elephant?

In fact, the Great Depression was just one factor in the GOP’s stunning reversal of fortune, and in the 1930 cycle that saw Republicans lose their commanding House majority it was probably a minor factor.

[T]hey also failed to appreciate and prepare for a long-building trend—the rise of a new urban majority comprised of over 14 million immigrants, and many millions more of their children. Democrats did see the trend, and they built a majority that lasted half a century.

The lesson for President Obama and the Democrats is to go big—very, very big—on immigration reform. Like the New Dealers, today’s Democrats have a unique opportunity to build a majority coalition that dominates American politics well into the century.

For the 1928 GOP House majority, victory was unusually short-lived. About one in five GOP House members elected in the Hoover landslide served little more than a year and a half before losing their seats in November 1930.

[I]t was also an era of massive wealth and income inequality. In these days before the emergence of the safety net—before unemployment and disability insurance—most industrial workers expected to be without work for several months of each year. For farm workers, the entire decade was particularly unforgiving, as a combination of domestic over-production and foreign competition drove down crop prices precipitously.

In hindsight, we know that voters in November 1930 were standing on the edge of a deep canyon. But in the moment, hard times struck many Americans as a normal, cyclical part of their existence.

Unsurprisingly, then, many House and local races in 1930 hinged more on cultural issues—especially on Prohibition, which in many districts set “wet” Democrats against “dry” Republicans—than economic ones.

Then as now, the GOP refused to face the reality that the world and the nation were changing.  If we are lucky, we will see the same fate overtake the GOP as that which occurred in 1930 and 1932.  I for one will be hoping that history repeats itself. 

 

Ending Education inequality - Where is the White "Family Values" Crowd?

Last night, the husband and I attended the 22nd annual "Tennis Ball" fundraiser for the Achievable Dream which was founded by our late friend Walter Segaloff.   For 22 years the program has operated in conjunction with the Newport News City Public Schools and this year moved into Virginia Beach at that city's most historically disadvantaged elementary school.  The Achievable Dream Academy in Newport News is located in the city's worse neighborhood and its students come from extremely disadvantaged families, most black.  Yet it has a 100% graduation rate and 95% of its graduates go on to college or other higher education.  The other 5% go into the U.S. military.  How does this "miracle" happen?  Through the financial support of the business community and social progressives.  Here's the organizations mission statement:

Our mission to motivate all students to excel in academic achievement, to instill respect for themselves and adult leaders, and to teach core human values by providing a social, academic, and moral education. Through a challenging, disciplined environment, we enable each child to develop an achievable dream that will light their way to success and life as a productive citizen.

Last night's event was amazing and raised large amounts of money.  And at times it left one extremely moved.  One thing struck me however in looking at the sponsors and those who donated goods and services for auction prizes.   One segment of Virginia society was totally absent.  The white Christian base of the Virginia GOP, in particular The Family Foundation ("TFF").  TFF raises and spends large amounts of money each year denigrating gays and claiming to support "family values."  But families matter to TFF only when they are white far right Christian families. Last night saw amazing support from the area's relatively small Jewish community, liberal Democrats, local corporations - even Chinese owned Smithfield Foods which stepped up to sponsor the 2015 graduating class.   But no a single white mega church or anyone from TFF.

Some think me severe when I say that TFF (and by extension its affiliates, Focus on the Family and Family Research Council) is racist.  But when looks where such groups put their money and the legislative agendas they support such as voter disenfranchisement efforts targeting blacks and minorities, the truth is easily seen.  The ONLY time TFF gives a damn about blacks, much less black families, is when it is seeking to dupe black pastors into doing TFF's political bidding.  

Last night was amazing.  Equally amazing was the total absence of the "family values" crowd.  It spoke volumes.

 

When Whites Just Don’t Get It - Racism's Poison Lingers

I don't go to court often in my legal practice (truthfully, I avoid it whenever possible), but when I do go, it is usually for a commercial client whose business has received some sort of summons for a code violation.  Since these are technically criminal charges, one finds them self sitting in criminal court watching a parade of charges, many drug related.  It doesn't take long to notice that blacks, especially young black males are charged at an astonishing high rate, generally by white police officers.  Likewise, it doesn't take long to also note that the white defendants generally get less severe punishments (often because their more affluent parents have retained legal counsel), again, often at the hands of white judges.  To claim that something egregious isn't going on is to be purposely blind.  Yet, many Americans refuse to face the reality that our criminal justice system disproportionately targets blacks and treats them far more severely.  A column in the New York Times looks at this phenomenon.  Here are excerpts:

WHEN I write about racial inequality in America, one common response from whites is eye-rolling and an emphatic: It’s time to move on.

But we in white society should be equally ready to shoulder responsibility. In past articles in this series, I’ve looked at black/white economic inequality that is greater in America today than it was in apartheid South Africa, at ongoing discrimination against African-Americans in the labor market and at systematic bias in law enforcement. But these conversations run into a wall: the presumption on the part of so many well-meaning white Americans that racism is a historical artifact. They don’t appreciate the overwhelming evidence that centuries of racial subjugation still shape inequity in the 21st century.

Indeed, a wave of research over the last 20 years has documented the lingering effects of slavery in the United States and South America alike. For example, counties in America that had a higher proportion of slaves in 1860 are still more unequal today, according to a scholarly paper published in 2010. The authors called this a “persistent effect of slavery.”

One reason seems to be that areas with slave labor were ruled for the benefit of elite plantation owners. Public schools, libraries and legal institutions lagged, holding back working-class whites as well as blacks.

Whites often don’t realize that slavery didn’t truly end until long after the Civil War. Douglas Blackmon won a Pulitzer Prize for his devastating history, “Slavery by Another Name,” that recounted how U.S. Steel and other American corporations used black slave labor well into the 20th century, through “convict leasing.” Blacks would be arrested for made-up offenses such as “vagrancy” and then would be leased to companies as slave laborers.

Job and housing discrimination also systematically prevented blacks from accumulating wealth. The Federal Housing Administration and other initiatives greatly expanded home ownership and the middle class but deliberately excluded blacks.

That’s one reason why black families have, on average, only about 6 percent as much wealth as white households, why only 44 percent of black families own a home compared with 73 percent for white households.

The inequality continues, particularly in education. De jure segregated schools have been replaced in some areas by de facto segregation.

Those of us who are white have a remarkable capacity for delusions. A majority of whites have said in opinion polls that blacks earn as much as whites and are as healthy as whites. In fact, black median household income is $34,598, compared with $58,270 for non-Hispanic whites, according to census data. Black life expectancy is four years shorter than that of whites.

[O]ne element of white privilege today is obliviousness to privilege, including a blithe disregard of the way past subjugation shapes present disadvantage.  

If we whites are ahead in the relay race of life, shouldn’t we acknowledge that we got this lead in part by generations of oppression? Aren’t we big enough to make amends by trying to spread opportunity, by providing disadvantaged black kids an education as good as the one afforded privileged white kids?

Can’t we at least acknowledge that in the case of race, William Faulkner was right: “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.”

Sunday Morning Male Beauty

Pope Francis to Meet with Racist Homophobe

It seems that every time I begin to hope that perhaps Pope Francis is more than just a slick PR artist and that he truly seeks to move the Roman Catholic Church out of the 13th century, he does something that suggests that in the last analysis he's no better than the Nazi Pope who formerly headed up the Inquisition.  How else to explain Francis' plan to meet with raging homophobes and white supremacists who masquerade as "family values" advocates.  A prime example: Tony Perkins of Family Research Council who has documented dealings with the KKK and has spoken a number of times to white supremacist hate groups.  As they saying my mother used to tell us, you are known by the company you keep and it doesn't get much fouler than Perkins. John Becker at The Bilerico Project looks at Francis' plan to meet with some very nasty people.  Here are highlights:

Last week we told you about an upcoming meeting at the Vatican where Pope Francis will sit down with prominent non-Catholic religious leaders to discuss marriage and family.

The purpose of the event, which will take place next week, is to show strong support for marriage discrimination; it's titled "An International Interreligious Colloquium on The Complementarity of Man and Woman." Among the leaders scheduled to attend are high-profile homophobes like Rick Warren and the Southern Baptist Convention's Russell Moore.

Today, another name was added to the list: hate group leader Tony Perkins, one of the most outspoken opponents of LGBT human rights in the United States. Right Wing Watch reports:

Although he is not listed as a speaker, another prominent American opponent of LGBT equality will also be attending the conference. Family Research Council President Tony Perkins said in an interview on Newsmax TV today that he plans to attend the conference in Rome and expects the Catholic Church to "make a very clear statement that pertains to marriage and what the Church views marriage to be" to provide "clarity" to the confusion coming out of the recent synod.

Perkins compares gay legal advocates to terrorists; lies that pedophilia is a "homosexual problem;" consistently misgenders trans people; endorses the dangerous "pray away the gay" myth; and calls gay people "intolerant," "hateful," "vile," "spiteful," and "pawns of the enemy [Satan]."

Repugnant, right? This is a bigoted, hateful man who is willing to say almost anything in his unholy crusade to beat back civil and human rights for LGBT people. And yet, Pope Francis -- The Advocate's 2013 "Person of the Year" -- is rolling out the red carpet for Perkins at the Vatican next week.

As the old saying goes, "A man is known by the company he keeps." The fact that Pope Francis is willing to keep company with the likes of Tony Perkins speaks volumes.

Homophobia is Still with Us 60 Years After the Death of Alan Turing

British gay rights advocate has a moving piece in The Telegraph that looks at the sad reality that homophobia is alive and well even 60 years after perhaps one of the greatest minds of the 20th century was driven to suicide (some question whether it was really a suicide) under the UK's heinous anti-gay laws of the time.  What keeps such hate and bigotry.  One word sums up the cause: religion.  Religion, one of the most evil influences in the world today as demonstrated by ISIS' claimed beheading of another American.  Of course, the poison of religion is amplified by politicians like Nikki Haley (see the previous post) and other political prostitutes only too happy to pander to those who embrace hate and ignorance.  Here are some column highlights that focus on the ongoing harm:

Movies rarely make me cry, but I cried when I watched The Imitation Game. Released today, it stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightly, telling the heroic and tragic story of the British wartime code breaker, mathematical genius and computer pioneer, Alan Turing.

As well as decrypting Nazi military codes, shortening the war by two years and saving millions of lives, the entire modern digital age of computers, mobile phones, email, internet and space exploration is based on the principles he elaborated. Although Turing arguably possessed one of the greatest minds in history – on a par with Newton and Einstein – he was nevertheless prosecuted and hounded to his death in 1954 for being gay. 

Upon conviction, Turing was given a stark choice: two years' jail, or chemical castration via a hormone therapy that was uncannily similar to the Nazi "cures" for homosexuality that were used on gay men in Buchenwald concentration camp. 

Unable to cope with the ghastly side effects of castration treatment, he committed suicide at the age of 41 – depriving humanity of future knowledge and inventions he might have pioneered had he lived.

I wept not only for Turing’s terrible personal suffering, but also for the estimated 50,000-100,000 other gay and bisexual men who were convicted in Britain under the same or similar anti-gay laws. Unlike Turing, most of them were given no choice. They were jailed and often brutally abused on the inside. 

Turing received a posthumous royal pardon in 2013. Unfairly, no such pardon has been extended to the tens of thousands of other gay victims – not even to other high-profile ones such as Lord Montague and Sir John Gielgud.  Shockingly, the persecution of men for same-sex love continued for nearly half a century after Turing’s suicide.

The "gross indecency" law of 1885 – prohibiting any sexual contact between men – was used against Turing and before him against Oscar Wilde in 1895. It was repealed only in 2003. . . . . Since the Sexual Offences Act 2003, for the first time in over 500 years we have a criminal code that does not discriminate on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Progress at last! But homophobia isn’t over yet. Only last year to create a data base of "serious sex offenders", the police turned up unannounced on people’s doorsteps to demand DNA samples from men who, like Turing, were convicted of consenting adult same-sex relationships decades ago. They were lumped together with rapists and paedophiles. 

Some parents still kick their children out of home and onto the streets after discovering that they are gay or lesbian. It is one of the biggest causes of youth homelessness. 

All Britain’s equality laws have exemptions for religious organisations, which permits faith-run service providers, such schools and hospitals, to discriminate in certain circumstances on the grounds of sexual orientation.

To combat anti-gay bullying and hate crimes, education against all prejudice – including racism and sexism, as well as homophobia and transphobia – should be a mandatory subject in every school. It ought to start from primary level onwards and continue throughout a pupil’s secondary years. The aim should be to encourage the understanding and acceptance of difference, which is vital for a happy, harmonious society. Is the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, listening? 

Greenville News: Drop Fight Against Gay Marriage

In a desperate attempt to prostitute themselves to the Christofascists elements of the Republican Party base, Republican elected officials are continuing opposition to same sex marriage despite the reality that the battle has been lost.  Among these willing political whores are South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley and Attorney General Alan Wilson who refuse to concede that the 4th Circuit ruling in Bostic is binding precedent and that any appeal from the ruling of U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston is futile and will only serve to waste taxpayer funds.  The Greenville News has come out with a main page editorial calling on the Governor and Attorney General to stop their continued opposition.  Here are editorial excerpts:

South Carolina’s constitutional ban on gay marriage fell last week when U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel of Charleston ruled that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples with the right to marry. Gergel’s decision was as expected as it is firmly grounded in constitutional law as it has evolved.

A continued legal fight by S.C. Attorney General Alan Wilson will be futile and expensive.  Furthermore it will encourage false hope among state residents who don’t want the terms of marriage redefined, while it also will continue to deny gay couples the marriage license they clearly want and are allowed in 33 other states.

The other states in the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals moved quickly to accept the October decision authored by 4th Circuit Judge Henry Floyd in a case involving a legal challenge to Virginia’s ban on gay marriage.

The 4th Circuit ruling was written by Judge Floyd, a South Carolinian. The judges found that Virginia’s ban on gay marriage violated the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the 14th Amendment by preventing same-sex couples from marrying and refusing to recognize same-sex marriages from other states.

The final paragraph of the ruling is worth repeating:

“We recognize that same-sex marriage makes some people deeply uncomfortable. However, inertia and apprehension are not legitimate bases for denying same-sex couples due process and equal protection under the law. Civil marriage is one of the cornerstones of our way of life. It allows individuals to celebrate and publicly declare their intentions to form lifelong partnerships, which provide unparalleled intimacy, companionship, emotional support, and security. The choice of whether and whom to marry is an intensely personal decision that alters the course of an individual’s life. Denying same-sex couples this choice prohibits them from participating fully in our society, which is precisely the type of segregation that the Fourteenth Amendment cannot countenance.”

The 4th Circuit’s ruling flowed naturally from legal precedent that has followed fundamental changes in our society.
[T]hese court decisions and state laws affect only civil marriages. Religious institutions still enjoy the right to determine who they will marry and what type of marriage they will recognize. 

[I]f the Constitution protects the rights of gay couples legally married in some states, that same Constitution surely must allow for nationwide recognition of gay marriage.The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to consider challenges to rulings from the 4th Circuit and two other circuits. A different ruling in the 6th Circuit ensures the Supreme Court will have to address this issue again, but the result seems inevitable. A right to gay marriage has been recognized in many states in the country, and that right cannot now be taken away. 

South Carolina leaders, including Wilson and Gov. Nikki Haley, have an opportunity to provide leadership at this time by helping the people who elected them understand that this battle against gay marriage is over. And it is.