[act-ma] Occupy Update: Taxes, Prisoners, Liberals and Leftists

Fri Apr 11 04:46:39 PDT 2014

Greetings!

There are two important rally’s coming up, please attend them. *Details
below.*

*3. We Pay Our Taxes, Are We Getting What We Need? *

Saturday, April 12, 12:30 pm: Rally to Protest Corporate Tax Cheats

Bank of America,  440 Boylston St.  at Berkeley St.,  Boston MA

2:00 pm Tax Day Forum

Emmanuel Church  15 Newbury St.   Boston (Arlington T-stop<>wheelchair
accessible)

*2. Jobs Not Jails Rally, April 26, 1:00 pm, Boston Common.*

*1. *Commentary & Editorial Note

*Forward wildly!*

A.L.

*1. Prisoner, Taxes, Liberals and Leftists*

It’s hard to argue with liberals. Not only do they stand for good things,
but if you say the things that I’m about to say, you get accused of bad
things.  Go to the rallies.  Power concedes nothing without a demand. But
what if all the very good demands demanded by the very good liberals
organizing the rallies were conceded, wouldn’t we all still feel a bit
stiffed?

SHRED TITLE 26: NO OLD TAXES.

The litany of wants put out by Budget For All conflates the income and
expense side of the equation because the income side—that is Title 26, the
Federal Tax Code—is so monstrously large and criminally obsolete that it is
impossible to talk about with normal warm blood people. How much better to
talk about the cuddly fuzzy end of what money could buy were there but
enough of it in the coffers? More importantly, if one were to confine the
debate to the tax code itself it would open a thousand different arguments
about each of the thousands of clauses and qualifiers in the 17 volume maze
that sucks in whatever it can get by the tax attorneys. (It exists in fact
to feed tax attorneys and CPA’s.)

FREE THE CPA’S.

And each of those clauses and qualifiers has a constituency that will fight
tooth and nail to keep its little bit of pork in the tax code. There are
thousands of them protecting every possible
selfish-antiquated-hog-farm-rifle-factory-just-for-my-state-just-for-now-just-a-little-bit-back-slapping-opportunistic
kind of credit or tax imaginable. If a *carbon tax* were passed it would
disappear in the muck. In fact, the most common kinds of legislation passed
by the Congress are changes to the tax code. They change it so often, daily
at some points, that it is impossible to know exactly what is and what is
not being taxed at any one moment.

The US Federal Tax Payer Advocate, our voice at the IRS, Nina E. Olson, has
put forth a plan that involves examining each clause of the code to see if
it is worth the money it takes to implement. This plan has been ignored
because it means demanding that the code be re-written from scratch, so
that instead of a chicken wire and duct tape pastiche of the kick back du
jour, it would instead comprise a system of carrots and sticks that could
in turn guide a sustainable and just economy. That’s what’s called
*vision*and that’s what the liberals haven’t got.

Got to the rally, but if you want radical change, bet on the Heartbleed Bug.

*FREE ALL PRISONERS CONVICTED OF VICTIMLESS CRIMES*

Jobs Not Jails priority is not demanding this, that is freedom for a group
of people disproportionately comprised of the descendents of slaves. Their
flyers says nothing about not about how the manufacture and up-keep of
human cages has been privatized, in the same way that the slave industry
that once caged many prisoner forbearers was a private, commercial
endeavor. What are the liberals demanding? That the money be redirected
away from jobs guarding prisoners to other programs, other kinds of jobs.
That is, that caging people be less expensive. Well, why not just cut to
the chance and let all those people out of jail?

Another World Is Possible,

Aria Littlhous

PS: If you want radical change, check out the 100 Great Political
Objectives on the Occupy Boston Wiki and the Occupy Strategy Group
Strategic Objectives:

http://interoccupy.net/occupystrategy/2013/10/occupy-strategy-groups-top-10-recommended-strategic-objectives/

http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/100_great_political_objectives

and see below.

Editorial Note

These are my opinions. If you want to argue with me you can post to my blog
or, with any luck, to the Occupy Boston website. I am going there now.
Please join me. All are welcome.

http://arialittlhous.blogspot.com/

http://www.occupyboston.org/

A.

*2. *

*We pay our taxes.*

*Are we getting what we need?*

Tax Day 2014 offers our diverse groups the opportunity to come together as
one and bring the needs of our communities and families into the public
discussion.

What kind of society do we want? Do we want war and jails and a polluted
planet to be our legacy to our children? Or do we want good jobs, fairness,
a healthy planet, a decent home, quality public education, affordable
health care, nutritious food, financial security during old age, and a
government that belongs to all of us? All of our work on these critical
issues is impacted by budget and tax policies coming from Washington. So
let’s come together for a tax day mobilization.

Saturday, April 12  Rally and Forum with:

Mel King <> Congresswoman Katherine Clark <> Congressman Jim McGovern <>
Harris Gruman SEIU <> Carolyn Federoff AFGE Local 3258 <> Lew Finfer Raise
Up Mass.<> Rep. Jay Livingstone <> Grace Ross <> Tilly Teixera MA Senior
Action <> Joe Kebartas Vets/Peace <> Joann Thomas & Alan Booth MAHT <> Amy
TigheEnvironmental Tax Reform <> Andrew Fish Mass PIRG <> Nathan Proctor Mass
Fair Share <> Ed Woll Jr. MA Sierra Club <> M.K. Merelice Green Rainbow <>
Dr. Richard Fine Medical Researcher <> Robert Folan-Johnson ACT UP <>
Phyllis Evans NEU4J <> Phyllis Evans 25% Coalition <>
mark.pothier at globe.comMike Prokosch, Dorchester People for Peace <> Don
Berwick <> Michael Kane Nat’l Alliance of HUD Tenants and other community
leaders, all of whom will join people directly impacted by budget decisions
-- AND YOU!

…….Plus special video greeting Senator Elizabeth Warren and from Barney
Frank

12:30 Rally to Protest Corporate Tax Cheats

Bank of America  440 Boylston St.  at Berkeley St.   Boston

2:00 pm Tax Day Forum

Emmanuel Church  15 Newbury St.   Boston (Arlington T-stop<>wheelchair
accessible)

Our speakers join our neighbors impacted by destructive budget priorities
to inform us about what we need to know and what we need to do.

Join us on April 12 to send a message to Washington about fair taxes and a
budget that works for all of us:

·       A budget that protects vital programs like social security, food
stamps, veterans benefits and unemployment help

·       A budget that creates a massive jobs program instead of a mass
incarceration program

·       A budget that provides revenues by ending offshore corporate tax
havens, by instituting a carbon tax and by making those with the highest
incomes have to pay the same effective tax rates as the rest of us.

·       A budget that redirects Pentagon spending to public education, the
rapid development of renewable energy technologies, green jobs, and to
other domestic programs that bring us real security.

Budget for All!   info at budget4allmass.org –
617-354-2169<file://localhost/tel/617-354-2169>
 – www.budget4allmass.org

*3. JOBS NOT JAILS*

>From Katrina and the Occupy Boston Health Justice listserv:

I want to spread the word about the JOBS NOT JAILS march on April 26th at
1pm on the Boston Common <http://www.jobsnotjails.org/>. The MA JOBS NOT
JAILS organizers are hoping to have 10,000 people from all over MA fill the
Boston Common. It would be great to have some allied health professionals
attend so that we can acknowledge the consequences of mass incarceration on
individual and public health. The organizers are also hoping to gather 50,000
signatures for their petition.
<http://org2.salsalabs.com/o/6220/c/1559/p/dia/action3/common/public/index.sjs?action_KEY=16300>Sign
it now and forward to your friends, family, and colleagues. The march
organizers are calling for people to pledge to attend the march and for
organizations to endorse the march -- see the links below.

There's also more info on the
Facebo<https://www.facebook.com/events/1436013633282902/>ok event
page. <https://www.facebook.com/events/1436013633282902/> You can also
reach EPOCA at the phone number listed below if you have questions.

All the best,

Katrina

p.s. If you want to learn more about the national movement to end mass
incarceration here's a
link<http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-incarceration-nation/> to
a great 1-hour long teach-in about the movement to end mass incarceration
by Michelle Alexander on the Bill Moyers show. Here's a shorter Ted
Talk<http://tedxtalks.ted.com/video/The-future-of-race-in-America-M;search%3Atag%3A%22tedxcolumbus%22>
by
Michelle Alexander.

-- 
"Our goal is a society that prioritizes the needs of all before the profits
of the few." passed by Occupy Boston General Assembly 11/29/11