RIDER ALERT! State budget cuts $19 million from AC Transit

The (Ca.) state budget under consideration in Sacramento includes cuts of $19 million in AC Transit operating funds, starting July 1. With fuel costs skyrocketing, these budget cuts will mean a huge funding shortfall, leading to both fare increases and service reductions. Statewide, the proposed budget would slash $1.4 billion from public transit.


AC Transit is fighting to reverse these cuts, but the Governor needs to hear the voices of bus riders and other concerned members of the East Bay community! Please call the Governor to tell him that AC Transit cannot afford to lose this funding. Let him know how important bus service is for you, your friends and family, and the community at large.


A phone call is the most effective, but a faxed letter or online comment is good, too. Thank you for your help!

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
(916) 445-2841 (phone)
(916) 558-3160 (fax)


For more information on the transit budget crisis, visit www.caltransit.org or www.transcoalition.org.

From National Coalition of Homeless

House Releases Draft 302(b) Allocations
Last Friday, June 13, the House Appropriations Committee released draft 302(b) allocations for the fiscal year (FY) 2009 appropriations process, which set the overall funding levels for each of the 13 appropriations subcommittees. After the 302(b) allocations are finalized, each subcommittee will take its overall total and distribute it among the various programs. Under the draft allocations, the Transportation-HUD Subcommittee, which funds homelessness and low-income housing programs, will receive $55 billion for FY 09, which is $6.2 billion greater than what was enacted in FY 08 and $4.4 billion greater than the President's request.

House to Hold Hearing on Section 811 Bill
This Friday, June 20, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chair of the Subcommittee on Housing and Community Opportunity of the House Financial Services Committee, will hold a hearing on H.R. 5772, the Frank Melville Supportive Housing Investment Act of 2008. The bill, which was introduced in April by Rep. Christopher Murphy (D-CT) and Rep. Judy Biggert (R-IN), would make a number of changes to the Section 811 Supportive Housing for Persons with Disabilities program. The hearing is scheduled for 10 AM in Room 2128 of the Rayburn House Office Building, and a list of witnesses has not yet been announced

Democracy Alert: Support the TRADE Act

Democracy Alert:
Support the TRADE Act

From:
Global Trade Watch

What's happening:
After years of fighting against expansion of the failed NAFTA/ WTO model, we're thrilled to announce a new trade bill we can all be for.

The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act, cosponsored by fair trade champions Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Mike Michaud (D-Maine), was introduced on June 4, 2008 with over 50 House and Senate original cosponsors! This landmark legislation sets forth in concrete, detailed terms a progressive vision for good trade agreements in the future and criteria to renegotiate existing failed pacts like NAFTA and the WTO.

Fifteen years of the NAFTA/WTO model has led to massive job loss, downward pressure on wages and the loss of nearly 300,000 family farms. It's given broad, expansive new rights to foreign corporations to challenge our environmental and public health standards and flooded the U.S. with unsafe imported food and products. And it has devastated developing nations, where millions of family farmers have been forced off their land, and where poverty, despair and desperation-driven mass migrations have grown.

The TRADE Act lays out in detail a new path forward for U.S. trade policy to achieve societal goals such as good jobs, safe food and promotion of basic human rights, healthy communities and environmental protection.

What you can do:
We now need as many representatives and senators as possible to publicly support this bill by signing on as cosponsors. Write your members of Congress now and urge them to cosponsor the TRADE Act!

To use the Global Trade Watch contact form, click here: http://action.citizen.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=24836

For more information:
Available here: http://www.citizen.org/trade/tradeact/

http://www.libertytreefdr.org/urgentAction.php#urgent38

Help San Francisco Poor

PROTEST Mayor's proposed budget

Location: The Bellaire Tower building- 1101 Green Street, at Leavenworth Street

Date/Time: Wednesday, June 11, 6:00 pm.

What: Street Theatre, Dinner, and more

MAYOR NEWSOMATOR TERMINATES POOR WITH MASSIVE BUDGET CUTS

Mayor Newsom released a budget that will terminate critical health and human services, while pumping up salaries for police by 25% and adding many new high paid patronage positions into his own administration.

Some highlights of the devastating impact of the budget include:

1) Closure OF Ella Hill Hutch shelter serving up to 100 people every night in the Western Addition.

2) Closure of Caduceus Outreach Services, a mental health treatment and wrap around support program for severely disabled homeless adults with co-existing addictive disorders.

3) CLOSE TENDERLOIN HEALTH HOMELESS DROP-IN SERVING 300 POOR PEOPLE DAILY

4) Almost total elimination (66% cut) of SRO Families United program for families with dependent children living in hotels.

5) Cut of 22% of residential substance abuse and mental health treatment programs budgets.

a. Removal of support from Conard supportive housing program for severe psychiatric disabilities.

b. Closure of Cortland Acute Diversion Unit for individuals in psychiatric crisis.

c. Loss of 13 out of 28 community based medically supported detox beds - serving 350 people a year.

6) Cut of 30% to all outpatient substance abuse and mental health treatment

7) Almost total elimination of STOP treatment program.

1,600 PEOPLE LOSING MENTAL HEALTH TREATMENT through Private Provider NETWORK

Brought to you by the People's Budget Collaborative - working for a fair city budget for poor people in SF

To learn more about our work, and to get the latest scoop on the politics of poverty in SF, go to the Street Sheet blog: www.cohsf.org/streetsheet

Impeach Bush

Congressman Kucinich has laid out an extensive indictment of the president. Read them slowly, let them all sink in and then take action to bring this bad dream to its proper ending ~ Impeachment.

Here is the index of article titles:

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq

Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of
Aggression

Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War

Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States

Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression

Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114

Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.

Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter

Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor

Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes

Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq

Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation's Natural Resources

Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries

Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency

Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq

Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors

Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives

Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy

Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to "Black Sites" Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture

Article XX
Imprisoning Children

Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government

Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws

Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act

Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment

Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens

Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements

Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply

Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice

Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965

Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare

Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency

Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global Climate Change

Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.

Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001

Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

The full text of the articles is available at:
http://chun.afterdowningstreet.org/amomentoftruth.pdf

Here's a video of Kucinich beginning his presentation on the floor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDZ8seg4Nr4

What you can do:

Email your Representatives to support Kucinich's Articles of Impeachment

Call your Representative at 202-224-3121

Call your favorite talk shows and tell everyone who supports impeachment to sign the petition at Democrats.com
http://www.democrats.com/35-articles-of-impeachment

need help

I am in the process of transfering my original website www.cyberbsolutions.net to the domain host Melbournb IT services from Microsoft small business services, as I cannot afford the charges incurred from Microsoft. The hosting services are 14.00 per monthper month. I really could use some help in this. I need to cover a few months. As far as the domain name it is is paid for to 3/23/2009. So of someone could help me out, please send to my PayPal account whatever amount you would like to contribute.

I have a pending disability claim, so at the moment I have no fuhnds to do this, but want to be able provide IT and internet consulting services by way of the internet - so need to be able to preserve exisitng domain name rather than starting new with added charges and fees. This will be a way for me to supplement income. I would like to be able to cover this fee of $14 oer month for at least 6 months. And if possible renew my domain name for at least one more year ($35.00). So what I need in total is $119.00.

Cyberb Solutions website will provide news about the most current technology and online business applications and enhancements,help topics and discussion boards. It will also bea contact point for my clients as they subscribe to services which will be provided through this web site. And by providing this, I can keep my email address - of which I will lose if I cannot make this transition and all current contacts will be lost and this will make it impossible to recreate.

If you can help with this, any assistance you provide will be counted as a subscription if you so choose and which I will place you on my business contact list for notices of updates and news. I will also offer to you online technical assistance if you need such. This you can take advantage of, if when you send me whatever amount you choose, information and details of what kind of technical problems you want me to troubleshoot.

Help Guatemalan Defenders Uncover the Past

On May 19 Fredy Peccerelli received an email that said that he would be killed and his wife would be raped, murdered, and sent to him in pieces. Peccerelli is a renowned forensic anthropologist who leads exhumations of mass graves. The scientific evidence he and his team uncover could enable the prosecution of those responsible for hundreds of massacres committed during Guatemala's armed conflict.

Days earlier Judge Eduardo Cojulun also received death threats. He had just sent a report to the government stating that there was sufficient evidence for these crimes to be prosecuted in Guatemala.

The Guatemalan government must now act to stop the intimidation of human rights defenders seeking accountability for past mass atrocities.

Please send a letter to the Guatemalan government to urge that it:

* Investigate the death threats and prosecute those responsible.
* Review and strengthen protection to Peccerelli, Judge Cojulun, and others who have received threats.

Learn More About This Case>> Go to httP;;//www.cyberbspace.com