June 6, 2012

Meet Command Central, the People in Charge of Wisconsin Voting Machines

http://wcmcoop.com/members/meet-command-central-the-people-in-charge-of-wisconsin-voting-machines/

May 22, 2012

"Command Central is one of Wisconsin’s leading vendors of voting machines and election supplies. They are distributors for Dominion Voting Systems, a privately-owned electronic voting equipment company. Founded in Canada in 2002, Dominion is now based in Denver, CO, since their acquisitions of Premier Election Solutions, from Election Systems & Software (ES&S), and Sequoia Voting Systems.

Command Central deals directly with Wisconsin county and municipal clerks and is closely involved in their selection of voting machines, ballots, and other election supplies. Command Central does all the maintenance on the voting machines and provides tech support throughout the year, with a special 'hot line' should clerks need help with glitches, etc., on election day.

In June 2011, the Wisconsin County Clerks Association held their annual summer conference in Ladysmith. Seventy-five county clerks from across the state came together to, among other things, 'assist the legislators in developing sound legislation that affects county clerks and county government by providing accurate and useful information.' WCCA Legislation Committee chair at the time was Kathy Nickolaus."

Much more at the link. Via Occupy Wall Street

June 6, 2012

What they did in Wisconsin, we need to do everywhere.

DEEP grassroots, DEEP commitment over great periods of time, DEEP determination.

Then we win.

June 6, 2012

Thank you, Scott Walker.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=441230679234758&set=a.387253637965796.96248.387244944633332&type=1&theater

June 6, 2012

The homeless in LA are under imminent threat of attack so the rich can become richer

Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is the largest homeless population in America. Once before, as depicted in the film "The Soloist", the local 1% (the Central Cities Association) had the homeless forced out of an area by massive numbers of police so the rich could turn it into ritzy, pricey rentals. Both plans worked just fine.

Now they are again preparing to attack and displace, or worse, those weakest among us who are unable to fight back, much less have a say in the matter.

(Please see the full story at the link)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002770630

June 6, 2012

The homeless in LA are under imminent threat of attack so the rich can become richer-dial up warning

Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles is the largest homeless population in America. Once before, as depicted in the film "The Soloist", the local 1% (the Central Cities Association) had the homeless forced out of an area by massive numbers of police so the rich could turn it into ritzy, pricey rentals. Both plans worked just fine.

Now they are again preparing to attack and displace, or worse, those weakest among us who are unable to fight back, much less have a say in the matter.

I was on Skid Row yesterday afternoon when LA Times reporter/photographer Genaro visited the Occupied part of the Row, which consists of people who were homeless who joined Occupy LA, and returned to the Row after the encampment was destroyed by police.

Genaro took many, many notes, and showed both sympathy and support, citing his "Project 50" photo essay of an attempt at putting 50 Skid Row members into low- or no-income housing. The vast majority of them stayed put. However, the LA Times, which every once in a blue moon says something positive about Occupy, chose to take the usual course in publishing an article which gives voice to everyone but the homeless, which discusses the desires of everyone but the homeless. Sadly, none of Genaro's notes made it into the article. What did, roundly condemns the homeless. For being homeless.

L.A. could resume controversial cleanup sweeps in skid row

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-skid-row-violation-20120605,0,3611495.story?track=lat-email-topofthetimes

Words such as "disease", "feces", and "urine" are purposeful button-pushers to turn attention from the fact these people are as human as you and I, into a "problem" which "must be solved" so people can rest, knowing such ugly things are no longer happening anywhere in the world. Turning them into The Other, the undesirable. Utterly heartless...

These are the tools of the rich who seek to become ever richer. Who have zero interest in "solving the problem" they so eloquently present, with useful things such as housing, shower and toilet installations, medicine and care, quality food... I've been down there for the last several months and I've seen the city services which provide garbage cans which are emptied, and street sweeping...all of which came to an abrupt halt a few weeks ago, after police grabbed up the brooms and couch, and lost the receipts for them. The city expected trash levels to become intolerable and came out to take pictures, but found locals had continued cleaning the area on their own (they already keep their sidewalks clean, I've seen it). The city also "power washes" twice a week, requiring all residents remove all property from the sidewalk; they they come through and blast the sidewalk with compressed cold water. The city have stopped doing this as well, and never added chemicals to the water as residents requested, so it would truly clean things.

Here is the notice of clean-up, which the city ceased performing:




RT News: 1,000,000 new foreclosures are expected in California =alone= in the next year. How many will find their way to the Row?

This was the scene on the 25th of last month. These are corporate "security" who are given free run of the entire area, to call in LAPD whenever they wish, to cause trouble upon whomever they wish. Corporate police!!!



They are there to remove the entire encampment. Several LAPD arrived with them. It was a test run for an upcoming attack. The cops had several video cameras going so they were taking serious notes on our response. NOTE: They are NOT police. They are kids acting as snitch squads for the CCA. When did corporations get their own policing patrols?



Only last year was an injunction won by the LA Community Action Network, LA CAN, to stop police from removing the belongings of the homeless as they willed. If someone went to the local mission for food, toiletries, showers, and more, they could return to find all of their property seized, never to return. If you'd left your ID, medicine, etc., tough luck. Now, police must place a 24-hour notice. Those who want the homeless gone, are attempting to turn this ordinance against itself. And police raided the Occupy area on May 1 when the majority were marching and at a homelessness panel out of town. Those corporate security are there all the time and radio in any opportunity to raid.



What is it like on the Row?

"Officers beat a homeless man for eating sunflower seeds on San Julian Street as onlookers plead for them to stop. Man is subsequently taken away in an ambulance."



However, when you actually meet the PEOPLE of the Row, you'll find worthy friends and savvy citizens.

F26 Occupy Skid Row, Los Angeles: Police harass, arrest the homeless, including on Christmas day:




The culprits are the CCA, which are a clotting of local business interests and those rich who wish to invest in the area, for profit of course. They hold great sway with the city of LA and are extremely influential in the city's decision-making process. Which of course is Mussolini's definition of Fascism.

"Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power."


This is the CCA:

The 42 Most Powerful People in Downtown

6. Carol Schatz, Central City Association

http://www.ladowntownnews.com/news/the-most-powerful-people-in-downtown/article_8073260a-f08b-5e90-87e6-93dd4ebe7529.html


"CCA is a strong supporter of the Safer Cities Initiative (SCI)..." (The SCI sees cops arresting anyone who will not take down and keep down their tent/housing between 6am and 9pm, or sit or lie on the sidewalk [General T.C. Alexander, shown in the LA Times pic at the link, says there are only three major positions in which a person may be, and that the SCI makes two of them illegal]. That is oddly not mentioned in their description.)



"A settlement was reached, requiring the city to build 1,250 new permanent supportive housing units, 50 percent of which must be located in Skid Row, in order to enforce an ordinance that prevents street encampments." (625 rooms? There are Thousands of homeless on Skid Row. This is an attempted trade of 625 rooms for their right to even be there.)

http://www.ccala.org/3-05-achievements.asp

"CCA's advocacy in favor of the adaptive reuse of Downtown's historic buildings sparked the revitalization of our city center. The result has been the creation of thousands of new housing units and a tripling of Downtown's population in the past decade."

So...thousands of new for-profit rentals for the ritzy rich at the expense of the homeless. No money to go into homeless services. 625 rooms for the homeless versus many thousand for-profit rentals.

CCA Mission Statement: " ...a better quality of life for all Angelenos." Obviously only for $ome.

http://www.ccala.org/3-01-mission.asp

and our mayor, Mr. Villain:

Huge Subsidy for Stadium Architect

Villaraigosa quietly plans to hand Gensler $1 million meant for the poor

http://www.laweekly.com/2011-04-21/news/huge-subsidy-for-stadium-architect/

The CCA want this stadium. Their snitch squad will become its security, further strengthening corporate police about which no one was ever asked to vote... Profit, AND their own police. At exactly what instant do they arrive at complete unaccountability?

Catholic Workers / Hippy Kitchen help the homeless and offer the right message:



And doing the right thing during Occupy LA's ongoing seige of CCA offices:

http://lacatholicworker.org/2012/06/08/lacw-in-solidarity-with-occupy-and-lacan-five-arrested


I'm working on a video of all of this but had to say something NOW, because I can almost see cops putting on riot gear in preparation to head down there (again). Monsters, you are on notice.

Anyone wishing to use this topic and space to be a jerk will automatically be put on Ignore. These are my friends. They are as important as any of us. All of us are equal, and the problem is that greed cares not one whit about that which it cannot use.

EDIT:

LA Times publish story citing photographer/journalist Genaro's mentioned photojournal subject, "Project 50".

Housing project for hard-core homeless pays off

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0608-homeless-savings-20120608,0,5536032.story

"Project 50 was controversial because it did not require people to get sober before they were housed. But advocates of the so-called housing-first approach say a permanent roof provides the stability chronically homeless people need to get their lives back on track.

The project, championed by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, began in late 2007 with the goal of finding and housing the 50 most vulnerable, long-term homeless living on the streets of skid row in downtown Los Angeles. Since then, the number of participants has grown to 133, of whom 94 remain housed, seven are incarcerated, 12 have died and 20 left the program.

'My notion was that front-end investment in social services and stable housing would not only prove to be vastly more humane, but less costly for the public treasury,' Yaroslavsky said in an email. 'This audit makes the case for accelerating the county's efforts to house the chronically homeless and provide them with the critical social services they need.'

Between 2008 and 2010, the program cost the county $3.045 million but generated $3.284 million in estimated savings, the report said. That is equivalent to a $4,774 surplus for each apartment provided, it said."

Project 50: Anatomy of a Photoessay

http://framework.latimes.com/2010/11/18/project-50-anatomy-of-a-photo-essay/


Press Links for this subject and Occupy's targeting of the CCA

http://626wilshire.wikispaces.com/Press


At Wilshire and Hope, a lesson in escalation (You've seen the CCA's redskirts, now see the purple skirts)

http://www.laactivist.com/2012/06/10/at-wilshire-and-hope-a-lesson-in-escalation/


Los Angeles County officials considering welfare crackdown

Surge in welfare cases has L.A. County looking at ways to save money. Critics worry that some possible measures would hurt those who most need the help.

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-welfare-rolls-20120611,0,7649315.story