Unlikely friendship between a chimp and a tiger

OK, you just have to go to The Funny Site to see more pictures of this friendship!

Next wave of suffering: $1 billion cut from Mass. budget

Gov. Deval Patrick filled in some of the details today from this week's announced $1 billion dollar cut from the state budget to help close a projected $1.4 billion gap. Obviously he's doing what he needs to do, although I expect to find considerable disagreement with some of his choices, especially when it comes to those services provided for those who have the least to spare in their own budgets.

Patrick also intends to lay off 1,000 state workers. Some of those workers will not be able to pay the mortgages on their homes and will fall into foreclosure. Other workers will have to apply for food stamps and fuel assistance. Food stamp usage is at an all-time high in this country and fuel assistance funds are in short supply.

There's nothing like a fiscal crisis to move an economy into a penny wise, pound foolish mode. That's one thing I'm appreciating about Barak Obama-- when asked what he will cut from his proposed programs if he becomes president, he says he is not going to cut fund to promote energy independence. Not only would it free us from dependence on other countries to meet our needs, true energy independence would create jobs.

I'm finding it hard to figure out how we're going to get out of this mess short-term-- maybe even long-term-- and I worry about how the poorest people are going to survive. Usually I aim to be pro-active, but I think I'm going to cut myself a little slack and let myself realize that like it or not, a lot of us will do a lot of suffering before this is over.

What, Me Racist? Playing the race card

As is not uncommon these days, Springfield, MA's MassLive forum is awash in posts about racism, a number of which are racist themselves. I have written about the manifestations of racism on this blog but haven't tried to "unpack" it too often, as so many other do it better-- but here goes.

Whatever else may come from Barak Obama's campaign for president, the extraordinary level of debate about race now taking place is bringing change in unanticipated ways. I have my fingers crossed that most of the change will be positive.

One trend that disturbs me is when discussions of race lead to accusations against blacks of reverse racism.

If a white person talks about a black person talking about race, the black person is accused of "playing the race card." Well, if that is the hand you are dealt, is that any surprise? The cards in the white person's hand are white, not black. Those cards may be more kings than queens or more low than high-- but they are not colored.

One huge part of the problem is that most people don't seem to understand the difference between prejudice and the isms-- racism, sexism, classism, heterosexism, ageism and more. The isms are backed by more than prejudice, they are backed by institutional power.

Prejudice is painful. One poster on MassLive listed a group of insulting words about white people and called them racist. One of those words, redneck, is certainly classist. I remember a southern friend explaining the derivation of that word-- that it was about white workers in the field whose necks became sunburned while they were working. I can guarantee you, however, that the big bosses standing over them were also white, not black.

To see the effect of institutional power in play, one has only to look at the halls of Congress, the administrators of the government, the Wall St. brokers and the heads of financial institutions. Those members are overwhelmingly white, male, rich and declared heterosexuals.

A black person can call me a name and even get his friends to beat me up, but she or he has no control over where the majority of whites can live, what education we receive or where we am employed. That power rests elsewhere.

Photo from BrainEthics.

In practical terms, if we don't understand institutional power, we can't challenge it. We turn on each other as the cause of our miseries and never look up the food chain. Thus we remain struggling for power-- blacks, gays, working and middle class whites, women-- but we're struggling against the wrong people.

We have an opportunity to dig a little deeper in 2008, and I hope we take it.

Homeless man burned to death in L.A.

A friend sent me a link to this story in the Los Angeles Daily News. Last Thursday a homeless man who was well-known in his neighborhood was set on fire by someone walking by him-- seeing as an accelerant was used, the murder must have been premeditated. No one deserves this.

Can Springfield be saved? Economic planning session taking place Thursday

This past May I wrote about how the Springfield Finance Control Board had hired MassINC and the Urban Issues Institute to begin to explore how to develop Springfield economically. Apparently the groups are ready to start getting input from Springfield's residents and to that end, will be holding the first public forum this Thursday at 6:30 pm. at Central High School.

How much rosier economic conditions from last May seem than from our current October viewpoint! Of course the economy was already in deep trouble-- housing prices had started to fall in 2006-- but most of us had no idea of the extraordinary austerity that was about to be forced upon us. Some of us still don't get it.

Now more than ever longterm economic planning for Springfield has to take place and as many people as possible have to be involved in it-- besides the benefit of all that creativity, it's the only way residents can be invested in the solutions. Maybe a few short-term options are off the table for the moment, but so what? I don't think most people are willing to throw up their hands and say no solution is possible. If you really believe that, and you've got the resources to do it, get out of Springfield.

Key question What is it that will retain current residents, increase their productivity and contributions, and attract new skilled residents?

Photo from Asmey145's photostream at Flickr.

Manatee rescued on Cape Cod! - but more to be done

The Cape Cod Tmes has been reporting on sightings of a manatee, of all things, in Sesuit Harbor near Dennis on Cape Cod. Given that there are only 3,000 manatees left in the U.S., every one is precious.

Dennis, as the manatee has been nicknamed, had a quite low body temperature from the chilly Cape Cod waters and seemed a bit malnourished wise all right. Between Sea World, the International Fund for Animal Welfare and state and local officials, Dennis was rescued and will be rehabilitated at Sea World in Orlando.

The U.S. Department of the Interior has been trying to change the way animals covered by the Endangered Species Act are protected by allowing the government itself to decide if its actions pose a danger to endangered animals. Hmm, do you trust the government?

You can sign a letter to the Department of the Interior urging them to keep to the stricter standards at the IFAW website. Comment period has been extended until October 15.

Photo from Old Shoe Woman's photostream at Flickr.

The Key - Part One

I have a key on my keychain that has been there for thirty years. Until today, it has always had a purpose. I'm not sure what I'll do with it now, but throwing it away doesn't seem an option-- not today, anyway.

Thirty years ago I was a single mom living with my year old daughter in a 4th floor apartment in Springfield's South End. I loved my little apartment, but hardly anyone came to visit, and I was barely making ends meet. One day-- still in the tail end of the feminist era-- I saw an ad in the Valley Advocate from a woman who was looking for three or four woman to rent a house with. I answered her ad and in fairly short order we found a large Victorian in McKnight that we could rent. It hadn't been occupied in a number of years and there was lots of work to be done, but it seemed a great adventure.

The owner of the house was a young man who'd also bought a dozen other properties in McKnight. Lots of gentrification was taking place in the late seventies/early eighties, but this guy had a different vision for McKnight. I thought he was idealistic but flaky. He used a lot of big words and it was hard to pin down his meaning. The repair people he hired tended to be pretty low-skilled. Once he hired unlicensed people to remove the lead paint from the exterior, but they didn't put any tarps down so later the soil around the house had to be removed. I'll never forget that when a set of plumbers he sent forgot to recap the soil pipe in the basement. He sent his elderly mother with a mop and bucket over to clean up the mess! This was pretty par for the course with him.

Over the next six or seven years women, mostly young professionals, came and went, but somehow I stayed. I loved the huge back yard and had started an organic garden which got a little bigger (and better) every year. I'd also started doing a little front desk coverage for the Valley Advocate, which at the time had a Springfield office right at the end of my street, and was beginning to do a little writing for the paper. And there were lots of kids in the neighborhood, which was mostly Black families with a few Latinos and whites sprinkled in. What better way to safeguard my Caucasian daughter against racism than for her to grow up in a racially diverse neighborhood?

Gradually the household occupants shifted from strangers to family. My older daughter moved in and both of my sisters lived there for a while. I grew fonder and fonder of my house and my neighborhood. Paying the rent and utilities was always a challenge, but manageable because the expenses were shared. Still, it wasn't my house, and our future was always uncertain.

One day my landlord came to me and asked if iId be interested in helping to form a housing cooperate, where people owned coop shares and could stay in their homes for as long as they lived. Would I? Did he even have to ask?

Massachusetts versus New Hampshire

MASSACHUSETTS
Sales Taxes
State Sales Tax: 5% (food; prescription drugs; fuel costs; gas, oil, electricity; clothing costing up to $175, are exempt). For a complete list, click here.
Gasoline Tax: 23.5 cents/gallon
Diesel Fuel Tax: 23.5 cents/gallon
Cigarette Tax: $1.51/pack of 20

Personal Income Taxes
Tax Rate Range: Flat rate of 5.3% of federal adjusted gross income
Personal Exemptions: Single - $4,125; Married - $8,250;
Dependents - $1,000
Standard Deduction: None
Medical/Dental Deduction: Federal amount
Federal Income Tax Deduction: None
Retirement Income Taxes: Social Security, civil service, state/local government pensions are exempt. Pension income from other state or local governments that do not tax pension income from Massachusetts public employees is exempt from Massachusetts taxable income.
Retired Military Pay: Not taxed.
Military Disability Retired Pay:
Disability Portion - Length of Service Pay; Member on September 24, 1975 - No tax; Not Member on September 24, 1975 - Taxed, unless combat incurred. Retired Pay - Based solely on disability: Member on September 24, 1975 - No tax; Not Member on September 24, 1975 - Taxed, unless all pay based on disability and disability resulted from armed conflict, extra-hazardous service, simulated war, or an instrumentality of war.
VA Disability Dependency and Indemnity Compensation: Not subject to federal or state taxes
Military SBP/SSBP/RCSBP/RSFPP: Generally subject to state taxes for those states with income tax. Check with state department of revenue office.

Property Taxes
Massachusetts does not provide for a general homestead exemption but does have a Homestead Act. The Homestead Act permits a homeowner who occupies a house as his/her principal residence to shield up to $500,000 in equity in that house from creditors. By simply filing a Declaration of Homestead with the appropriate Registry of Deeds, a homeowner may be able to protect his/her residence from the claim of a future creditor. The Homestead Act permits only one spouse to file for the equity protection if each has an ownership interest in the home. The protection offered to the disabled and the elderly is even more comprehensive because it allows a husband and wife who own their own home to each file for the $500,000 equity protection. Click for details.

Massachusetts also has a circuit breaker program that offers a real estate tax credit for persons age 65 and older. Certain taxpayers may be eligible to claim a refundable credit on their state income taxes for the real estate taxes paid during the tax year on the residential property they own or rent in Massachusetts that is used as their principal residence. If the credit due the taxpayer exceeds the amount of the total income tax payable for the year by the taxpayer, the excess amount of the credit will be refunded to the taxpayer without interest. For tax year 2007, the maximum credit allowed for both renters and homeowners is $900. To be eligible for the credit for the 2007 tax year; the taxpayer or spouse, if married filing jointly, must be 65 years of age or older at the close of the 2007 tax year; the taxpayer must own or rent residential property in Massachusetts and occupy the property as his or her principal residence; the taxpayer's "total income" cannot exceed $48,000 for a single filer who is not the head of a household, $60,000 for a head of house hold, or $72,000 for taxpayers filing jointly; and for homeowners, the assessed valuation as of January 1, 2007, before residential exemptions but after abatements, of the homeowner's personal residence cannot exceed $772,000. Click for details.

Inheritance and Estate Taxes
There is no inheritance tax and a limited estate tax on estates valued at $1,000,000 or more.

For further information, visit the Massachusetts Department of Revenue site.

NEW HAMPSHIRE
Sales Taxes
State Sales Tax: None. There is an 8% tax on lodging and restaurant meals and a 7% tax on two-way communications.
Gasoline Tax: 19.6 cents/gallon
Diesel Fuel Tax: 19.6 cents/gallon
Cigarette Tax: $1.08 cents/pack of 20

Personal Income Taxes
New Hampshire depends more upon real property taxes for revenue than most states since there are no general income, sales or use taxes. The state also receives substantial revenue from taxes on motor fuels, tobacco products, alcoholic beverages sold through the state liquor stores, and pari-mutuel betting. The state income tax is limited to a 5% tax on dividends and interest income of more than $2,400 ($4,800 for joint filers). A $1,200 exemption is available for residents who are 65 years of age or older.
Retirement Income: Not taxed.

Property Taxes
Local property taxes, based upon assessed valuation, are assessed, levied and collected by municipalities. To view the tax rates for each town, click here.

A state education property tax rate of $2.24 (2007) per $1,000 of total equalized valuation is assessed on all New Hampshire property owners. It will be $2.14 for tax year 2008. An elderly exemption for property taxes can be age, net income limits, including Social Security income, and net asset limits. Property taxes can be deferred but accrue interest at the rate of 5% per annum. The deferred property tax may not exceed more than 85% of the equity value of the residence. The deferral is available (if granted) by the assessing officials, to any resident property owner who is at least 65 years old. For single homeowners 65 and older who earn less than $5,000 and married couples who earn less than $6,000, $5,000 of their property's assessed value is exempt from taxes. In addition, the homeowner's other assets besides the home must be worth less than $35,000.

There is a Low & Moderate Income Homeowner's Property Tax Relief program in New Hampshire. Click here. You must own a homestead subject to the state education property tax; reside in such homestead as of April 1 of the year for which the claim for relief is made; have a total household income of (1) $20,000 or less if a single person or (2) $40,000 or less if married or head of a New Hampshire household.

Call 603-271-2687 for details on property taxes or click here for municipal tax rates.

Inheritance and Estate Taxes
New Hampshire's Legacy & Succession Tax was repealed in 2002 and is effective for deaths occurring on or after January 1, 2003. As a result there is no inheritance or estate tax.

For further information, visit the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration site or call 603-271-3397.

From Retirement Living

Beautiful creatures

See more at ScienceRay.

Question One would devastate Massachusetts

Governor Patrick met or conference called with 37 Massachusetts mayors yesterday, warning that cuts in state aid may be inevitable. He will announce cuts to the $28.2 billion dollar budget this upcoming week. Dan Ring, Springfield Republican, details some of the mayor responses here.

Question One, which calls for the elimination of the state income tax, will cut the state's revenues by 40%.

Half or more of Massachusetts cities' budgets come from the state coffers. Springfield's $529 million budget includes $310 million from the state. Right now cities and towns are preparing for a 7% cut. What if that cut were 40% instead of 7%?

If you were mayor, how would you make the hard choices if you lost 40% of your state aid? Of course you'd want to save as much of the fire and police departments' services as possible, but layoffs would have to take place. And then what? Teachers? Road repair? Solid waste management?

Meanwhile, the state would be cutting 40% of the services that they fund directly. Health care, home care for seniors, job development, environmental services, shelters for homeless families, community colleges, state parks--- the list goes on and on.

Question One is tempting for individuals and families who already are having a hard time making ends meet. Add to that the fact that we all know where waste is present in city and state budgets, and we all feel like our input isn't valued very much. But in this case, the cure is worse than the disease. Question One didn't make sense even before our current financial meltdown; I can't imagine our communities suffering these cuts now unless we all want chaos in the streets.

Graphic book of subway tunnel living

The New York Times has a feature about homeless people living in the subway tunnels of New York. A subway conversation between a 38 year old artist and a 40 year old homeless man led to a graphic book of life in the underground, with stories of the homeless and survival tips.

“Our memories and dreams walk beside us, informing everything we think we see,” Ms. Landowne (artist) and Mr. Horton write in the book. “We are scavengers of stories. We seek hidden messages of hope and find them. We gather evidence of resistance to oppression and despair.”

Check out the story at NYTimes.

The State of Poverty

The State of Poverty

• Number of children: 12.9 million
  ...four times the number of all the children in Illinois
  
• Number of seniors 65 and over: 3.6 million
  ...the same as the entire population of Oklahoma
  
• Number of women: 14.6 million
  ...the entire population of Wisconsin, Indiana, and Iowa combined
• Number reporting a disability: 8.0 million
  ...a population larger than the State of Massachusetts
• Number of homeless: 3.5 million
  ...twice the population of Nebraska

Stats from the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law

Local DAs, police chiefs come out against decriminalizing marijuana

Sen. Joe Biden said something interesting in his debate the other night-- that whether he agreed with people or not, he had learned never to question their motives.

I wish I could be like that, but....when I see the local district attorneys, sheriffs and police chiefs gathered in opposition to decriminalizing an ounce or less of marijuana, the focus of Massachusett's Question Two, I have to ask myself....how important to their job security is it that no cracks appear in the wall of drug prohibition?

Arguments against Question Two, which would turn a possession of small amounts of marijuana from a criminal offense into a civil one, only make sense if you ignore history, common sense and the facts.

The U.S. already has an excellent example of what happens when a substance that should be a matter of personal choice is criminalized. The thirteen years of alcohol prohibition in the U.S. during the early part of the twentieth century created a huge black market and allowed organized crime to become the American institution that it is today.. Prohibition led to the corruption of many law enforcement officials. Stronger alcohol was developed so that a little went further. The U.S. government lost $500 million a year in tax revenue.

Worst of all, prohibition turned millions of ordinary citizens into lawbreakers.

At today's press conference, Berkshire County District Attorney David F. Capeless, said that a first offense by someone 17 or older would lead to an automatic six month continuance, and that the case would be dismissed if someone stayed out of trouble for six months.

What he didn't say is that one single arrest for possession of marijuana leads to a criminal record that will affect housing, employment, benefits and military service.

Hampden County District Attorney Bill Bennett said that Question Two is " is a green light to drug dealers to target young children, especially high school students, to buy and use drugs." Mr. Bennett seems not to know how wothe minds of high schoolers work very well. And if this is so, shouldn't we recriminalize alcohol? How about cigarettes? How many lawbreakers do you think we'd have in Massachusetts if we did?

I have family members and friends who intend to vote against Question Two. They take a "Just say no" approach-- if you don't want to get arrested, don't break the law. They've never smoked, never will, and aren't missing a thing except, fortunately for them, the tar that smokers drag into their lungs. Far be it from me to say that non-smokers are missing out on anything. Marijuana. is not a necessity of life . It is simply one of life's pleasures.

When prohibition was finally repealed in 1933, organized crime took a huge loss in profits. We won't see that in Massachusetts if Question Two passes because decriminalization is not the same as legalization. By keeping marijuana illegal we lose potential tax revenue and lose out on the opportunity for regulation. At this point in time however, I would be satisfied just to see marijuana smokers be able to live without fear of arrest.

PS. Not all law enforcement officials think drug prohibition is a good idea; I wrote about it here. If you want to see what ABC's John Stossel thinks, go here.

PPS: Twelve states have already decriminalized marijuana and if there were any great upsurge in drug use or violent crime in those states, the DAs would have made sure we know about it. More than 71,000 Massachusetts residents were arrested for simple possession of marijuana from 1995-2002. Consider the personal cost as well as the financial cost and vote Yes on Question Two.

Shadow cat

A shadow cat passed thru my gate
just as I went to close it.
I looked around, it wasn't there,
now where do you suppose it
travelled next? I'm not awake.
The cat is black. Its name is fate.

Photo from Shmoovio (Jarrett)'s photostream at Flickr.

Texas school suspends 5 yr old for religious beliefs

The Texas ACLU is suing the Needville Independent School District for refusing to allow a five year old Native American boy openly wear his hair in braids, insisting he hide them in his shirt.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, charges that NISD�s actions violate Betenbaugh's and Arocha's rights to raise Adriel according to their family's religion, heritage and identity, as well as Adriel's constitutional and statutory rights to free exercise of religion and free expression. Courts have held that the First and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution protect students� rights to dress in conformation with their religious beliefs. Texas' Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) provides additional protections.

�"he Constitution protects the right of all people in this country to express their religious beliefs as they see fit," said Daniel Mach, Director of Litigation for the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief. "The same law protects Catholic students who wear a rosary, Christian students who wear a cross, or Jewish students who wear a Star of David. Yet the school board has ignored this basic principle by punishing this young child's expression of his faith and heritage."

You can read more at the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas.

Homeless in MA? Not too late to register to vote!

Alberta Jilsen, resident of the PIP Shelter (Worcester), and registered voter.

One of Arise's members, Lamont, has been going around to the single shelters in the Springfield, MA registering homeless people to vote and Liz has been scheduling for the family shelters. We've registered more than 50 so far, and can probably double that by the deadline next Wednesday, October 15. Of course, getting folks out to vote, whether homeless or not, is another story. Then again, if not this election, then when?

You can get a state by state chart of homeless voting rights at the National Coalition for the Homeless website.

Photo by Lauren Farina at Worcesterhomeless