Friday, 15 April 2011

Ignoring Setbacks, Sheriff Pushes Hunt for Illegal Immigrants

Scott Walker admits that his decision to strip the rights of public workers to bargain collectively "doesn't save any" money for the Wisconsin taxpayers

Liverpool's Kenny Dalglish says Hillsborough families will get justice

Kenny Dalglish, centre, was the manager of Liverpool at the time of the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/EMPICS Sport/PA Photos

Kenny Dalglish believes that the families of the 96 Liverpool supporters who died at Hillsborough are close to obtaining the answers and justice for which they have campaigned since 1989.
is the 22nd anniversary of the disaster, at an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest, for which no one in authority has been held accountable, despite Lord Justice Taylor ruling that South Yorkshire police, Sheffield city council and Sheffield Wednesday football club were culpable.
An independent panel is examining documents relating to Hillsborough and this week James Jones, the bishop of Liverpool who is chairing the panel, told the Guardian it intended to reveal "the full truth" having obtained previously unreleased information.
Dalglish, who was Liverpool's manager in 1989 and who is their manager now, said: "I think it's getting closer to some positive news for the families, but it has taken a long time to get to this point as well. Two years ago Andy Burnham [then secretary of state for culture, media and sport] came up to the memorial service and promised that he would do the best he could to get access to some papers that were not due to be released for another three or four years and to the man's great credit he has done that. They have got access now to some papers that they've never had before and have now got to file through them and that's why I'm saying it's getting a bit more positive for the families."
The Hillsborough disaster and its aftermath were a contributory factor to Dalglish stepping down as Liverpool manager in 1991 and on Friday he and the entire Liverpool squad will attend the annual memorial service at Anfield.
"I don't think what happened there will ever be removed from anybody and neither should it," said Dalglish. "I don't think anybody should ever forget it. I suppose the people who where there are the ones who have the strongest opinion on it. There are people now passing an opinion on things but I'm sure had they been there they would have a different opinion.
"For ourselves also, it has been that long that there is a generation of our supporters now who know about it but obviously weren't there. I'm sure it is to the forefront of their minds as well. Everybody knows what it means to the football club and everybody knows how difficult it is for the people who lost someone there. The sooner they get the justice for themselves, the happier they will be and we all will be for them."
Andy Hunter @'The Guardian'
#YNWA

How 12 Multinational Corporations Avoid Paying Taxes

Over the past month, General Electric has been held up as the pinnacle of corporate vampirism –– the world’s largest corporation in the world’s lowest tax bracket. But it’s not just GE that’s bilking the system and paying zero dollars in taxes.

A new report out today illustrates that at least 11 other multinational, billion-dollar corporations managed to get a free pass from the IRS – and not only that, but while average Americans scraped their piggy banks to pay hefty taxes on paltry paychecks, many of these companies actually got a refund. Want to know how they pulled that off? By the fatcat’s swindle: lobbying, campaign contributions, and other legal gladhanding that helps them exploit corporate loopholes and keeps their pockets flush while the rest of us struggle to get by.

The campaign reform group Public Campaign has released a report called "Artful Dodgers," identifying 12 corporations – including GE – that used these tactics to avoid paying any taxes while reaping huge benefits. More disturbingly, the report notes they collectively spent over a billion dollars influencing politicians to make Washington more corporate-friendly. As the report points out, the money invested to sway groups such as the House Ways and Means Committee and the Senate Finance Committee has been wildly successful. Legislation from both parties has created these tax loopholes, while providing incentives that effectively destroy the American workforce. Public Campaign:

According to the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO), eighty-three of the 100 largest publicly traded U.S. corporations utilize such tax havens to reduce their U.S. tax liability. Ironically, these accounting tricks aren’t available for companies that only do business in the United States, so Congress in effect is providing tax incentives to ship jobs overseas and dismantle the middle class.

Public Campaign (PC) researched "the lobbying expenses and political contributions of 12 large, well-known corporations, their political action committees (PACs), and their executives," and broke them down into four categories: Oil, Banks, Transportation, and Telecommunication and Technology.

Let’s use an example from the latter category first, since GE falls into it. While the general brouhaha surrounding the company involved its tax-free 2010, PC notes that it has in fact not paid any taxes since 2006, despite raking in $26 billion since then. Since 2006, it has collected tax refunds of $4.1 billion. Further, despite being "one of the worst polluters in the world," GE has gained these benefits from aggressively lobbying for green tax breaks for using wind turbines. Its zealousness in political contributions has probably helped; in 10 years, GE, employees and PACs have given more than $13 million in federal contributions, along with a whopping $205 million on lobbying...

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Julianne Escobedo Shepherd @'AlterNet'

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Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor

Palin, the Press, and the Fake Pregnancy Rumor: Did a Spiral of Silence Shut Down the Story?

By Bradford W. Scharlott, Ph.D. Northern Kentucky University

HERE

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Cameron’s ESOL cuts will make integration harder

In a keynote speech on immigration today, a couple of weeks before elections, David Cameron conceded that immigration is a hugely emotive issue that must be handled with sensitivity.
Some might question how sensitive it is to then talk about ‘good’ and ‘mass’ immigration and warn immigrants that they must learn English, at a time when his government is slashing both funding and opportunities for people who desperately want to learn the language.
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) has seen a cut of 32 per cent in funding in the last two years.
Furthermore, according to the Action for ESOL campaign, changes to eligibility for free ESOL classes will result in around 100,000 people, three-quarters of whom are women, being hit with fees of up to £1,200 – charges they simply cannot afford.
In a survey by the Association of Colleges, 75 per cent of colleges said they would have to reduce the amount of ESOL provision they provide if there were no concessions around the changes to who is entitled to free ESOL classes, because of their concern at students’ ability to pay the fees.
The cuts to further education funding are creating the most serious crisis for the future of ESOL the country has seen. If the government truly wants people to integrate and be part of its ‘big society’ then language is the key. Among the people learning ESOL that we speak to are those who have fled war-torn countries; they want to work and want to pay their way, but they need to be able to speak the language to do that.
The prime minister’s attack comes just days after his fact-free attack on Oxford University’s record of recruiting black students and seems symptomatic of a government keen to chase a headline but not keen to explore or understand the real problems behind an issue.
Learning English on arrival in this country is the best way to get people out of poverty and into their local communities. It is the responsibility of, and in the interests of, numerous government departments to ensure people are not excluded from being able to learn English and that must be reflected in who picks up the tab.
We, literally, cannot afford the most needy and vulnerable in society to become further marginalised through an inability to learn and speak the language of this country. Something the prime minister should consider before making ill-advised attacks on immigrants.
Sally Hunt is the general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU)
Sally Hunt @'Left Foot Forward'
(GB2011)