We're number 17! We're number 17!

Some bragging from our friends in Norway, although it seems it's the Swedes and the Icelanders who have best bragging rights. And a big shout out to our fellow former British colonies, Australia and Canada!

Norway fourth best democracy

Norway and the Nordic region are very highly ranked by the latest ratings from the Economist Intelligence Unit Index of Democracy.

The Netherlands and the Nordic countries took the top six places in the study, which considers 60 factors divided over five general categories; free and fair election process, civil liberties, functioning of government, political participation and political culture.

The study examined the state of democracy in 167 countries, with governments grouped in four categories, ranging from full democracies to authoritarian regimes.

Norway scored top marks of 10 in three categories, 9.64 in functioning government, and lost a higher ranking by only scoring 8.13 in political culture (factors like a lack of apathy and peaceful transfer of power).

The reports singled out the USA (17th) and Britain's (23rd) poor results, partly to blame on measures adopted to fight terrorism.

"The United States and Britain are near the bottom of the full democracy category, but for somewhat different reasons. America falls down on some aspects of governance and civil liberties. Despite low election turnouts, political participation in the United States is comparatively high," the report said.

"In Britain low political participation (the lowest in the developed world) is a major problem, and to a lesser extent, for now, so are eroding civil liberties," the report said.

The lowest scores on the scale of ten were seen in Myanmar (1.77), Togo (1.75), Chad (1.65), Central Africa (1.61) and North Korea (1.03).

Best functioning democracies

1. Sweden 9,88 2. Iceland 9,71 3. Netherlands 9.66 4. Norway 9,55 5. Denmark 9,52 6. Finland 9,25 7. Luxembourg 9,10 8. Australia 9,09 9. Canada 9.02 10. Switzerland 9.02

Eat a Little, Learn a Little

The Social Action Committee

Wurzweiler School of Social Work / Yeshiva University

Presents:

Families Affected by HIV:

Service Needs, Policy Issues, Daily Challenges

Presentations by:

The Family Center / Community Outreach Program

New York, NY

Wednesday, November 29^th

1:00 – 2:30

Room 921

Lunch will be served.

Everyone is welcome to attend.

Meanwhile. . . .

While the federal government defines hunger away (see below), we have this, from the NYT:

November 21, 2006

City’s Welfare Chief Concedes Need for Food Aid Is Growing

By SEWELL CHAN

New York City’s top welfare official offered an unusually candid assessment of shortcomings in social services yesterday, vividly describing offices where caseworkers are overwhelmed by paperwork, hindered by antiquated computers and not given adequate training.

Furthermore, the official, Verna Eggleston, acknowledged that the need for food and nutrition assistance is growing in the city — so much so that some of her own employees are receiving food from charities between paychecks.

Ms. Eggleston, commissioner of the Human Resources Administration, which has about 16,000 employees and an annual budget of $7 billion, made her remarks in testimony before Councilman Bill de Blasio of Brooklyn at a hearing to discuss hunger in the city.

The United States Department of Agriculture reported last week that the prevalence of “food insecurity” — a federal term for hunger — in New York State rose to an average of 10.4 percent in 2003-5 from 9.4 percent in 2000-2, though the level is still lower than the 11.9 percent reported in 1996-98.

About 1.1 million of the city’s 8.1 million residents receive food stamps, a federally subsidized benefit. Most observers believe that several hundred thousand more are eligible for the benefit but do not receive it — in part because of bureaucratic barriers, like a cumbersome application process.

Ms. Eggleston, acknowledging the criticisms, said that on Dec. 18, the agency would begin accepting food stamp applications over the Internet, in an experiment with two nonprofit groups, Food Change and the New York City Coalition Against Hunger.

Under the experiment, financed by an Agriculture Department grant, Food Change employees at several food pantries and other locations will take applications and submit information electronically to the city, obviating the need for a caseworker to manually enter the information into a state-run computer system.

Ms. Eggleston also said her staff would conduct an outreach campaign during the holiday season — involving bus and subway advertising and tens of thousands of copies of a new brochure — to encourage those eligible to apply for food stamps. City employees will also “visit high-volume food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the city” and help people fill out applications, she said.

Ms. Eggleston conceded that many food stamp recipients were barely scraping by, saying that at her neighborhood supermarket she recently overheard two older people talking about how their electronic benefits transfer cards — where the value of the food stamps is automatically uploaded each month — had run out well before the end of the month.

She added, “I do think there’s an increased demand, especially when I know that many of my staff in my own agency utilize food kitchens in between pay periods.”

She said the agency would soon revive a training academy to make sure that caseworkers were familiar with updated procedures. She recalled that one employee had disregarded a new policy even though a copy of it “was literally dangling above the worker’s head.”

She said she had been shocked at conditions in one office. “I was livid,” she said, describing “workers with applications in stacked cardboard boxes.” She added, “Even though it was a back-room operation, even though a customer didn’t go there, it didn’t matter because they lacked the tools to meet the commitments that this administration had made.”

Ms. Eggleston also said, “I’ve met workers who haven’t had a computer change in 20 years, where on the other extreme, I’ve met workers who had a computer change every 11 months.”

The agency’s chief of staff, David A. Hansell, testified that the city would petition Governor-elect Eliot Spitzer, after he takes office in January, and Congress, which is to take up reauthorization of the food stamp program next year, to grant more leeway in how the program is run.

And. . . .Presto!

Well, that was easy. With a simple change in definition, now no one in America goes hungry!

Read the whole article: (click on the image to see the whole table)

Turture and Human Rights

Warning: This is hard to watch.

It's still genocide

From some friends:

Darfur Benefit Concert

WHO: YOU!!

WHAT: BENEFIT FOR DARFUR !

WHERE: CHURCH OF ST. PAUL AND ST. ANDREW - 86TH AND WEST END

WHEN: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19TH, 2006, 7 PM

HOW: BUY A $20 TICKET, SHOW UP, AND HAVE A GREAT EVENING

WHY: BECAUSE ALL PROCEEDS GO TO AJWS AND UMCOR TO HELP MEET THE HUMANITARIAN NEEDS OF REFUGEES IN DARFUR

On Sunday, November 19, there will be an evening of tremendous talent and stimulating speakers, featuring Caissie Levy, Neshama Carlebach, Jane Kelly Williams, and other fine singers, musicians and performers.

The concert will raise money to help meet the humanitarian needs of refugees in Darfur .

To purchase a ticket , (even if you can't attend, but would like to help support this important cause), please go to the B’nai Jeshurun Website, www.bj.org.

If you would prefer to pay by check, you can make the check payable to Congregation B’nai Jeshurun and write "Darfur 11/19" in the Memo section of the check. Send your payment to:

Shakeara Hatchett

Congregation B'nai Jeshurun

2109 Broadway - Suite 203

New York, NY 10023-2106

Tickets are also available at the door.

*********************************************************************************************

You can help save a life by making a telephone call!

Since 2003, government-backed militias have been terrorizing towns and villages in Darfur , Sudan , that they believe are friendly to anti-government groups.

Americans can use their influence to save lives in Darfur .

How?

Encourage the President to send an international force to support African Union troops in Darfur to protect civilians. Make the " Darfur Calls" pledge to call the White House twice a week and pass this information to everyone you know who wants to be part of the solution . . .

Call President Bush at (202) 456-1111 and ask him to assert U.S. leadership to create security in Darfur through an international peacekeeping force.

Continue to make two phone calls each week. Act today to help bring safety and security to Darfur .

Your phone calls can change the world.

A dash of cold water

(Scroll down for WSSW Student Government election results.)

I told friends and colleagues that I would wait 48 hours before talking about the mid-term elections since I was, well, harshing their buzz. Out of respect I waited even longer. You're welcome!

In some ways, what's happened is a mere return to the staus quo ante, in which the Congress can resume serving as a check on Executive power (almost always a good thing: power corrupts, etc.), a power central to the operations of our particular form of constitutional government that has recently been negated by the power of one-party rule (the framers, remember, were rather in denial about the power of mass parties to overhwhelm the system).

But in our unique system, change comes, by design, slowly and incrementally (the New Deal and the Great Society are the exceptions that prove the rule).

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich offers some perspective:

The Democratic Victory: Keep Your Expectations Low

Hold the champagne. Don’t expect anything bold to come out of the new Democratic House.

First, Dems don’t have enough votes to overcome Bush vetoes. Second, the new Dems are from marginal districts where they will have to be moderate-to-conservative in order to be reelected. Third, the Dem leadership has its eyes on the big prize – the 2008 presidency – and doesn’t want to do anything to scare off voters.

Barney Frank at the financial services committee will, at most, require more company disclosure of executive pay – not push for legislation barring companies from deducting from their corporate income taxes any pay over, say, $1 million. John Dingle at energy and commerce is so concerned about the auto industry he won’t try to increase auto mileage standards (he has opposed increasing CAFÉ in the past). George Miller at education and commerce will at most seek additional money for Pell grants, but there won’t be additional money unless Dems cut defense discretionary, which they won’t do.

Dems will demand that Robert Gates, the new defense secretary, keep them in the loop over Iraq, but Dems won’t push him to set a timetable. Even though Iraq figured prominently in the election, Dems have no clear idea for what to do to get out of the mess. And they don’t want to be blamed for chaos and bloodshed when the 2008 election comes around. So they’ll have lots of hearings and do very little.

In other words, keep your expectations low.

On the other hand, if Dems take the Senate, there's one huge plus: Bush's next Supreme Court nominee (should he have the chance to nominate) won't get easy passage.

This is not to say we should abandon hope for change -- it is to say that we should remain in the reality-based community, and not set ourselves up for disappointment by expecting the impossible. And do keep in mind that it's Democrats who recently brought us welfare reform, NAFTA, the Telecommunications Act of 1996, the 1996 Crime Bill, and who, in very large numbers, supported the USA PATRIOT ACT and, yes, the Iraq War.

Wow! It's a whole new government!

No, no, no. Not the changing party control in Congress -- that's old news now! Sheesh. This is MUCH more important!

We are pleased to announce the results of the Wurzweiler School of Social Work's student government elections. There was a wonderful voter turnout and it was a very close race. There was a tie for member at large, so instead of four, there will be five member-at-large positions. All of the candidates received very strong support from the student body and we hope that those who were not officially elected as members of the executive board will consider taking leadership positions by serving on one or more committees.

STUDENT GOVERNMENT ELECTION RESULTS, WSSW, 2006-2007

President Concurrent - Grant Silverstein
President PEP - Daniel Sebbag

Vice President - Sherri Panikoff, Second Year Concurrent
Treasurer - Anita Kahan, Second Year Concurrent
Secretary - Erica Leibowitz, First Year PEP

Members at Large
Rebecca Leibowitz, First Year Concurrent
Erik Volper, First Year Concurrent
Jose Delgado, Second Year PEP
Isabel M. Adon, First Year PEP
Demecia Woolen Irizary, Second Year PEP

Congratulations to all!

MIDTERM ELECTIONS!!!!!!

Scroll down for WSSW Student Government Candidate Statements. Meanwhile. . . . .

Ahhh, it's almost election day

Election day for WSSW, of course, and for, you know, almost all of the United States Congress and stuff. Scroll down for Student Government Candidate Statements. Meanwhile, to celebrate, we proudly steal images from, er, present. . . . . .



The Propaganda Remix Project:

A Whole 'Nother Kind of 'Lection

Below are Statements from the Candidates for elected positions in WSSW Student Government.

Ballots will be distributed in Practice Classes Thursday, Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.

Deadline for submitting your ballots is Wednesday, November 8, one day after those other elections you may have heard about.

Vote early, vote often.

Vice President Concurrent
Sherri Panikoff, First Year Concurrent Student

Hello Student Body,
I hope this school year is going well for you so far. As a candidate for Concurrent Student Vice President, I would like to assist in making your year even better. Having been a member of student government last year as well, I am very integrated into the Wurzweiler Community. I am able to work as an intermediary between you and the faculty to get your ideas and needs across. Last year I assisted in producing a large scale event on Human Trafficking. I look forward to advocating for the social issues most important to you this year by contributing to the production of more of these types of events. I am close with and work well with the Concurrent President, Grant Silverstein, and look forward to collaborating with him, the other members of the student government, and the staff to enhance your year and Wurzweiler experience.

Committee Interests: Graduation Ceremonial Committee and the Academic Issues Committee.


Vice President Concurrent
Rebecca Leibowitz, First Year Concurrent Student

My leadership experience comes from the variety of leadership positions that I held, most recently I was the student president of Rutgers Hillel. As our membership tripled, my leadership experience enabled me to develop my skill set as a group leader, activist, facilitator, and moderator. I dealt with a number of social issues on a leadership level, applying the skills necessary to create a positive and healthy working environment for the student board and Jewish community of 5,000 students. I developed a number of skills through my involvement in student organizational life including the ability to communicate effectively, to be objective in my decision making, to be empathic and to develop the interpersonal skills necessary to work with students, professionals, and faculty as well.

I strongly believe that the Wurzweiler Student Government is the mouthpiece of the student body. If elected, I plan to do everything in my power to maximize the student experience here in every way that I can. On a micro level, considering the Student government, I have experience writing organizational constitutions, and welcome this challenge, though it should be a process that involves the entire student body. Clearly stating our goals and objectives will increase the SGA’s ability to better serve the student body and I will work to ensure that your voices are heard. A serious assessment of what we have, what we can offer, and finding more opportunities and benefits for students to be educated and enlightened within the realm of social work and social action outside of the classroom is essential!


Treasurer
Anita Kahan, Second Year Concurrent Student

I have a vast amount of knowledge and experience gained from my positions in Jewish agencies such as Camp Director of the YM-YWHA in Clifton, Judaic Educator at the JCC on the Palisades, and the Director of Early Childhood. I have created innovative programs chaired and sat on many committees and boards throughout my career. In addition, I have worked as a professional in the field of higher education.

I had the opportunity to be elected as the treasurer during the 2005-6 academic year at Wurzweiler. This integral position on student government allowed me to use my knowledge and skills to bring about positive change within the school setting. All these experiences have given me a solid foundation to help build and enhance the student environment at Wurzweiler School of Social Work and look forward to continuing in this role during the 2006-7 academic year.

Committee Interests: Graduation Ceremonial Committee and the Academic Issues Committee

Treasurer
Robin White, First Year PEP student

I feel that I am qualified for the position on treasurer because I have experience in this field from high school. Even though this was a long time ago, I wanted to get involved in student government, but the college of New Rochelle at DC37 had no student government. I tried very hard to get one started. I also had experiences as treasurer in high school on many of the Theodore Roosevelt fund raisers. I would like to fundraise for guest speakers to give lectures here, and for may other activities.

As a member of the student government, I hope to help bring unification to the students at this university. One thing I would like to do is have a social event that includes the students, faculty, staff and other employees here so we can get to know one another and establish better communications between us.

Committee Interests: Lunch and learn committee, the academic issues committee and the social action/social justice committee.

Secretary
Erica Lebowitz, First year PEP student

Secretary
Almethia Middleton, Second year PEP student

Committee Interest: Graduation Ceremonial Committee and the Yearbook committee.


Member at Large
Erik Volper, First Year Concurrent student

There are three main reasons why I believe that I am qualified for the position of Member at Large of the Student Government Association at Wurzweiler: Leadership experience, relationships with students and faculty, and commitment to academic excellence. As an undergraduate I was a member of the student council and I was responsible for coordinating and planning activities for the entire student body. My commitment to academic excellence stems from the belief that knowledge and ethics inform skills in social work practice, therefore coursework is extremely important, and finally, I have built and maintained excellent relationships with students and with faculty, which I feel is important in order to meaningfully work together to identify and work on issues that impact students at Wurzweiler. Together, these experiences have given me the necessary background to be a committed, knowledgeable and effective member of student government.

I would like to work on reducing the feeling expressed by many students of being alienated from the larger University community. For this reason, I would like to see more events and activities scheduled at times when more students are available. I would also like to see students have an opportunity to give feedback and have more input into the material covered in some of the courses, and perhaps into the kinds of electives that are taught. Finally, I believe that many of the students have strong opinions and valuable ideas about how to further improve our school, but they believe that they do not have a forum to voice their views.

Member at Large
Isabel M Adon, First year PEP student

I have previously worked with Social Action and Social Justice Committees. I have been on the executive board of other organizations and I am committee to social change. I hope to be able to be a voice for students that are not in the school during the day. I wish to be able to represent their concerns and to bring back information that can support their experience while here at Wurzweiler.

Committee interests: Social Action/Social Justice Committee.

Member at Large
Demecia Woolen Irizary, Second Year PEP student

I have held many positions in the community and was the former chief of staff of a United States member of Congress. I would like to bring my interest in community practice to the academic setting.

Committee Interests: Academic Issues Committee.


Member at Large
Belkys Ventura, Second Year PEP student

I would like to assist the new students that come to YU and hopefully create more opportunities for second year students. I am willing and able to make a change.

Committee interests: Academic issues committee and on the Social Action/ Social Justice Committee


Member at Large
Sherry Pang, Second year PEP student

Committee interests: Graduation Ceremonial Committee and the yearbook committee


Member at Large
Mirko Kunstek, First Year Concurrent Student

Committee interests: Social Action/Social Justice Committee.


Member at Large
Jose Delgado, Second Year PEP student

Committee interests: Academic Issues Committee.


Member at Large
Cherece Simmons, First year PEP student

Committee interests: Graduation Ceremonial Committee, Social Action/Social Justice committee and the Yearbook committee.

Member at Large
Samuel Williams, Second Year PEP student

Committee interests: Social Action/Social Justice committee

One way

to do more than just vote (November 7, btw):

Community Voices Heard is deep into the third year of our Voter Power
Project - our effort to engage low-income people of color deeper into
the political process, using voting as an entry-point for involving
people in our ongoing organizing work. We're actively building a base
of low-income voters in order to show the politicians that we mean
business and that we want our issues addressed.

This electoral cycle we've been having personal conversations with folks
at their homes in East Harlem, Central Harlem, the South Bronx, and
Yonkers (CVH is moving into Westchester County!). As we near the end of
this month, we'll have a list of nearly 5,000 newly met low-income
voters...and then we'll need to recontact them before the election. For
this, we're looking for your help :)

We're planning on operating a phone bank every night from October 30th
through the election and we need volunteers to sign up for slots to help
us out...it's a lot of calls to do on our own.

CAN YOU SPARE A FEW HOURS FOR A GOOD CAUSE AND JOIN US IN MAKING CALLS
TO MOBILIZE THE LOW-INCOME VOTE?

We're looking for folks to help us out during the following times:

1 - Monday, October 30th from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM
2 - Tuesday, October 31st from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM
3 - Wednesday, November 1st from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM
4 - Thursday, November 2nd from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM
5 - Saturday, November 4th from 10AM - 2PM
6 - Sunday, November 5th from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM
7 - Monday, November 6th from 5:30/6PM - 9:30PM

We'll be operating phone banks out of our East Harlem office and another
site downtown. Please consider 1 or 2 nights that you can volunteer and
send me an email with the time slot and your location preference(uptown
or downtown). [We promise to train you well before having you hit the
phones!]

In solidarity,
Sondra

NOTE! CVH's electoral project is a non-partisan effort focused on
holding candidates and elected officials accountable to low-income
communities, not on getting anyone in particular elected.
--
Sondra Youdelman
Acting Director
Community Voices Heard
170 East 116th Street, #1E
New York, NY 10029

Tel 212-860-6001 x 108
Fax 212-996-9481
Email sondra@cvhaction.org
Website www.cvhaction.org

This is Powerful

"A blank check drawn against our freedom"

For, on this first full day that the Military Commissions Act is in force, we now face what our ancestors faced, at other times of exaggerated crisis and melodramatic fear-mongering: A government more dangerous to our liberty, than is the enemy it claims to protect us from.

WATCH

Fear itself

The Squeeze

Article is here

From the Dove Self-Esteem Fund. Watch.

400,000-950,000

Listen to this interview with one of the authors of the peer reviewed Lancet study of the number of dead Iraqi civilians.

Then read this article by Paul Craig Roberts. He asks:

When does "collateral damage" so dwarf combatant deaths that war becomes genocide?

Yes, he's being intentionally provocative. But it seems to me a fair question.

Wellstone! The Movie

Excerpts from the documentary here.

Cutting Edge

This is extraordinary, and technology I've never seen before. How to volunteer for a campaign without having to leave your chair (though I can't tell you anything about this particular candidate, except that he's got really good outreach and tech folks on staff). Expect to see a lot of this in the future, I would guess. . . .