On Sunday, June 26, 2011, the skieswere brilliant, sparkling with sun brightclouds, above the hill country home of Gray Panther’s Convener Gary Dugger and his lovely wife Lisa. Guests weregathering and plunging into the coolingwaters of the pool, but the favored loca-tions were in the air conditioned interior where guests ate their fill of the variedspread laid out by Gray Panther Co-Convener Sharron Aisenman.The guests covered an impressive array of Gray Panthers past and present, as well as an eclectic sampleof activists responding to the invitation to a Sunday afternoon of good eats heavily flavored with good politi-cal conversation. Conversations rolled throughout the afternoon. Have you ever tried quieting a small mobof activists, each focused on his or her particular point of view or mission? A more interesting and variedgroup of discussions would be difficult to find. Then, quite abruptly, it was time for the speakers de Jour.Leading off a most impressive list of speakers was former

Judge Charlie Baird,

who gotattention immediately with the announcement he was seriously considering a run againstcurrent Travis County District Attorney, Rosemary Lehmberg a 37 year member of the DA’soffice-a lifetime prosecutor. Baird said it was time to bring a new set of experiences, commit-ments and values to a such an important post. His experiences as a judge led him to createprograms designed to help offenders learn new ways of dealing with anger, abusive relation-ships, and addictions, enabling them to rejoin as contributors to their families and communi-ties at far less cost to society. “Don’t get me wrong,” Baird said. “There are people who are incorrigible andI’ll send them to jail and that’s where they need to be.” Asked about hisposition on the full restoration of civil rights to convicted felons who hadsuccessfully navigated life on the outside for five years or more, JudgeBaird responded he was in favor of ending the severe disabilities afflictingthe former convict, his family and children providing they successfullyadjusted to society. Conviction of a crime with imprisonment is a “lifesentence,” permanently denying civil rights, access to employment andgovernment programs, often leaving children permanently scarred by hav-ing a convict parent.

David Van Os

strongly endorsed a Baird candidacy and spoke of our needto be strong and fight oppressive legislation and reminisced of his previous campaigns in Texas politicsalong with Gary Dugger, host of the bash.Soft spoken and reasonable,

Allen Weeks

addressed our group, earnestly laying out the plight of Texaseducation and inviting our support of “Save Texas Schools” (STS) in this moment of educational crisis. Onpg. 6 is an invite to the STS Forum that is part of a weekend conference, supported by Take Back Texas Alliance, designed to set the Texas Recall in motion. Both non-partisan groups are devoted to the conceptof voting the rascals out at the next election. ( Texas , unlike many other states and the city of Austin , hasno Constitutional method of recalling members of the Texas Legg.)

continued on page 10

Join the fight tooverturn those whowould deny us our rights!

maggie kuhn, founder

Calling AllPanthers!

Annual Forum,Business Meeting& Election of New Board o

DirectorsSunday, August 282:00 to 5:00 p.m.At Lyons Gardens2720 Lyons Road78702-3660

Education’s Role InEconomic Develop-ment and Jobs InTexas.Guest Speakers:

Allen WeeksRichard Franklin

More details and list of candidates on p 10

Gray Panther Pool Party Big Splash Of Fun & Great Conversation

Texas Gray Panthers ,

Convener: Gary Dugger 512-225-4789; Ofc: 512-458-3738 www.graypanthersaustin.org

3710 Cedar St, Box 15, Austin, TX 78705

National Gray Panthers

www.graypanthers.orgGray Panther Newsletter Editor, Sharron Aisenman sharronaisenman@yahoo.com

(Lf to Rt) Clint Smith, Allen Weeks, David Van Os, Ruth Epstein,Charlie Baird, Stephanie Collins, David Walhberg, Gary Dugger

Charlie BairdAllen Weeks

Regressive Ideals Have Made America A Third World CountryRegressive Ideals Have Made America A Third World CountryRegressive Ideals Have Made America A Third World CountryRegressive Ideals Have Made America A Third World Country

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JULY/AUGUST 2011

“In economics the definition of a third world country is a nation that exports more raw materials, and imports more finished goods. Now we know thatthis country has an exporting problem, in fact the only major exports we have are financial and finished war materials and raw materials,” accordingto Ray Mederios of Politicsusa. “The American government has allowed corporations to turn their backs on the American Workers since era of Ronald Regan. In 1979 Regan campaigned on open borders, free markets and free trade. His vice president George H.W. Bush signed NAFTA, andBill Clinton signed that treaty into American Law. Now after 30 years of free markets and free trade, our manufacturing base has been gutted. Acountry that doesn’t manufacture anything does not create or add wealth to the economy. A Service economy, which is essentially what we havetoday, just moves money around without adding value to a product…China is now beginningto feel the pressure of outsourcing as factories close and move to even lower wage countrieslike the Philippines and Vietnam. America was once the manufacturing capital of the world.Now according to a report by the Port of LA our top five imports are: Furniture, Footwear,Toys, Auto Parts and Apparel…The conservative ideals have driven the US from a worldmanufacturer to a third world country in 30 years.”

In a “well, it had to happen sooner or later moment” foreign corporations from India are looking to out-source. “The US became the fastest-growing location for us last year. We expect that to continue thisyear,” Genpact chief executive V.N.’Tiger’ Tyagarajan said.

So congratulations to the greedy Corpo-ratists,

you have officially succeeded. The American worker is now on a level playing field with a devel-oping nation. Conservatives/ Corporatists along with the US Chamber of Commerce have sold out the American worker, stripped our standard of living right from beneath us and deflated the AmericanDream. According to an article from change.org, “In Sweden, IKEA factory workers are paid $19 per hour andget five weeks of paid vacation every year. In America? Not so much.IKEA’s Swedwood plant Danville, Virginia is

the most dangerous plant in the wood furniture industry –

workers there have sufferedmore than 1,536 days of lost work due to accidents on the job in a 30-month period.” The LA Times reports, “IKEA’s Danville workersare paid as little as $8 and hour and face racial discrimination from their managers. Workers often find out on Friday night that they’ll beforced to work for the entire weekend – and if they can’t make it, they face disciplinary action.”In Sweden, IKEA’s factory workers are unionized, which is one reason they receive better wages and have a safer workplace – but thecompany is going all out to prevent American workers from receiving those same rights and protections. But rather than paying its work-ers fair wages, Swedwood pays the notorious union-busting firm Jackson Lewis Thousands of dollars a day to hold mandatory “captive audience meetings” with Dan-ville workers. The publicity surrounding this organizing drive has already made a slight difference but Liz Cattaneo of American Rights at Work stresses that continuedpublic pressure is extremely important: “If IKEA thinks the public isn’t paying attention, they’re going to play hardball…throughout the election process – which couldmean more firings and more union busting.” Now that the workers have filed for a union election, you can bet IKEA will redouble its efforts to squash their rights. Theyneed our support now more than ever. Go to linkhttp://www.change.olrg/petitions/tell-ikea-to-respect -its-workersand sign. Workers suffer! Are we proud yet? TheUS is now a third world manufacturing country!

Another Independence Day, and times are tough for everyone. No, not everyone. Sit back, get uncomfortable, and choose any one of these facts tomake you mad.

(

) The financial maneuverings of a single hedge fund manager made him enough money in one year to give a $30,000 per year job to every one of the168,000 unemployed people in Louisiana.(2) One year of Bush tax cutswould pay ALLU.S.unemployment benefits. (3)If the median household income had kept pace with the economy since 1970, it would now be nearly $92,000, not $50,000.(4) Thetrillion EXTRA dollars a year taken by the richest 1%(by TRIPLING their cut of the income pie since 1980) would provide a $50,000 a year job for every col- lege student in the United States.(5) According toCitizens for Tax Justice, 12 of our largest corporations paid an effective tax rate of negative 1.5% on $171 Billion in Profits. Theoil industry paid only 4%in U.S. federal income taxes over the past three years.If you're not mad yet, maybe this will do it.-- A GE spokesperson: "We are committed to acting with integrity in relation to our tax obligations."--Paul Ryan: I talked to [Boeing CEO] Jim McNerny a couple of weeks ago, their tax rate is extremely high, far higher than their competitors.-- An Exxon spokesperson: "..any claim we don't pay taxes is absurd...Exxon Mobil is a leading U.S. taxpayer."--Chevron CEO John Watson: "The oil and gas industry pays its fair share in taxes"

The reality, according to theU.S. Office of Management and Budget

, is that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes hasdropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.

Why shouldn't profitable corporations and finance-savvy individuals pay back to the system that made them rich? Why shouldn't they pay for government-funded research, national security, infrastructure, and untaxed financial speculation opportunities?

Oh Say Can You Seethe..byPaul Buchheit

Published on Thursday, June 30, 2011 byCommonDreams.org

When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of men, they create for themselves in the course of time a legal system that authorizes it and a moralcode that glorifies it." -Fredric Bastait, 'The Law' (1850)

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JULY/AUGUST 2011

A Republican War on Women?A Republican War on Women?A Republican War on Women?A Republican War on Women?

*Comment by Sharron Aisenman

Top 10 Shocking Attacks from the GOP's War on Women

1) The

Republicans not only want to reduce women's access to abortion care, they're actually trying to

redefinerape

. After a major backlash, they promised to stop. But they haven't yet!2) A state legislator in Georgia wants to

change the legal term for victims of rape, stalking, and domestic vio-lence to "accuser."

But victims of other less gendered crimes, like burglary, would remain "victims." Why?3) In South Dakota, Republicans proposed a bill that could

make it legal to murder a doctor who provides abor-tion care.

(Yep, for real.)4) Congressional Republicans want to

cut nearly a billion dollars of food and other aid to low-income pregnantwomen, mothers, babies, and kids.

5) In Congress, Republicans have a bill that would

let hospitals allow a woman to die rather than perform anabortion necessary to save her life.

6) Maryland Republicans ended all county money for a low-income kids' preschool program. Why? No need, theysaid. After all

women should really be home with the kids, not out working.

At the federal level, Republicans want to

cut that same program, Head Start, by $1 billion.

That means over 200,000 kids would lose their spots in pre-school.8) Two-thirds of the elderly poor are women, and Republicans are taking aim at them too. A spending bill would

cut funding for employment services, meals,and housing for senior citizens.

9) Congress just voted for a Republican amendment to

cut all federal funding from Planned Parenthood health centers,

one of the most trusted providers of basic health care and family planning in our country.10 If that wasn't enough, Republicans are pushing to

eliminate all funds for the only federal family planning program.

(For humans. But Republican Dan Bur-ton has a bill to provide contraception for wild horses. You can't make this stuff up).”—On April 1, the

TEXAS HOUSE

voted on a string of budget amendments seeking to reallocate funds designated to provide basic women's health care services.Conservative Republicans claimed victory: Seven amendments had successfully stripped almost $62 million from the roughly $99 million pot intended to fulfill thestate's commitment to provide

family-planning and reproductive health services

for thousands of low-income, uninsured women. Meanwhile, another success-ful amendment enacted a funding matrix designating to which health care providers, and in what order, the remaining funds would be allocated – a move designedspecifically to yank public funds from Planned Parenthood.—The funds used for family planning provide low-income women with guaranteed access to very basic health services – including annual gynecological exams,counseling on pregnancy planning and access to birth control, screening for breast and cervical cancers, testing for hypertension and tuberculosis, and screeningfor sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. Taken together, these preventative services make up what is commonly referred to as a

"well-woman check":

For hundreds of thousands of Texas women, the services provided with these funds represent their

only regular and reliable access to medical care

. Advo-cates for women's health care viewed the debate somberly. "Devastating," said Fran Hagerty, CEO of the Women's Health and Family Plan-ning Association of Texas, a group that represents a diverse mix of 58 family-planning providers across Texas. "There will be very quick consequences for the state," she says –including increased costs for unplanned pregnancies,

costlier cancer treatments

begun in later stages of disease, and, ironically, a likely increase in the number of abortions.—Conservative lawmakers propose cutting all funding for teen pregnancy prevention programs and for Title X, the 41-year-old source of revenue dedicated towomen's reproductive health services – and the one pot of money that Texas lawmakers are powerless to divert to other programs. "They are going after women'shealth," said Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, during a February press call.

"This is the most extreme assault on[women] in decades. They want to eliminate vital health care for more than 5 million American women" served by Planned Parenthood, including 3million women its clinics serve nationwide using Title X funds.”

— In an article written by

Mary Ann Roser

Austin American Statesman

Life expectancy of women falls in 80 Texas Counties,

she cites, “A new national studyfound that women in hundreds of US counties, including nearly a third of those inTexas

, had a shorter life expectancy in 2007 than in 1997.” The “Falling Behind”study, put out in mid-June by the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, shows that life spans vary greatly depending on where peo-ple live. Americans with the shortest life spans were clustered in northern Texas, Appalachia and the South. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sta-tistics said, “The US ranked 37th in the world in life expectancy.” Milam County, just east of Williamson County, was the one Central Texas county where womenlost longevity between 1997 and 2007, dropping below women in Estonia, Mexico, Cuba, Albania, Slovakia and Argentina.— Patsy Gaines, director of the Milan County Health Department, was not entirely surprised saying, “Health services have been cut instead of expanded to meetthe community’s needs. We had to stop providing prenatal care at the health department,” which serves about 10,000 of the 25,000 residents in the county per year. When they were ready to deliver, they just drove to Temple and drop in. Without the proper care, how do we change this?””

“If you are living in Polk or Anderson or Falls counties, you should ask policymakers why it’s acceptable that you have a lower life expectancy than people in Libya,Malaysia and Ecuador, countries that don’t have the kind of resources we have in this country,” the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Murray said.

*In addition to the cuts Conservative Republicans have made, as listed and noted above, to Education and the firing of thousands of teachers (most of whom are women), cutbacks in budgets to City, County, State and Federal employees (most of whom are women), the requirement in some statesrequiring a woman to submit to a sonogram and lecture prior to obtaining an abortion, regressive laws in some states cutting funding to hospitals and health centers that allow abortions, how else can one explain these draconian assaults on women? Why do Republicans hate women.?