Poverty and Wealth are Relative Terms

Poverty and wealth are relative terms. I am talking about material poverty and wealth. All I know is the chasm is getting wider and deeper. The haves have more than ever and are less likely than ever to reach across the great divide to build a bridge.

In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan’s economics program began to drastically rollback social programs established by Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson. In 2013, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI.org) reported that the average CEO made 295 times the salary of the average worker, although its unlikely that the CEOs did 295 times the work. In 1978, the average CEO made just 29.9 times the salary of the average worker.

No one chooses poverty. But, as it always has been in America, the biggest crime of all is to be poor. And we blame the poor for being poor; blithely forgetting that we don't know their story. Illness, bad luck, divorce, lack of opportunity, lack of education, and, yes, even poor choices. But, it is counter productive for all of us to continually blame the poor for being poor; and have the poor as society's collective scapegoat.

Although America may still be sometimes called the "Land of Opportunity" the harsh reality is that just 4 % of those raised on the bottom rung of the ladder ever climb to the top. New York Times.

Missouri is currently trying to pass a bill that if passed would prohibit food stamp recipients from being able to use those funds to buy “cookies, chips, energy drinks, soft drinks, seafood, or steak". The proposed ban of seafood is inexplicable from a nutrition standpoint, so it can only mean that the haves don't want to let the poor eat fish - or shrimp - or crab - or apparently even canned tuna. Also the prohibition of steak is nonsensical both from a nutrition and practical standpoint. Someone could buy ground sirloin, but not a steak? Could they ask the butcher to cut a steak up into stew meat and thereby make it acceptable for purchase?

Missouri's bill is unlikely to pass; or if passed to remain in place very long. The food stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program - SNAP for short - is federal. Individual states are allowed to implement pilot programs, but they are not allowed to change the rules. And according to the federal government:

• Soft drinks, candy, cookies, snack crackers, and ice cream are food items and are therefore eligible items; and
• Seafood, steak, and bakery cakes are also food items and are therefore eligible items

Florida Governor Rick Scott took a similar battle to the federal appellate court when Scott was called out and sued by the ACLU for passing a law requiring recipients of Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) to be drug tested when they applied for services. In his detailed ruling, denying Scott's appeal, Judge Stanley Marcus of the 11th U.S. Court of Appeals concluded that “citizens do not abandon all hope of privacy by applying for government assistance.” He said that “the collection and testing of urine intrudes upon expectations of privacy that society has long recognized as reasonable” and that “by virtue of poverty, TANF applicants are not stripped of their legitimate expectations of privacy.”

Low income citizens face daily challenges in addition to such primary needs as food and shelter. The word "indigent" appears in some form in the top twenty search strings used to arrive at www.faldp.org - the site for theFlorida Association of Legal Document Preparers. Many low income Floridians are turned away from their local Legal Aid Society even though they are income qualified. Reasons to be turned away include: their local legal aid lacks the resources to assist them; and that the specific legal problem is not the type of issue that legal aid is equipped to deal with. Many other citizens do not income qualify for any legal aid, but they also cannot afford a private attorney.

In the immortal words of Janis Joplin

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,

So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?

Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.

I wait for delivery each day until three,

So oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?

I'm counting on you, Lord, please don't let me down.

Prove that you love me and buy the next round,

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?

Everybody!

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends,

Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,

So oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?  

Stop Florida's Unconstitutional Plan to Outlaw Anonymous Speech

A dangerously misguided Florida bill would forbid websites from operating anonymously just because they meet a vague definition of disseminating “commercial recordings”—and it's headed for a vote this week.

Supporters of the “True Origin of Digital Goods Act” say it's about “piracy,” but it would actually have disastrous consequences for anonymous online speech both inside and outside the state. Anybody operating a website that is even “likely to” host music or videos “directly or indirectly,”—even their own music or videos—could be ordered to reveal their name and address.

This new law isn't just unnecessary to enforce federal copyright or trademark laws—it also creates a new avenue for legal abuse. Anyone “aggrieved” by an anonymous website owner could take that owner to court, without having to show legal harm.

Anonymous speech is a vital part of the American free speech tradition, and of the rights guaranteed by the First Amendment. Artists, writers, and citizens rely on the freedom to speak anonymously through blogs, independent news sites, amateur video and music, and other websites and services. They rely on anonymity to voice unpopular opinions and speak truth to power without fear of harassment or reprisals at work or at home.

If you're in Florida, act now to tell your lawmakers: don't sacrifice anonymous speech at the altar of vague anti-piracy policy. Vote no on “True Origins of Digital Goods Act,” HB271 in the House and SB604 in the Senate.

From the Electronic Frontier Foundation's site - www.eff.org

And, an email from Fight for the Future states:

The news coming out of Florida is not good. Florida is poised to pass a dangerously misguided SOPA-like bill this week. This is bad for the Internet, both inside and outside the state.

Florida state legislature has introduced two related bills - HB 271 and SB 604 - otherwise known as the “True Origin of Digital Goods Act” (TODGA).[1]  

Supporters say the bills will curb online piracy. But really this is about online censorship. Just imagine having to put your home address on all of your websites that contain streaming content? Are you kidding??

Click here to sign the petition to stop the passage of the True Origin of Digital Goods Act”.

Unfortunately TODGA is no joke. If the act become law, any website that has commercial streaming content will be legally required to post their owner’s true name and contact information on the site or risk being taken down.[2]

What else is bad about the “True Origins of Digital Goods Act”?

• The bill is useless. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act already covers what Florida says it needs to fix; TODGA just creates a new avenue for legal abuse. Anyone “aggrieved” by an anonymous website owner could take that owner to court, without having to show legal harm. [3]

• TODGA will allow officials to take down alleged violators without any due process. This sets a dangerous precedence that will curb free speech on the Internet and circumvent normal channels.

We can’t let this happen.

When Congress tries to pass SOPA/PIPA and CISPA, we stop them every time. Now they’re trying to sneak similar bills under the radar at the state level. We are smarter than that.

Please sign the petition to stop Florida’s“True Origins of Digital Goods Act”, and share this petition with your friends.

-Susan, Evan, Holmes, Tiffiniy, Jessica, Vasjen, Charlie and Jeff
Fight for the Future

Sincerely,

----

Sources:

[1] http://www.myfloridahouse.gov/Sections/Bills/billsdetail.aspx?BillId=53294&

[2] Electronic Future Foundation. Stop Florida’s Unconstitutional Plan to Outlaw Anonymous Speech. EFF website. https://act.eff.org/action/stop-florida-s-unconstitutional-plan-to-outlaw-anonymous-speech (Note: EFF’s article was written when Florida tried to pass the same bills last year. Thankfully the 2014 bills failed. Let’s make sure the same thing happens in 2015.)

[3] Florida Legislature Considering SOPA/PIPA-like bills. The Internet Association http://internetassociation.tumblr.com/post/115035123138/florida-legislature-considering-sopa-pipa-like

Come on Florida - We don't want to be Flori-DUH - sign the petition and donate. This is important.

A Day in the Life of a Miami Pro Se Litigant ...

Dealing with Miami-Dade County Family Court — 
It just got harder for the Pro Se

Guest Post by Elisa Epstein

Pro Se litigant’s dealings with the Miami Dade County Family Court system has never been more difficult with the recent hiring of court’s supervisors who make every effort to push Pro Se litigants through the “self-help” desk located on the 24^th floor. Try to “bypass “the “self-help desk” and simply file your documents directly with the clerk and you will be met with the recently hired filing’s “police”. This new crop of supervisors stand, both literally and figuratively, between you and the filing clerks.

These supervisors will insist you disclose your matter on command in front of whatever audience happens to be waiting in line, and, tell you that as a Pro Se you must first go to the “self-help” desk. If you tell them you don’t want to use “self-help”, they will then try to intimidate you by telling you that the filing clerks are trained now to reject and red-stamp a Pro Se filings no matter how correctly the forms are filled out.

The unwitting and unfortunate Pro Se who bends to this tyrannical attitude and retreats to the” self-help” program will be given a new set of burdens and hardships-- there is the long line in the dingy, crowded, windowless room, fees for form “packets” (forms which are easy accessible and FREE from the Supreme Court website), and, additional filing fees for modifications to prior judgments. But worst of all, for the anxious litigant wanting to quickly resolve their matter, the several week or more delay to have your case heard while the “self-help” division processes your forms.

So why is Dade now insisting on “self-help” for Pro Se Litigants? The city will insist it’s helping the public by making the court more efficient and accessible for the public. But when you look at the revenue stream the city generates from the “self-help” desk from form packet , extra filing fees, use of their own notaries etc., one easily wonders if the “self-help” desk is really there to serve the public, or whether it is just another revenue stream for the city.

So what’s a Pro Se to do with all this “self-help”?

There are two possible ways to go about it-- use the e-filing system (which the clerks will swear only exists for attorneys or, stand your ground and file your documents directly. When you actually make it to the clerk, usually they will be helpful and answer some questions you might have if they happen to know what they are doing. I’d highly suggest passing any important questions through more than one clerk.

The advantage of e-filing is fairly obvious—no potential harassment, no travel, no parking fees. But filing in-person has its own distinct advantages. When you file in-person, you can get certified copies of your documents that lists the date of filing (for a few bucks). Having certified copies puts a little additional pressure on the clerks to actually file your documents, file them in a timely fashion and gives you an established, undisputable record with the court.

If the supervisor tells you your docs will be rejected because you are pro se, smile, accept their frown, and politely tell them that you will keep coming back until the documents are correct. This is basically the last thing they want to hear.

Whether you chose to E-File or file in-person, your case should pop up for hearing in a few weeks

Dade… thanks for the “self-help”, but no thanks.