Come out and support the ACLU on Saturday before ‘Daylight come and we gotta go home’

He may be known worldwide as "King of Calypso” and for the calypso lyric “Day-O” in his monster hit “The Banana Boat Song,” but Harry Belafonte is also know worldwide for his support of civil rights and humanitarian causes.

Belafonte will be the special guest at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan’s Annual Dinner set for 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Dearborn Hyatt Regency Hotel. Cocktails and silent auction is set for at 6:00 p.m. with dinner at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $150 for members; $200 for non-members. If you are currently not an ACLU member, you can receive the member price if you become a member when purchasing your ticket. Tickets are available online.

Belafonte is a star of night clubs, recording, films and stage. But he has become just as well known for his support of humanitarian causes. The World War II Navy veteran was an early supporter of civil rights, and he was a confidante of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He often put his career and livelihood at risk to support his beliefs. President John F. Kennedy named Belafonte as cultural advisor to the Peace Corps in 1960.

Belafonte has continued to lead the struggle for human rights as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. He has received countless accolades for his work in Africa, and recently convened the groundbreaking "Gathering for Justice" to address the plight of children in the U.S. criminal justice system. Detroit held its first "Gathering" in 2007. Over his life, Belafonte has stood up for what he believed in, no matter how controversial or harmful to his career. Over the years, he has been part of the anti-apartheid movement, he has been a longtime critic of U.S. foreign policy, opposed the U.S. embargo on Cuba, met with President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez and continues to be a vocal critic of the crimes committed by the Bush Administration.

Come out and support the good work of the ACLU. The mission of the ACLU is to enforce the Bill of Rights and advance its principles. The ACLU not only stands for our basic American freedoms, it actually goes out and fights for them everyday, yet it has been branded unfairly as liberal by rightwing zealots.

They defend anyone who is being discriminated against; no matter what your political affiliation or how unpopular it is. The ACLU has supported rightwing hatemonger Rush Limbaugh in his doctor shopping case by protecting his privacy.

Privatization kills union and 40 jobs

Howell Public Schools Board of Education voted unanimously Monday to break the custodians union, fire 40 custodians and privatize custodial services by contracting with a Grand Rapids-based company.

The board said their shortsighted and anti-union move was a hard decision, but it apparently wasn’t that hard. The move was unpopular, and according to the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus, “another audience member — Barry Goode, leader of the Brighton Education Association teachers’ union — called the board’s actions “shameful,” saying the district’s highest-paid employees were “advocating cannibalism” of the lowest-paid employees.”

So basically, the company that got the contract, Grand Rapids Building Services Inc., can hire all, some or none of the former dedicated custodians at minimum wage or near minimum wage with no benefits. This is just one more assault on a living wage, unions and the middle class.

Privatization of services and the race to the bottom for wages will soon have a devastating effect on the economy and country. Granted, this case of privatizing is not part of any Republican conspiracy, but overall it fits right into their mission to break unions. Republicans in both the House and Senate have bills pending to make Michigan a right to work for less state, and if that fails, a rightwing extremist who specializes in fraudulent and deceptive petition drives is marshaling money and resources to launch a petition drive to place it on the ballot.

If the decision was so tough why didn’t the board cut from the top instead of the bottom? Howell administrators are some of the highest paid public employees in Livingston County, and the board is also considering giving them a raise. HPS has four assistant superintendent, 12 supervisors or directors and countless principals. Perhaps it would be easier to cut one of those positions or even cut their pay to save jobs.

For an excellent example of how to properly erase a budget deficit Howell does not need to look very far, just a few miles down the road to Fowlerville Community Schools.

Back in 2000 the district found itself facing budget a deficit after it opened a new school building, like Howell, coupled with the overestimation of expected new students. They lured popular long-time high school principal Ed Alverson out of retirement to fill the vacant superintendent position to right the ship, and shortly after he signed on it was discovered the district had mistakenly received two payments of $380,000 and $372,000 a few years ago from the state resulting from some tax abatements that it had to pay back.

Faced with a budget shortfall of more than $700,000 Alverson did everything he could to avoid layoffs. In the end, he only had to layoff the assistant superintendent for curriculum and the finance director. With the education and training they had they were unemployed for perhaps a week. Alverson saw them through that crisis even though the cut in central office personnel meant more of that load fell to him and the lone assistant superintendent, but he still managed to keep the ship afloat and eventually restored those positions.

It would also seem that because the district has already had its $67.1 million budget in place since June it would not need to make more cuts, but public schools are in the same boat Michigan’s public colleges and universities are in: they have to pass their budget without knowing how much state aid they will or will not receive. Since the Senate Republicans have not passed one single budget bill and Senate Majority “leader’ Mike Bishop is holding state government hostage until his demands are met, this is what we can expect.

Show your patriotism today by supporting the Bill of Rights and the ACLU

In addition to celebrating the 231st birthday of the United States of America with cook-outs, fireworks, parades and other things today, I suggest something that really celebrates what this country stands for and do something to actually strengthen those freedoms we take for granted: join the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan.

I could not agree more with the ACLU’s Independence Day message, and they ring much more true that empty rhetoric and waving a piece of cloth made in the largest Communist country in the world with slave wages: “True American patriotism is more than the love of one's country; it is the abiding respect for our country's values of freedom, fairness and equality. It is the willingness to stand up to a government that abuses its power and treats the Constitution as if it were a meaningless scrap of paper. Freedom is only as strong as the people who are willing to stand up for it. Will you stand up?”

Those values of freedom, fairness and equality are not just liberal or conservative values, they are American values that made men and women risk everything for 231 years ago. The mission of the ACLU of Michigan – and in general - is to enforce the Bill of Rights and advance its principles.

I am a member of the ACLU of Michigan, and although I don’t always agree with everything they do – who agrees with everything all of the time – I believe in and respect what they do and stand for. If the government tried to stop a racist hatemonger like Ann Coulter from speaking the ACLU would be the first to defend her. They even defended Rush Blowhard in his doctor shopping case for prescription drugs.

The ACLU stands up for freedom 365 days a year, not just on July 4. From fighting to restore due process, stopping warrant less wiretapping, ending profiling based on race or ethnicity and much more, the ACLU has been a force for democracy since 1920.

The ACLU was founded by Roger Baldwin, Crystal Eastman, Albert DeSilver and others in 1920. It’s nonprofit and nonpartisan and it has grown from a roomful of civil liberties activists to an organization of more than 500,000 members and supporters. The ACLU handles nearly 6,000 court cases annually from offices in almost every state.

Show your patriotism and join today.

The media and the ACLU Both share undeserved and unfair label

The press and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are two groups that not only stand for our basic American freedoms, they actually go out and fight for them everyday, yet both groups have been branded unfairly as liberal by rightwing zealots.
This case from Fenton hits close to home not only because it’s just over the Livingston County border up U.S. 23, but it also has been stuck an unfair label based on myth despite a track record of protecting and going to bat for conservative Republicans as well as liberal Democrats.

DETROIT -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan filed a lawsuit (Oct. 31) against the City of Fenton challenging the enforcement of its political sign ordinance after city officials ignored a letter urging the city to amend its ordinance and protect the rights of its residents.The ACLU of Michigan is representing Joseph Hood, a Fenton Township resident, who was told to remove two political signs promoting Dick Devos for Governor that were arranged in a V-shape at his place of business adjacent to US-23 in the City of Fenton. A Code Enforcement Officer notified Hood’s employee that the signs violated an ordinance forbidding the display a political sign over 4 square feet in size on one’s property or signs spaced closer than ten feet apart. “The courts have repeatedly told cities that such political sign ordinances are unconstitutional,” said Kary Moss, Executive Director of the ACLU of Michigan. “Political speech is at the heart of a democratic process and the First Amendment rights that we all hold so dear do not hold second-place to commercial signs or the aesthetic preferences of city council members.” The courts have consistently ruled that cities cannot treat political speech less favorably than commercial speech. Nonetheless, non-political signs in Fenton can be larger than 4 square feet. Some, such as roadside stand signs and corporate flags, can be as large as 32 square feet. The Supreme Court has recognized the unique place that political yard signs play in our democracy and has noted that residents’ self-interest in keeping their neighborhood looking good generally makes government interference with residents’ First Amendment rights unnecessary.
Every election cycle the ACLU of Michigan sends letters to cities and townships reminding them that restrictions on political signs infringe on residents’ constitutional rights.
Before the 2004 election, the ACLU successfully sued the City of Troy on behalf of a President Bush supporter because the Troy ordinance made it a crime to erect a political sign more than 30 days before the election or to erect more than two political signs at a time. A federal court struck down the Troy ordinance as unconstitutional in January.