People of Faith CT

by Frank O'Gorman

The Hartford Courant's fiscal prescriptions for Connecticut "Agenda: For The State" completely ignore the elephant in the living room: when it comes to paying state income taxes, the richest residents are laughing all the way to the Cayman Islands.

Connecticut is a tale of two states. It is the best of times for people like Linda McMahon who has the luxury of spending $50 million of her own money on a campaign to teach austerity to the rest of us. And for Louis Chenevert, CEO of United Technologies, who was paid $5.6 million in 2008 or $2,692 per hour, not counting stock options and in-kind benefits. His company terminated 5,500 workers worldwide that year. Profits before people, aka "Just another day in the life of corporate capitalism."

It is the worst of times for families living in homeless shelters because their homes were foreclosed en masse by banks that received federal bailouts. And for children with fewer teachers and no textbooks because school districts can't afford them.

The irony of this Dickensian economy is that while most of us will be taxed at 5 percent this year, McMahon and Chenevert will be taxed at just a paltry 6.5 percent.  Based on his 2008 earnings, Chenevert would have accumulated enough money to cover his state tax liability by the end of January, with $103,000 to spare. The conservatives will shout, "We can't tax the rich, they create jobs!" Right. See above.

It's time to insist that millionaires start paying their fair share of taxes. Connecticut had 1.3 million households according to year  2000 census data. The state's top one percent of households, about 13,000, were paid an average $4.2 million in 2007, according to data compiled by CT Voices For Children. By raising the top marginal rate from 6.5 to 10 percent, these millionaires would contribute an additional $1.4 billion in revenue, almost half the projected deficit for the next three fiscal years!

[Do the math: Top marginal rate kicks in above $1M, so taxable income ($4.2M - $1M = $3.2M) x increase in marginal rate (10% - 6.5% = 3.5%) x number of high income households (13,000) = $1,456,000,000.]

We have too many wealthy families who benefit from living in Connecticut while paying a pittance to the common good. Job one for the new governor and legislature is to end this free-loading by the super wealthy. It' s the common sense thing to do. It's the morally right thing to do. Let's put people before profits!

Frank O'Gorman is the director of People of Faith CT.

by Frank O'Gorman

20 December 2010

Dear Senators,

The majority of you, being Christian, are no doubt eager to celebrate Christmas with your families.

This year as you hear the familiar scriptural accounts of Jesus' birth, pretend you are listening to them for the first time:

Recall how Jesus' parents were forced against their will into migration to Bethlehem because the Roman Empire left them no other option. The empire used military force to crush indigenous liberation movements such as the Zealot uprisings. The Roman defense budget was largest in the world and needed ever increasing taxes to sustain itself. Thus the census that brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem.

Remember that Jesus' parents were effectively homeless in Bethlehem without any health care. The defense budget's appetite ensured there would be no social programs. So Jesus was born in a feeding trough for animals, an outrageous act of solidarity with the working poor!

Recall how Jesus' birth was announced by angels to lowly shepherds who performed some of the most dangerous and thankless work of that era.

Take note that the angels referred to Jesus as "Savior, Messiah and Lord" thus foreshadowing his life's mission to liberate his people economically and politically from the power of the empire, an empire that drew its justification to oppress the world's poor from a racist, cultural exceptionalism that ultimately manifested in the worshipping of Caesar Augustus as god.

Hear how this prophesy of Jesus as Liberator of the Poor is repeated days later by both Anna and Simeon when Jesus is presented in the temple.

Consider how King Herod and the ruling Jerusalem aristocracy were distraught about the messianic mission of the infant Jesus!

Contemplate how the Holy Family was forced once again to migrate, this time to Egypt, to escape a political, genocidal reign of terror.

Yes, this Jesus whom you worship as God was an undocumented immigrant in an alien land!

Recently, you had the opportunity to make the lives of immigrants a little easier. The DREAM Act would have offered young people the hope of citizenship and the promise of a life free from the fear of deportation.

The choice before you was literally life or death.

In casting a NO vote, you sided with neo-colonialism, U.S. economic hegemony, militarism and political repression of Latin America.

Oh and if that weren't scandalous enough, you voted to ensure the wealthiest 1% of Americans will receive 25% of all the benefits of the latest tax bill.

Instead of voting for the "Prince of Peace" and all that Jesus struggled and died for, you voted for Caesar Augustus. You voted for U.S. Empire.

Contrary to all your religiosity, your vote took the Christ out of Christmas for millions of young people.

To paraphrase St. John, the Beloved Disciple, how can you love God whom you cannot see if you do not love the Jesus in the migrant worker whom you do see?

by Frank O'Gorman

Two front page articles in the Connecticut section of today's Hartford Courant detail attempts by prominent Roman Catholic organizations to silence and allegedly thwart legal remedies for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

St. Francis Hospital, "a healthcare ministry of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford" filed a motion in court to impose a gag order on victims to stop them from talking with the media about settlement discussions relating to the abuse of minors by the now deceased pedophile Dr. George Reardon.

As Susan Campbell points out, "Telling victims not to talk about a possible settlement fits into the traditional abuse cycle, doesn't it?"

Absolutely! But this has been standard practice for the Roman Catholic hierarchy that a policy document needed to be issued in 2002 specifically banning the practice of imposing confidentiality mandates on victims.

Any objective observer would reasonably conclude that the only purpose of the latest gag order motion is to weaken the victims' bargaining position so that the Archdiocese can save money on settlements.

Why are we not surprised? Regardless of the core values listed on its website, (the hospital which is ultimately under the authority of Archbishop Henry Mansell) is responding to victims -- not as the body of Christ -- but as a heartless and self-serving corporation.

Which brings us to the Knights of Columbus. Besides having a scary name, the Knights are the conservative organization behind the lovingly-called "100,000 Bigots Can Be Wrong" petition campaign against gay rights a decade ago.

According to one of their victims, the Knights deceived him from pursuing a damage claim in court in exchange for funding his substance abuse treatment. That would be quite a coup for the money-lenders! Of course the Knights too have a statement of principles which reads, "There is no better way to experience love and compassion than by helping those in need, a call we answer every day." Two principles noticeably absent are justice and integrity.

If the allegations against the Knights are true (and who in their wildest imagination could make this stuff up?) it is just further evidence that the hierarchy and its military orders are incapable of basic, simple, self-evident justice for victims of childhood sexual abuse.

Jesus reserved some of his harshest criticisms for the pharisees who placed impossible burdens on people but would not lift a finger to ease their suffering. Not a perfect analogy because in this case the institutions do not passively neglect victims but actively re-victimize them legally according to the news account statements.

Perhaps the Archbishop and the Knights should re-read that passage in the gospel beginning, "Better a millstone be cast around their necks . . . "

Never in recent memory have Congressional Republicans had the audacity to hold Americans hostage as in their recent ultimatum to President Obama that they would block all legislation unless the Bush tax cuts to the wealthy were re-authorized.

What arrogance! In the past Republicans have tried to bully their social agenda on America – restricting citizenship, marriage, religious expression – by scapegoating immigrants, gays and Muslims. But now they wish to impose their fiscal agenda by asserting that no one gets tax breaks unless the millionaires do. This is unabashed class warfare while millions of Americans have lost their jobs and homes.

But there’s more. Senate Republicans have threatened to block votes on the Dream Act, on the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and on a bill compensating workers who suffer illness as a consequence of their cleaning up the World Trade Center site. Nothing gets considered till the bosses get paid. Of course most Republicans have no intention have passing any of these bills. This is just a delaying tactic till the clock on the lame duck session runs out.

The Democrats control the White House and Congress and the minority party is dictating tax policy and which bills will be considered for a vote. Is this an oligarchy or a democracy?

Of course President Obama is responsible for co-signing this hijacking of America. Not only did he succumb to tax cuts for billionaires but also a reduction in the estate tax and an increase in the threshold that triggers it! In fact the only people who will see their taxes increase are the lowest paid workers, according to the New York Times. Something happened to the community organizer on the way from Chicago to Washington DC. Something also happened to the Jesus he worships. No longer a nonviolent revolutionary defending the poor from religious and imperial oppression, Obama’s Jesus is plotting with Pilate and the Pharisees!

Fortunately, there is a way out of this mess: Stand up to the bullies. Don’t compromise with people whose words and actions explicitly favor the rich and damn the poor. Don’t negotiate with social and fiscal terrorists.

Remarks to East Hartford Board of Education on the Appointment of Julie Kieras:

Madame Chairperson, Board Members,

There have been several high profile instances of gay students committing suicide in the United States over the past few weeks.

For each gay student who commits suicide, there are many more who don’t but who die slowly from depression, anxiety or addiction.

Do you want to know why?

Because misguided people like Ms. Kieras have created and sustained in this country a climate of hostility and intimidation towards gay and lesbian people that makes them despair and hate themselves.

When Ms. Kieras testifies against equal human rights for gay and lesbian couples by insinuating that our marriages are to be compared to “bestiality, polygamy and pedophilism,” she is committing spiritual, psychological and emotional violence against gay and lesbian students.
 
When Ms. Kieras testifies that public school teachers should not instruct students on the topic of homosexuality, she is depriving gay and lesbian students of positive affirmation of their lives that may just help make their lives happier and worth living.

(This speech was given outside the federal courthouse in New Haven at the Emergency Protest Against the Israeli Invasion of Gaza, called by ANSWER CT, 1/4/09.)

I stand before you as a Christian and I think it is important that I say that given the awful silence of Christians in this country in the face of the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine and most recently the invasion of Gaza.

The Prophet Muhammad, PBUH, stated that the greatest form of jihad is for a person to speak truth to a tyrant. In the United States today, this jihad is our calling and our moral obligation.

Truth is the first casualty of War.

I want to expose some of the falsehoods that are being propagated by the government of Israel that have made their way into the media in this country.

Advocates for Connecticut ballot initiatives claim these will “help facilitate what brings us together rather than constantly focusing on what tears us apart.” [Hartford Courant Op-Ed, September 10] Nice words, but they couldn't be further from the truth:

How ironic that while the city of Hartford hunts for $850,000 to keep library services at prior levels, and while Hartford's youths and adults often can find no jobs in the city and lack health insurance, the Air Force takes out the following box ad on page 3 of today's Hartford Courant:

$20,000 BONUSES FOR PART-TIME JOBS!

The Hartford Courant ran a letter
to the editor today that opposed the state recognition of marriages of
same-gender couples. The letter ends with the question, "How has racism
ever been connected to sexuality? What a strange notion for those who have been
promoting racial equality. What would the Rev Martin Luther King Jr. say?"



Glad you asked:



Coretta Scott King declared in a 1998 address to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force: "Homophobia is like racism and anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry in that it seeks to dehumanize a large group of people, to deny their humanity, their dignity and personhood. . . I appeal to everyone who believes in Martin Luther King Jr.'s dream to make room at the table of brother- and sisterhood for lesbian and gay people."(1)

Christian Zionist Pastor John Hagee is gravely mistaken in stating, "We have a Bible mandate to stand with Israel." [United in Vision, July 23, Hartford Courant.] The biblical mandate is in fact to stand with oppressed and exploited people. Today these would be the Muslim and Christian Palestinians whose homes are provocatively bulldozed or separated from their orchards and livelihoods by the Israeli apartheid wall. Hagee's Christian fundamentalism was deafeningly silent as the Israeli government terrorized the entire civilian population of Gaza by blocking import of vital supplies.