Thou shall not break the Eleventh Commandment'
1991Art LeClair 1991-05Read it in the scan (PDF at ETOL), page 2 →
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Mullally's death is being investi- fore it's over, I'm going to get angated by the Massachusetts State swers to all of them. The first dePolice, after Suffolk County Dist- position I'm going to take when rict Attorney Newman Flanagan this civil case gets underway is the removed the Boston police from the mayor's. ... How many times does Barbara Putnam, Kwame M.A. Somburu, Sylvia Weinstein. case. he fire the police commissioner The performance of the prison's when he doesn't get along with the SOCIaLISI ACION (ISSN U/4/-4451) 1s pubusnea montniy tor so per year by Socialist Action Publishing Association, 3435 Army St., No. 308, San the heart of the investigation. Also According to Sean Kelly, whose Francisco, CA 94110. Second-class postage is paid at San Francisco, Calif. in question is Boston Mayor Ray- cell was close to the dead man's, POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Socialist Action, 3435 Army St., No. mond Flynn's administration of the Mullally was taken into a segregaRATES: For one year (12 issues)—U.S. 2nd Class: $8, Ist Class: $16;
Less than a month before Mul- of Feb.16. He was complaining Canada and Mexico 2nd Class: $12, Ist Class: $16; All oiher countries 2nd lally's death, Flynn dismissed Penal about not getting his medication. Class: $15, Ist Class: $30. (Money orders, checks should be in U.S. dollars.) Commissioner Robert Walsh, after At approximately 4:30 a.m., five Signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of Socialist Action. the latter's relationship with the guards entered Mullally's cell. guards' union had deteriorated. Kelly heard sounds that indicated a Walsh was replaced by Benjamin struggle. The next time he saw 2 SOCIALIST ACTION MAY 1991 Thou Shalt Not Tax The Rich! That's the only commandment the legislators and the president obey. The other 10 were made to be broken by them and their buddies, the ruling rich. In fact, the 11th commandment should read: Thou shall not tax the rich-only tax those who work for a living.
In state after state, regressive taxes (such as sales taxes) are growing like toxic waste. City, county, state, and federal politicians are working overtime to pick the pockets of the poor, so as to save the rich from paying even a modest share of the cost for schools, health care, and social welfare.
President Bush is busy cutting the public school budget while getting ready to hand over the money saved to private schools. Bush deserves the title of "education president" as much as Adolph Hitler deserved the Nobel Prize for Peace and Humanitarianism.
The federal government is cutting its contribution to state and local governments, forcing them to get the money any way they can. Of course, all of the state and local politicians are going to get it out of the hides of those who are already bearing the lion's share of the tax burden.
The real blows will be felt mostly by our children. In the United States one out of 10 people is illiterate. Less than one-half of this country's students finish high school. In California alone, one in five children live in poverty, one in three do not graduate from high school, and more than half of all two-year-olds are not immunized BOSTON—Arthur Mullally, 48, an inmate at the Suffolk County House of Correction, Deer Island, died on Feb. 17, following what sources inside the prison have called an "altercation" with guards at the facility. Mullally had at least 13 broken ribs when he was taken to Boston Citv Hospital (BCH). Six hours later, he was dead. guards and medical personnel are at city-run prison. against fatal diseases.
In fact, across the country there is a resurgence of measles-which is easily preventable. But children are dying because they have not been innoculated. Community health centers are being closed down all over the country, and most parents have no health coverage for themselves or their children.
GADUAIE
ATLAS Thompson in January. Since becoming commissioner, Thompson has rehired at least six guards who were fired by Walsh for excessive absenteeism, falsifying medical documents, and substance abuse.
"Deer Island is in a sorry state, right to the top of City Hall," stated attorney Anthony Traini, wno represents ine mulany Iamily. "I have a zillion questions. And betion cell in the early-morning hours In this country (the richest in the world), every 67 seconds a teenager has a baby, every eight seconds of the school day a child drops out of school, and every 53 minutes a child dies of poverty.
Bankrupt schools
In Richmond, Calif., the schools will have to close at the end of April because they are bankrupt.
Although the federal government didn't hesitate a moment before bailing out the savings and loan institutions at the rate of $7,420,000 per hour last year, now neither the state nor the federal government will bail out the Richmond schools. (Richmond will only need another $20 million to continue through the rest of the school year.)
One of the reasons the governor is so merciless is because the Richmond Board of Education had the nerve to grant their teachers a SOME Mullally was at breakfast later that morning, hunched over his food and in obvious pain.
The most serious questions yet to be answered revolve around the actions of the guards. Why didn't they file detailed "use of force" reports after Mullally's death? Why were notations in the prison log book detailing Mullally's condition altered? Why was the log book kept from Boston police detectives for six weeks after Mullally's death? Why haven't any of the guards involved been suspended?
All that is known is that after finding Mullally naked in his cell on the morning of Feb. 17, guards decided to take him to the hospital. At noon, he was transported to BCH in a prison van. At 6:30 p.m., Arthur Mullally was dead.
Guards maintain that Mullally fell down a flight of stairs. Of course, it is difficult to imagine how a a 5-foot-7-inch man, weighing 150 pounds, could fall down stairs while being "escorted" by as many as five guards.
Why was Mullally denied his nine percent raise two years ago (after a long period without a salary increase).
Now the governor is demanding that California teachers suspend collective bargaining and accept a wage freeze for three more years-a total of five years without an increase. The governor, of course, is getting a 40 percent salary increase this year. Surely, he will refuse to take it?
Soak the workers
Why can't we have quality public schools and quality public childcare centers for every child? Why can't every person have good health care, free of charge? Why can't all universities and colleges provide a free education to all students who want it? Why can't every person have decent housing?
Because for the last 40 years, 50 percent of every federal tax dollar medication? He had been taking Propranolol to help combat the effects of cirrhosis of the liver. He first complained about not getting the prescription medication in a Feb. 15 phone call to his wife, Lorraine. Without the medication, Mullally was subject to internal bleeding.
Attorney Traini and the members of Arthur Mullally's family, including Mullally's father, a retired ACTiON Editors: MICHAEL SCHREIBER JOSEPH RYAN Staff: Alex Chis, Paul Colvin, Gerry Foley, Malik Business Manager: MAY MAY GONG, - A: --L1:-L -1 1 - -308, San Francisco, CA 94110.
These are expressed in editorials. has been going to the war budget, while only 3 percent has been going into education and the rich have been dumping the tax burden on the workers and the middle class.
Four-member families whose incomes put them in the lowest one-fifth, averaging $12,700 a year on a national basis, pay 13.8 percent of their earnings in state and local taxes. The richest 1 percent, with incomes averaging $875,200 a year, pay 7.6 percent of their earnings to state and local governments. These figures come from a report by Citizens for Tax Justice.
And now we learn that the Pentagon's share of next year's budget will rise by 14 percent. We also learn that the new estimate for the Gulf War is $100 billion and the United States will have to cover most of it. To top that off, we read that Lockheed will get $95 billion to develop the F-22 fighter plane to replace the F-15.
In fact, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney judges that defense spending will exceed $2 trillion through 1997. And the poor Richmond School District only needs a measly $20 million.
Several school districts across the nation are on strike for better conditions for teachers and students. What is needed is a national movement by teachers, students, and parents-and all of their unions—who are sick of being crapped on by our "education president" and the rest of the political servants of the rich in both parties. And then, we need a political party obedient to working people—not to the capitalist class.
Noted Marxist economist Ernest Mandel, a central leader of the Fourth International, toured the United States last month. He spoke to enthusiastic audiences in New York, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
The meetings were sponsored Internationalist Tendency, and Solidarity.
In the course of the tour, about $40,000 was raised for the launching of a Russian-language edition of Inprecor, the magazine published under the auspices of the Fourth International.
Boston police sergeant, are curious to learn why Mullally was transported in a prison van instead of an ambulance. And why was he taken to BCH instead of to Winthrop Hospital, which at noontime is at least 20 minutes closer?
According to Traini, even the last few hours of Arthur Mullally's life are a mystery. "We don't even know if he was operated on," he said. "We can't get the medical records."
Closing date:
April 30, 1991
Scan page 3
By MALIK MIAH
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By 'ylvia Weinstein
TUS KIDA Remedial