The Note--News From California
November 29, 2011
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Got this message from a friend? Connect with us to stay informed.The Foreclosure Crisis: California's Is Only Halfway Over
Nearly 9 percent of California homes are at immediate risk of foreclosure according to Lost Ground, the latest research from CRL. Additionally, seriously delinquent California homeowners and those currently in the foreclosure process are about half the foreclosures the state could expect to see. Lost Ground examined loans made from 2004-2008 and found that even though white families make up the majority of the foreclosed, African-American and Latino homeowners are most likely to lose their homes. Check out detailed state and metro-area data and an interactive state map. Bay Area Cities Lead the Way on Payday Lending
The East Palo Alto City Council voted 4-1 last month to consider limiting payday lending in the city. Several members of the community turned out to support the initiative, led by Community Legal Services of East Palo Alto. The city joins neighbors Pacifica, San Jose and San Mateo County in demonstrating an opposition to predatory payday lending. Additionally, CRL conducted a survey last year that found that nearly two-thirds of voters in San Jose support payday lending restrictions, even including a moratorium on new stores.
Self-Help Federal Credit Union Continues Growth and Innovation
SHFCU, a CRL affiliate, continues to expand in California's working-class communities. This year, it merged with Mission SF Credit Union and 1st Pacific Credit Uniongaining a presence in San Francisco, Vallejo, Napa, Fairfield, American Canyon, and Vacaville. It's a great time to be a responsible credit union, with 650,000 new accounts opening up across the country in October alone. If you're looking for a good place to move your money, take a look at Self-Help Federal!
And if you’re not familiar with our innovative MicroBranch in San Jose, take a look at this video from The Economist on the refreshing way we meet the needs of the community.Payday Lending Legislation: Stay Tuned
AB 1158, a bill that would raise the maximum payday loan limit from $300 to $500 passed the California Assembly, but didn’t make it to the Senate floor last year. But the delay is temporary and the bill definitely will resurface in 2012. There has been a flurry of critical news coverage of payday lending, including extensive investigative pieces in San Jose, television reports in Los Angeles, and editorials across the state. It’s never too late to call your legislator to oppose any expansion of payday lending!
News Clips
“ Payday loans are harmful predatory lending”
Fresno Bee
“ Mainstream banks also make payday-style loans”
San Jose Mercury News
“ A vicious cycle in the used-car business”
Los Angeles Times
What Do You Want for Christmas?
No matter what’s on your list, stay away from payday loans this holiday season. If they were just expensive, that would be one thing. But payday loans are traps that get borrowers stuck in debt they can’t escape. Check out our updated video, “ All I Want for Christmas is Inescapable Debt” to see how payday loans end up being a debt trap and how much they ultimately cost.
Watch the Video
Follow CRL-California
From: "Luis Morago - Avaaz.org" <avaaz@avaaz.org>
Subject: Save the Internet - the pressure is working!
X-BINDING: avaaz3
To: "jz12345@earthlink.net" <jz12345@earthlink.net>
X-ELNK-AV: 0
X-ELNK-Info: sbv=0; sbrc=.0; sbf=00; sbw=000;
Incredible -- 800,000 signers in days, Congress is hesitating, and one Senator will block the vote by reading out our petition for hours!! Let's get to 1 million - sign below and forward this email to everyone --
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Right now, the US Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even Avaaz! Free speech champions in Congress say our outcry will help, and one Senator is even going to block the vote by reading out our petition names for hours! Click here to build an unprecedented global petition for a free and open Internet:
Dear Friends,
Right now, Congress is debating a law that would give them the power to censor the world's Internet -- creating a blacklist that could target YouTube, WikiLeaks and even groups like Avaaz!
Under the new law, the US could force Internet providers to block any website on suspicion of violating copyright or trademark legislation, or even failing to sufficiently police their users' activities. And, because so much of the Internet's hosts and hardware are located in the US, their blacklist would clamp down on the free web for all of us.
The vote could happen at any time now, but we can help stop this -- champions in Congress want to preserve free speech and tell us that a global outcry would strengthen their hand, and one of them -- Senator Wyden -- says he will "filibuster" or block any vote on the bill by reading out our petition names until the clock runs out! Let's urgently raise our voices from every corner of the world to build an unprecedented global petition. Click below to sign and then forward to everyone:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
For years, the US has condemned countries like China and Iran for their clampdown on Internet use. But now, the impact of these new censorship laws could be far worse -- effectively blocking sites to every Internet user across the globe.
Last year, a similar Internet censorship bill was killed before reaching the US Senate floor, but it's now back in a different form. Copyright laws already exist and are enforced by courts. But this new law goes much further -- granting the US government and big corporations enormous powers to force service providers and search engines to block websites based just on allegations of violations -- without a trial or being found guilty of any crime!
Free speech advocates have already raised the alarm, and some key senators are trying to gather enough support to stop this dangerous bill. We have no time to lose. Let's stand with them to ensure that American lawmakers preserve the right to a free and open Internet as an essential way for people around the world to exchange ideas, share communication and work collectively to build the world we want. Sign below to stop censorship, and save the Internet as we know it:
http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet/?vl
In the past months, from the Arab Spring to the global Occupy Movement, we've seen first hand how the Internet can galvanize, unify and change society. Now, if we stand together, we can stop this new attack on Internet freedom. We've done it before -- in Brazil and Italy, Avaaz members have won major victories in the fight for a free Internet. Let's galvanize our global web community to crush the most powerful censorship threat that the Internet has ever seen.
With hope,
Luis, Dalia, Diego, Emma, Ricken, Aaron, Antonia, Benjamin and the rest of the Avaaz team
Sources Op-Ed: Blacklist Bill allows Feds to remove websites from Internet (Digital Journal)
http://digitaljournal.com/article/313463
Disastrous IP Legislation Is Back – And It's Worse than Ever (EFF)
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/disastrous-ip-legislation-back-%E2%80%93-and-it%E2%80%99s-worse-ever
Silicon Valley legislators oppose online piracy act (SFGate)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/15/BUO81LV0KI.DTL
House Hearing on Stop Online Piracy Act Scheduled (PC World)
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/243659/house_hearing_on_stop_online_piracy_act_scheduled.html
Growing Chorus of Opposition to "Stop Online Piracy Act"
https://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act
The stop online piracy act: summary, problems, and implications
https://www.cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA%202-pager%20final.pdf
Why Is Justin Bieber So Pissed Off?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/why-is-justin-bieber-so-p_b_1071055.html
Stop Online Piracy Act
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3261ih/pdf/BILLS-112hr3261ih.pdf
PROTECT IP Act
http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf
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