Feliz Dia de Gracia

Border Communities Urge Obama Use Restraint With Border Patrol

From Resist the tyranny.com

In using the President's executive power to help immigrants, border communities ask the President to use restraint, in not linking immigrants with increased militarization of the border, says the Southern Border Communities Coalition, with member organizations in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas.

In a letter addressed to the President, the communities said, "CBP urgently needs a surge in accountability and oversight, not increased Border Patrol personnel or war equipment".

The border communities say it is unwise to add resources to the Border Patrol without adding accountability in the use of force.  The organization says the Border Patrol has experienced unprecedented growth, now being the largest law enforcement agency in America.  The growth was too fast, and some agents lack accountability and oversight.

"Irrational, unsupervised growth made CBP the nation’s largest police force without
building up its integrity and professionalism to match"

Sources say President will announce the administrative deferral of some immigrants who meet stringent conditions, including a minimum of 5 continuous years in the U.S., no criminal record and other high standards.  The process will come at a price, the money added to the U.S. treasury.

The President is also expected to announce tougher measures on the border.  It is this announcement, tied to the decision to grant administrative relief, that border communities object to.  

43 Students "Disappeared" In Mexico, How Can You Help?

VIGIL IN SOLIDARITY

Contact:

Homero Ocon 303-437-7805

Vigil in Solidarity with the 43 disappeared students in Ayotzinapa, Mexico

To Demand Consulate to take a position calling on the Mexican government find the students and investigate their disappearance.

November 14, 2014, Denver -- Citizens from diverse countries, including the US and Mexico, demand the Mexican consulate call for a full investigation into the students’ disappearance and the return of the students alive. Today marks eight weeks since 43 students from Ayotzinapa, Mexico went missing.

Homero Ocon explains “We act today to draw Colorado and the world’s attention to the human rights violations happening in Mexico and a burgeoning people’s movement that’s occurring in response. We invite the people of Colorado to join us in demanding the safe return of 43 students. 43 students whose families have no information, no news or communication from their own government about the whereabouts of their children. We need the international community to pressure the Mexican government to meet the demands of the families”.

The families of the students are demanding:

1. Justice for the students

2. A meeting with the President

3. Peace and justice in Mexico



WHAT: Signs, banners and candles in front of the Mexican Consulate

WHO: Community members and students from the Metro area

WHERE: Mexican Consulate, 5350 Leetsdale Dr, Denver, CO 80246

WHEN: Friday November 14 4:00pm-7:00pm

E-Verify Making Positive Gains, House Republicans Set Immigrants Back

Photo from fillyourplate.com

E-Verify, an electronic system to verify the legal status of an employee, is making positive gains with many employers, according to a survey.  E-Verify assists employers to determine the employee has legal status to work in the U.S.

The survey found:

E-Verify is easy to use and customers are overwhelmingly positive when describing their experience with the program. 

Almost all E-Verify employers believe that E-Verify is effective (92 percent) and perceive it to be highly accurate (89 percent).

Overall, 97 percent of E-Verify employers agree that the system is user friendly. 

Almost all E-Verify employers agree that the mandatory tutorial adequately prepared them to use E-Verify (93 percent). 

Almost all E-Verify employers (97 percent) reported using the program for all new hires.

E-Verify

E-Verify is not a program undocumented workers like much, because the program provides rapid verification of worker status.  Some employers also oppose the service because they want a source of cheap labor and they want to avoid federal employment taxes.  

Substantial work is done by undocumented people.  This includes on farms and ranches, in construction, landscaping and other low paying jobs.  Some work is done in the technical field to make computers and dot.com companies able to offer inexpensive Internet and technical services.  There is also a large demand for unskilled workers in the health care industry, which helps reduce the costs of citizen health care.

The United Farm Workers Union put out a national invitation on a national talk show in which undocumented immigrants offered to give up their jobs in the fields for any citizen who is willing to do the hard work.  Four people applied for the program, at least one being a celebrity trying to make hay out of the event.  The only serious candidate quit before the first day was over, because the working conditions were to harsh for him.

E-Verify is probably a good idea even for undocumented people.  With comprehensive immigration reform, undocumented workers could come onto the radar and employers would be forced to pay reasonable wages and collect and pay employment taxes.  Consumers benefit as well because some ranchers are unable to obtain necessary workers and their produce rots in the ground, driving up the costs of fruits and vegetables to the consumer.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform was passed in the United States Senate, thanks to effort on the part of Senator Bennet from Colorado.  Bennet forged a hard hitting immigration bill that would have helped roughly 60% of the immigrants in the country.  Bennet was able to enlist the cooperation of conservative Republicans and together they worked out a deal that secures the border and keeps families united.  The program left out people who need to be identified the most, people with criminal records.  

From both a liberal and conservative approach, giving immigrants with criminal records one last chance in exchange for registration protects the nation by registering all people within America's borders, and allows people who traditionally have limited access to legal protection one last chance to get it right.

However, in the U.S. House of Representatives, the House leadership, under John Boehnner, is saying no to all immigrants.  Republicans hope the lobby supporting immigration reform will rebel against Democratic leaders in the next election because reform has been stalled by Republicans in the House.  Republicans have not figured out that the primarily Latino voting base knows that Republicans are manipulating their family members for political gain.

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, USCIS, is doing it's part to help secure the nation and to insure employers are treating workers fairly, and employers pay taxes through the E-Verify program.  The U.S. House of Representatives under conservative leadership has failed to do it's part and is playing politics with America's food and labor supply, with no regard for people who break their backs to insure produce arrives at the tables of citizens.

Reclassifying Employees As Independent Contractors Is Risky IRS

WASHINGTON – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does not obtain the information it needs to ensure that employers are eligible for and comply with the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program (VCSP), according to a new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

From startingyourbusinessovernight.com

The IRS estimates that employers misclassify millions of workers as independent contractors instead of employees. In September 2011, the IRS implemented the VCSP to allow employers to voluntarily reclassify workers as employees for Federal employment tax purposes. Employers that are accepted into the VCSP enter into a signed agreement with the IRS to treat workers as employees for future tax periods.

The overall objective of this review was to assess the IRS’s VCSP.

TIGTA found that the IRS does not require employers to provide information on the VCSP application that identifies the specific workers who are being reclassified, such as the workers’ names and Social Security Numbers. Without the specific worker identification information, the IRS cannot determine if the applicant met VCSP eligibility requirements.

In addition, the IRS is unable to verify the accuracy of the compensation amount reported on the application and, ultimately, the applicant’s computation of the VCSP payment amount owed. Without identifying information for the workers being reclassified, the IRS is also unable to establish an effective process to monitor VCSP agreements to ensure employer compliance.

Finally, the IRS’s processes to track and monitor program applications are ineffective and are not always accurate, and the follow-up review control logs do not always reflect accepted agreements.

TIGTA made five recommendations, including that the IRS: require employers applying for the VCSP to provide the names and Social Security Numbers for the workers being reclassified, revise internal procedures for processing VCSP applications to evaluate employer eligibility, and ensure that worker compensation and the VCSP payment is accurate; develop follow-up review processes to ensure compliance with the terms of agreements; develop reporting capabilities to allow for a single system for both tracking inventory and monitoring program performance; and revise processes to ensure that accepted agreements are successfully sent to and received by the IRS business units responsible for monitoring compliance.

“The classification of whether a worker is an employee or an independent contractor has significant tax implications for the worker, the employer, and the IRS,” said J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. “The IRS must address this important issue.”

IRS management agreed with the recommendations. The IRS plans to revise the VCSP application to instruct employers to provide worker identification information and to revise internal procedures to use this information to evaluate eligibility for the program and compliance with VCSP agreements. The IRS also plans to implement reporting capabilities for the Reporting Compliance Case Management System to allow for a single inventory system for inventory tracking and monitoring program performance. Finally, the IRS indicated that it has developed and implemented internal procedures to ensure that inventory is accurately input and agreements are transferred to the appropriate business units for compliance monitoring.




Read the report.

###

September 24, 2014

TIGTA - 2014-22

Contact: David Barnes

(202) 622-3062

David.barnes@tigta.treas.gov

TIGTACommunications@tigta.treas.gov


TIGTA: Better Worker Identification Data Are Needed For the Voluntary Classification Settlement Program


Note: The difference between the date TIGTA issues an audit report to the Internal Revenue Service and the date TIGTA publicly releases the report is due to TIGTA's internal review process to ensure that public release is in compliance with Federal confidentiality laws.

Rhian Sugden, Balls, Sexy Panties and Cancer

The Male Cancer Awareness Campaign launched a controversial film short depicting a drop-dead female in  black sexy underwear who touches herself "down there" on camera and then pulls from her panties a set of hairy testicles.  She then pulls the testicles to eye view and shows men how to check themselves for the deadly testicular cancer.

The model is Rhian Sugden and the event photographer was Rankin.  JWT London created the ad.  The Executive Director was Russel Ramsey.  The Creative Director was Jason Berry.  The Art Director and copywriter were Kevin Masters and Miles Bingham.

Testicular cancer is a topic men, aged 18 and older, have difficulty talking about.  The Male Cancer Awareness Campaign says testicular, bowel and prostate cancers often can be beat with early detection.  Thousands die each year mostly because they don't know the signs.

Skip the skivvies in support of the fight against male cancer

The MCAC says, 

"Near Naked Man is the champion for MCAC’s campaign to combat the embarrassment that prevents men from discussing their bodily functions and getting tested for prostate cancer.

We want to reach a mass audience of men and those who care about them - whatever their age, culture, religion or sexuality. If we can get the message across to younger men then perhaps they’ll remember it when they’re older and recognize the early warning signs in their older friends and relatives."

Take The Hanging Lake Challenge, World Peace