One of the more alarming features of the “sub-prime” lending crisis is that it was widely noticed by grass-roots advocates. For years, from South Brooklyn Legal Services , from The Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project and The Children’s Defense Fund-NY have come warnings of the foreclosure wave now swamping lower income New Yorkers and some speculators in “sub-prime” mortgage securities. Predatory, often utterly fraudulent, lending practices have been draining painfully accumulated economic capital from lower income minority communities. Click here for a story on the NYC foreclosure spike. Cries of alarm and calls for policy shifts in the fall of ’06 (CDF-NY sponsored conference at UFT) and the winter of ’07 (the Alliance For Fairness In Lending campaign of progressives, unions and policy groups) had no political traction whatsoever.

The Drum Major Institute meets on this issue this Thursday, October 11, 8-10AM at Pace University's Downtown Conference Center. Light breakfast, free. Registration hot link and more information after the jump

I suggest you cancel your previous engagements, rsvp and go the the DMI forum next Monday Morning. Election victories may go mostly to the moneyed, unless stringent reforms are effected. They'll even feed you a little. See you there.

"Getting Special Interest Money Out of State Elections" with Activist Dennis Burke

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2007 8:00 a.m. - 10:00 a.m.

As an activist and former director of Arizona Common Cause, Dennis Burke helped lead the1998 effort to pass the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Act by ballot proposition. The Act provides voluntary public financing to candidates for state-level elected office who agree to run without private campaign contributions. The system is funded by surcharges on civil and criminal fines and a voluntary tax check-off. Arizona’s Clean Elections system is credited with increasing the number of women and people of color running for state office, boosting voter turnout in communities of color, and reducing the influence of special interest campaign money.

DENNIS BURKE
Former Director, Arizona Common Cause

A panel discussion on clean elections will feature:

HON. LIZ KRUEGER
New York State Senate

More info; rsvp phone & email after the jump

In a released statement by Planned Parenthood congratulated Sen. Hillary Clinton in her efforts to get Plan B approved for over-the-counter use. NARAL, PFAW and the ACLU have been swift to point out that it's a half-win : underage women and fertile children have no free access to emergency contraception. Which is why at culturekitchen Lorraine Berry is taking the pledge to start a PlanB Underground and buy the damn thing to anybody under 18 who needs it.

There is no need to force underage women and fertile little girls down the path of an abortion or unwanted pregnancy for irrational health reasons. Reasons that have all to do with religious extremists obsession over parental rights. Hoorah for New York State Senator Liz Krueger to tackling the issue head on: