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Volume
10 Issue 30…Dedicated
to the Dialogue on Race…July 27, 2007
Intuit's Vibe
Monster
By Kay, Edmonton,
Nicholas and Byrom
Once the religious, the hunted and weary
Chasing the promise of freedom and hope
Came to this country to build a new vision
Far from the reaches of kingdom and pope
Like good Christians, some would burn the witches
Later some got slaves
to gather riches
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit
and guiding light
And once the ties with the crown had been broken
Westward in saddle and wagon it went
And 'til the railroad linked ocean to ocean
Many the lives which had come to an end
While we bullied, stole and bought our a homeland
We began the
slaughter of the red man
But still from near and far to seek America
They came by thousands to court the wild
And she just patiently smiled and bore a child
To be their spirit
and guiding light
The blue and grey they stomped it
They kicked it just like a dog
And when the war over
They stuffed it just
like a hog
And though the past has its share of injustice
Kind was the spirit in many a way
But its protectors and friends have been sleeping
Now it's a monster
and will not obey
(Suicide)
The spirit was freedom and justice
And its keepers seem generous and kind
Its leaders were supposed to serve the country
But now they won't pay it no mind
'Cause the people grew fat and got lazy
And now their vote is a meaningless joke
They babble about law and order
But it's all just an echo of what they've been told
Yeah, there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits
there watchin'
Our cities have turned into jungles
And corruption is stranglin' the land
The police force is watching the people
And the people just can't understand
We don't know how to mind our own business
'Cause the whole worlds got to be just like us
Now we are fighting a war over there
No matter who's the winner
We can't pay the cost'
Cause there's a monster on the loose
It's got our heads into a noose
And it just sits
there watching
(America)
America where are you now?
Don't you care about your sons and daughters?
Don't you know we need you now
We can't fight alone
against the monster
About Me: Words and
music of this song were written and composed by John Kay, Jerry Edmonton, Nick
St. Nicholas and Larry Byrom. It was recorded by Steppenwolf in 1971. You can
listen to a You Tube recording of it at http://youtube.com/watch?v=IovHdY6Rwaw.
Mollie Orshansky (1915 - 2006)
Born January 9, 1915 in the Bronx
to immigrant parents, Mollie Orshansky attended Hunter College High School
(1931). She received an A.B. in mathematics and statistics from Hunter College
(1935) and continued graduate studies in economics and statistics at the
Department of Agriculture Graduate School and American University.
In 1939, Orshansky began her long career of government service as research
clerk with the US Children's Bureau; she worked on biometric studies of child
health, growth and nutrition. In January 1942, Orshansky began work as a
statistician in the New York City Department of Health; she worked on a survey
of the incidence of, and therapies for, pneumonia. Three years later, she moved
to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, where she spent thirteen years as a
family economist, director of the Program Statistics Division, and a food
economist.
In 1958, Orshansky joined the Social Security Administration as a social
science research analyst in the Office of Research and Statistics responsible
for analytical studies to measure income adequacy, family welfare and patterns
of family income. In 1963, Orshansky developed Poverty Thresholds used in the
United States as the official measure of poverty. Basically, she used the cost
of a nutritionally adequate diet as the basis for a cost-of-living estimate and
to calculate a cost of living for families of different sizes and composition.
In 1976, Orshansky received the Distinguished Service Award in recognition for
her leadership in creating the first nationally accepted measures of income
adequacy and applying them to public policy. The contributions made by Miss
Orshansky to the statistical measurement of the low income population and the causal
effects of federal programs on that population have earned her the affectionate
moniker, "Miss Poverty."
After more than 40 years of government service, Orshansky retired from the
Social Security Administration in 1982. Orshansky died in Manhattan on December
18, 2006. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org,
http://aspe.hhs.gov, www.nndb.com
and www.ssa.gov)
John Edwards: Mr. Poverty?
Unafraid to examine the monster's
underbelly, Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards has cornered the
politics of poverty and inequality. His message is simple: There are two
Americas, one rich the other poor. As US president, Edwards has pledged to
transform America by pursuing a national goal of eliminating poverty by 2036.
If implemented, Edwards' Working Society Initiative will reduce by 12 million
the number of people living in poverty during the first decade of his
administration with the goal of ending poverty for some 37 million Americans by
2036. His initiative calls for the creation of one million temporary minimum
wage jobs for willing workers that cannot find jobs because of where they live,
lack of skills, experience, and references, or other obstacles like criminal
records or bad credit. With the assistance of local business and labor leaders,
these jobs will be carefully chosen to serve local needs without displacing
existing workers.
The Initiative calls for an increase in the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour by
2012 and future minimum wage increases by indexing it to automatically increase
annually along with average wages, ensuring that all workers share in the
economic growth and prosperity of this nation.
Edwards' plan creates economic opportunities in rural communities hard hit by
the loss of US manufacturing and textile industries, strengthens labor laws,
fights predatory and abusive payday lending practices, expands access to bank accounts
for the poor and assists low-income workers save more through "Work
Bonds."
Given the high cost of housing, Edwards' plan calls for overhauling the
Department of Housing and Urban Development to make housing policy a force for
economic opportunity. His plan creates one million new housing vouchers over
five years to let low-income families choose to live in neighborhoods closer to
jobs and better schools.
No proposal to reduce poverty is complete without a focus on education.
Edwards' initiative calls for strengthening education with a national College
for Everyone Program that helps students that work part-time pay their tuition.
His plan creates second-chance schools for high school dropouts to help these
individuals get back on track, expands access to preschool programs, invests
more in teacher pay and training, and strengthens high schools with smaller
schools and a more challenging curriculum.
Finally, Edwards' initiative will focus on promoting responsible families by
helping poor fathers find work to support their children, expand the Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC), reduce its marriage penalty and fight teen pregnancy.
The Working Society Initiative is the most comprehensive plan to date presented
by a presidential candidate to tackle poverty. It effectively makes Edwards
"Mr. Poverty."
Poverty in America
Much like its pattern of unemployment and income inequality, there is a pattern
of poverty in the United States that dates back to the nation's founding and
its embrace of bond slavery. The US is a nation addicted to cheap labor. And,
like addicts in general, it denies its addiction while doing whatever it can to
feed its habit.
Every time someone mentions poverty and the need to alleviate the debilitating
problem for the sake of the national social fabric, those who benefit most from
cheap labor practices, the nation's elite, scream bloody murder and charge
those daring the raise the topic with "class warfare." While
embracing corporate welfare, these folks oppose any government programs to
improve the lives of the poorest Americans, including the minimum wage.
It took a decade to get the latest increase in the minimum wage, which went
into effect on Tuesday (7-24-07). The increase from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour,
with two more increases over the next two years to $7.25, means these full-time
workers will finally earn $12,168 a year. Since every dollar of these wages are
subject to the 7.65% Social Security and Medicare tax, their disposable income
before any state or federal tax is withheld is trimmed down to less that
$11,300.
The 2006 federal poverty thresholds for a single individual, two persons and a
family of four were $10,295, $13,166 and $20,615, respectively. Depending on
where you reside, these figures do not capture the economic distress of the
working poor trying to make ends meet.
For a more in-depth look at poverty in America, visit www.povertyinamerica.psu.edu/. The
site features a Living Wage Calculator, an atlas of where pockets of poverty
are located in America, analysis and much more.
Disgruntled says: The
names have been withheld to protect the innocent. This practice is commonplace
in the USA; simply fill in the names that apply in you area. "White police
officer X will not be charged in the shooting death of black suspect Y. An
internal investigation concluded that officer X acted properly in discharging
his weapon. While unarmed, suspect Y made a threatening motion, had a cell
phone, wallet, etc., causing the officer to fear for his life." Only in
the black community is there protest over this senseless killing. Ironically,
had the same officer shot a dog the outrage would be broadcast around the
world. But, in these cases, the victims are generally young black men living
and dying in a society where they are valued less than dogs.
Disgruntled
feels: Flawed! This week, George W. Bush delivered another major
"war on terror" speech. Titled "Al-Qaeda in Iraq," he
mentioned the group ninety-five (95) times in a twenty-nine minute address in
his attempt to show the organization is, was and has always been in Iraq. Bush
criticized those that doubt his assertion, accusing them of flawed logic. Of
course, Bush did not mention the fact that al-Qaeda is the US-created monster
used to bankrupt Russia in Afghanistan in the 1990s. In addition, he failed to
mention that it was made up of mostly Saudis, like Osama bin Laden and the
alleged 9-11 hijackers, not Afghanis and certainly not Iraqis, the people being
punished, while the US sells more arms to Saudi Arabia. Flawed logic is the
only way to explain how the US got into two wars on the heels of 9-11, wars
that consist mainly of protecting oil fields and a gas pipeline, and neither is
against Saudi Arabia!
Disgruntled
wants to know: According to mainstream media, black folks are enamored
of Bill and Hilary Clinton. Many have already decided to vote for Hilary in the
Democratic Party primaries in their respective states. Some misinformed blacks
even call Bill Clinton the first "black" president, because his two
terms in office represent the best of times for blacks in the United States.
Simply based on the improvement in the economic status of blacks, this
"love" of Clinton is misplaced. Sure economic conditions for blacks
improved; it was boom times for the entire country. Yet, if you look at the
economic status of blacks relative to whites, blacks just ran in place as they
have done since the birth of this nation. Moreover, Clinton, with his war on
drug policing, helped to incarcerate tens of thousands of young black people.
Placed in proper perspective, what is there left to explain the fascination of
blacks with the Clintons?
Michael Vick and the 3/5 Compromise
By John Burl Smith
The dictionary treats human, humane and humanitarian as synonyms, words having
the same or nearly the same meaning. Individuals or people collectively, human
is essentially a classification term to identify the specie that exhibits the
characteristics- form, nature, or qualities -Homo sapiens. Humane expresses a
qualitative experience such as kindness, mercy or compassion, whereas
humanitarian describes one's actions to manifest such concerns and qualities. A
recent controversy brought this word to the top of the 24-hour news cycle.
Ironically, during this time when young Americans and Iraqis are dying in ever
increasing numbers, US poverty is at the level of a crime against humanity, the
prison industrial complex through the criminal justice system has put slavery
on the US stock market and proportionally, more blacks are in jail than are in
college, dogs are of greater concern in the news than human beings. It's not
surprising that a young man, who has been trained and taught most of his life
that not only is it acceptable to hurt and inflict pain on other humans it's a
prerequisite to becoming a professional football player, would treat animals
with even less concern. Moreover, the better you are at inflicting pain,
brutality and outright savagery, the more money you will make, while becoming a
larger than life sports icon and hero.
Taking over the media, animal rights activists are hydrophobic, demanding
before any evidence is presented that Michael Vick not only be thrown in jail,
but be prevented from practicing his profession This controversy smacks of
outright racism and an agenda, reminiscent of white people's reactions to Jim
Brown, Mohammed Ali, Richie Allen, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds and
the 1968 Olympic track team (Harry Edwards, John Smith, and John Carlos), etc.
Whites hold blacks to a 3/5 Compromise standard, which means blacks have only
the rights whites are willing to grant at the time. No black man has the right
to determine his behavior, attitudes, personality or own himself.
The US Supreme Court in the Dred Scott case decided that black people were
property and had no rights a white man was bound to respect. Dogs are property,
and according to Dred Scott and Plessy v Ferguson property has no rights that
can be enforced on human beings. Property is for the use, enjoyment and
disposition of the owner. Owners do not have to consider any impact on
property. Rights are for humans; therefore, no animal can be given any status
that supercedes a human's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
It is civilized and falls within conventions of humanitarianism to have laws
about how animals should be treated, but conventions are not rights. For those,
animals have to get in line in the US. Black people in the US following Plessy
v Ferguson (1891) were used like dogfights to entertain whites. Crowds of
whites as large as one hundred thousand participated in lynching black men.
These public murders were advertised in newspapers like sporting events. Dogs
fighting can never be as horrible and inhumane as lynching another human being
for entertainment sake.
Lynchings weren't the acts of single individuals or small groups of
individuals; these were societal actions. Lynchings made political careers,
covered up the theft of property and ridded whites of black opposition.
The 3/5 Compromise of Article I Section II in the US Constitution is the basis
of Dred Scott and Plessy v Ferguson cases; dogs are not mentioned in the
Constitution. So, what is the source of these rights animal lovers are claiming
dogs have. Some pet lovers treat animals like people and treat people like
animals.
Police officers shot, beat, strangle, pepper spray and suffocate black men
daily somewhere in the US, but these same people, who insist that animals have
rights and must be treated humanely, see police killing blacks as justifiable
homicide, regardless of the circumstances. And, they would take away a human's
right to make a living because they don't treat dogs like they have human
rights.
The US government has refused to sign the International Convention on Human
Rights, but animal rights activists are not upset that some humans will not be
treated humanely. Animal lovers apparently don't love people as much as they
love animals. For them, police killing black people is acceptable because they
don't see blacks as humans. Hurting other humans playing football is also
acceptable, but humans that don't treat dogs humanely must be punished. The
only question remaining is, are the Atlanta Falcons and the NFL as racist as
animal rights activists? I remember Warwick Dunn and his campaign to help
victims of Hurricane Katrina. The NFL's response was downright anemic compared
to other aid requests. Now, it's three-fifthing Vick!!!!
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