The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 11 Issue 38…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…September 21, 2008

Intuit's Vibe

Heaven Help Us All

By Stevie Wonder

Heaven help the child who never had a home,

Heaven help the girl who walks the street alone

Heaven help the roses if the bombs begin to fall,

Heaven help us all.

Heaven help the black man

if he struggles one more day,

Heaven help the white man

if he turns his back away,

Heaven help the man

who kicks the man who has to crawl,

Heaven help us all.

Heaven help us all, heaven help us all, help us all.

Heaven help us, Lord, hear our call when we call

Oh, yeah!

Heaven help the boy who won't reach twenty-one,

Heaven help the man who gave that boy a gun.

Heaven help the people

with their backs against the wall,

Lord, Heaven help us all.

Heaven help us all, heaven help us all,

Heaven help us all, help us all.

Heaven help us, Lord, hear our call when we call.

Now I lay me down before I go to sleep.

In a troubled world, I pray the Lord to keep,

Keep hatred from the mighty,

And the mighty from the small,

Heaven help us all.

Oh, oh, oh, yeah!

Heaven help us all.

News You Use

Encyclopedia of Life (EOL)

"When we cut down trees, there are invisible reverberations under our feet. You are not just removing trees, and a few birds fluttering around the canopy; you are drastically imperiling a vast array of species within a few square miles of you. Without this vast undernetting of nature, we could not survive. We can't save the planet, if we don't understand it." E.O. Wilson

Now, help in understanding some of earth's dynamic bio-diversity is just a mouse click away. Brainchild of Harvard biologist E. O. Wilson, the Encyclopedia of Life (EOL) is an ambitious project to organize and make available a virtual library of all information about life on earth. Wilson, a present-day Noah, believes compiling such an encyclopedia is necessary, if we are to save our world.

According to Wilson, "We only know about 10 percent of the species on earth." Creating a database for the 1.8 million known species is essential for discovering the other 90 percent of nature unknown to mankind. The project calls for a series of Web sites--one for each of the known species. Each site is constantly evolving and features content ranging from historical literature and biological descriptions to stunning images, videos and distribution maps.

This electronic encyclopedia comes at a pivotal time in earth's evolution. Scientists generally agree that earth has entered the first great extinction caused by man. Human destruction of the biosphere threatens to decimate half the planet's species of plants and animals by the end of the century. Time is of the essence.

In addition to amassing bio-diversity information, the project has amassed a stunning array of partners from liberals to evangelicals -- people interested in saving earth and helping to explore its rich bio-diversity!

For more about the Encyclopedia of Life and to learn how your can help save Earth, visit www.eol.org/index.

Bit of History

Cornelius Vander Starr (1892-1968)

Cornelius Vander Starr was born on October 15, 1892 in Fort Bragg, California. At age nineteen, Starr began his first business, selling ice-cream. In 1914, he moved to San Francisco, where he sold auto insurance by day while studying for the bar exam.

Starr joined the U.S. army in 1918. However, he was not sent overseas. Instead, Starr became a clerk with the Pacific Mail Steamship Company in Yokohama, Japan. With a mere 300 yen in his pocket, Starr traveled to Shanghai where he worked for several insurance businesses. In 1919, he founded American International Group, then known as 'American Asiatic Underwriters'.

Starr was the first Westerner in Shanghai to sell insurance to the Chinese. After his business became successful in Asia, he expanded to other markets, including Europe, the Middle East and Latin America. In 1926, Starr opened his first office in the United States - American International Underwriters (AIU), which was based in New York. AIU wrote insurance on American risks outside the US.

Starr's insurance companies performed well until World War II, when business in the orient became difficult. In 1939, Starr moved the company headquarters to New York and began a successful expansion into Latin America. After World War II, Starr rebuilt in Asia, he entered business in Japan and established a presence in Europe. One of the companies in Starr's expanding network was the Philippine American Life Insurance Company. Incorporated in 1947, the Philippine American Life and General Insurance Company, Philamlife, became the largest life insurance company in the Philippines.

With his business expanding globally, Starr split his operations into domestic and international groups. American International Group, Inc. (AIG), as his worldwide operations became known, headquartered its domestic business in New York and the international business was based in Bermuda. In 1955, Starr established The Starr Foundation. He left his entire estate to the Foundation, which is now one of the largest in the U.S., holding assets of approximately $4.78 billion. Starr published the Shanghai Evening Post & Mercury, the one American daily in Shanghai, together with the Chinese version of it, and a news magazine called East, patterned after TIME.

In 1962, Starr gave management of AIG's less than successful U.S. holdings to Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, who shifted the company's U.S. focus from personal insurance to high-margin corporate coverage. In 1968, Starr named Greenberg his successor. Starr died on December 20, 1968 at the age of 76. AIG went public in 1969.

The C. V. Starr East Asian Library at Columbia University was named for Starr in recognition of an endowment gift by the C. V. Starr Foundation in 1981. The C. V. Starr East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley was completed and dedicated in October 2007.

Ten years earlier in 1997, AIG celebrated its 50th anniversary. By now, AIG was the world's largest insurance and financial services company. With operations in approximately 130 countries, AIG had assets that toppled half a trillion dollars. According to the 2008 Forbes Global 2000 list, AIG was the 18th-largest company in the world. It owned AIG American General, a life insurance company based in Houston, Texas. In addition to Texas, AIG has insurance holdings in a number of states, including California, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. It has holdings in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and the United Kingdom. It has interests in telecommunications, aerospace, ports and skiing. It is the principal sponsor of the English football team Manchester United and the Japan Open Tennis Championships.

In the mid-2000s, AIG became embroiled in a series of fraud investigations conducted by the Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Justice Department and New York State Attorney General's Office. Greenberg was ousted as CEO amid an accounting scandal, which led to a settlement in which AIG had to pay a fine of $1.6 billion; some of its executives faced criminal charges.

On April 8, 2004, the company that Starr started with 300 yen became a component of the Dow Jones Industrial Average. It was removed from the Dow on September 18, 2008 after suffering a liquidity crisis following the downgrade of its credit rating. AIG's financial collapse was averted when the US Federal Reserve stepped in with the creation of a credit facility of up to $85 billion to stave off bankruptcy. Deemed too big to fail, AIG became the largest government bailout of a private company in U.S. history. (Sources: www.aigcorporate.com, http://fdncenter.org/grantmaker/starr/ and http://en.wikipedia.org)

Hood Notes

Oil Domination: A New Kind of Global Terrorism!

By John Burl Smith

Outrage over ever higher gas prices is fueling worldwide protest. Truckers and students are coming together in solidarity as governments and private fuel distributors gorge themselves and gouge consumers to make ever greater profits. Gluttonously, the oil industry earned hundreds of billions of dollars last year and is using every trick in their account books to bleed consumers again this year. On economic life support, desperate consumers are fighting a losing battle trying to cope with dwindling access to food and fuel. The following survey lists international efforts to escape the dire clutches of government and corporate greed.

Hundreds of protesting truckers converged on London on May 27, 2008. These over the road haulers were demanding that the labor government stem skyrocketing fuel prices. Jumping like wildfire, protest action moved to India, where in Hyderabad on June 6, 2008, police clashed with activists over high fuel prices. The government's decision to raise fuel prices sparked strikes and protests that spread around the country, paralyzing transportation in two key states, including software firms in Hyderabad and Kolkata.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, Indonesia, on June 8, 2008, students protested the government hike in fuel prices. The government's action produced almost a 30 percent jump in fuel cost, setting off angry protests in a country where millions are already feeling the brunt of rising food cost. Two days later (6-10-08), protesting students stoned police vehicles near Trichandra Campus in Kathmandu. Activists burnt tires on roads and blocked traffic during the protest. Nepal's government jacked up fuel prices by 1/4 to stem losses by the state-run Nepal Oil Corporation.

Taxi drivers got into the act on June 5 in downtown Madrid, Spain, protesting against high fuel prices, while riot policemen clashed with farmers during a three-day strike in Almeria, which was linked to higher fuel prices and food shortages across the country. On June 11, 2008, thousands of truckers created chaos for millions in Thailand, where a half-day strike in Bangkok to demand government action to halt rising fuel prices ended in food riots in several hamlets.

Unionized truckers held a general strike and rally in front of an ICD (Inland Container Depot) terminal in Uiwang, South Korea, south of Seoul (6-13-08). Talks on higher pay and cheaper fuel broke down and the 14,000 truckers walked off the job.

Draped with banners reading: "Wake up early... To earn what?" and "Road transport carry 99% of your daily needs," truckers blocked roads across France on June 16, 2008. They were protesting high fuel prices in an effort to urge their government to help their industry. The nationwide day of action included roadblocks and so-called "snail" operations by convoys of slow-moving trucks, which disrupted traffic severely.

In a world that has been forced to globalize production, transportation is critical if consumers are to get essentials like food and fuel. Now that robber barons run the world and people who are locked out of the global economy must chose between food and fuel, corporate domination by the oil industry is a kind of international terrorism.

Ike-ing Gas Prices!

By John Burl Smith

As Hurricane Ike barreled down on Texas, the impact was felt across the South. Irate citizens feeling victimized by the oil industry flooded governors offices from Texas to Virginia with calls demanding investigations of jacked up gas prices. Fanning fears with press releases predicting gas shortages, stations exploited citizens evacuating ahead of Hurricane Ike in the Southeast, charging as much as $6 a gallon.

Trying to control panic, governors in Alabama, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, among others, have declared states of emergency to enforce anti-gouging laws. On the other hand in Atlanta, Georgia where gas jumped from $3.98 a gallon for premium to $4.59 in less than 2 hours, Republican governor Sonny Perdue, a real chicken, has yet to say anything, as fearful commuters fight to fill up for the coming week's drive.

Switchboards and receptionists have been swamped with calls from angry citizens complaining about the quick run up in gas prices. People have gone as far as to call 911 to report what they believe is price gouging. Prices quickly spiked in Kentucky and Virginia at around $4.50 and $4.79, respectively. Reports from Columbia, S.C. say some stations were charging more than $5 gallon with one station selling gas for $5.59. However, in Tallahassee, Florida, there was a report of gas selling at $6 a gallon.

Speculators trying to buy up supplies ahead of Hurricane Ike are being blamed for higher wholesale gasoline prices. On Thursday (9-11-08), wholesale gasoline price rose nearly $1.50 -- more than 40 percent -- in one day, the biggest one-day spike since the Arab oil embargo in 1973.

"Oil and gas prices used to be much more in lock step but have separated in the last couple of years. Then they reflected each other." said Jeff Leonard of the National Association of Convenience Stores. Gas at the pump used to reflect the cost paid when the crude oil was bought at the wellhead. Now, like with Ike, gas in the station's tank reflect the price paid for oil bought that is still in the ground or decisions made in corporate board rooms to maximize profits.

The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services has taken a very aggressive posture to deal with the current jump in gas prices. Following more than 2,300 price-gouging phone calls since Saturday (9-13-08) and 1,092 formal complaints, investigations, including 22 from Palm Beach County, five from Martin County and 51 from St. Lucie County, have been initiated. In addition, by late Monday, the attorney general's office had received more than 4,000 calls and referred 1,291 price gouging complaints to the Economic Crimes Division.

On Sunday, the attorney general's office issued subpoenas to Flying J, Dodge's Gas Stores, Valero and Pilot Travel Centers for information on gas pricing. If retailers don't have wholesale invoices that reflect a price increase, they should not raise prices. Starting Thursday, as the threat of Hurricane Ike increased, wholesale gas suppliers boosted prices by $1.75 in just 72 hours. But retail prices seemed to jump up before any of the pricey wholesale fuel arrived. State law prohibits charging excessive prices for essentials such as gasoline and food following the declaration of a state of emergency, unless the increases are due to additional costs to suppliers.

Politics Y2K8

Bankruptcy Rules: Foreclosure Blues

The financial services industry, including banks and credit card companies, spent millions of dollars aggressively lobbying Congress to change the bankruptcy laws. According to industry lobbyists, the US courts were clogged with consumers seeking an easy avenue down which to jettison debts that they could pay with a bit of discipline. Given the best Congress money can buy and an underfunded consumer advocacy as its opposition, the financial services industry won congressional approval of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act. The new law went into effect on October 17, 2005.

As promised, the new law makes it more difficult to escape debt. Under the old rules, filers could choose Chapter 7 (liquidation) or Chapter 13 (repayment). The new law limits the number of filers allowed to use Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection. Most filers will have to repay at least some of their debt under Chapter 13. All debtors must get credit counseling prior to filing for bankruptcy and receive additional budgeting and debt management counseling before their debts can be wiped out.

In addition to making bankruptcy and a fresh start for consumers much more difficult, there are unintended consequences of the new law. Several reports published earlier this year show the new bankruptcy laws cost consumers more and may increase foreclosures.

"The Effect of the 2005 Bankruptcy Reforms on Credit Card Industry Profits and Prices," a research report by Mike Simkovic, a former James M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics at Harvard Law School, found that after the new bankruptcy law went into effect personal bankruptcy filings and credit card company losses declined sharply. However, according to Simkovic, "Interest rates and fees continued to rise and grace periods continued to fall, even though credit card companies reaped tremendous gains from declining bankruptcy losses." According to Simkovic, "The credit card market is not price-competitive. This lack of price competition explains why the benefits of bankruptcy reform accrued exclusively to credit card lenders and were not shared with the average American family, and why...bankruptcy reform was a failure."

Moreover, a report by David Bernstein, an economist at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Bankruptcy Reform and Foreclosure," found the new law has led to an increase in foreclosures and defaults by mortgage holders. By limiting the available financial relief and increasing the costs of filing bankruptcy, the number of individuals walking away from their homes, their mortgages, and other financial obligations without seeking the protection of the bankruptcy court has increased.

The financial services industry got what it wanted in preventing consumers from using the bankruptcy court as an easy way out of personal debt. Now, rather than taking the legal avenue out, consumers are simply walking away from personal debt. Neither Congress, nor the Executive Branch, is looking at the new bankruptcy rules and their impact on home foreclosures. Nor has the federal government tackled the high interest rates and exorbitant fees charged by credit card companies. With the federal government principally concerned with the financial health of big multinationals, the plight of consumers is being ignored. Perhaps, they are simply too small to save. Yet, the pain of their losses - the blues and angst they cause - is being felt throughout the economy.

Disgruntled feels: Fundamentally wrong! Home foreclosures are rising. The US unemployment rate is more than six percent and is predicted to rise higher as US workers are losing jobs in record numbers. Even skilled workers are finding it difficult to remain gainfully employed; big businesses, including AIG, have sent so many jobs overseas to increase their profit margins. The nation's infrastructure -- roads, bridges, dams and electrical grid -- is in need of repairs. While big oil and the other giants of industry made record profits, they paid comparatively little in taxes. The rich gets richer in America, and under the Bush administration, they were given big tax cuts to ensure they retained more of their earnings. Living beyond its means even before the tax cuts, the country sank deeper in debt. Kept afloat on credit extended by the likes of China and Japan, the US is not economically sound. Despite what John McCain claims to the contrary, there are plenty of things fundamentally wrong with the US economy.

Disgruntled says: Everyone should have known there was something wrong in the housing market long before Alan Greenspan's bubble burst. Appraisers and brokers were all too willing to jack up home prices and sell houses without income and employment documentation. Banks were more than will to extend credit too for the chance to make the huge profits these bogus sales would bring. They had to have known some of these homes were priced well above their fair market value. City, county and state governments celebrated the rising home prices, since they meant higher property taxes. Homes were ATMs replenished with cash at the stroke of an appraiser's pen and easy bank refinancing. Everyone made out like bandits, except the folks that were suckered into financing their homes with ARMs and other exotic instruments and the homeowners that were forced to pay higher property taxes based on inflated appraised values. Now, the crooks that caused the financial crises are profited handsomely are standing in line for a government bailout when they should be carted off to jail.

Disgruntled wants to know: Heaven help us as the free enterprise hypocrites come out of the woodwork touting the wisdom of the federal bailout of Wall Street. Whatever happened to free enterprise? Aren't individuals and businesses supposed to profit or incur losses based on their decisions - freely made? If this is no longer the case, what do we call the US economy? Is it socialism or fascism?

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.theatlantavoice.com Flanked by officials from the NAACP and the Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI Director Robert Mueller last year announced with considerable fanfare a new partnership between his agency and civil rights organizations. The goal: To bring justice in long-ignored murders from the civil rights era. The outcome: Not one case has been prosecuted under the FBI's Cold Case Initiative, which actually began two years ago with no fanfare at all. The civil rights leaders present at Mueller's February 2007 news conference - John Jackson of the NAACP, who now works for a private firm, and Richard Cohen, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center -- have come to question the government's motives.

Email www.msnbc.msn.com - The Bush administration is asking Congress to let the government buy $700 billion in toxic mortgages in the largest financial bailout since the Great Depression, according to a draft of the plan obtained Saturday by The Associated Press. The plan would give the government broad power to buy the bad debt of any U.S. financial institution for the next two years. It would raise the statutory limit on the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $11.3 trillion to make room for the massive rescue. The proposal does not specify what the government would get in return from financial companies for the federal assistance. "We're going to work with Congress to get a bill done quickly," Bush said. Without discussing details of the plan, he said, "This is a big package because it was a big problem." The White House and congressional leaders are hoping the legislation, which is still being developed, could pass as early as next week.

Email www.msnbc.msn.com ...Georgia officials subpoena gas station records...The state has subpoenaed financial records from a handful of gas stations after hundreds of residents called to complain about price gouging in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Ann Infinger with the Governor's Office of Consumer Affairs said the office has asked for sales records from at least nine businesses. Georgia remains among the highest average gas prices in the country after Ike shut down oil refineries along the Texas coast over the weekend. The average price for a gallon of regular unleaded gas was at $4.10 on Thursday, down just 6 cents since Monday's record high. That's the fifth highest average among states, behind Alaska, Hawaii, Illinois and Indiana.

Email www.ap.com ... Poll: Lingering racism may hurt Obama...One-third of polled white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks -- many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles. The poll, conducted with Stanford University, suggests that the percentage of voters who may turn away from Obama because of his race could easily be larger than the final difference between the candidates in 2004 -- about two and one-half percentage points. Certainly, Republican John McCain has his own obstacles: He's an ally of an unpopular president and would be the nation's oldest first-term president. But Obama faces this: 40 percent of all white Americans hold at least a partly negative view toward blacks, and that includes many Democrats and independents.