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Volume
7 Issue 37…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…September 17,
2004
By John Burl Smith
Following the Republican National Convention, corporate media
giants, such as Fox News and Time-Warner, announced polls showing George W.
Bush had overtaken John Kerry. According
to Bill Schneider (CNN), "For the first time the race for president has a
front runner." Although polls cited
were within the statistical margin of error of 4 to 5 percentage points,
corporate media drummed them as if voters had decided barring a miracle that
Bush would win in November.
Meanwhile in cyberspace, where independent voices are still heard
and truth matters, opinion continues to run heavily against Bush. In the corporate media versus Internet
controversy, the gulf between what people online are saying and what corporate
media want the public to believe grows wider each news cycle. Examples like the mothers that pushed
strollers across the Brooklyn Bridge and the hundreds of thousands that
demonstrated against Bush during the Republican Convention stand in stark
relief against the corporate media pro-Bush propaganda. As a reality check, such numbers have yet to
demonstrate for Bush.
Pollsters select respondents that fit specific demographics, such
as "likely voters." Criteria,
which include income, zip code, college education, voting history, etc., used
to narrow the spectrum and exclude certain populations (the poor/less educated)
skew the sample. Formulation and
phrasing of question produce predictable and desirable answers. For example, support for US troops is
interpreted as support for Bush.
This reporter readily admits that not every Internet report can be
trusted. Bad guys use cyberspace for
snide and sinister purposes. However,
since 9-11 and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq intensified the theft of Election
2000, voices decrying Bush's disastrous policies have quadrupled. Most believe these events have been
manipulated in the media as Bush re-election ploys.
Using demographics similar to those cited above, computer access
is highly likely among this population.
So, a large percentage of these people communicate via the
Internet. As such, The DISH's
sample of Internet chatter contradicts corporate media claims of an increase in
Bush’s favorable rating. For instance,
since the death toll in Iraq reached 1000, statements opposing Bush's war,
foreign and domestic policies have increased.
Families that have lost sons or daughters have become more
vociferous. Last week, a family that
lost a son in Iraq made the unusual request that "in lieu of flowers, donate money to
anyone working to defeat Bush in November."
Veterans, including this reporter, use the Internet to voice
outrage over Bush's emasculation of the Veterans Administration and the VA
hospital system. Under the guise of
reorganization, Bush has eliminated many free services, closed facilities and
reduced staffing. Some veteran must
travel hundreds of miles to visit a hospital and waiting time to see a
specialist is 6 to 8 months. Such
details are only discussed in cyberspace.
Corporate media consider blacks and minorities "unlikely
voters." They reflect a totally
different picture of the US socioeconomic and political story and are not
included in presidential polls. For
example, black unemployment averages twice the rate for whites. Black teens experience unemployment rates 5
to 6 times the national average.
Homeownership is up, but blacks pay the highest mortgage interest rates
and suffer the greatest foreclosure rates.
Homelessness is rampant. Black college enrollment, which had been on the
rise, has significantly declined with the end of affirmative action, increased
tuition, reductions in Pell grants, etc.
Online is the only place these issues are discussed. Their absence in mainstream media is a real
impediment to keeping voters informed.
Most poor people lack access to computers. But, they do vote.
"Don't Vote for Bush"
By Brooke M. Campbell
Whom It May Concern: I
found out that my brother, Sergeant Ryan M. Campbell, was dead during a
graduate seminar at Emory University on April 29, 2004. Immediately after a uniformed
officer knocked at my mother's door to deliver the message that broke her
heart, she called me on my cell phone. She could say nothing but "He's
gone." I could say nothing but "No." Over and over again we chanted this refrain
to each other over the phone as I made my way across the country to hold her as
she wept.
I had made the very same trip in February, cutting classes to
spend my brother's two weeks' leave from Baghdad with him. Little did I know then that the next time I
saw him would be at Arlington National Cemetery. During those days in February,
my brother shared with me his fear, his
disillusionment, and his anger. "We had all been led to believe
that Iraq posed a serious threat to America as well as its surrounding
nations," he said. "We invaded expecting to find weapons of mass
destruction and a much more prepared and well-trained Republican Guard waiting
for us. It is now a year later, and
alas, no weapons of mass destruction or any other real threat, for that
matter."
Ryan was scheduled
to complete his one-year assignment to Iraq on April 25. But on April 11, he
emailed me to let me know not to expect him in Atlanta for a May visit, because
his tour of duty had been involuntarily extended. "Just do me one big
favor, ok?" he wrote. "Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do it. I would not be happy
with you."
Last night, I listened to George W. Bush's live, televised speech
at the Republican National Convention. He spoke to me and my family when he
announced, "I have met with parents and wives and husbands who have
received a folded flag, and said a final goodbye to a soldier they loved. I am
awed that so many have used those meetings to say that I am in their prayers
and to offer encouragement to me. Where does strength like that come from? How
can people so burdened with sorrow also feel such pride? It is because they
know their loved one was last seen doing good.
Because they know that liberty was precious to the one they lost. And in
those military families, I have seen the character of a great nation: decent,
and idealistic, and strong."
This is my reply: Mr. President, I know that you probably still
"don't do body counts," so you may not know that almost one thousand
U.S. troops have died doing what you told them they had to do to protect
America. Ryan was Number 832. Liberty was, indeed, precious to the one I
lost-so precious that he would rather have gone to prison than back to Iraq in
February. Like you, I don't know where the strength for "such pride" on
the part of people "so burdened with sorrow" comes from; maybe I
spent it all holding my mother as she wept.
I last saw my loved one at the Kansas City airport, staring after
me as I walked away. I could see April
29 written on his sad, sand-chapped and sunburned face. I could see that he
desperately wanted to believe that if he died, it would be while "doing
good," as you put it. He wanted us
to be able to be proud of him. Mr. President, you gave me and my mother a
folded flag instead of the beautiful boy who called us "Moms" and
"Brookster." But worse than that, you sold my little brother a bill
of goods. Not only did you cheat him of a long meaningful life, but you cheated
him of a meaningful death. You are in my prayers, Mr. President, because I think
that you need them more than anyone on the face of the planet. But you will
never get my vote.
So to whom it may concern: Don't vote for Bush. No. Just don't do
it. I would not be happy with you.
America
By Maya Angelou
The gold of her promise has never been
mined
Her borders of justice not clearly defined
Her crops of abundance the fruit and the
grain
Have not fed the hungry nor eased that
deep pain
Her proud declarations are leaves on the
wind
Her southern exposure black death did
befriend
Discover this country dead centuries cry
Erect noble tablets where none can decry
"She kill her bright future and rapes
for a sou
Then entraps her children with legends
untrue"
I beg you
Discover this country.
War on Poverty (1964-1968)
"This Administration today, here and now, declares
unconditional war on poverty in America."
-- President
Johnson January 8, 1964 State of the Union Address
For President Lyndon B. Johnson, a Great Society offered an
"abundance and liberty for all" and an "end to poverty and
racial injustice." To achieve his
vision, President Johnson declared
"a war on poverty."
On March 16, 1964, Johnson delivered his legislative proposal -- A
Nationwide War on the Sources of Poverty-- to a special session of
Congress. His laundry list of programs,
which became the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, charted a new national
course, striking at poverty's causes rather than its consequences.
To win over conservatives, Johnson pledged to reduce overall
federal spending by $500 million. So,
initially white US politicians and citizens that had become sensitized to the
plight of poor whites living in dismal conditions in Appalachia embraced
Johnson's war. Congress, with little
debate, passed the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. On August 20, 1964, President Johnson signed
the legislation.
Since the war was to be waged on various fronts, Johnson created
the Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) to coordinate the programs and provide
leadership. Johnson appointed Sargent
Shriver OEO's first director; he reported directly to the President.
The national war effort called on Congress to create the Job
Corps, a Work-Training Program and a Work-Study Program to improve the lives of
young people. These programs provided
basic education, work experience and an opportunity to afford a college
education. Through the Food Stamp Act of
1964, Congress expanded the food-stamp program to tap into the nation's
agricultural abundance in the fight to eliminate hunger. The war effort provided cash assistance
through Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), amended Social
Security, provided special aid for Appalachia, hospital insurance for the
elderly (Medicare), Head Start for the very young, Legal Services, the
Community Action Program (CAP), Model Cities, Housing and Urban Development,
Rent Supplements Program, urban renewal, federal aid to cities, Neighborhood
Centers Program and Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA).
By the end of 1966, President Johnson's war on poverty faced
difficulty in defusing the explosive issue of income redistribution across
class and racial lines. Sensitivity for
the plight of poor whites did not extend to poor blacks. Coupled with passage of comprehensive civil
rights legislation, originally proposed by President John F. Kennedy, the war
on poverty became widely identified with poor blacks in big cities. This popular misperception drastically
changed its political support.
Johnson left office in January 1969. Poverty remained a part of US society. Resources and attention needed to combat it
had been diverted to a war of choice in Southeast Asia. (Sources: www.csmonitor.com, www.lexisnexis.com and www.mises.org)
Poverty in the USA
At the turn of the twentieth century, millions of people in the
USA lived in abject poverty. The US economic
system created a vast disparity between the incomes of a wealthy few and the
poor majority. For example, in 1904, one
of every eight person was destitute. One
percent of US families owned nearly 90 percent of its wealth. While one-fifth of US families lived
comfortably, eighty percent were mired in poverty.
At the time of President Lyndon B. Johnson's proposed "War on
Poverty, the poverty rate was actually declining. From 1959 to 1964, it fell 3.4 percent from
22.4 to 19 percent. It reached a low
11.1 percent in 1973. Since then, the
rate has followed the boom and bust of the US business cycle. It rose to a high of 15.2 percent in 1983
during the Reagan administration and declined during the 1990s under President
Bill Clinton.
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, income and wealth
disparities continued to color the US economic landscape. With limited funds and vital resources
diverted to provide tax cuts for the wealthy and to fight a "war on
terror," poverty rose. In 2002, the
poverty rate was 12.1 percent or approximately 35 million people. Of this number, 12.1 million were
children. For 2003, the ranks of the
poor increased by 1.3 million people to 35.9 million. Child poverty rose from 16.7 percent in 2002
to 17.6 percent in 2003.
Ironically,
the USA ranks number one in child poverty among industrialized countries. The richest and most powerful nation in the
world, the US is spending billions of dollars waging a "war on
terror," yet it cannot or will not feed, cloth and shelter all of its
children.
By John B. Smith
Accepting the Republican nomination for president, George W. Bush
set forth his re-election agenda. One of
the items he threw out, like a bone for black and minority voters, was
"opportunity zones." Providing
no details, except to intimate the program will help communities struggling
under his economic policies, the concept sounded remarkably like Bill Clinton's
"empowerment zones and enterprise communities."
Under Title VIII of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993,
Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities were created to bring prosperity
to blighted urban and rural areas. Based
on strategic plans and performance benchmarks, they were supposed to develop
local solutions for growth and revitalization in designated impoverished
areas. The federal government offered
incentives to individuals and businesses for industrial and neighborhood
development, accelerated depreciation and tax exempt bonds, jobs and investment
tax credits, manufacturer's investment tax credits, utility rate discounts,
entrepreneurial training and management assistance for small business
development centers, high technology research "linkage" and
assistance in these areas.
Dot M. Smith in a report titled "Where is the Money?"
assessed the use of Empowerment Zone funds in Atlanta, Georgia. For the entire report, go Empowerment.htm. Atlanta received $250 million to be used over
10 years for its empowerment zone; it is a microcosm of the program. Scandal ridden from the outset, in less than
3 years, all $250 million of Atlanta's empowerment zone funds were gone. Charges of political appointments,
favoritism, nepotism and outright graft were lodged against the board, headed
by Mayor Bill Campbell and Director Joseph Reid.
Corruption ran rampant.
Black and minority companies were used as fronts for white-owned
businesses to get loans and grants.
Considered a minority, Mallie Sharafat, a white woman, is a classic case. The owner of Creative Fine Arts, Inc., a
picture-frame and stone ornament manufacturer, Sharafat was improperly
recruited out of Gwinnett County and awarded a $1.1 million grant to set up
shop in Atlanta.
Nine years later, no one can say or show where $250 million
went. If empowerment zones had done any
of the things promised, the lives of poor people living in those zones would
have been improved. Instead, those who
benefited from empowerment zone money were the usual politicians and white
business people.
Poor people are used to justify all kinds of schemes that funnel
money to the rich. Given that history and the way Bush has run up the largest
deficit and increase to the national debt in history rewarding the rich with
tax cuts, the homeland security funds, faith-based initiative and no-bid
contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq, Halliburton and other political contributors
are already lined up in their "opportunity zones."
WaterColors and Friends
The wait is almost over! This
Saturday, the 18 of September, live @ the Apache Cafe, WaterColors debuts his
highly anticipated 2nd one-man show.
Entitled WaterColors and Friends:
Honestly,
this fusion of color, shape, sound and word lives up to its name, taking a
sobering looking at the questions and experiences driving WaterColors's
pen.
Featuring some of the most diverse talents in Atlanta, such as,
Creative Loafing's DJ Sky, the vocal talents of Cat Bell & Homer Hammonds,
Craig Shaw of Church Hill Grounds, Kenito from African Winds, the painting
styles of Susan Johnson, live sculpting by Tamara and new poet Matthew Elliot,
along with Japanese poet Yuri. Honestly
blends impromptu music and spoken word on a canvas of hip-hop, funk, jazz,
rock, and R&B with a sensual Japanese influence.
With live sushi preparation, live visual artist painting and a
free compact disc recording of the show, Honestly promises to be a
ground-breaking event and one of the best spoken word shows to debut in
Atlanta. All visual art will be
auctioned off at the end of the show by Yohannes (host of FFX).
This is a
show you do not want to miss! What?
WaterColors and Friends Honestly.
Where? The
Apache Cafe‚
located at 64 Third St. in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. When?
Saturday, 09-18-04.
Doors open @
8 PM. For more info, please contact
Jamele Wright, Sr. at 404-241-1970.
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