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Vol. 8 No. 40…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…October 7, 2005
Davis-Bacon Act (1931-2005)
The Davis-Bacon Act (1931), 40 U.S.C. 3141-3148, is named for its Republican sponsors, Representative
Robert L. Bacon of Long Island, New York and Senator James Davis, secretary of
labor (1921-1930) and Pennsylvania Senator (1930-1945). Section 3142 (a) and (b) of Title 40,
specifically provides that laborers on all federal contracts over $2000 be paid
local “prevailing wages.” Early
critics of the measure charged “prevailing wages” essentially meant "union
wages." Because blacks were
locked out of most trade unions, federal contractors primarily employed white
workers.
Since 1931, Davis-Bacon has been amended three times. The first amendment (1935) prevented
contractors bidding on public works projects from lowering wages to ensure they
made the lowest bid. It also
allowed federal agencies required to accept the lowest bids to hire contractors
that competed on the basis of
"fair" rather than low wages.
In 1964, the Act was changed to include fringe benefits in
calculating prevailing wages.
President Lyndon Johnson (1965) issued Executive Order 11246, which
prohibited discrimination by any employer receiving federal funds, including
contractors; the affirmative action order did not end employment
discrimination. In 1994, the
Davis-Bacon Act was again amended to ensure its wage requirements covered the
construction, renovation and repair of buildings used by Head Start programs.
In the event of a national emergency, the Davis-Bacon Act authorizes
the president to suspend its provisions.
President Franklin Roosevelt (1934) suspended it for three weeks to
facilitate New Deal administrative
adjustments. When President
Richard Nixon (1971) suspended its wage provisions to reduce inflation pressures,
Labor Secretary Peter J. Brennan accused his administration of treating
construction workers as patsies; Nixon reinstated the act after twenty-eight
days.
President George H.W. Bush suspended the act during the recovery
from Hurricane Andrew in September 1992.
In March 1993, President Bill Clinton re-instated it. Ostensibly to
expedite reconstruction in areas ravaged by Hurricane Katrina, George W. Bush
issued proclamation 7924 on September 7, 2005 to temporarily suspend
Davis–Bacon. Critics charge the
executive order will further perpetuate regional poverty poignantly exposed by
news coverage during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Davis-Bacon’s
harshest critics are Republicans.
For some time, they have been trying to repeal it on the grounds that
the regulations are outdated, expensive and bureaucratic. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis‑Bacon_Act and www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/html)
Mailman Bulldozes Katrina
Red Tape
Born in Bernice, Louisiana, former Utah Jazz all-star Karl Malone
overcame a mountain of red tape placed in his path by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) and Army Corps of Engineers to do something good. Both agencies said Malone wasn't
authorized to bring his machinery into the area to clear private property. He
did!
For Malone, a.k.a. Mailman, “Everything about this just felt
right. My mom died two years ago,
and in our last conversation, she told me that one day I would have to step up
on a grand scale and help people. I knew this was it."
An experienced trucker and
logger, Malone brought 18 vehicles, including backhoe, bulldozers and several
RVs, complete with food and water for his crew, from his Arkansas-based logging
company to Pascagoula, Mississippi.
He spent 12 hours a day behind the wheel of his heavy machinery clearing
114 lots at his expense.
Kudos to the Mailman! (Forwarded to The DISH by DrockSOULJah@aol.com
from http://eurweb.com)
Intuit’s Vibe
Prejudice
By Lizelia Augusta Jenkins
Moorer (1907)
How
strangely blind is prejudice, the Negro's greatest foe!
It
never fails to see the wrong but naught of good can know.
'Tis
blind to all that's lofty, yea, to truth it is opposed,
Degrading
things will ope his eyes, while good will keep them closed.
How
cruel, too, is prejudice! How
wicked is the tongue!
The
evils reign supremely there, the bad is ever sung;
With
some the Negro needs a soul, with others he's a brute,
In
silence those remaining live and naught of this dispute.
The
schools it legislates against, in keeping Negroes down,
Whatever
tends to elevate it meets it with a frown.
It
gives to them the Jim Crow car and vessels on the sea;
It makes the stockade to exist and take their liberty.
It
makes the press to vacillate up the Negro's name,
The
pulpit makes a compromise with evil, for the same,
It
makes the Pharaohs of today and seals them with its ban,
It
strives to close the door of hope upon the Negro man.
It
causes mobs to formulate, to come and go at will,
At
morning, evening, noon or night, a Negro man to kill,
It
brings injustice to the courts when Negro men are tried,
It
wrings the ballot from their hands —a thousand wrongs beside.
It
is the country's greatest curse, the nation's open sore,
It
slowly saps the precious life, is poison to the core,
Such
ravages gave certain death to nations in the past,
The
same will lay this country low, its fondest hopes will blast.
It
minimizes all that's good and magnifies the ill,
The
devil's mission upon earth, it clamors to fulfill;
'Twas
prejudice that caused the death of Christ upon the tree,
He
knows the pangs that Negroes feel and gives them sympathy.
When
men refuse to see the light a darkness is assured,
Such
blindness comes upon the scene as never can be cured!
Contagious
is the dread disease, for Negroes learn to view
The
white man with suspicious eyes, but here's a thing that's new.
The
Negro Problem of the land, and all the same entails,
Will
be no more whene'er we find a sentiment prevails,
To
bury prejudice so deep it never can arise
Till
all the races of the earth shall meet above the skies.
'Twas
God who made the Negro black, the reasons are His own
One
blood the nations all the same, the facts are too well known,
He
also made the Golden Rule, to use the neighbor well,
Shall
prejudice among us dwell forever?
Who can tell?
Disgruntled feels: “Brain-freeze!” According to publishers of
Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, eighteen new words met their exacting
criteria for addition to this year’s edition of the dictionary. Words like SARS, the acronym for severe
acute respiratory syndrome, cybrarian, a person who finds, collect and manages
information available on the Internet, chick-flick, movies that appeal to
women, and brain-freeze, which refers to the shooting head pain caused by very
cold food, are among the new entries.
Of course, brain-freeze could just as easily refer to the public’s
mental state from our elected officials’ perspective. The best ‘elected’ government money can buy, politicians
seem to think we exist in a state of permanent brain-freeze. Too brain dead to read between the
lines of their spin, they think we can be fed anything.
Disgruntled
wants to know:
In all the hoopla over George W. Bush’s latest nominee for the Supreme Court,
he stated he has no litmus test for judicial appointees. During the 2000 presidential campaign,
he said his litmus test was strict construction of the Constitution, a notion
that claims jurists should stay within the original intent of the founding
fathers, the group that made slavery the first law of the land. Like obedient puppies, the press
ignored this contradiction. When
will the press corps ask, what is the different between his 2000 litmus test
and the current judicial requirement?
Disgruntled
says: The
price of a gallon of regular gasoline has settled above $3.00. With double-speak and manipulated
stats, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and government-paid economists
have discounted the inflationary impact of higher fuel prices on the
economy. By subtracting out the
cost of the necessities of life, i.e., food. fuel and housing, they have
managed to generate a consumer price index that is ever so flat. Of course, beyond the rarified air
where these gurus and their wealthy bosses exist, common folks feel the pinch
and most must decide to spend their limited discretionary income where it makes
the most sense. They must work;
many live in exurbia, where there is no public transportation option, so they
are forced to spend more of that discretionary income on gas. Moreover, many have maxed out multiple credit cards. Consequently, they will buy fewer
non-essential consumer goods. For
an economy built on consumption, this forced trade-off cannot portend good
economic times ahead.
Blah! Blah!
GOP Corruption!
Government corruption is nothing new. During the two terms of the Clinton administration, there
were constant criminal investigations into some elected or appointed official’s
machinations, including the President and First Lady. Even before Clinton, there was plenty of malfeasance in
public office. Ironically,
Republicans, which harshly criticized Democratic corruption, came to power in
1994 on a pledge to clean up and reform government.
Part of the freshman class of 1994, Senate Majority leader and
potential presidential candidate Bill Frist (R-TN) is a walking conflict of interest. Throughout his tenure, Frist has pushed
and voted for measures that aided the pharmaceutical and insurance lobbies,
which reciprocated by rewarding him handsomely with campaign contributions. Simultaneously, Dr. Frist promoted
legislation that directly benefitted his family’s business and killed bills
that threatened the family’s fortunes.
Finally, Frist’s financial dealings are under investigation by the
Securities and Exchange Commission and the Justice Department for possible
insider trading.
Unlike Martha Stewart, who actively directed her stock portfolio,
Dr. Frist claims his family-owned Hospital Corporation of America stock, Dow
ticker symbol HCA, was in a blind trust.
It is just sheer luck that his trustee dumped the stock two weeks before
it fell nearly 15 percent. While
Frist gave the sell order, the spin doctor would have the public believe his
actions were ethically pristine.
If he lied, the good doctor should receive what Martha got-- jail time,
not for insider trading, but for lying.
A shot over the bow of a corrupt ship of state and its Republican
leadership, the arrest of David Safavian, the Bush administration's top federal
procurement official, shook the GOP.
A 2004 Bush appointee, Safavian is accused of lying and obstructing a
criminal investigation into the dealings of conservative Republican
super-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has already been indicted for wire fraud and
conspiracy. The federal
investigation into Abramoff’s dealings in Washington, which include duping
Indians tribes involved in the gaming industry, are ongoing. The names mentioned in documents
related to that investigation include Rep. Bob Ney (R-OH), former Christian
Coalition leader Ralph Reed and former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay.
In a separate investigation, DeLay (R-Sugarland, Texas) is under
two separate indictments for conspiracy and money-laundering. DeLay allegedly raised corporate cash
for his political action committee, Texans for a Republican Majority (TRMPAC),
and in violation of Texas state law funneled those corporate campaign
contributions to assist Texans running for state office. Those corporate funds aided Republicans
in gaining a majority in the Texas legislature, which redrew Texas’ US House of Representative districts to create
a majority Republican congressional delegation.
DeLay has denied any wrongdoing and has been on a public relations
blitz to cast a cloud over the indictments by painting Travis County District
Attorney Ronnie Earle as a partisan miscreant; Earle is a Democrat. While DeLay tried to distance himself
from the group’s day-to-day operations, documents show he "personally
forwarded at least one large check" to the group and was "in direct
contact with lobbyists for some of the nation's largest companies" on TRMPAC's
behalf. So, Earle is not just blowing smoke.
Finally, there is this little matter of an ongoing criminal
investigation into the outing of an undercover agent. Until Special Prosecutor
Patrick Fitzgerald completes his investigation, no one will comment, except
Judith Miller, the New York Times reporter recently released from jail for
“shielding her White House source.”
Even Bush recently declined anew to confirm his earlier avowal to fire
anyone involved in the Valerie Plame outing. The above accounts represent a very small sample of alleged
GOP corruption.
Hood Notes
Hard Prejudice: Now You
Know!
“...I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime,
you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in
this country, and your crime rate would go down." (Source: “Bill Bennett's Morning in America”)
Poster boy for Republican conservatism, American moral guru with a
gambling addiction, former U.S. education secretary under President Ronald
Reagan, former national drug czar under President George H.W. Bush,
best-selling author and commentator, Bill Bennett fed the fires of racism that
roared fiercely in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by voicing the above
comment on his syndicated radio talk show. Bennett tried to disguise his blatantly hardcore bigotry by claiming it was “an
impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime
rate would go down.”
“Soft bigotry” is what George W. Bush uses in mandating testing
under his No Child Left Behind public education program and his coded
requirement that judicial appointees share his philosophy of strict
construction of the Constitution.
Without the sugar- coating to disguise its lethality, Bennett expressed
some hard prejudice, which is wired into the psyche of a majority of whites
that believe blacks are brutes, responsible for most US crimes, even though
blacks represent only 12% of the population. Similarly, whites have stereotyped blacks as welfare
recipients, when whites on the dole greatly outnumber blacks.
Feeling safe from any serious backlash, such as the loss of his
radio show, Bennett blurted out his true feelings and got away with it, because
his views are shared by the majority white society. Speculation is rife his bit of bigotry is aimed at getting
more listeners to improve the ratings for his radio show, which airs on the
Salem Radio Network.
Whatever his motivation, Bennett has offered no apologies for his
comments; it would be hypocritical to do so. However, his remarks explain a great deal about the poor
state of public education under his leadership. Surely, no one that thinks society would be better off by
killing black babies would be interested in creating and adequately funding a
public education system that works to improve the lives of black children. Now you know!
Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes &
Telephone Calls
Email http://sfgate.com: WASHINGTON, Sept. 30 - Federal auditors
said today that the Bush administration violated the law by purchasing
favorable news coverage of President Bush's education policies, by making
payments to the conservative commentator Armstrong Williams and by hiring a
public relations company to analyze media perceptions of the Republican Party.
Email hstransconn@hotmail.com The state of Connecticut is
suing the U.S. Department of Education for the unfunded mandates that are part
of its No Child Left Behind (NCLB) program. On Tuesday, George W. Bush mentioned the public education
program in answering a question posed by a black journalist on closing the US
divide exemplified by racism and poverty.
In Connecticut, the state cannot afford to continue the high-stakes
standardized testing, a cornerstone of NCLB. It is my understanding that my state is not alone in having
to use state tax dollars to fund testing when these funds could be better spent
in other areas.
Email www.latimes.com Nearly 100,000 California 12th
graders – or about 20% of this year’s senior class – have failed the state’s
graduation exam, potentially jeopardizing their chances of earning
diplomas. Students in the class of
2006, the first group to face the graduation requirement, must pass both
sections of the English and math test by next June. The exit exam, which has come under criticism by some
educators, legislators and civil rights advocates, is geared to an 8th grade
level in math and to ninth - and 10th grade levels in English. Opponents of the exam said that it
penalizes minority students and those in low-income communities whose
overcrowded schools often lack experienced teachers and other necessary
resources.
Email www.wayneperryman.com Republicans across the nation
are attempting to woo black conservative Christian voters to the GOP with such
moral issues as same sex marriage, abortion and the separation of church and
state. But, their fatal mistake is
that they have yet to classify racism or racial discrimination as a moral issue. The biggest difference between today’s
Republican Party and their predecessors is that their predecessors viewed
slavery and racism as monumental moral issues, and they responded by forming a
new political party and passing a multitude of legislation to address these
moral issues. Contrary to Republican
thinking, the number one moral issue on the minds of African-Americans is not
abortion, same sex marriage or the separation of church and state. Their number one moral issue is still
racial discrimination.
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