Global
Seventeen and a half years ago I awoke to a horrible nightmare. At the young stage of my life – when others my age were dreaming of their futures, I was shouldered with the weight of the world. I became a socially accepted sacrifice. I am an expendable pawn in the furtherance of self-serving political, financial aspirations. I was sentenced to die for a murder I didn’t commit. I have maintained my innocence for all these years I have been held captive in the bowels of society’s murder machine. I have fallen short in the glory of God – but a killer I am not!!! In my battle to show my innocence, I was prematurely placed in the death house only feet away from the electric chair and came within minutes of being murdered by the state of Ohio. I have never been given the opportunity within this deteriorating justice system to be heard. Permitting the crimes that have been committed against me to be whitewashed. Now once again I am facing pending murder, and still I haven’t been heard.
reflecting the source
from the east...
phallic monument
symbolic underwriter
as background static
emits from yet another
monument also reflected
this one from the west...
The vast majority of black and Hispanic students continue to function under a kind of educational apartheid, more than a generation after the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The apartheid begins in the public schools, with the underfunding of urban education. Advanced placement (AP) and honors courses are widely available at private and suburban schools, but frequently unavailable in mostly black and brown public high schools. The so-called “racial achievement gap” in most standardized tests that determine admission to colleges is more than anything else a measurement of “unequal treatment.”
Over the years, Republican policymakers have been fond of saying that they rely on divine guidance. Cementing his alliance with fundamentalist Christian groups, President Reagan loved to perform at high-profile prayer breakfasts and the like. All too often, political leaders -- especially conservative ones -- have tried to blur the separation between church and state.
Now, the Gore-Lieberman campaign has launched itself with a very public display of devout posturing. For them, the Old Testament has become fine grist for the centrist mill. The New Democrats are morphing into New Theocrats.
At the formal announcement of his selection for the V.P. slot, Lieberman declared that Gore "has never, never wavered in his responsibilities as a father, as a husband and, yes, as a servant of God Almighty." The vice president stood a few feet away, beaming.
I'm sure that all this will improve our characters, but in the meantime, we need to solve a few problems -- like the energy mess.
The Republican answer to energy problems is always: "Drill more! Open up the Arctic wilderness! Let us drill on the beaches! Give the oil companies more tax breaks! Free Saddam Hussein!" and other useful slogans.
The D's mutter about ratcheting up the mileage requirements on cars (a move stalled in Congress by auto lobbyists for the past five years) and gigging the auto companies to produce less pollution.
The environmentalists urge us to invest in renewable energy sources and ditch our SUVs.
None of this helps either electricity bills or the price of gas right now, though you'll never hear the pols admit it.
Which leads us to this story about Karl Rove, Bush's campaign manager and the man they call "Bush's brain."
Rove, as all the world knows, has been a Republican political operative in Texas for 23 years. During that time, Texas Democrats noticed a pattern that they eventually became somewhat paranoid about: In election years, there always seemed to be an FBI investigation of some sitting Democrat either announced or leaked to the press.
After the election was over, the allegations often vanished, although in the case of Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower, three of his aides were later convicted. The investigations were conducted by FBI agent Greg Rampton, who was stationed in Austin in those years.
Just a few hints to Gov. George W. Bush's speechwriter: When you go into the riff about "I want to change the tone of Washington to one of civility and respect," try putting it more than two paragraphs away from your last attempt to stick a shiv in the Democrats.
If it had come just a few grafs later, we might already have forgotten the seven paragraphs of jabs at Al Gore, including the one that worked, "He now leads the party of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, but the only thing he has to offer is fear itself."
See? Just a little more separation, and you can have your cake and eat it, too. You can trash the D's and still call for "civility and respect" without being accused of hypocrisy.
Item Two: For eight years, the R's have been attacking Bill Clinton with a focus that often bordered on the maniacal. It is simply an obsession. And it has never worked.
I write on the morning after the announcement of Gore's pick. Mostly, it's a day of shame for journalism. Column upon column of newsprint hails Gore's acumen in undercutting the supposed "moral edge" in public esteem now held by the Republicans. Beyond anecdotal assessment, no evidence for this edge is advanced. Column upon column dwells upon Lieberman's powers of ethical discrimination, symbolized by his observance of the Sabbath and his criticisms of Bill Clinton.
I loved the blind mountain-climber giving the Pledge of Allegiance. (Hint to Dems: In South Texas, we have twin dwarfs with 12 fingers apiece who play the accordion.) Of course, everybody noticed that there were more black faces on the stage than in the audience, but that's nothing.
At the 1972 Republican convention, there was an Ethnic Night party at which I saw John Volpe, the Italian-American secretary of transportation, doing the frug while a Chinese girl sang "Never on Sunday" in Yiddish. Is this a great country or what? Except the Republicans have proved yet again the tragic truth that White People Can't Clap On Beat. Or is it just Republicans?
By the way, one quarter of the Republican delegates are millionaires, and fewer than 10 percent of them make less than $50,000 a year.
Someone should give Gen. Powell the news. The facts are in. Power and wealth in America are most definitely reserved for the privileged. At the level of substantive policy, both the Democrats and the Republicans are in cordial agreement on this point, with their only disagreement being how many padlocks to set on the door to keep the unprivileged out.