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The poor kids are screwed again

AUSTIN, Texas -- In Texas, the state where you have a right to a lawyer who sleeps through your murder trial, we are familiar with life under George W. Bush's concept of justice for all.

The recent "Hey, a sleeping lawyer is still a lawyer" decision came from the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 2-to-1 decision agreed to by the ever-charming Judge Edith Jones, who was on the short list for the Supreme Court when Bush pere was president and will certainly be so again under Bush fils.

Under Judge Rhesa Hawkins Barksdale and Judge Jones' remarkable legal reasoning, "It is impossible to determine whether ... counsel slept during presentation of crucial exculpatory evidence, or during the introduction of unobjectionable, uncontested evidence." Therefore, they voted to fry the guy.

Actually, the top candidate for Supreme Court under Bush, who is looking for judges like Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia, is Judge Emilio Garza, the Clarence Thomas of the Hispanic world (without any known sexual peccadilloes).

Get Nader!

A political culture is under siege. Hear the panic as the waters pour into Atlantis.

Jesse Jackson cries out that, "Our very lives are at stake." Paul Wellstone quavers that George W. Bush will "repeal the 20th century." Martin Peretz, owner of the Gore-loving New Republic, writes furiously (and foolishly) that, "Naderism represents the emotional satisfaction of the American left at the expense of the social and economic satisfaction of women, blacks, gays and poor people in America."

Back in 1992, Jackie Blumenthal, wife of White House aide Sidney Blumenthal, was asked why she and her husband were such rabid supporters of a con man from Arkansas called Bill Clinton. "It's our turn," she hissed at once, as though that settled the matter once and for all.

And so indeed it was: the turn of that whole class that had endured the 12 long years of Reagan/Bush time to take their rightful place in Washington. Of course, in terms of substantive change, America remained a one-party state, under center-right government.

'Vote Strategically: For Nader' -- Part Two of Two

The chief argument against voting for Green Party presidential candidate Ralph Nader from black Democrats, organized labor, white liberals and even Marxists, is that he cannot possibly win, and that he could “give” the White House to Bush. For example, former United Auto Workers President Doug Fraser helped to block a UAW endorsement of Nader by declaring that “every vote Nader gets is a vote he takes away from Al Gore, not George Bush.”

Jesse Jackson, Jr., possibly the most intelligent and consistently progressive Congressman, makes the same point. After flirting with public opposition to the selection of Lieberman as Gore’s vice presidential running mate at the Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles this summer, he pushed back from the political brink. White liberals, Jackson warned, may have the “luxury” of voting for Nader, a courageous and principled man who nevertheless cannot win, because they don’t have to live with the practical consequences of a Bush victory.

I (don't) feel your pain

AUSTIN, Texas -- A dramatic new political ad reminding viewers of the dragging death of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper two years ago has the Bush campaign in a royal snit, denouncing the ad as utterly disgusting and below the belt.

You may want some background on how it came about.

Byrd's hideous death attracted the national media to East Texas. The case and reaction to it were much-examined, as was the later case of Matthew Shepard, the young gay man who was lashed to a fence in Wyoming.

By the beginning of the 1999 session of the State Legislature, the black, brown and gay communities were demanding a hate crimes bill, and the issue had to be addressed by Gov. George W. Bush. He said he opposed the bill because "all crimes are hate crimes."

The House sponsor, Rep. Senfronia Thompson, in one of the finest speeches of her career, made a direct rebuttal: "Is cashing a bad check a hate crime? Is insurance fraud a hate crime?"

'Vote Strategically: For Nader' -- Part One of Two

The vast majority of African Americans who vote in the November 2000 presidential election will undoubtedly support the Democratic ticket of Al Gore and Joseph Lieberman. The national black political establishment including more than ten thousand elected officials, the Congressional Black Caucus, key black leaders of the AFL-CIO, and paid operatives within the Democratic National Committee—have for months spoken with one voice, unanimously praising Al Gore.

'Education Works, Prisons don't' Harlem teach-in

“Education Works, Prisons Don’t” was the call to action that attracted hundreds of concerned New Yorkers at a Harlem teach-in, sponsored by United New York Black Radical Congress, on October 27-28, 2000. The teach-in brought together students, parents, teachers, community activists, and leaders from politics, unions and religious institutions.

In dreams begins responsibility

AUSTIN, Texas -- Ooo, it's getting nasty out there. Do you love the idea that a group from McAllen, that doesn't have to report who gave it money or how much or where it came from or what its purpose is, is running a TV ad accusing Clinton-Gore of treason?

This remake of the infamous classic "daisy ad" from Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 campaign accuses the current administration of having "sold" the nation's security to "Communist Red China" -- that's as opposed to Communist China, Red China or even just China -- in exchange for campaign contributions. And as a result, China "has the ability to threaten our homes with long-range nuclear warheads." None of which is true, by the way. My favorite moment was when the group's spokesman told The New York Times that the group was formed to bring "accountability" to politics.

Meanwhile, Our Boy George -- the uniter not the divider, the one who promises to restore civility to Washington politics -- is getting so mean that it's creating newspaper headlines. So much for his pledge not to wage a campaign of personal attacks.

Resistance to a tightening grip of censorship

A censor's work is never done.

For several decades, the Pacifica Foundation -- which owns five radio stations and operates a small national network -- nurtured precious experiments in the arid terrain of radioland. Pacifica has provided listeners with wide-ranging discussion, progressive analysis and independent news coverage, in acute contrast to America's usual corporate-backed media fare.

But during the last few years, Pacifica's board of directors made itself a self-selecting body with an increasingly mainstream agenda. The more highhanded the new hierarchy became -- and the more it deserved strong criticism -- the more determined it became to prevent criticism of itself from getting onto Pacifica airwaves.

Why I'm voting for Ralph

AUSTIN, Texas -- As Gen. George Patton said of war, "God help me, but I love it so." I realize that the only people in America having a good time right now are political reporters, but we haven't had this much fun since Grandpa fell in the fish pond. What could be more exciting than David Broder and Tom Oliphant trading thoughts on whether a heavy black voter turnout in north Florida will make all the difference?

OK, Nader voters. Let's talk.

I'm voting for Ralph. I'm voting for Nader because I believe in him, admire him and would like to see his issues and policies triumph in our political life. I'm also voting for him because I live in Texas -- where all 32 electoral votes will go to George W. Bush even if I stand on my head, turn blue and vote for Gus Hall, the late communist.

I know that many of my fellow Nader voters are young people and probably don't want to hear from a geriatric progressive. (We had to walk three miles through the snow, barefoot, uphill both ways.) But I have learned some things just from hanging around this long, and with your permission, I will pass them on.

A vote for Nader is a vote for...

"A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush." How quickly the Gore liberals adopt a totalitarian mindset, sounding like Soviet commissars back in the old days who would urge the voters towards a 98 percent turnout for the Communist candidate, arguing that any deviation from absolute loyalty would "objectively" play into the hands of the imperialists.

A vote for Nader is first and foremost a vote for Nader. And since the programs of the Democratic and Republican candidates are pretty much the same on issues ranging from corporate welfare to Wall Street to the war on drugs to crime or to military spending, a vote for Gore is actually a vote for Bush, and a vote for Bush is a vote for Gore. It was the same in 1996. Clinton or Dole? Vote for Clinton, and you got Dole anyway.

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