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Death Row Inmate Speaks Out

This letter was sent by death row inmate Johnny Byrd on Easter to Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church as a desperate plea to help save his life.

to dust

cold black monolith
               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...
                       so fitting as the
                        cash register rings out
                       another gift shop sale
                      of a dream never intended
                     to be shared by the few
                    who actually live it
                   nearly 58,000 names
                  will someday no doubt
                 be reduced to dust
                then only then
               reflecting
              the truth.

Imprisoning Black Minds: Neoliberalism and Education Apartheid

What’s behind the assault against affirmative action, race-based scholarships, educational loans and other programs designed to enhance opportunities and access for blacks, Latinos and other minorities in higher education? What’s at stake is the implicit “writing off” or elimination of millions of black, brown and poor young people from a college degree.

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.”

Holy smoke and mirrors: the rise of centrist theocrats

It's always dangerous when politicians claim to be doing God's will. So, as the novelty fades from Al Gore's selection of Joseph Lieberman, journalists should ask some probing questions about the ticket's conspicuous piety.

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.

How 'bout the good ol' days of regulation without the "de"?

AUSTIN, Texas -- What with George W. Bush moralizing all over us from Philadelphia and Al Gore back in his Dudley Do-Right mode choosing the seriously righteous Joe Lieberman, looks like we're in for a season of moral one-upmanship and sanctimoniousness.

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.

The man they call “Bush’s brain”

An interesting semi-historical footnote concerning Dick Cheney's oft-reiterated references to President Clinton's weaseling under oath. "He knows what the meaning of 'is' is," says Cheney in his campaign stump speech to show the moral superiority of the Republican camp.

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.

A few suggestions for the Republican operatives

AUSTIN, Texas -- Gosh, the most balloons EVER! I bet all you slackers out there who weren't watching are sorry now.

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.

Gore, Lieberman and revenge of the press prudes

Now, it's the turn of Al Gore and Joe Lieberman to be flattered by the same moist-eyed press corps that's been hailing the stultifying Republican convention in Philadelphia as a masterpiece of political stagecraft. Gore is being congratulated for pre-empting popular anger at the moral turpitude of the Clinton years. Yes, this is the same press that told us for an entire year that the American people were so furious at Bill Clinton for his conduct toward Monica Lewinsky that they wanted him to step down. Of course, poll after poll showed the American people rallying to Bill Clinton's side.

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.

White People Can't Clap On Beat

AUSTIN, Texas -- My favorite factoid gathered by the 15,000 underutilized reporters in Philadelphia is that the opening gavel of the Republican National Convention was "acoustically enhanced" by a sound engineer to sound "better than real." Yup.

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.

Yes, it's reach-out time again

It's "Reach Out" time. It happens every four years. Someone gets up in front of the Republicans and reminds the white people filling 95 percent of the convention hall that the party has to reach out. Who better than Colin Powell? He told the delegates in Philadelphia that it was time to "reach out to minority communities and particularly the African-American community." Then, he issued a warning: "The world is watching to see if all this power and wealth is just for the well-to-do, the comfortable, the privileged."

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.

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