Monday, January 19, 2004
U.S. School Segregation Now at '69 Level
The Harvard Civil Rights Project study tracks integration-segregation over time. The report noted that “Hispanics were less integrated than African Americans.” From the Washington Post (Michael Dobbs)
Half a century after the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of American education, schools are almost as segregated as they were when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, according to a report released today by Harvard University researchers.
The study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project, shows that progress toward school desegregation peaked in the late 1980s as courts concluded that the goals of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education had largely been achieved. Over the past 15 years, the trend has been in the opposite direction, and most white students now have "little contact" with minority students in many areas of the country, according to the report.
"We are celebrating a victory over segregation at a time when schools across the nation are becoming increasingly segregated," noted the report, which was issued on the eve of the holiday celebrating King's birthday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26073-2004Jan17.html
King’s Final Years: Usually Ignored
Fair.org (Jeff Cohen, Norman Solomon) addressed the “tv ritual” of celebrating King as “the slain civil rights leader.” Ignored are the broadening of his agenda, as he addressed basic economic/human rights and then, more explosively for the Elites, the War in Vietnam.
The remarkable thing about this annual review of King's life is that several years -- his last years -- are totally missing, as if flushed down a memory hole.
What TV viewers see is a closed loop of familiar file footage: King battling desegregation in Birmingham (1963); reciting his dream of racial harmony at the rally in Washington (1963); marching for voting rights in Selma, Alabama (1965); and finally, lying dead on the motel balcony in Memphis (1968).
An alert viewer might notice that the chronology jumps from 1965 to 1968. Yet King didn't take a sabbatical near the end. http://www.fair.org/media-beat/950104.html
What was he saying?
The new documentary Citizen King, is on PBS tonight and looks at those final years. At one point the program notes, "Somebody wrote a poem, which said now that he is safely dead, let us praise him," recalled the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, one of the leaders who succeeded Dr. King as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. "For dead men make such convenient heroes. They cannot rise up to challenge the images we fashion for them. Besides, it is easier to build a monument than it is to build a movement." http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.page15jan15,0,5402867.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines
One highlight of that period was King’s Riverside Church Speech, delivered one year to the day before his assassination, April 4, 1967.
We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood-it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on."
We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.
Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.
The full text at http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrBeyondVietnam.htm
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Tens of thousands demonstrating each day re elections.. Why won’t these people cooperate! Don’t they know we have plans for them? The chants: Colonialism is not liberty!" and "Yes, yes to Sistani, No, No to Appointment!" The demand is for free elections, not political appointments. A good capturing of it by Rory McCarthy of the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1124188,00.html
More on this via WBUR’s Connection [Al-Sistani Ups the Ante
As talks for the timing of U.N.'s return to Iraq get underway, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric calls for open elections, exacerbating tensions and causing some to warn of civil war. http://www.theconnection.org/ ]
WMD: Once again, a news item of “chemical shells found” has been quietly retracted. The Danish team that purported to find those mortar rounds withdrew the claim. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3407853.stm
Of course, this regular claim followed by quieter refutation is a contributing factor to Joe 6-Pack’s conclusion that we found wmd in Iraq.
Bombs: Ongoing. On the heels of claims of progress, fewer daily incidents, the NY Times front-paged re the growing sophistication of the bombings and then came yesterdays car bomb on the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad and another that killed 3 American soldiers.
While the press has concentrated on the significance of passing the 500 mark for deaths, the thousands with severe injuries remains the relatively uncovered story.
Re-thinking Medicare Scenario
AARP has announced that it’s seeking changes in the new Medicare law to allow the government of negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare recipients.
The law explicitly prohibits the government from interfering in negotiations between manufacturers and the private entities that will provide subsidized drug benefits to the elderly. Republicans and some Democrats insisted on that ban as a way to avoid any hint of federal price controls. They are counting on the private plans to negotiate discounts.
AARP, which has more than 35 million members ages 50 and older, was instrumental in securing passage of the legislation, drafted mostly by Republicans. But Novelli said Friday the law did not go far enough.
He said Congress should authorize the secretary of Health and Human Services to "negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries in the event competitive purchasing doesn't work to lower prices."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0401180298jan18,1,2130469.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed
O’Neill: As his comments fade from the news, it’s fun to hold onto some tidbits that emerged, such as Bush’s rare questioning of what his handlers as they laid out the next round of tax cuts for the super rich-- "Haven't we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?"
Karl Rove quashed this with: "Stick to principle. Stick to principle." Dick Cheney added, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the midterm elections, this is our due." [Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty]
Then, there’s Bush the impatient bore. The Washington Post (Mike Allen) captures his difficulty doing more than his usual D.C. regimen of minimalist public appearances, workout, early to bed.
Bush, who returned to the White House on Tuesday night, sounded tired and bored at the few public appearances during his 28-hour visit. His remarks had unusually long pauses. Cutaway television shots captured Bush glowering into space as other heads of state talked about "economic growth with equity to reduce poverty," "investing in people" and "democratic governance."
One of the million great things about being president is that you rarely have to listen to people who bore you. Dignitaries who introduce Bush are asked to limit their remarks to one minute. Bush praises those who are quicker, and his aides have been known to scold those who run over. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14701-2004Jan13.html
Bush Popularity (Quietly) Drops:
Well inside a front page story in Sunday’s NY Times as to Bush commanding strong support for the “war” on “terrorism” was the noting that his Saddam-capture bounce is gone, that he’s back down to 50% approval, tying his low for his 3 years. CBS.com trumpted this development:
After rising in public support following the capture of Saddam Hussein, the President gives his State of the Union message next week with a decidedly less positive audience. His approval rating of 50% matches his lowest approval ratings ever, and the largest number ever – 45% - disapprove. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/17/opinion/polls/main593849.shtml
-R
The Harvard Civil Rights Project study tracks integration-segregation over time. The report noted that “Hispanics were less integrated than African Americans.” From the Washington Post (Michael Dobbs)
Half a century after the Supreme Court ordered the desegregation of American education, schools are almost as segregated as they were when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, according to a report released today by Harvard University researchers.
The study by the Harvard Civil Rights Project, shows that progress toward school desegregation peaked in the late 1980s as courts concluded that the goals of the landmark 1954 Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education had largely been achieved. Over the past 15 years, the trend has been in the opposite direction, and most white students now have "little contact" with minority students in many areas of the country, according to the report.
"We are celebrating a victory over segregation at a time when schools across the nation are becoming increasingly segregated," noted the report, which was issued on the eve of the holiday celebrating King's birthday. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A26073-2004Jan17.html
King’s Final Years: Usually Ignored
Fair.org (Jeff Cohen, Norman Solomon) addressed the “tv ritual” of celebrating King as “the slain civil rights leader.” Ignored are the broadening of his agenda, as he addressed basic economic/human rights and then, more explosively for the Elites, the War in Vietnam.
The remarkable thing about this annual review of King's life is that several years -- his last years -- are totally missing, as if flushed down a memory hole.
What TV viewers see is a closed loop of familiar file footage: King battling desegregation in Birmingham (1963); reciting his dream of racial harmony at the rally in Washington (1963); marching for voting rights in Selma, Alabama (1965); and finally, lying dead on the motel balcony in Memphis (1968).
An alert viewer might notice that the chronology jumps from 1965 to 1968. Yet King didn't take a sabbatical near the end. http://www.fair.org/media-beat/950104.html
What was he saying?
The new documentary Citizen King, is on PBS tonight and looks at those final years. At one point the program notes, "Somebody wrote a poem, which said now that he is safely dead, let us praise him," recalled the Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, one of the leaders who succeeded Dr. King as head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. "For dead men make such convenient heroes. They cannot rise up to challenge the images we fashion for them. Besides, it is easier to build a monument than it is to build a movement." http://www.sunspot.net/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.page15jan15,0,5402867.story?coll=bal-oped-headlines
One highlight of that period was King’s Riverside Church Speech, delivered one year to the day before his assassination, April 4, 1967.
We are now faced with the fact, my friends, that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there is such a thing as being too late. Procrastination is still the thief of time. Life often leaves us standing bare, naked, and dejected with a lost opportunity. The tide in the affairs of men does not remain at flood-it ebbs. We may cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but time is adamant to every plea and rushes on. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words, "Too late." There is an invisible book of life that faithfully records our vigilance or our neglect. Omar Khayyam is right: "The moving finger writes, and having writ moves on."
We still have a choice today: nonviolent coexistence or violent co-annihilation. We must move past indecision to action. We must find new ways to speak for peace in Vietnam and justice throughout the developing world, a world that borders on our doors. If we do not act, we shall surely be dragged down the long, dark, and shameful corridors of time reserved for those who possess power without compassion, might without morality, and strength without sight.
Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world.
The full text at http://www.africanamericans.com/MLKjrBeyondVietnam.htm
What’s Happening, Iraq:
Tens of thousands demonstrating each day re elections.. Why won’t these people cooperate! Don’t they know we have plans for them? The chants: Colonialism is not liberty!" and "Yes, yes to Sistani, No, No to Appointment!" The demand is for free elections, not political appointments. A good capturing of it by Rory McCarthy of the Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1124188,00.html
More on this via WBUR’s Connection [Al-Sistani Ups the Ante
As talks for the timing of U.N.'s return to Iraq get underway, Iraq's most influential Shiite cleric calls for open elections, exacerbating tensions and causing some to warn of civil war. http://www.theconnection.org/ ]
WMD: Once again, a news item of “chemical shells found” has been quietly retracted. The Danish team that purported to find those mortar rounds withdrew the claim. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3407853.stm
Of course, this regular claim followed by quieter refutation is a contributing factor to Joe 6-Pack’s conclusion that we found wmd in Iraq.
Bombs: Ongoing. On the heels of claims of progress, fewer daily incidents, the NY Times front-paged re the growing sophistication of the bombings and then came yesterdays car bomb on the Coalition Provisional Authority headquarters in Baghdad and another that killed 3 American soldiers.
While the press has concentrated on the significance of passing the 500 mark for deaths, the thousands with severe injuries remains the relatively uncovered story.
Re-thinking Medicare Scenario
AARP has announced that it’s seeking changes in the new Medicare law to allow the government of negotiate lower drug prices for Medicare recipients.
The law explicitly prohibits the government from interfering in negotiations between manufacturers and the private entities that will provide subsidized drug benefits to the elderly. Republicans and some Democrats insisted on that ban as a way to avoid any hint of federal price controls. They are counting on the private plans to negotiate discounts.
AARP, which has more than 35 million members ages 50 and older, was instrumental in securing passage of the legislation, drafted mostly by Republicans. But Novelli said Friday the law did not go far enough.
He said Congress should authorize the secretary of Health and Human Services to "negotiate lower drug prices on behalf of Medicare beneficiaries in the event competitive purchasing doesn't work to lower prices."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/printedition/chi-0401180298jan18,1,2130469.story?coll=chi-printnews-hed
O’Neill: As his comments fade from the news, it’s fun to hold onto some tidbits that emerged, such as Bush’s rare questioning of what his handlers as they laid out the next round of tax cuts for the super rich-- "Haven't we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?"
Karl Rove quashed this with: "Stick to principle. Stick to principle." Dick Cheney added, "Reagan proved that deficits don't matter. We won the midterm elections, this is our due." [Ron Suskind, The Price of Loyalty]
Then, there’s Bush the impatient bore. The Washington Post (Mike Allen) captures his difficulty doing more than his usual D.C. regimen of minimalist public appearances, workout, early to bed.
Bush, who returned to the White House on Tuesday night, sounded tired and bored at the few public appearances during his 28-hour visit. His remarks had unusually long pauses. Cutaway television shots captured Bush glowering into space as other heads of state talked about "economic growth with equity to reduce poverty," "investing in people" and "democratic governance."
One of the million great things about being president is that you rarely have to listen to people who bore you. Dignitaries who introduce Bush are asked to limit their remarks to one minute. Bush praises those who are quicker, and his aides have been known to scold those who run over. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14701-2004Jan13.html
Bush Popularity (Quietly) Drops:
Well inside a front page story in Sunday’s NY Times as to Bush commanding strong support for the “war” on “terrorism” was the noting that his Saddam-capture bounce is gone, that he’s back down to 50% approval, tying his low for his 3 years. CBS.com trumpted this development:
After rising in public support following the capture of Saddam Hussein, the President gives his State of the Union message next week with a decidedly less positive audience. His approval rating of 50% matches his lowest approval ratings ever, and the largest number ever – 45% - disapprove. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/17/opinion/polls/main593849.shtml
-R
