It
is the journalist's responsibility to bring bad news, and the political
analyst's job to explore the meaning of events. The Bush Administration,
acting as a kind of clearinghouse for thieves, threatens to overload
the nation's dwindling chroniclers of political crime. Writer Cheryl
Seal's kind words for our November 21 essay, "War for Private
Profit," did a world of good for our morale.
proves the old adage, "'tis an ill wind
that blows no good." Though there has never been a fouler,
more withering wind than that belched out by the Bush administration,
it has obviously fueled a passion in your writers that has driven
them to fantastic heights of the craft. The Essay on Bush's War
for Profit is absolutely brilliant. It combines a powerful, solid
statement with a literary passion that shines - Tom Paine himself
would have been filled with admiration. It is this kind of writing
that just may ignite a spark in the public's apparently dead-ash
consciousness.
You
are an inspiration to all of us. Congratulations on your wonderful
work.
We
hoped to contribute something of value to an understanding of African
American internal political structures through our analysis of the
Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies survey of Black
opinion, also in our last issue. In evaluating the JCPES data, we
confirmed a number of beliefs we already held, and discovered some
new and important trends in our people's evolving political life.
Dr. Paul Beckett wrote to say he also found the piece useful.
Terrific
analysis of opinion data in today's
-- thank you!!!
(P.S.: I'm a polisci Ph.D. with some experience with survey data.)
Needless
to say,
accepted Dr. Beckett's evaluation as a scholarly
benediction - with all due humility, of course. (See "Poll
Shows Black Political Consensus Strong," November
21.)
Youth
is wasted on the...
Not
through our efforts, but his own, Black Memphis Congressman Harold
Ford, Jr. has been sucking up a lot of news time, lately. We have
not enjoyed the experience, which is much like having to review
a performance by an actor who embarrasses himself and the rest of
the theater company with every mangled line. Thus, it is good to
know that Eddgra Fallin, of Huntsville, Alabama, shares our reluctant
assessment of the man, and is already looking sideways at the Democrats'
new House Leader.
Thank
you for your commentary on Harold Ford, Jr. He is a tool for the
right wing. He is only thinking about himself, not the masses
of people.
Nancy
Pelosi had best check herself. She was on Tim Russert's show Sunday
saying "we stand shoulder to shoulder" with the President.
I don't want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bush on anything
and I don't want my so-called leaders doing that either.
It's the Media, Stupid! Why doesn't BET stop
playing those worthless music videos and become a full time public
affairs program? They should be using all that precious airtime
to enlighten and empower the people.
Unfortunately
for Ms. Fallin and the rest of us, BET owner Bob Johnson is busy
helping to further empower George Bush. For details on his efforts
on behalf of the White House, see "BET's Black Billionaire
Trojan Horse," October
3, and "Bob Johnson's Message Invades Black Radio,"
October 17.
But,
back to Harold Ford. D. Adrian Bryan doesn't want to hear it.
Enough
about Harold Ford! I'm convinced. He's an opportunist and a self-promoter,
but let's not forget that when presented with an opportunity in
the primary to vote for a 26 year old wet-behind-the-ears Michigan
law grad. vs. a state representative, the people of Ford's district
overwhelming chose wet-behind-the-ears. They got what they deserved.
But please, no more Ford.
We
believe that what the Black people of Memphis and the rest of the
nation deserve is as thorough a discussion as we can provide
on the merits of those who make a claim to Black leadership. Having
said that, we also wish Ford would stand down, since he does not
stand up for us. And as long as Ford continues to pump out
his simple sayings for the corporate media to regurgitate, we at
will keep our little light on him! (See the "Harold 'Wrong
Way' Ford, Jr." section of the November
14 Briefs column.)
Bum
rush the show!
This
seems like a good time to point out that far too many of the subjects
and personalities on the Black political menu are placed there by
the corporate media to work mischief among us. We, too, wish the
manufactured "leaders" and bogus "movements"
would expire for lack of interest. But corporate media turns on
the spotlights, and we have no choice but to expose the performance
as a scam on the audience and hope the crowd will get incensed enough
to shut the minstrel show down.
Which
brings us to the next act in the Hard Right's bought-and-paid-for
Trojan Horse Review: the heavily-financed, professionally-staffed,
made from whole clothe by Milwaukee's Bradley Foundation, private
school vouchers "movement."
Alan
Miller, writing from Tennessee State University, became agitated
over our November 14 piece,
"Bush Funds Black Voucher Front Group: Your tax dollars pay
for propaganda blitz." He still wonders what our complaint
is about.
Why
in the world would you oppose money spent to educate folks about
the benefits of school vouchers? It couldn't be for racial reasons
since a large majority of blacks are sick and tired of the failure
of their NEA-influenced schools and favor school vouchers. I can
only conclude that it is for political reasons and that you are
blindly beholden to the democratic party (small "d"
for obvious reasons) which is run by far left liberals who make
all kinds of nice sounding promises but never follow through.
Who's the fool?
Please
keep me on your mailing list. I would like to see what other tomfoolery
you are up to.
does not Tom, and we are not foolin'. However, Mr. Miller has come
to the right place to begin his education on school vouchers. We
suggest he start with our April
5 inaugural issue lead story, "Fruit of the Poisoned Tree."
This investigative piece figured prominently in the 2002 State of
Black America report of the National Urban League, which is available
in our August 8 issue.
If Mr. Miller is still unconvinced that evil men are behind vouchers
- including the people who funded "The Bell Curve," Charles
Murray's assault on Black intellectual capabilities - he can visit
our July 11
article, "Voucher Tricksters." We also exposed the corporate
media's role in inventing a phony Black constituency for vouchers,
in our November 21
analysis of the JCPES national Black opinion poll.
That
should keep Mr. Miller busy until our next issue.
Keep
writing.
