"In any discussion of the problems in our world today, racism must rank high. Not because we are soft-minded liberals obsessed with countless crimes throughout history induced by colour, religion, tribalism or chauvinism of one kind or another. But because the poison which we hoped and believed had been eradicated in our own time by the knowledge of the ultimate evil- the gas-chamber murders committed by the Nazis--is in fact still present, not in any one area of discrimination or racism, or in a restricted number of specific rulers or governments, but in all humankind. I call it "Inner Racism."-

Gitta Sereny, "The Healing Wound"

Saturday, March 30, 2013

It’s Just The Whiteness of You

by sam enderby

Eliza Gilkyson
Its probably an indication of my age that most contemporary music is a distant planet for me. I realize the marketing geniuses cater to a much younger crowd and, I guess, why not, as I was that crowd once but of course a funny thing is I didn't have much to spend once upon a time and now in my yeatsian gray years I still don't which just goes to show how I have managed my erstwhile earning years however thats for another time for right now I wish to relate before the daily haze of my existence sets in another fortunate connection (because here at the Joyful Moocher we're always trying to connect) that makes my unemployed hours (except for this pecking time) almost bearable for it involves my Ipod- yes, I did splurge a while back during a win streak (i.e. my wife's credit card) and a few tunes that I hadn't heard before kind of caught me by surprise- a happy surprise. The tunes were written and sung by someone named ELIZA GILKYSON, whom I never heard or at least couldn't remember hearing before although she does sound a little like a singer I had heard long ago but never got the name but there was something about the voice and the melancholy lyric long since forgotten and, anyway, I was and am particularly taken with the songs on this album- called , uh,uh -wait ..."Roses at the End of Time" and one especially- a satirical gem called 2153 - as in the year 2153 ( and no, it ain't like Zager and Evans or whomever ). You never hear this on the radio, at least I never have and so far still haven't - and the album, I believe, is a few years old already. One of the verses states :
" Oh, they went for the literal translation 
Of every text and symbol sacred work and screed 
They obsessed over minor variations 
Misconstrued the truth to justify their deeds."
Another title, "Slouching Toward Bethlehem" also appealed to my yeatsian yearning and what a state of affairs it is between the cable companies and the commercial radio conglomerates ( I haven't even heard her on Jonathan Schwartz). Still whats a redblooded American old man listening to music do when confronted by an unknown voice and song? I googled.( Not bing-ed. Bing is for Johnny Burke and Harry Warren.) And I found her, natch, and found out that not only has she been recording off and on for over 40 years (they don't show) but that she had recorded on a label that
The Wonderful Utah Phillips-Labor Organizer, Folksinger, Poet, Gandy Dancer


also recorded that lovable Bruce UTAH PHILLIPS who I once saw perform in a basement of a Greenwich Village apartment building way back when when I was part of the crowd enjoying moose turd pie and she has a husband, Robert Jensen,  who is sort of a radical professor of journalism at the University of Texas at Austin who is forever tweaking the noses of the school machers and speaking out against American imperialist interests and has distinguished himself by writing (teaching?) about the insidious racism that has infected this country for hundreds of years (there are some good things going on down there at least in Austin, I mean, c'mon doesn't Willie Nelson still cook there?). I have read one of his essays, "White Privilege, White Supremacy" - originally published by CITY LIGHTS ( remind me to tell you of the time I walked out on Allen Ginsberg at Brooklyn College) in a book called the Heart of Whiteness. It has been included in another book called WHITE PRIVILEGE, Essential Readings On the Other Side of Racism. Professor Jensen cites a 2004 study by United for a Fair Economy that just shreds any doubt anyone may have regarding inequality in the United States. If I may mooch some examples:

  • At the slow rate that the black-white poverty gap has been narrowing since 1968, it would take 150 years, until 2152, to close.
  • Black unemployment is more than twice the white race, a wider gap than in 1972(Prof. Jensen uses "race" in this fashion although I would qualify such usage before)
  • Black infants are almost two and a half times as likely as white infants to die before age one, a greater gap than in 1970. ( In other words-from the time I graduated from high school (!)- I know its hard to believe- until now this stat has only gotten worse. Thanks "Sam's Generation".
  • White households had an average net worth more than six times that of Black households -in 2001 (!)



Dr. Dorothy Brown, Professor of Tax Law at Emory University Law School, writing in the December,2012 issue of Forbes, wrote that "the median net worth of white households is now 20 times that of Black households." Dr. Brown explains some of the huge disparity in house-value as a harsh corollary to the old there-goes-the-neighborhood response:
"If you think this is class and not race, you are wrong. A 2001 Brookings Institution study showed that “wealthy minority neighborhoods had less home value per dollar of income than wealthy white neighborhoods.” The same study concluded that “poor white neighborhoods had more home value per income than poor minority neighborhoods.” The Brookings study was based on a comparison of home values to homeowner incomes in the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas, and it found that even when homeowners had similar incomes, black-owned homes were valued at 18% less than white-owned homes. The 100 metropolitan areas were home to 58% of all whites and 63% of all blacks in the country.
Those conclusions are supported by a large body of research. Put simply, the market penalizes integration: The higher the percentage of blacks in the neighborhood, the less the home is worth, even when researchers control for age, social class, household structure, and geography.
A 2007 study by George Washington Universitysociology professor Gregory D. Squires comments on why most whites avoid racially diverse neighborhoods: “Evidence indicates that it is the presence of blacks, and not just neighborhood conditions often associated with black neighborhoods (e.g., bad schools, high crime), that accounts for white aversion to such areas. In one survey, whites reported that they would be unlikely to purchase a home that met their requirements in terms of price, number of rooms, and other housing characteristics in a neighborhood with good schools and low crime rates if there was a substantial representation of African Americans.”

When blacks buy homes in majority minority neighborhoods, we increase the racial wealth gap. Whites who want to experience racial diversity at home also pay dearly."
Of course Prof. Brown IS writing for Forbes here and there is some of that "Blacks should try investing more in the stock market like the white people" and perhaps some of this income-wealth disparity will diminish. Anyway what's important to see is that these brutal statistics still continue. Our (white) privileges still have fatal consequences whether we care or not.

Monday, March 25, 2013

Mike Coffman Rises (For the right?)


"I will do everything I can to make sure that our country never goes down this path again. Nation-building operations, where we invade, pacify and administer whole countries, is the wrong direction for America and must never be repeated again." - Representative Mike Coffman, R-Col.

Rep. Mike Coffman

For most maybe all of his political life Mike Coffman was somewhat to the right of the Grand Wizard of Douglas County on "Immigration". Less than two years ago the 3-term (?) congressman was calling the DREAM ACT a nightmare and even proposed a bill that called for all ballots to be printed in English-solamente-  and, according to Politico, he signed an amicus brief in support of Arizona's "papers please" immigration bill. But, lately, it seems Marine Mike has been changing his tune. He has proposed legislation along with Democrat Rep. Luis Gutierrez that would allow non-citizens (Republicans in the main prefer "aliens") such as foreign students on visas to serve in the military. Now this is a nice liberal stance - at least on paper- but I don't know if the bill is a prelude of sorts for the brave foreign volunteer who does serve to become a citizen after his or her tour is over. I mean if you're willing to put your life on the line for a country that still has reservations about allowing you to be an official citizen then go right ahead - its more than Bush and Cheney and Wolfowitz and Rice and all the other warmongering liars and cowards have done for their country - but this can be misconstrued by some cynics as adding more expendable fodder for our military-corporate endeavors.
("One of the many paradoxes of American history is how a nation of immigrants could be at the same time a nation that could so often be roused to fear and even hysteria over ideas, movements, and people labeled "foreign", or how often other ideas, movements, and people could be defended and even enthusiastically supported if they could be thought of as "native" - or accepted if they could be proven to have been effectively "Americanized".- Warren Susman
 Rep. Mike's sudden support for immigration reform could not mean that he has had a change of heart - or...? This guy after all once tried to purge registered voters from voting when he was Colorado's Secretary of State - something the Republicans have been fine-tuning all over the country  ever since they realized that white folk aren't the only ones voting anymore. During the 2012 election season he sided with the so-called "birthers" in stating that he thought Obama wasn't even an American. Yet he still managed to defeat his Democrat opponent by just under 7000 votes. Coffman is also a signer of that idiotic pledge of allegiance to Grover Norquist. Perhaps if his congressional district hadn't been redrawn after the 2012 election to include more than three times the number of Hispanic voters than before he may not have been bothered by his record on immigration. And yet he has come out in support of protecting his state's Marijuana legalization laws against any federal infringement because it was "what the voters wished". For someone who resides with his family in Aurora you would hope he takes a correct stand on assault weapon ban if that ever comes to the floor of the House. And Right-Wing (with an asterisk) Marine Vet Mike Coffman rose in the House of Representatives on Wednesday last and spoke these words on the 10th anniversary of our Iraqi War :
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—HOUSE March 20, 2013  
THE TENTH ANNIVERSARY OF THE START OF THE WAR IN IRAQ 
(Mr. COFFMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.) 


Mr. COFFMAN. "Mr. Speaker, today is the 10th anniversary for the war in Iraq that began with the United States-led invasion on March 20, 2003.
In 2005, I resigned from public office in the State of Colorado to return to Active Duty in the United States Marine Corps for assignment in Iraq. I did this, not because I believed that the invasion of Iraq was the right decision for our country, but because I strongly believed that, once the decision had been made to go into Iraq, that we had a responsibility to bring this war to a just conclusion. I can’t say enough about the young men and women of our military whom I met in Iraq when I served there and observed their courage, their determination to succeed under very challenging conditions, and their extraordinary sacrifices. However, now that I’m a member of the House Armed Services Committee, I will do everything I can to make sure that our country never goes down this path again. Nation-building operations, where we invade, pacify and administer whole countries, is the wrong direction for America and must never be repeated again."
Every once in a great while I still can feel that tugging at my own tattered heart that we're all in this together.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

THIS IS THE BUSINESS WE'VE CHOSEN


Monday 5/20/2013
If I was a betting man I would wager that upon the combined wisdom and gold of those assembled shareholders in Tampa tomorrow (Tampa!) our Jamie One-Bank will be crowned anew as both chairman and chief exec of JPMorgan Chase. Afterall, why mess up a good thing and that bankster has been a golden goose for a while even during these highly critical times. 
The Once and Future
The only question left really is why hasn't this bank made even more money. I mean it "suffers" a humiliatingly multi-billion dollar trading loss and still managed to make record profits for the year. Why try to change it now? What are the "rebels" angry about? Poor publicity? A bad rep? An anti-people perception? C'mon. And this coming from the likes of a guy who was chief of Exxon? Misleading investors? Who among the deep pockets down in Tampa is hurting?

Only the little people (all 99% of us) are hurting. And we still need banks. And, quite frankly, they're not that many viable ones left to put whatever pennies we may have left into. No, there won't be a demotion for Jamie. The best the rich boys and girls can do for themselves would be to come up with a better "Risk management", some sorting process or program that would put the brakes on (automatically) some overreaching bet or algorithm. Why complicate a 19% increase in your stock price? Keep blaming Obama  
He always made money for his friends
for a rotten  business atmosphere; plenty of well-paid lawyers to battle obscene regulations; the SEC is really a bunch of wusses anyway; who cares if you're inconsiderate and threatening to credit card pikers; there's plenty of little people to foreclose on still and plenty more to sucker in to buying. C'mon go vote and then party some more.
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THE NEXT DAY.......
Live Blog: Dimon Wins Crucial Vote at JPMorgan
BY DEALBOOK
Outside JPMorgan Chase's annual shareholder meeting in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday.Chris O’Meara/Associated PressOutside JPMorgan Chase’s annual shareholder meeting in Tampa, Fla., on Tuesday.
11:52 a.m. | Updated
Jamie Dimon and the 10 other directors of JPMorgan Chase were all re-elected at the bank’s annual shareholders meeting in Tampa, Fla., today.

Mr. Dimon, the nation’s most powerful banker, held on to his title of chairman after JPMorgan’s shareholders defeated a proposal to split the two top jobs.

Even if JPMorgan shareholders had accepted the proposal, the bank would not have been required to act. But the board will likely make changes to derail future calls for a shake-up. The possibilities include reshuffling the bank’s risk committee or giving its lead director more power.
11:48 A.M.Shareholders Back Dimon With Even More Votes