Titanic Post

Ken Nicholson

Race does not exist! Sorry to spoil your state of privilege, but it does not exist. Biologically, there are greater differences in the DNA among Caucasians than there are between Caucasians, Negroes, or Asians.

If you want to find actual human differences, look at class. This is where the competition lays. Skin color, age, language, gender, and income are just convenient ways to divide and conquer. It’s about money.

In answer to the Libertarian mantra of big government being behind all our problems from racism to bad breath, I think government is less racist than society in general. Not sure about the bad breath.

By Arianna Huffington, Los Angeles Times
Posted on March 27, 2007, Printed on March 28, 2007 Alternet

There is a subject being forgotten in the 2008 Democratic race for the White House.

While all the major candidates are vying for the black and Latino vote, they are completely ignoring one of the most pressing issues affecting those constituencies: the failed “war on drugs” — a war that has morphed into a war on people of color.

Consider this: According to a 2006 report by the American Civil Liberties Union, African Americans make up an estimated 15% of drug users, but they account for 37% of those arrested on drug charges, 59% of those convicted and 74% of all drug offenders sentenced to prison. Or consider this: The U.S. has 260,000 people in state prisons on nonviolent drug charges; 183,200 (more than 70%) of them are black or Latino. (more…)

I am relieved that civil rights have been incorporated into our legal system, at least in regard to race. Women’s rights and gay rights also show promise of becoming a part of our legal system. Blacks, women, and gays have always been acutely aware of their status because the culture of elitism never let them forget their place, or lack of place, in society. Everyone assumes that we live in a (white) man’s world. Even poor white men believe they are a privileged part of that world.

If you are a working man or woman (or child) and if you are on the receiving end of work orders and have little or no say about your work, chances are you’re a member of the lower working class of humans. We are most commonly known by the middle and upper classes as rednecks, trailer trash, hillbilly, the great unwashed. We are who the middle-class liberals mean when they talk about violence and racism. They also have us in mind when on the rare occasions they talk about poverty. Of course, we are the source of our own poverty. It is our violent nature plus ignorance and laziness, not to mention our complete lack of morals, that has kept us from climbing the ladder to the exalted middle-class. (more…)

Last week the executive director of the Alamogordo Chamber of Commerce, Ed Karr, was quoted in the Alamogordo Daily News saying that it was a good thing when part of the movie “Transformer” was filmed in the Alamogordo area and leaving behind a clean million dollars in the community. This is a great thing. The movie companies pay well and in Alamogordo’s dual economy this is a welcome relief to the usual minimum wage plus a dollar or two. They also clean up their mess before they leave. Mr. Karr also claimed that the very same million dollars is “still rotating in the economy” three months after the film crew left went back to Hollywood. I don’t think so. The bulk of that money would have been spent at the local Walmart and K-mart. Another large chunk would have been used in our many chain stores here. Most locally owned small businesses have been devoured by the big guys over the years.

According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, only 6 cents of every dollar spent in a big box retailer is retained or recirculated in a community. And 20 cents of every dollar spent with a chain store is retained or recirculated in a community. (Small Business Administration) Compare this with 60 cents of every dollar spent with a sole proprietorship that is retained or recirculated in a community. (SBA) My guess is that most of that million dollars is by now safely in an Arkansas bank.

The Otero County Council on Economic Development website proudly advertises generous incentives to business from out of town to locate here. They are also proud that New Mexico is a Right to Work (for less) state and they are especially proud of the fact that there is little union activity. “Growth is the philosophy of the cancer cell,” said Edward Abby. I believe he was right and that just might be the reason that only a small percentage of workers in this area can stay ahead of the game.

Dear Desert Person,
I have just learned that the new Democratic congress wants to reinstate the draft. I think this is a horrible idea. If this hair-brained scheme comes about, soldiers who want to serve will have to serve with soldiers who don’t want to serve. The draft would be unfair to some people and morale would drop, causing people to resent the government even more than they do now. We will never win in Iraq, if the draft is reinstated.
Worried in Dartmouth

Dear Worried in Dartmouth,
I have personally experienced the devastation and havoc caused by the draft. I had the honor of serving in the Army from 1961 to 1964 in Germany and I found that the most insidious aspect of the draft was in the mixing of classes and cultures. I can only shudder at my memories of being exposed to jazz musicians, country/blues singers, educated people, people who had traveled, atheist people, and people of other religions and political backgrounds. I was never the same after that experience and to this day, I have not recovered my old prejudices.

However, there is no need to worry now. Most members of Congress will vote against this radical idea. Many of them have, or soon will have, children of draftable age, as do many of the influential people who pay for their elections and own their allegiance. They also do not want their friends and neighbors to be subjected to activities that are beneath their social status, such as sweating, eating out of cans, sleeping in tents, or having to actually see the people they destroy.
Sincerely,
Desert Person

Following is an article in which the minimum wage is debated by brilliant economists such as Rush Limbaugh and experts from the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute, and the American Enterprise Institute on the one side and Greg Aung, a 20 year old college student, on the other side.

Living Wage Debate By Geoff Aung, Campus Progress Originally posted on June 20, 2005 on AlterNet.

You’ve probably heard some of the Right’s classic arguments against paying American workers a fair wage before - job loss this or free market that. Campus Progress is cutting through the Right’s reductionist sound bites and rebutting their arguments, punch for punch, by dissecting some of the most common living wage criticisms.

Here’s a fun fact to get you started: Since 1968, the inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage has decreased nearly 40% from its $8.49 peak to its current, miserly $5.15. We think that’s a bad thing. So do plenty of other people, from campus activists to community organizers, to national campaigners like ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), which is leading the charge to get living wage ordinances passed across the country.

This is a big, nationwide problem. Right now, almost 6% of the workforce earns the minimum wage (which amounts to around $10,000 a year for folks working full-time) while another 6.5% of the work force earn a dollar or less above minimum wage, for a grand total of 15 million Americans working for poverty wages. Living wage ordinances which raise wages to provide enough for full-time workers to support their families above the poverty line only cover the subset of workers who are employed by businesses receiving government contracts or economic development subsidies. Still, living wage ordinances create a bulwark against the ongoing corporate race to the bottom.

And, well, we need that. In the immortal words of comedian Chris Rock: “There are people who would like to get rid of minimum wage. But we have to have it, because if we didn’t some people would not get paid money. They would work all week for two loaves of bread and some Spam.”

So get involved. Join the fray and arm yourself: Here’s (nearly) everything you need to know to get smart on the living wage.

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