OPINION
The Chronicle
liNisr H. Pitt
tiAlti Pitt
T. Kivm Walkik
K*r Stuitz
Publisher/Co-Founder
Business Manager
Managing Editor
Production Supervisor
North Cwoitna
Ptm? Association
pSSEHES
Ifitiffciwa
AmakiMnatad
KRT Image
A portion of the money from the N.C. Health and Wellness
Trust Fund Commiission is being used to help teens realize the
dangers of smoking.
Politics and
economics go
hand in hand
Ernie Pitt
This &
That
I have wondered for a long
time why a prospective politi
cal candidate would spend so
much money trying to become
elected to office. Not only
money raised from others but
many candidates put their own
money in me poi.
Why, I often asked,
would someone
want to spend a mil
lion dollars to be
elected to Con
gress? That's about
what it's going to
cost for the Fifth
District race. Proba
bly more.
Well, with those
political offices
come control over taxpayers'
money and the ability to direct
some of that money to places
that may benefit some of the
people who contributed. Most
ly. naturally, nonminorities.
Take, for instance, the N.C.
Health- and Wellness Trust
Fund Commission headed by
Lt. Gov. Beverly Perdue's
office. The office has some $5
million available to help curb
tobacco use by teenagers.
Given the disparity of govern
ment spending between
minorities and nonminorities
- one would think that the com
mission would welcome
opportunities to interact with
and form partnerships with
minority-owned businesses in
trying to reach the African
American teenager. Not so.
The very first thing the
Health and Wellness Commis
sion did was go straight to
radio, where very few stations,
if any. are owned by minori
ties. Second, the commission
went to television. Now, the
commission is doing some
thing else. I know this may
sound self-serving, but why
won't the commission use
black media? What is its prob
lem with utilizing media
aimed, owned and operated by
minorities? That includes
agencies, black-owned radio
and print.
What happens is the com
mission comes to us (black
media) for the free stuff like
press releases and goes to
everyone else with the paid
stuff. That, to me. is
not equal opportuni
ty or equal access.
We're talking about
public dollars here.
That is why it is
important for
minorities who are
elected to office to
bring something to
bear on that despica
ble situation. We
live in America: a
free enterprise, democratic,
capitalistic society. Some of
us understand that. And that is
why nonminority candidates
will spend millions to be elect
ed. ..so they can control your
tax__dullars..,my tax dollars
and direct them to places that
do not affect our economic
well-being. It is called eco
nomic racism, and that is what
the lieutenant governor and
the commission are doing
right now before our very
eyes.
It's election time. Let's
remember what's really going
on and demand a small slice of
that big fat pie. God loves a
cheerful giver. God bless you.
Amen!
Ernie Pitt is the publisher
of The Chronicle and the
chairman of the Housing
Authority of Winston-Salem
Board of Commissioners. E
mail him at erpitt@wschroni
cle.com.
Perdue
Kerry sells out to big education
Armstrong
Williams
Guest
The National Education
Association (NEA). the nation's
largest professional employee
organization, is fundamentally
opposed to any education
reform that seeks to hold public
schools accountable for their
failures. On July 3, 2004, the
NEA will hold its national con
vention in Washington. D.C,
That's when the NEA is expect
ed to endorse John Kerry for
president. Along with the
endorsement will come thou
sands of votes from teachers
across the country.
J41 return, Kerry will talk
aboilt how school vouchers will
tear apart our public education
system.
Far more instructive, howev
er, are the remarks Kerry made
about education before he won
the Democratic nomination and
became beholden to the big
interests of the teachers unions.
"We must end teacher tenure
as we now know it," said Kerry
in 1998 speeches delivered in
Boston and Washington. During
those speeches, Kerry took shots
at a public education bureaucra
cy that shielded public schools
and teachers from accountabili
ty, while beWioaning that "those
going into teaching have the
lowest SAT and ACT scores of
any profession in the United
States."
In a 1998 New Republic arti
cle, Dana Milbank wrote that
Kerry told her he'd "even
approve government funded
vouchers - good for tuition at
any accredited private school -
as part of an overall education
reform...." At the time, Kerry
was proposing turning all public
schools into charter schools -
the reasoning being that since
students are assigned to public
schools, the system has no
t.And feo the f^pziblic fe>r which ife stands,
One nation, under likio^fcion..."
incentive to improve and no
accountability for failure. Other
wise stated, the public school
system is a monopoly. But if
poor families could send their
children to any charter school
with the government paying all
or part of the tuition, public
schools would be forced to raise
their standards or risk having
their students flee.
"I'm for tough love here,
folks," Kerry said. "It's time to
come in and kick some butts.
Democrats can't be viewed as
somehow protecting these prac
tices. You can't do this in some
loosey-goosey.way." ?
Six years later, Kerry is
singing a different tune. No
longer is he issuing severe
sounding rhetoric about making
public education accountable. In
fact, his new education plan
goes so far as to demand that
"any new education program
Congress authorizes will be
automatically funded by law." In
other words, Kerry is calling for
an open spigot of education
spending. Once the spending is
authorized, neither Congress nor
a future president can turn the
spigot off. Just throw money at
the problem. Reward failure not
with accountability, but With
more funds. Certainly sounds
like Kerry's buying into the big
interests of the education unions
now.
So. why the flip flop? It's
pretty straightforward. Kerry
could afford to be a little more
bold and a little more flexible
while working on the local and
state levels. Now that Kerry is
the Democratic nominee for
president, he has to march in
step with the party.
The NEA owns a piece of
the Democratic Party. Accord
ing to the NEA's budget, the
NEA donated $20 million last
year to Democratic legislators,
second only to the American
Federation of State/City/Munic
ipal Employees. Receiving a
large part of your campaign
money directly from the teach
ers unions means the Democrats
are obliged to repay the debt in
some form. That's why the
same Democratic representa
tives who send their own chil
dren to private schools are up in
arms each session, crying about
how extending that same right to
poor children - mostly of color
- would destroy (he public edu
cation system.
The union's motivation for
opposing vouchers and public
school accountability is equally
straightforward. The union real
izes that vouchers would mean
fewer teachers, fewer member
ship dues, the likely defections
by public school personnel to
privatized systems that have tra
ditionally resisted centralized
unionization, and the birth of
competing collective bargaining
entities. For 'he teachers unions,
the idea of competition can only
mean giving up leverage. Since
the job of unions is to accumu
late leverage and membership
dues, the teachers unions have
decided that it is in their best
interest to vehemently oppose
the vouchers movement.
Together, Kerry and the
unions talk about protecting the
interest of our children. It would
be nice, however, if these so
called representatives of our
children's interests could find a
way not to sell out the greatest
instrument of our children's
empowerment - their education.
www.armstrongw illiams.com
The exorbitant cost of war
George E.
Curry
Guest
Columnist
Now thai the United States
has turned over government con
trol in Baghdad to the Iraqis - in
name but not reality - this is as
good a time as any to reflect on
how much this war is costing us.
And that's exactly what an Insti
tute for Policy Studies task force,
headed by Phyllis Bennis, has
done. The 54-page report, which
is available on the Internet at
www.ips-dc.org/iraq/costofwar/,
provides an exhaustive and
insightful look at the cost of the
invasion of Iraq and the subse
quent occupation. Below are just a
few of the IPS findings:
HUMAN COSTS - Between
the start of the war on March 19,
2CX)3, and June 16. 2(104. accord
ing to research compiled by IPS.
952 coalition forces were killed,
including 836 members of the
U.S. military. Between 50 and 90
civilian contractors, missionaries
and civilian workers - 36 of them
Americans - died. Thirty journal
ists were killed in Iraq, eight of
them employed by U.S. media
companies. U.S. forces were
responsible for at least nine of the
deaths, including employees from
the BBC. Reuters, ITN. ABC net
work, U.S. network, Arab TV sta
tions al-Arabiya and al-Jazeera
and the Spanish network Telecin
co. Over this period, more than
5,134 troops suffered wounds,
including 4,593 since President
Bush declared the end of combat
operations on ,May 1,2003.
Iraq and its people are paying
an even higher cost, the report
says.
"The image we were present
ed with was one of happy Iraqis
welcoming U.S. troops with rice
and flowers and immediately
going back to work to rebuild
their new, democratic free-market
country." recalls the report, titled
"Paying the Price: The Mounting
Costs of the Iraq War." It contin
ues. "Reality was very different.
While the removal of the brutal
- KRT Photo ~
Children watch as a U.S, soldier patrols alongside an Iraqi
guard unit in Baghdad on Sunday.
dictator Saddam Hussein was no
doubl a welcome development fof
many Iraqis, the costs of the war
have been extremely high and are
likely to continue."
Iraq Body Count, a group of
academics and researchers, placed
the number of civilian deaths as- a
direct result of the U.S. invasion
somewhere between 9.436 and
1 1 .3 1 7. In the past, the number of
wounded in war has typically
been three times the death rate,
meaning that approximately
35, (KM) Iraqis may have been
wounded.
ECONOMIC COSTS - The
report notes thai Lawrence Lind
sey, a White House economic
adviser, was fired in 2(X)2 for pre
dicting that the Iraq war would
cost between $100 billion and
$200 billion. In retrospect, he was
correct. So far. Congress has
approved $151.1 billion and is
expected to approve even more as
U.S. troops remain in Iraq after
the official change in government.
One economist projects that the
cost of the war will average at
least $3.4 1 5 for every U.S. house
hold.
SOCIAL COSTS - The
Bush administration combination
of massive spending on the war
and tax cuts for the wealthy means
less money for social spending."
the report observes. "The admin
istration's FY 2005 budget request
proposes deep cuts in critical
domestic programs. It also virtual
ly freezes funding for domestic
discretionary programs other than
homeland security."
If Bush is re-elected, the
report states, he plans further cuts
in domestic spending.
"Indeed, a leaked memo from
the White House to domestic
agencies outlines major cuts fol
lowing the election, including
funding for education. Head Start,
home ownership, job training,
medical research and homeland
security - all programs the presi
dent has been touting during the
campaign." it says.
"The $126 billion already
appropriated and the $25 billion
pending for the war in Iraq could
have purchased any of the follow
ing desperately needed services in
our country: close to 23 million
Housing vouchers; health care for
over 27 million uninsured Ameri
cans; nearly 3 million new ele
mentary school teachers; 678,200
new fire engines; over 20 million
Head Start slots for children;
health care coverage for 82 mil
lion children."
SECURITY COSTS - "Polls
reveal that the war has damaged
the U.S. government's standing
and credibility in the world. Sur
veys in eight European and Arab
countries demonstrated broad
public agreement that the war has
hurt, rather than helped, the war
on terrorism. At home, 54 percent
of Americans polled by the
Annenberg Election Survey felt
that 'the situation in Iraq was not
worth going to war over.'"
? The report continues, ?X num
ber of former military officials
have criticized the war. including
retired Marine General Anthony
Zinni. who has charged that by
manufacturing a false rationale for ?
war, abandoning traditional allies,
propping up and trusting Iraqi
exiles, and failing to plan for post
war Iraq, the Bush Administration
made the United States less
secure."
George E. Curry is editor-in
chief of the NNPA News Senice
and BlackPressUSA.com. His
most recent book is "The Best of
Emerge Magazine. " an anthology
published by Ballantine Books.
Curry's weekly radio commentary
is syndicated by Capitol Radio
News Sert ice (XI /58X- 1 993). He
can be reached through his Web
site, georgecuriy.com.