Facing South

[Michael Hoover <hooverm@xxxxxxxxxx>]

F A C I N G   S O U T H

A progressive Southern news report

July 10, 2003 * Issue 55

Published by the Institute for Southern Studies and Southern Exposure magazine. 
Visit www.southernstudies.org/support.asp to join today and get a year's worth of Southern Exposure and Facing South!
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INSTITUTE INDEX * Can You Spare a Dime?
Number of new jobs President Bush has promised to create by 2004, in millions: 5.5
Amount that unemployment has increased since 2001, in millions: 3
Number of years since unemployment has been as high as it is now: 9
Unemployment rate among African-American teens in June 2002: 30%
Unemployment rate among African-American teens in June 2003: 39%
Percent of U.S. residents who feel Bush's tax cuts are "generally unfair": 54
Percent who think the tax cuts will help the rich "a lot": 42
Percent who think they will help the middle class "a lot": 11

Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies.
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DATELINE: THE SOUTH * News Around the Region

HUNDREDS OF COMMUNITIES GO ON RECORD FOR CIVIL LIBERTIES
A new report by the American Civil Liberties Union finds that more than 130 communities, encompassing more than 16 million people in 26 states including Florida, North Carolina, and Tennessee, have recently passed resolutions opposing the Patriot Act, racial profiling, enforcing immigration laws or participating in federal investigations that violate civil liberties. (ACLU, 7/3)
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=13061&c=206

ANGER RISES FOR FAMILIES OF TROOPS IN IRAQ
At bases like Fort Hood, Texas, military families are demanding: end the occupation, bring the troops home. New York Times, 7/4)
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0704-02.htm

SUPREME COURT PUTS BLACK VOTING DISTRICTS AT RISK
What the U.S. Supreme Court gave in the affirmative action decision, it threatens to take away with its decision in "Georgia v. Ashcroft," which was handed down a few days later. The decision puts at risk the drawing of additional Black majority districts for either national or local representation. (BlackPressUSA, 7/03)
http://www.blackpressusa.com/News/Article.asp?SID=3&Title=Hot+Stories&NewsID=2915

BEACH PROTECTION POLICIES A "FACADE"
An investigation by the Raleigh News & Observer finds that agencies set up to regulate development in fragile coastal environments are hampered by powerful interests. The result: billions of dollars in development are allowed, and taxpayers foot the bill in emergency aid when the innevitable storms hit. (Raleigh News & Observer, 7/5)
http://newsobserver.com/news/nc/story/2670889p-2476543c.html

MEDIA CHAIN CHALLENGED FOR BANNING DIXIE CHICKS
Cumulus Media Inc. became a target for critics of media consolidation on Capitol Hill, when Senators sharply questioned the free speech implications of a decision by the nation's second-largest radio broadcaster to temporarily ban the Dixie Chicks from its 42 country music stations' airwaves in March. The ban came following the band's criticism of President Bush as he was preparing to go to war in Iraq. (Dow Jones, 7/8)
http://biz.yahoo.com/djus/030708/1538001048_2.html

THE GHOST OF WOODY GUTHRIE
Tennessee musician, poet and writer Steve Earle tells why we can't try to be Woody Guthrie -- but why he's still a hero. (The Nation, 7/21)
http://www.thenation.com/docprint.mhtml?i=20030721&s=earle