F A C I N G S O U T H A progressive Southern news report September 4, 2003 * Issue 61
Published by the Institute for Southern Studies and Southern Exposure magazine. To join the Institute and get a year's worth of Southern Exposure and Facing South, visit www.southernstudies.org/support.asp _____ INSTITUTE INDEX * If this is a recovery, don't show me a recession Year that the Bush Administration says the recession ended: 2001 Amount by which the number of people in poverty grew last year, in millions: 1.4 Number of jobs that have been lost since the "recovery" started, in millions: 1 Number of manufacturing jobs lost in North and South Carolina since January 2001: 180,000 Last time the country experienced a "hiring slump" this bad: 1939 Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies. _____ DATELINE: THE SOUTH * News Around the Region THE TEXAS STALEMATE: IT'S ALL ABOUT RACE The Democratic boycott of the Texas legislature over a redistricting battle isn't just about party politics -- it's also about race. As one Republican confides: "We have 10 years until Hispanics take over." (Salon, 9/3) http://www.truthout.org/docs_03/090403F.shtml GOP OWNS "NASCAR DAD" VOTE They are middle- to lower-class white males, mostly from rural areas, who analysts call "NASCAR dads." They make up a demographic that Democrats want, much as they sought the suburban "soccer mom" vote in 2000. But their Republican leanings may make roadkill of the Democratic bid for the Whitehouse. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 8/31) http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0803/31nascardads.html FLORIDA TOPS U.S. FOR LAW-BREAKING FARM LABOR BOSSES Florida, America's citrus capital, is also America's capital for lawless and ruthless farm labor contractors. The state is home to more than four of every 10 farm contractors currently barred from doing business for skirting migrant farmworker laws. Florida is also home to the largest hub of these crew-boss contractors, more than one of every three nationwide. (Miami Herald, 9/1) http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/6666108.htm RECONSTRUCTION MONUMENT RILES SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS An effort to highlight South Carolina's Beaufort County as the national birthplace of the South's Reconstruction era has stirred tension in the Lowcountry. The Sons of Confederate Veterans wants to stop the effort to federally protect several sites honoring the area's prominent historical roles in the post-Civil War period. (The State [Columbia, SC], 8/22) http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/6591076.htm VOTING MACHINE MAKER A MAJOR REPUBLICAN BOOSTER The head of a company vying to sell voting machines in various states told Ohio Republicans in a recent fund-raising letter that he is "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year." Walden O'Dell is chief executive of Diebold Inc., a company contracted to install machines in Georgia, North Carolina and other states. (Cleveland Plain Dealer, 8/28) http://www.cleveland.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news/106207171078040.xml?nohio SOUTHERN UTILITY GIANT HIRES EPA REGULATOR Georgia energy giant Southern Co. hired a new congressional lobbyist this week -- John Pemberton, chief of staff of the division of the federal Environmental Protection Agency that delivered a key Clean Air Act victory last week to the nation's coal-fired utility industry, led by Southern Co. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 9/4) http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0903/04southern.html MORE THAN HALF OF MIAMI-DADE COUNTY FOREIGN-BORN Florida's largest county is the only county in the country where more than half the residents are foreign-born, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey. Miami-Dade's foreign-born residents account for 51.4 percent of its population of 2.3-million. That tops counties in larger metro areas in New York and California. (St. Petersburg Times, 9/3) http://www.sptimes.com/2003/09/03/State/Born_in_USA_Not_in_Mi.shtml THE TEXAS MACHINE They brought you G.W. Bush, Karl Rove, and Tom DeLay, and other leaders of the country. Welcome to the story of the Texas Machine, or how a small group of politicians and corporations bought themselves a legislature and took over the world. (Texas Observer, 8/29) http://www.texasobserver.org/showArticle.asp?ArticleID=1434
