F A C I N G S O U T H A progressive Southern news report July 9, 2004 * Issue 83 _____ INSTITUTE INDEX * Remember Enron? Amount of contributions that Enron gave to President Bush's 2000 campaign: $623,000 Rank of Enron among Bush's biggest campaign contributors in 2000: 1 Out of 8 recommendations Enron made to Bush Adminisration's energy task force, number adopted: 7 Amount that Georgia state pension plan lost due to Enron's 2001 bankruptcy, in millions: $127 Amount that 20,000 Enron workers lost in retirement savings, in billions: $1.2 Amount that top Enron executives made in stock sales before the bankruptcy, in billions: $1.1 Amount that Enron Chairman Ken Lay personally made, in millions: $217
Sources on file at the Institute for Southern Studies. _____ DATELINE: THE SOUTH * Top Stories Around the Region BUSH TIES PUT ENRON BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT The indictment of President Bush's one-time friend and financial backer Kenneth Lay put the spotlight back on Bush's ties to big corporate donors as he heads into the final months of the U.S. presidential campaign. (Reuters, 7/8) http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=5624062 NORTH CAROLINA MAY BECOME BATTLEGROUND STATE With U.S. Sen. John Edwards being selected Tuesday as the running mate for presumed Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, North Carolina may become the state that swings both ways. A recent Mason-Dixon poll showed a Kerry/Edwards ticket narrowly beating Bush/Cheney. (Durham Herald-Sun, 7/6) http://heraldsun.com/durham/4-498254.html LATINO VOTE KEY IN 2004 The Latino community, the largest racial minority group in the United States, could be key in deciding whether Republican George W. Bush or Democrat John Kerry wins the November 2 presidential election. Of almost 40 million Latinos living in the United States, some seven million -- 6.1 percent of the US electorate, and one million more than in the last presidential election -- will be eligible to vote. (AFP, 7/5) http://tinyurl.com/3awa8 PROMISE OF 1964 CIVIL RIGHTS ACT UNFULFILLED When the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was passed, it capped years of struggle to have Congress enact legislation that would explicitly outlaw discrimination. But the advent of school re-segregation and a persistent class divide between white and black Americans make the Act's goals elusive. (BlackPressUSA) http://tinyurl.com/2ordt BUSH OPPONENTS HANDCUFFED FOR WEARING T-SHIRTS On July 4, President Bush celebrated America's freedom in a rally in Charleston, West Virginia. But a couple from Texas, in town on business, were hauled away in handcuffs for wearing T-shirts saying, "Love America, Hate Bush." (Charleston Gazette, 7/9) http://wvgazette.com/section/Editorials/2004070819 NEW ORLEANS IS CHEAPEST PLACE TO DATE New Orleans isn't just the home of Mardi Gras and good Cajun cooking. According to Match.com, it's also the cheapest place to take someone out on a date. The website's "Cost of Dating Index" ranked cities by six kinds of dates: Coffee Date, Drinks, Lunch, Movie (and ice cream), Romantic (dinner, theatre tickets and flowers) and Professional sporting event. (Match.com) http://msn.match.com/msn/article.aspx?articleid=2357 -------------------------------------------------------------- Please Note: Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most written communications to or from College employees regarding College business are public records, available to the public and media upon request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public disclosure.
