Chapter 23

And the headlines, with their foot soldiers the articles, marched on . . .

The Bush Administration requested - and Congress approved - $1.2 billion to construct a wall between the United States and Mexico, which is projected to cost over $60 billion over 25 years. The wall is a series of two or three 40-foot-high rows of reinforced fencing 150 miles wide and 700 miles long. The Department of Homeland Security has already suspended 19 laws, including the Clean Water Act, to build the wall. Reaction has been critical. As Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano said, "Show me a 50-foot wall and I'll show you a 51-foot ladder."

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The case Crawford v. Marion County Election Board before the Supreme Court tests the constitutionality of an Indiana statute requiring a government-issued ID to vote. Republicans insisted voter impersonation is a serious problem. But every systematic study has concluded that the problem does not exist in the US. The law would adversely affect the poor, minorities, and the elderly - who mostly vote Democrat.

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US policymakers have refused to face the question honestly: why do so many immigrants come? The answer lies in the destruction of the system that protected Mexico's poor at the hands of US banks and corporations who have cooperated with Mexican oligarchs to "modernize" the economy. One result, the North American Free Trade Agreement, has provided: (1) less than a third of the millions of Mexican jobs needed; (2) displacement of 2 million peasant farmers from their lands as their crop prices plummeted; and (3) a flood of Mexican business bankruptcies as US predatory chains have moved in - Walmart is Mexico's main employer of formal jobs.

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"The subprime mortgage crisis is sinking America's economic ship like the Titanic," declared Rev. Jesse Jackson. Predatory lenders have been steering black homeowners towards subprime loans for years. Home equity accounts for more than 90 percent of black homeowners' networth. As the housing market collapses, much of the new wealth that has accumulated in black communities in recent decades will evaporate.

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Anti-immigrant officials play on the economic fragility of the American middle-class. However, even if there were no undocumented workers in the US, the middle-class would still be endangered. Undocumented workers are not responsible for: (1) downsized and offshored middle class jobs; (2) changing bankruptcy laws so corporations can cancel union contracts; (3) no enforcement of wage and hour laws; and (4) illegally classifying millions of employees as "independent contractors" to avoid paying benefits.

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Last year millions of toys sold in the United States containing toxic lead. While attention focused on China, where factory owners, under pressure from importers, used dangerous materials to cut costs, little attention has focused on the Consumer Product Safety Commission. This government agency has been weakened for many years. The Commission is headed by Bush-appointed Harold Stratton, who has a long pro-business history. The CPSC has just one full-time toy safety inspector facing tens of thousands of consumer complaints each year.

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Having increased from 6,000 before Hurricane Katrina to 12,000 today, the homeless men, women, and children of New Orleans struggle to survive. The main problem is the lack of affordable rental housing; the flood destroyed 52,000 units. Congress funneled 85% of recovery funds to homeowners, leaving 15% to rehab rental housing. Local ordinances banning multi-family apartments in effect keep out poor renters from the newly gentrifying city. The total number of homeless shelter beds has fallen from 2,045 to 505.

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Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia's - and Africa's - first woman president, is struggling to collect on promises of international aid. She faces a national budget of $199 million with which to tackle an 85% unemployment rate and 42% illiteracy rate. A national literacy program to disarm child soldiers of the recent civil war could only handle 38,000 - but 103,000 had applied. For many child soldiers, living on the streets has become the only option.

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While President Bush toured Israel, the US announced a sale of $123 million in arms to Saudi Arabia. This arms package could reach $20 billion. The US also committed to $30 billion in military aid to Israel over 10 years. While visiting Abu Dhabi, President Bush stated, "America is using its influence to foster peace[.]" A few days later, battles between Israeli forces and Hamas members killed 18 Palestinians and a kibbutz worker.

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The Center for Public Integrity has assembled a database of 935 false statements made by the Bush Administration in the two years following September 11.

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A Marine Corps review in 2007 of 1,019 other-than-honorable discharges issued during the first four years of the Iraq War found that a third of the discharged marines had evidence of mental illness. Funding for mental health treatment of veterans has been the worst in 20 years. Mental health-related discharges require a lifetime of veteran benefit payments. Suicide rates for marines are increasing.

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White House press secretary Dana Perino admitted to not knowing about the Cuban Missile Crisis but she did state, "It had to do with Cuba and missiles, I'm pretty sure."