I've said it many times: read the business pages of the New York Times. it's where the REAL news is:

Next spring, for the first time, [farmers in the US] intends to plant beets genetically engineered to withstand Monsanto’s powerful Roundup herbicide. The Roundup will destroy the weeds but leave his crop unscathed, potentially saving him thousands of dollars in tractor fuel and labor.

Seven years ago, beet breeders were on the verge of introducing Roundup-resistant seeds. But they had to pull back after sugar-using food companies like Hershey and Mars, fearing consumer resistance, balked at the idea of biotech beets. Now, though, sensing that those concerns have subsided, many processors have cleared their growers to plant the Roundup-resistant beets next spring.

It would be the first new type of genetically engineered food crop widely grown since the 1990s, when biotech soybeans, corn and a few other crops entered the market.

“Basically, we have not run into resistance,” said David Berg, president of American Crystal Sugar, the nation’s largest sugar beet processor. “We really think that consumer attitudes have come to accept food from biotechnology.”

A Kellogg spokeswoman, Kris Charles, said her company “would not have any issues” buying such sugar for products sold in the United States, where she said “most consumers are not concerned about biotech.”

Really? Consumers in the US aren't worried about bio-engineered frankenfoods? or is it just that corporations like Monsanto have such a stranglehold on public discourse (and the USDA) that people don't have a way to become informed and make their voice heard?

Well, a suggestion: visit the Organic Consumers Association's website, and tell American Crystal Sugar, Hershey, Mars, and Kellogg that you DO oppose introducing genetically modified foods into our environment and food chain - not to mention that you oppose the use of gallons upon gallons of pesticide being sprayed on the food you eat and being released into the enviroment.

SAMPLE LETTER: I read in today's NY Times (Nov. 27th) that your company has dropped its reservations to the use of genetically modfied sugar beets in its products.
As a consumer of your company's goods, i have serious concerns about the long-term health effects of introducing more 'Roundup Ready' foods into the food chain, as well as the environmental effects of a greatly increased use of Roundup.

I will seriously consider ending any purchase of your company's goods if the decision to allow the use of Roundup Ready sugar beets is not reversed.

I heard on Democracy Now that the new Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, has pledged to withdraw Australian combat troops from Iraq and immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on greenhouse gas emissions.

Bear in mind that Australia has the third largest combat contingent in Iraq, after the UK and South Korea.

He has also vowed to issue a formal apology to Aborigines for the abuses they suffered in the past.

It is worthwhile noting that the US government so far has still not even made the symbolic gesture of issuing an apology, let alone provided any substantive reparation for several centuries of slaughter, theft, and broken treaties.

So, great news for Australia. Unfortunately, as i was reading the Sydney Morning Herald, i also read that the state governments of New South Wales and Victoria have given the green light to using genetically modified crops for the first time. The decision is not final: the legislation establishes an expert committee to assess whether the agriculture industry is capable of segregating genetically modified and non-genetically modified crops. If the committee indicates that the industry is unable to do so, then the minister can intervene to block the start of GM farming.

The Australian Conservative Party (whose leader, John Howard, is a staunch ally of George Bush's)has decisevely lost the recent parliamentary elections.

I hope this means good things for the Australians: my question is whether the new Australian government, led by the Labor Party, will withdraw its troops from Iraq. After the UK, Australia has the second largest military contingent in Iraq,

The early analysis I've seen doesn't give me much hope. but we'll see.

From Ha'aretz:

Israel [with the implicit approval of the United States] is to begin gradually reducing the power supply to the Gaza Strip on December 2, in response to the ongoing Qassam rocket fire at Israeli communities along the Strip, Attorney General Menachem Mazuz told the High Court of Justice yesterday.

Israel intends to cut diesel fuel supplies for transportation purposes from 1.4 million liters per week to 1.2 million, and diesel fuel supplies for power stations from 2.2 liters per week to 1.75 liters.

Please remember the 4th Geneva Convention, article 33:

No protected person may be punished for an offence he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.

So this shows the commitment to 'peace' that Israel are demonstrating before the much-ballyhooed Annapolis Conference: violation of the Geneva conventions and collective punishment of the whole population of Gaza.

In this context, i should mention that the US Campaign to end the Israeli Occupation is raising funds for Palestinian farmers by making available Fair Trade Olive Oil grown and processed in Palestine. Purchasing the olive oil is one way to support the Palestinian struggle for independence and self-determination.

leggo sul manifesto che il 're' vuole dei soldi dallo stato italiano.

deve ritenersi fortunato che i suoi progenitori (collaboratori fascisti) non siano stati ghigliottinati, e che gli stati uniti, desiderosi di restaurare un ordine politico favorevole a chi ha i soldi, abbiano instaurato i reali e il generale fascista badoglio a capo dell'italia 'liberata' al sud.

e meno male che sono contro la violenza...

I like David Horsey. He is the editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (formerly for the University of Washington Daily).

But he has a cartoon in today's paper which appalls me. He s trying to mock the Seattle Public Schools for their 'politically correct' (does that mean historically accurate?) portrayal of the real meaning of the day in which white americe celebrates the spoils of genocide.

I mean, don't get me wrong: people get together and spend time with their families - which is wonderful. But the historical reality that prompts the celebration is less warm and fuzzy.

So i wrote a letter to the PI's editor.

I fail to understand the humor behind David Horsey's caricature of the Seattle Public Schools' play about 'Thanksgiving'.

It can't be that the 'politically correct' script is false. The racism of early colonists was enshrined in the declaration of independence: one of the grievances against the British has to do with 'merciless indian savages'. That the colonists were European conquerors cannot be argued with, given the history of expansionist wars they launched against the Natives (and Mexico). Finally, it is beyond doubt that the colonists and our own government committed systematic
acts of violence 'with intent to destroy [the Natives], in whole or in part,' - the definition of Genocide.

Also unfunny is the fact that only two months ago our government was one of four which voted against the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, seeking to perpetuate a long legacy of oppression.

If Seattle's schoolchildren learn about the violence against the Natives for which we bear collective responsibility, perhaps that legacy can be broken.

What's so funny about that?

I taught at West Side High School. This is a story about their football team.

The trip takes just 378 steps. That is the distance between the Newark high school they turned into a football power and the ever-present reminder of how quickly it can disappear.

The players, wearing their green and white West Side High uniforms, form two lines near the school. They walk along South Orange Avenue, turning right under the brownstone archway for Fairmont Cemetery.

They continue up a leaf-covered slope until they arrive at a gravesite marked with five green flags and a pot of flowers. Brian Logan covers the cold ground with two No. 20 jerseys. His players circle around him. ''Everybody here knows what this means,'' the head coach tells the group. ''Everybody here knows how important this is to us. Everybody knows how important he was to us. ''We know the mission. We know he wanted to get a ring. Now, it's up to us to get it.''

Yusef Johnson, a linebacker and running back, was shot todeath on Aug. 10, 2005, just two blocks from his house. He was 15. The West Side players have come to his gravesite before several games since his death, and at the request of quarterback Anthony Baskerville, made the trip again yesterday.

West Side will play its biggest game in school history today, traveling to Morristown for the semifinals of the state playoffs. The team is 8-2 this season, the latest success story for a city that had not crowned a champion in 31 years until Weequahic High won last fall.

Dozens of high school teams will take the field in postseason games today, but none followed as difficult a journey to get there. It took a group from the community, led by a Newark cop with a knack for bringing people together, to carry them through a 70-game winless streak and the violence all around them.

''I get summoned to the funeral home quite a bit,'' said the Rev. Elijah Williams Jr., the pastor at the Welcome Baptist Church on 12 th Avenue. He leads a short prayer at the gravesite, asking everyone to join hands. ''For our community, this season is the zenith.''

RALLYING TO THE TEAM

Before the football team could become the pride of the community, the community had to rally around the team.

West Side had not won a game in more than eight seasons. Logan thought he could turn that around, but went 0-9 in his first season in 1998.

''I wondered, 'Should I go back to Pop Warner?' '' he said.

Logan works as a Newark police detective during the day, and maybe it was this background in a uniform that helped him understand he couldn't do this alone. When he got the job, a call came from Tony Woods, a Newark native who played 10 years in the NFL. ''If there's anything I can do to help,'' Woods said, ''you just let me know.''

“Don't you hang up that phone,'' Logan replied, and soon, Woods was writing an $8,000 check for weight-lifting equipment. Soon, Logan talked the former pro into becoming his defensive coordinator.

He kept looking. Logan found coaches on the police force -- five of them, in fact, ensuring that everywhere his players looked, they saw a role model. He asked legendary Barringer coach Frank Verducci, who had retired decades ago, to become a consultant.

Verducci tipped Logan off on where to find an offensive coordinator. There was just one obstacle: Frank Rossi was in Afghanistan, working as a staff sergeant in the Green Berets. Their first conversation about the option offense took place this summer over a crackling satellite phone connection.

''What was that?'' Logan asked.

''Mortar fire,'' Rossi replied.

He arrived on the practice field in August and might return to the Middle East before next season. Logan has a staff of 15 coaches. Seven of them are paid, and most end up spending that money on clothes and food for the players.

''This,'' Logan said, ''is the only family some of these kids have.''

But success always seemed to come with a setback. West Side finally broke through in

2000 with five wins, but an administrative error allowed an ineligible player on the field.

The Roughriders had to forfeit them all.

They went 8-2 the next season, but the team did not have enough power points to qualify for the state playoffs. City officials threatened lawsuits and demanded answers about the formula used to determine who makes the postseason, but nothing changed.

The team slipped back to mediocrity, then started to improve heading into the 2005 season. Then one day that August, Logan was driving home from a vacation in South Carolina when the call came.

Yusef Johnson was dead.

A SHOCKING CRISIS

Logan pulled off the interstate and checked into a hotel. His players were waiting for him to return home but he couldn't drive. He had dealt with problems before. But this?

Johnson, nicknamed “Taki,” was an energetic kid who Logan often took to a diner after practices to talk about life. He wanted to go to college, maybe become a cop like Logan. He was a honor student who was just returning from a friend's house, the victim of a random shooting that remains unsolved.

The coach handled the crisis the only way he knew how: Head on. They talked about the loss openly and made that walk to the gravesite. ''Everybody knows he will never be forgotten,'' Logan still tells his players, who carry Johnson's No. 20 jersey to every game.

''He's still with us,'' said Baskerville, the star quarterback. ''Every game. Every play. Every snap.''

Nearly two years to the day, another shooting shocked their school this summer -- the killings of three college students in a nearby playground -- and Logan had to pull his family close again.

He and the school principal, Otis Brown, took the team to the crime scene, where they

left flowers and said a prayer. Jamar Hightower, whose older sister was one of the victims, had played on the junior varsity the season before. Iofemi Hightower was the leader of the drum section in the marching band. Devastated by her loss, Jamar left the team and picked up her drumsticks.

''She talked about me and her going to the same college and playing in the same band, but she didn't get a chance,'' Jamar Hightower said. He was standing outside a classroom filled with the noise of young musicians tuning their instruments. ''I was going to do it for her.''

But now, the 17-year-old said he will rejoin the team next fall. Logan has been pushing him to come back, to rejoin the friends he calls ''my brothers.'' He figures his sister would

just want him to go to college, no matter how he got there.

Jamar Hightower will watch from the bleachers today in Morristown. So will several hundred people in this community who have rallied around the team. Logan, despite all the setbacks, allows himself to wonder: Is this the year everything finally comes together?

In that cemetery, with the high school just a couple football fields away, the players take black No. 20 patches and drop them onto the grave. They huddle around their makeshift memorial and raise their arms in the air.

''One-two-three... WIN!'' they yell, then,  “One-two-three... TAKI!''

They put their helmets back on and walk down the cemetery slope, backtracking the 378 steps to the school, where a bus waits to take them to one final practice. Logan watches them walk away.

''If that doesn't get you focused right now, fellas . . . '' he says, never finishing his thought. West Side has the biggest game in school history today. But the true victory was getting here.

By Howard Zinn (originally published on November 13th, 2002):

Veterans Day used to be called Armistice Day, because it was November 11, 1918, at 11 AM - the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, that the first World War came to an end.

It would be good to remember a few things about that war as this country is about to embark on still another war. First, that you don’t "win" wars. We "won" World War I, but sowed the seeds of another world war. War is a quick fix, like crack. An exultant high - we won! - and soon you’re down again, and you need another fix, another war.

In World War I. the German Kaiser was presented as the epitome of evil - a threat to the world,, who must be eliminated for our safety. In truth, he was bad, but his danger to us was enormously exaggerated, as with Saddam Hussein. So the Allies defeated Germany, got rid of the Kaiser, and ten million men died on the battlefields.

We can get rid of Saddam Hussein. Iraq is a fifth-rate military power, with no Air Force to speak of, its army a remnant of what it was ten years ago, the country still in ruins, its infrastructure devastated by two wars, its people weakened by ten years of sanctions depriving people of food and hospitals of medicine, and causing hundreds of thousands of deaths. And the U.S. with its invincible Air Force, will win.

In the course of that, tens of thousands of Iraqis will die, many of them innocent civilians, others poor, miserable conscripts in the Iraqi army. We will be killing the victims of Saddam Hussein. . Because of its high tech weaponry and overwhelming military superiority, America will lose few soldiers. But it will lose its soul.

World War I, presented to the public as a war for democracy, for freedom, was in fact a war fought by imperial powers (France, England, Russia) against an imperial rival, Germany. It led, not to the freedom of colonial peoples, but to a change in who dominated the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe.

Now, the war in Iraq is presented as a moral crusade to end the menace of "weapons of mass destruction", the evidence for which is far from clear. The assumption that Saddam would use them and invite annihilation (since most weapons of mass destruction in the world are held by the United States) makes no sense.

As in the first World War, there are imperial motives at work, and the defeat of Saddam will lead to a change in who controls the precious oil reserves of Iraq. Deals will be cut with Russia, France and England to divide the booty. The talks are going on right now.

The first World war was sold to the American public as "the war to end ll wars". But twenty-one years later came World War II, in which fifty million people were killed. The United Nations was formed, as its Charter says, "to end the scourge of war which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind".

But no, it’s been war after war for the United States: Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, Iraq, Yugoslavia. All accompanied by claims that we were at war for some good cause, all resulting in the loss of human life, all demanding acceptance of the government’s reasons for war, most of which turned out to be lies. We should have learned from Vietnam that true patriotism does not mean marching off to war just because the government tells you to. Those 58,000 names on the Washington memorial should make that clear.

As a veteran of World War II, as a student of the history of our wars, and contemplating still another war, I suggest we keep certain things in mind. First, that we must be extremely skeptical of whatever government officials tell us about the reasons for going to war. Second, that what is certain about war is that large numbers of innocent people will die, including many children, and what is uncertain about war is that any good will come of it.

Finally, that when you go to war, you assume that the lives of people in another country are not as valuable as the lives of your own countrymen. If we really believe, as our most fundamental moral principles demand we believe, that the children in other countries have as much right to live as our children, then we must refuse the call to war. It is time, by public demand, by general outcry, to end "the scourge of war" .

The best thing we can do for Veterans Day is to pledge: "No more war veterans".

A Vicenza, c'e' chi non scherza. Vorrei esserci anch'io!

Obiettivo raggiunto. C'è soddisfazione tra le centinaia di cittadini che da martedì notte stanno presidiando le entrate dell'aeroporto Dal Molin. Ieri i lavori di bonifica del terreno non ci sono stati. Bloccati. Nessun lavoratore impegnato nello sminamento si è presentato ai cancelli. I cittadini avevano del resto rivolto un invito preciso ai lavoratori: non venite al Dal Molin. L'invito è stato raccolto. Martedì notte c'era euforia e anche un po' di nervosismo al termine dell'assemblea al presidio permanente in cui si è deciso di cominciare i blocchi. «Del resto - dice Marco, uno dei presidianti - nessuno di noi ha mai fatto blocchi prima. Praticamente nessuno ha mai organizzato picchetti. Insomma, non siamo molto preparati in materia». Eppure con la fantasia e la determinazione che ha distinto il movimento no Dal Molin fin dall'inizio della protesta contro la nuova base militare Usa, i cittadini hanno saputo allestire dei blocchi da fare invidia ai migliori picchetti operai degli anni passati. Bandiere no Dal Molin ovunque, tende, gazebo, tavole e panche. Ci sono anche i bidoni con il fuoco. Perché la notte fa freddo qui a Vicenza. Qualcuno ha improvvisato anche delle barricate davanti a una delle entrate. «Per la notte - ironizza un ragazzo - giusto per evitare che ci cogliessero di sorpresa». I cittadini, oltre cinquecento all'assemblea del presidio, si sono divisi in due gruppi. Un primo gruppo ha occupato l'ingresso civile dell'aeroporto che dà su via Sant'Antonino, mentre il secondo si è fatto carico di bloccare l'ingresso dell'ala militare su viale Ferrarin.

Avviso: C'e' un appello per una mobilitazione europea a vicenza nei giorni 14, 15 e 16 di Dicemb. Mannaggia, li manco per un paio di giorni!

Leggendo il manifesto ho scoperto di una aggressione ai danni di una donna italiana per mano di alcuni rumeni. Non ho capito bene le circostanze dell'avvenuto, se non che a questo evento e' seguito un decreto legge punitivo contro gli immigrati. Ho letto quanto segue sul manifesto, e mi sembra sensato, e condivisibile - particolarmente le parti che ho evidenziato.

Altre due donne picchiate e violentate a Cagliari e a Jesi, nel primo caso da italiani doc nel secondo da un immigrato. Tre ragazzi gay finiti in ospedale la notte di Halloween per l'aggressione subita da un gruppo di uomini italiani nei pressi della stazione Termini a Roma. Episodi avvenuti nelle ultime ore molto diversi tra loro (sul caso invece della ragazza inglese uccisa a Perugia si sa ancora troppo poco) ma che raccontano, tenuto conto delle relative specificità e differenze, di una violenza maschile che si nutre e affonda le sue radici in una cultura sessista, omofoba e patriarcale di cui non riusciamo a liberarci. E che traspare perfino dai cartelloni pubblicitari, come notò qualche tempo fa il Financial Times. Eppure questa è cronaca troppo spesso silenziosa e senza conseguenti colpi di reni da parte della politica. Nel decreto legge varato d'urgenza nel consiglio straordinario dei ministri di martedì sera non si troveranno norme che possano evitare il ripetersi di questi crimini contro il corpo simbolicamente più debole.
Il decreto votato all'unanimità che stralcia e corregge una parte del pacchetto sicurezza prevede la possibilità di emettere da parte del prefetto competente un provvedimento di allontanamento dal suolo nazionale che non superi i tre anni per «motivi di sicurezza dello Stato e per motivi imperativi di pubblica sicurezza», come dice il testo. «Sono imperativi quando il cittadino dell'Ue o un suo familiare, qualunque sia la sua cittadinanza, abbia tenuto comportamenti che compromettono la tutela della dignità umana o dei diritti fondamentali della persona umana ovvero l'incolumità pubblica, rendendo la sua permanenza sul territorio nazionale incompatibile con l'ordinaria convivenza». Va detto che il cittadino Ue o il suo familiare possono però fare ricorso. È molto difficile però riuscire a capire come si riconosca un cittadino predisposto alla violenza fisica e sessuale contro le donne. Perché è di questo che si sta parlando nell'omicidio di Giovanna Reggiani e, come hanno detto con grande lucidità anche i suoi familiari, «poteva accadere anche con un italiano».
Ne sono certe le donne che stanno preparando la manifestazione nazionale del 24 novembre prossimo a Roma nata da un appello lanciato in internet mesi fa, totalmente autorganizzata, e che raccoglie moltissime adesioni di singole, associazioni e collettivi. Una mobilitazione che sembra caratterizzata da un inusuale protagonismo della generazione delle trentenni ma che pure si basa sull'assioma che la violenza maschile è uguale in tutto il mondo e non conosce differenze etniche, nazionali, religiose o culturali. Dove con culturali si intende il grado di istruzione personale degli uomini. «Se è vero che nessuna donna è al sicuro sotto nessun cielo perché la violenza maschile è trasversale non solo al ceto sociale ma anche alle religioni e alle tradizioni - spiega meglio Assunta Sarlo dell'associazione Usciamo dal silenzio di Milano - è anche vero che si può riconoscere una specifica che sta nei traguardi raggiunti dalla libertà femminile nei vari contesti sociali. L'aumentata libertà delle donne, come c'è nei paesi occidentali, determina un colpo di coda forte all'aggressività maschile. Si vede bene nella violenza familiare: non a caso le donne vengono picchiate e uccise quando tentano di liberarsi». «Il 75% degli stupri avviene in famiglia ed è fatta da uomini italiani - sottolinea Flavia D'Angeli di Sinistra critica - il silenzio dei nostri politici su questo e la loro speculazione sul corpo delle donne è vergognoso».
Forse è troppo chiedere di riconoscere in una legge, come è successo in Spagna, la violenza di genere come la più brutale delle diseguaglianze perché agita contro le donne proprio per il fatto di essere tali. Certo è che se il decreto legge avesse introdotto misure straordinarie e urgenti contro la violenza sulle donne, magari sarebbe stato criticato lo stesso ma perlomeno avrebbe centrato il punto.

My comment was posted on the NYTimes website (it's #64) - along with a slew of racist posts which seek to reinforce prejudice and in some cases outright bigotry. The fact that the article produced such responses reinforces my doubts about the effect that any such account will produce.

I didn't comment on the problems with the article that i mentioned in my previous post - but with the overall sense of impotence that the author was transmitting.

It’s true that AS TEACHERS the impact that we can have on the lives of the children in our care is limited.
But we are also CITIZENS of this country, and we have a role to play in CHANGING THE POLICIES that create daily tragedies that young people face.

It is not a law of nature that capital/industry is allowed to be free, and thus forces communities to compete against each other to see who can work for less, with fewer guarantees. Our great cities once were centers of industry, and thanks to the many who struggled in the labor movement those jobs could allow a family to survive.

It is not a law of nature that essentially the only form of ‘assistance’ that the federal government is willing to provide to our youth is to enroll them in the armed forces, so that they can be sent to kill other black and brown children in other countries, for the benefit of corporate pirates and the imperial designs of the white house.

It is not a law of nature that schools and teachers lack the training, suppliues, and support they need to implement quality extended-day programsto reach all children, while tens of billions are spent on corporate welfare disguised as ‘defense contracts.’

As citizens, we have a role to play in changing these things - and the need to change them is urgent. There are lives in the balance.

it's not clear to me whether this piece appeared in print in the NYTimes or only on their website.

This is a part of the author's bio: [he] has taught English and photography for eight years at Westside Alternative High School in the Austin community of Chicago. He appears to be a european-american.

His article rotates around the well-written account of a young man with lots of promise who succumbs to the streets of Chicago. The story sounds tragically familiar - but i wonder: is it necessary to feed the fetishizing fantasies of the mostly white upper-middle class readership of the Times? To the extent that 'we' whites spend time thinking about people of color at all, too much of it rotates around "their" problems, "their" disfunction. Our time would be better spent reflecting on the role that we collectively play in creating and supporting the conditions in which the mean streets of Chicago can continue to be killing fields.

But some of the points that are made are good - two in particular, among the proposed solutions:

2. More structured after-school and weekend activities in the community. The students believe that children who are involved in organized activities are much less likely to be targeted for gang membership than young kids who are constantly running the streets.

3. Higher paying jobs for parents. If parents can provide the basic needs as well as the material desires of their children, these youths will be less likely to seek the financial opportunities offered by the gangs

.And i like the closing comment: Are these kids not our own? indeed it's true that one reason why we don't place our national priorities on ensuring that everyone has access to a decent education and well-paying jobs has to do with racism and classism.

Some of the other elements of the story however seem to be placed simply to reinforce the dominant narrative about "urban youth" - and quite frankly think that they ought to have been left out.

The main problem i have with it however comes at the end:

Most everyone already knows what can and should be done to improve the lives and futures of our youth in America’s cities. And yet the government, the corporations, the schools, the communities, the families and the youths themselves make no real changes.

 First off, i disagree that "most everyone" knows what we should do to eliminate the conditions of poverty and desperation that exist in our cities. But to mention in the same sentence government, the corporations, the schools, the communities, the families and the youths themselves, implies that they share the same burden of responsibility for fixing the problem.

Corporations in particular are a large part of why the problem exist:: they fight to gut any efforts to provide increased services to the poor, and they force communities to compete against each other to see who can work for less and sacrifice the most to get the few scraps that the corporate pirates are willing to shake off their table. And they destroyed the cities by relocating their manufacturing abroad. They have no incentive to help fix the problem they are responsible for - only to make it worse.

Furthermore, the youth, their families, and their community are the VICTIMS of capitalism and racism - how seriously can i take someone who expects the victimized youth of Newark or Chicago to mend what is being destroyed by the most powerful forces in our society? And the article does a further disservice to communities of color by totally ignoring the daily struggle for existence, education, dignity and self-determination that DOES go on in communities of color and poor white communities all over the world, including in our own cities.

I tried to post a comment, but apparently the NYTimes has to approve them - which did not prevent the posting of a comment by someone who seeks to place the entirety of the blame for street violence on 'black adults'. We'll see if they publish me.

This was an editorial in the NYTimes today - and it's good news! not just that this bill to fund Amtrak passed, but also that the Times is supporting it - even though they have to do it in their classist "we've been to Europe" way.

Anyone who has ridden Amtrak lately, especially anyone familiar with rail travel in Europe or Japan, should be able to see that it needs help. Congress is considering a bill to significantly increase funding for the nation’s only passenger railroad. The bill would be a welcome step, but even if it passes, Amtrak — badly underfunded compared with air and auto travel — could use a lot more support.

The Passenger Rail Improvement and Investment Act, which passed the Senate Tuesday, would direct a little more than $3 billion a year to Amtrak for each of the next six years. The bill comes courtesy of one of Washington’s more unlikely duos, Senator Frank Lautenberg, a Democrat from New Jersey, and Senator Trent Lott, a Republican from Mississippi. Rail travel is important not only to their states but to the whole country.

Railroads are a relief valve for America’s clogged skies and overloaded highways. They also make environmental sense. According to the National Association of Railroad Passengers, airplanes use energy at a rate of 20 percent more per passenger mile than Amtrak. Cars are even worse, at 27 percent more per passenger mile.

Rail offers other advantages. Surveys show that people who suffer road rage and airplane anxiety yearn for more civilized ways to travel. Amtrak will never be the Orient Express. But as regulars can attest, a trip across the Rockies or up the Hudson River from New York City can be an extraordinarily pleasant way to get around. It would be even more pleasant if Amtrak were on time. This bill would try to help with that by fining freight rail companies that cause many of the delays.

The goal of the Senate bill is to make Amtrak more efficient, not to turn it into a profitable enterprise as the Bush administration has attempted in the past. The House now needs to act. If the bill becomes law, it would give Amtrak steady enough financial support that its managers could start to plan a few years at a time — and spare them their yearly trek to Capitol Hill. In the costly world of mass transportation, adequately funding Amtrak is an easy bargain.