zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric

Saturday, January 31, 2004

FLAGGING BLUE, FLAGGING RED

Powerful journalism in a cover story in this week's LA Weekly on Kershaun Scott, the former Eight Tray Gangster Crip known as "Lil Monster", younger brother of prison memoirist Sanyika "Monster" Shakur. Scott fled LA to escape the life and settled in Kern County, the most aggressive prosecuting county in California. The story is about Scott's family trying to make good in a rigged system that will not give a quarter.

+++++

While we're on blue and red, I've been stewing a bit about this analysis in yesterday's NY Times about how Blue States (Democratic States) tend to redistribute wealth to Red States (Republican states).

It's a point Farai Chideya first brought to my attention two years ago:

Republicans claim to be anti-government and anti-tax, but they actually suck mad tax dollars from the states willing to pay--traditionally Democratic states.

See, you thought you were getting pimped? Now you know you are.

FYI the NY Times op-ed writer, Daniel Pink, a former Gore speechwriter, is pessimistic about the implications of the Blue/Red divide. Don't read all this stuff if you're in a Mary J. Blige-just-want-to-be-happy mood today. But do read sometime.

More reading on the meaning of Blue and Red states:

-A Boston Globe story on the history of the Blue/Red divide. (It's all McGovern's fault.)

-The original Pew Center report. Caution: the results will often blow away what you thought you knew.

-A more recent Zogby poll further illustrating how deeply divided the electorate is.

Don't never say I don't give you nothing!

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