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Social Security Reforms Rejected in Poll
Women of color
want program
strengthened
that was released at the N ational
Forum on W om en & Social Se­
curity on C apitol Hill last week.
“W om en o f color reach retire­
ment at a severe disadvantage.
The majority o f African A m eri­ O n average, they earn less and
can and H ispanic w om en believe are less likely to have private
that privatizing Social Security pensions,” said N ational Partner­
will jeopardize their future retire­ sh ip p o licy c o u n se l D eborah
m ent security, and w ould prefer C uevas Hill. "A s a result, African
to see the Social Security pro­ A m erican and H ispanic women
gram strengthened than radically depend on Social Security’s pro­
gressive benefit form ula and guar­
changed.
T hose are am ong the findings anteed, lifelong retirem ent ben­
o f a recent poll conducted by efits even m ore than others do.”
The poll found strong resis­
A A R P and the N ational Partner­
ship for W om en and Fam ilies tance am ong wom en o f color to
Deborah Cuevas Hill
any reform s that w ould w eaken
Social Security and underm ine
th eir retirem en t security, said
N ational Partnership President
D ebra L. Ness.
“A frican A m erican and H is­
panic w om en w ant law m akers
to secure the benefits they are
paying for - not privatize the
system ,” she said.
T he poll found that, am ong
A frican A m erican and Hispanic
w om en, nine in 10 w ant Social
S ecurity to be protected as a
guaranteed benefit, not privatized.
E ighty-eight percent w ant Social
Security to be strengthened, not
replaced with som ething else, and
three in four support keeping the
program as close to the present
m ore than 90 percent say our
nation has a responsibility to cur­
rent retirees, as well as future
generations, to ensure that Social
Security is there for them.
O nly 1 in 5 w om en o f color
support private acco u n ts if it
m eans m assive borrow ing in or­
der to pay the Social Security
benefits o f current retirees.
Nearly three-quarters oppose
private accounts if the ups and
dow ns o f the stock m arket m eant
they m ight receive less m oney
throughout their retirem ent than
if they had kept all their m oney in
Social Security.
system as possible.
M ore than half o f those polled
feel that allow ing w orkers to in­
vest payroll taxes in the stock
m arket will w eaken the system.
H alf initially supported allow ing
w orkers to invest som e o f their
Social Security payroll taxes into
individual retirem ent accounts.
But, w hen they w ere told that
private accounts w ould m ean a
reduction o f Social S ecu rity ’s
guaranteed m onthly benefit for
e v e ry o n e ,
su p p o rt
fo r
privatization dropped to ju st 19
percent.
An overw helm ing m ajority o f
Remarks on Blacks Regretted
Portland's Air National Guard Base could lose its m ilitary unit
that maintains Stratotankers, the planes that refuel fighter
je ts in flight (above) along with its F-15 fighter je ts that
defend the Northwest airspace.
Base Targeted for Cuts
All Portland-based F -15 fighter
jets would be transferred to other
states and the Air National Guard
base in Portland would be signifi­
cantly reduced in size under a
major base closure and realign­
ment plan announced by the Pen­
tagon Friday.
The plan drew immediate fire
from the state’s two senators.
Democrat Ron Wyden and Re­
publican Gordon Smith.
“I ’ m going to have lots of ques­
tions to understand how the Pen­
tagon plans to keep Oregonians
safe if these changes are put in
place,” said Wyden. “I’m not go­
ing to allow our state to become a
sacrifice zone in an era of i ncreased
homeland security needs.”
The plans call for the Port-
land-based 939th A ir Refueling
W ing to m ove entirely to O kla­
hom a, C alifornia, and Kansas.
The m ajority o f the 142nd A ir
W ing, including all the F-15
fighter jets that defend the N orth­
west, would move to bases in
New Jersey and Louisiana.
The Portland base would keep
the 142nd’sexpeditionary combat
support elements and the 244th
and 272nd Combat Communica­
tions Squadrons.
(AP) - M exico President Vicente
F ox’s office on Tuesday insisted
his com m ents that M exicans work
jobs blacks don’t want in the United
States were m isinterpreted, a day
after he told leaders in the U.S.
black com m unity that he regretted
“any hurt feelings.”
In a speech Friday, Fox praised the
dedication of Mexicans working in
the United States, saying they ’ re will­
ing to take jobs that “even blacks”
w on’t do.
On M onday, he spoke w ith the
R e v s. J e s s e J a c k s o n a n d A1 Mexico President Vincente Fox
Fault Found
in Ride Death
Sharpton by telephone and told
them : “ I regret any hurt feelings
caused by my statem ents.”
The president maintains his com­
ments were misinterpreted and a
public apology is not forthcoming,
p re sid e n tia l spo k esm an R uben
Aguilar said Tuesday.
From the point o f view of the
president, the misinterpretation has
been clarified with the affirmation by
the president, with his repeated dem­
onstrations of absolute respect for
minorities, whatever their race, their
ethnicity, their religion,” Aguilar said.
(AP) — An amusement park
m a n ag er in T e n n e sse e w as
c o n v ic te d o f re c k le ss h o m i­
cid e M onday in the d eath o f a
w om an w ho fell from a ride
last y ear, b u t he av o id ed a
m u rd er c o n v ic tio n .
C h a rle s Stan M artin w as
o rig in a lly c h a rg e d w ith se c ­
o n d - d e g r e e m u rd e r in th e
death o f June C arol A lexander,
51, w ho died in M arch 2004
a fte r her safety h a rn e ss b e ­
cam e too lo o se on the ride,
sen d in g her tu m b lin g 60 feet
to the ground.
B efore b eg in n in g d e lib e ra ­
tio n s, th e ju d g e asked th e ju ry
to c o n sid e r th re e c h a rg e s -
se c o n d -d e g re e m u rd er, re c k ­
less ho m icid e o r c rim in a lly
n e g lig e n t h o m icid e. T he ju ry
took only tw o ho u rs to reach
its verdict.
M a rtin fa c e s up to fo u r
y e a rs in p riso n w h en h e ’s
sen ten ced in July.
NAACP Leader Admits Mistake
(AP) Civil Rights leader Kweisi
Mfume, running for the U.S. Senate
in Maryland said having a romantic
relationship with a subordinate
while heading the NAACP was a
"boneheaded thing to do.”
Mfume, who is divorced, has
previously adm itted dating the
woman in 1997 and adopting her
son, now 15. But he denied that any
o f his personnel decisions were
affected by the relationship.
“I’m a human being,” Mfume
said Monday of the relationship.
“It was very short-lived and termi­
nated because I recognized it was a
boneheaded thing to do. It was my
mistake and my mistake solely.
That’s what makes us better as
human beings. Not to repeat mis­
takes ... and to try to own up to
them.”
An internal memo from the Na­
tional Association forthe Advance­
ment o f Colored People outlined
alleged claims that a woman who
once worked at the civil rights orga­
nization had threatened to sue over
M fume’s relationship with asubor-
dinate.
Newsweek Desecration
Article Retracted
nothing to su b sta n tia te the a lle ­
gations, the cab le noted, a d d ­
ing, “T he U .S. g o v ern m en t w ill
c o n tin u e to in v e stig a te all c re d ­
ible alle g a tio n s o f m isco n d u ct
and will take action against those
responsible if the alleg atio n s are
su b sta n tia te d .”
N ew sw eek on M o n d ay re ­
tracted the rep o rt in its M ay 9
issue a fte r o ffic ia ls in the W hite
H ouse, the P en tagon and the
State D epartm ent c ritic iz e d its
p u b lication and its use o f an
an onym ous source. P rotests in
A fg hanistan, w here m ore than
a dozen people died and scores
w ere injured in rioting, and dem ­
o n s tra tio n s e lse w h e re in the
M uslim w orld w ere blam ed on
the article.
(A P) — T he S tate D e p a rt­
m ent, m oving to undo dam age
it s a y s w a s c a u s e d b y a
N ew sw eek article alleg in g U .S.
d e se c ra tio n o f the Q uran, the
M uslim holy book, is tellin g its
e m b assies to spread the w ord
ab road th at A m erica resp ects
all re lig io u s faiths.
In a tw o-page cable sent M on­
day n ight to all U .S. dip lo m atic
p osts, the d ep artm en t told the
a m b a s s a d o rs to in fo rm h o st
g o v ern m en ts and local m edia
th at N ew sw eek had re tra c ted
its re p o rt th a t in v e s tig a to r s
found evid en ce in terro g ato rs at
th e U .S . n a v a l p r is o n at
G u an tan am o B ay, C uba, d e s­
e crated the Q uran.
T h e P e n ta g o n h a s f o u n d
Correction:
A name was incorrect in a story in last w eek’s issue about the
Farmer’s Market coming to North Interstate Avenue next to Overlook
Park. Bill Beameris the media director for the African American Health
Coalition, one of the local groups that are sponsoring the market each
W ednesday through Sept. 28 in partnership with Kaiser Permanente.
We regret the error.
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