News of five bodies, apparently murdered in Iowa, was in the news this morning….
Now comes breaking news of four bodies, apparently murdered, found in Charlotte….
Sadly, as the economy gets worse, I think we’re going to see more and more stories like this.
I’d have to say that it really looks like Hillary was caught in a gross exaggeration:
Hillary made the above statements in a speech where she was trying to taut her bonafides for that "3 a.m." call.
The Washington Post has given her statements "four pinocchios". Sinbad (the comedian), who was there, also had a different recollection of the events. Hillary initially pooh-poohed Sinbad.
But now, there’s video (see above). And now, she’s starting to backwalk. She apparently "misspoke", but that’s even a bit of a stretch. She recounted the story several times and in several ways. it wasn’t like a slip of the tongue.
All in all, not a good thing for the Clinton campaign.
Good article in TAP about "The Obama Doctrine". While both Obama and Clinton appear to be similar on the Iraq War (they both want out), Obama seems to be going the extra mile in arguing that he wants to change the mindset that got us into Iraq in the first place. The article looks at the Obama mindset on foreign policy and calls it "most sweeping liberal foreign-policy critique we’ve heard from a serious presidential contender in decades".
Ezra Klein sums it up nicely:
The Bush administration has run a foreign policy utterly comfortable with implying that our allies and enemies alike are small, or powerless, or unworthy of respect. In other words, they’ve run a foreign policy comfortable with challenging our allies and enemies alike to prove to us that they are not small, and can in fact foil our initiatives, and they are not powerless, and can in fact hurt us quite badly, and are not unworthy of respect, and can in fact outmaneuver us diplomatically. A foreign policy based on a presumption of respect and an effort to use our power to confer dignity would be pretty appealing.
Respecting our enemies, and treating them as though have have a say, strikes me as a reasonable approach, if only because it is something we haven’t tried before. This does not mean we need to cave. It just means that if we treat them like they have no reason to be heard, they will make themselves heard. Just like 9/11.
I know discussions about tax policy are boring, but Hilzoy’s readable post is an eye-opener.
Most of it can be explained in this chart:
This chart explains who benefits from McCain’s tax plan. The third line is most important. If you are in the bottom quintile (your income is in the bottom 20% of the country), only 1% of the total benefits from McCain’s plan will go to you and people like you. But if you are in the top 20%, a full 90% of the benefits will go to you and people like you.
That’s astounding. McCain’s plan is quite simple and amounts to one thing: tax breaks for the wealthy (and for corporations). For everyone else, don’t count on big tax breaks.
Of course, when anyone criticizes the McCain plan (which is like the Bush tax policy, but worse), they get accused of engaging in "class warfare". But how can one look at the above chart, and see the "class warfare" isn’t already being waged against lower, middle, and even some high income people?!?
The other point to be made is that we are running into a recession and HUGE defecit problems. How do we hope to make those up? Saving on spending will only get us so far (especially if we’re going to continue fighting wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and — if McCain has his way — Iran).
(1) Former candidate Bill Richardson backs Obama
(2) James Carville calls the Richardson endorsement "an act of betrayal" and compares Richardson to Judas.
(3) At AmericaBlog, Aravosis quips:
I’m gonna go on a limb here and say that Jesus did not die on the cross for Hillary’s superdelegates.
Sounds right to me.
In a highly unusual outbreak of measles here last month, 12 children fell ill; nine of them had not been inoculated against the virus because their parents objected, and the other three were too young to receive vaccines.
The parents who objected to their children being inoculated are among a small but growing number of vaccine skeptics in California and other states who take advantage of exemptions to laws requiring vaccinations for school-age children.
Do parents have a right to object to their children being vaccinated?
On first blush, I would have to say "yes". Like religion and other things, parents should be able to make decisions about their children’s health. In fact, the government mandating vaccinations of children sounds rather totalitarian.
But doesn’t their "right" stop when it threatens the community at large?
While nationwide over 90 percent of children old enough to receive vaccines get them, the number of exemptions worries many health officials and experts. They say that vaccines have saved countless lives, and that personal-belief exemptions are potentially dangerous and bad public policy because they are not based on sound science.
“If you have clusters of exemptions, you increase the risk of exposing everyone in the community,” said Dr. Omer, who has extensively studied disease outbreaks and vaccines.
***
There is substantial evidence that communities with pools of unvaccinated clusters risk infecting a broad community that includes people who have been inoculated.
For instance, in a 2006 mumps outbreak in Iowa that infected 219 people, the majority of those sickened had been vaccinated. In a 2005 measles outbreak in Indiana, there were 34 cases, including six people who had been vaccinated.
In other words, if everybody doesn’t get vaccinated, then the vaccination is no good for anybody. And at that point, a parent’s right to avoid vaccination stops, as far as I am concerned. (It’s like the old law school adage: "You have every right to swing your hand around. But that right stops the second your hand touches my face.")
Megan McArdle goes one step further:
I just think that people who are unvaccinated, unless they have a legitimate medical reason for same, should not be allowed to use public roads, public sidewalks, or public services. They have a right not to vaccinate their children. But they do not have a right to risk my health.
The NYT article is a little vague about why some parents are choosing not to have their kids vaccinated. Apparently, it has to do with the threat of adverse side effects. But one wonders just where these parents are getting their information from (the ol’ reliable Internet?, and whether such fears are justified. [UPDATE: Kevin Drum blames it on Robert Kennedy]
We, as a society, sometimes have to pool together to make health decisions that are for the good of the community. Our water supply, for example — each community shares the same resource, so we make a group decision, for the good of the local "village". So, too, it should be with immunization. And I tend to agree with Ms. McArdle — if you want your kid to "opt out", that’s fine. Then that kid should be quarantined. Parents will still have a choice, but it’ll be a harder one — with consequences.
Chicago, Rent, Frost/Nixon, Legally Blonde, The Color Purple, Mamma Mia…. pretty cool.
Pretty impressive:
Annie Get Your Symbol of Violent, Colonizing Western Masculinity
Hello, Doula!
How to Succeed in Unpaid, Undervalued Domestic Labor Without Really Trying
The Best Little Female-Operated Sex-Worker Co-op in Texas
Bye Bye Burqa
Joseph and the Amazing Heterosexist Dreamcoat of Male Privilege
Jesus Christ Oppressive Religious Figure
Lys Mys
– Mcsweeney’s Lists (Sascha Cohen)
Barack Obama will return to North Carolina on Wednesday to host a town hall meeting in Greensboro.
Mayor Yvonne Johnson of Greensboro made the announcement at the Guilford County Democrats this morning, after declaring her endorsement of Senator Obama’s campaign.
"Senator Obama has outlined a broad agenda for change and shown his unique ability to bring people of all backgrounds, beliefs and party affiliations together to make change happen," Mayor Johnson said. "I’m proud to endorse his candidacy and pleased that Barack Obama is bringing his campaign for change right here to Greensboro. This will be an historic opportunity for North Carolinians and citizens of Greensboro to hear Senator Obama’s message, and to play a decisive role in choosing our party’s nominee."
Obama will meet with North Carolina voters and share his plans to jumpstart the economy, improve our education system, end the War in Iraq, and make quality health care affordable and accessible to all Americans.
Wednesday, March 26
Greensboro, NC
TOWN HALL MEETING WITH BARACK OBAMA
War Memorial Auditorium
Greensboro Coliseum Complex
1921 W. Lee Street
Greensboro, NC
Doors Open: 11:00 AM
Program Begins: 1:00 PM
Media Coverage: The event is open press. For credentials please visit www.barackobama.com/mediarsvp.
The event is free and open to the public; however space is limited and tickets are required. Free tickets are available at the locations listed below. For more information, please visit www.barackobama.com.
Ticket Locations
Students for Obama Table
UNC—Greensboro, The Atrium
1000 Spring Garden Street
Greensboro, NC 27412
Available: 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Guilford County Democrats
6600 West Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27409
Available: 9:00 AM – 7:00 PM
For security reasons, no bags are allowed. Please limit personal belongings. No signs or banners permitted.
Shorter John Hinderaker: Sure, for years Bush as been polling in the low 30’s, but I prefer a more realistic and balanced approach to public opinion — such as this poll, which asks only questions about those few things that Bush did right, conducted by a Republican research firm.
In a recent column, right-wing pundit Pat Buchanan attempted to argue that blacks benefited from slavery because they “grew into a community of 40 million” in the United States:
First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.
Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.
Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the ’60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.
It’s hard to know how to process that kind of thinking.
In his first paragraph, Pat seems to gloss over the timeline. America started importing slaves from Africa about 350 years ago. Yet blacks didn’t get their full panoply of rights until about 40 years ago, despite a war for their "freedom" fought 120 years ago. So while I don’t agree with everything that Wright has said, I can certainly understand why people like Wright can’t look back on history and NOT get down on his knees and "thank God he is an American".
In his second paragraph, Pat lists several social programs on the assumption that those social programs were geared toward blacks, rather than toward poor and impoverished people. Of course, the fact that he recognizes that those programs tend to "lift up blacks" is a tacit admission that blacks need lifting up. And why? Largely because of the discrimination they have faced over the years. It’s kind of like a wife-beater who says his wife should be grateful because he provides good health insurance.
Why, you’re welcome, Pat!
UPDATE: Dave Neiwert —
But really, the richest line in Buchanan’s column — the one that no doubt resonates most with black voters — was this one:
We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?
Damn, I’m sure most black people forgot to be grateful for segregation, the lynching era, sundown towns, and the continuing discrimination they face both in employment and in residence. Because the institutional conditions created by those decades of bigotry have in fact gone largely unchanged, though to white guys like Buchanan, that simply isn’t a factor:
Is white America really responsible for the fact that the crime and incarceration rates for African-Americans are seven times those of white America? Is it really white America’s fault that illegitimacy in the African-American community has hit 70 percent and the black dropout rate from high schools in some cities has reached 50 percent?
Is that the fault of white America or, first and foremost, a failure of the black community itself?
Well, I’m sure black voters are convinced by that argument. After all, it’s obvious that the matter of continuing discrimination is just an illusion in their heads.
The funny thing about this presidential election, that was present in even the 2004 election, is that people are making up their own advertisements for the candidates, and these ads get seen by millions.
Here is an ad for John McCain whicih, I’m guessing, is actually done by Obama or Clinton supporters, because after you see it, you’ll never even think about voting for McCain.
My blogging has been light, but that may be changing. Sad to fear up again with the sad milestone: The AP is calling America’s 4,000th death in Iraq.
UPDATE: Hilzoy’s thoughts….
"Are You Popular"
…and a spoof on the subject of popularity (starring Amy Sedaris; narrated by Stephen Colbert)