Let's face it, teenagers are having sex at younger and younger ages. When 11 and 12 year old children are engaging in sexual activity on the school bus, its officially time to seriously address this epidemic. Apparently, in Normandy, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, sex education has not been a priority. Earlier this month a student confessed to not only being HIV-positive but that possibly 50 other teenagers might have been exposed to the virus. While Cheryl Wittenauer of the AP provides a thorough examination of the crisis, the public is still searching for answers. How does something like this happen and what can we do to prevent future outbreaks?
For the full story go to, www.newsweek.com
Friday, October 24, 2008
Lessons Learned?
Former Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick is going to jail. Not for embezzlement or murder, but for lying about the extent of his personal relationship with his top aid, Christine Beatty. I'm not sure what's worst, having an extramarital affair or using your work phone to send sexually explicit messages about your affair? Clearly, Kilpatrick wasn't thinking with the head on his shoulders. Now, he's going to jail and to make matters worst, a judge has released more racy text messages between Kilpatrick and Beatty. While Kilpatrick reports to jail in a less than a week, Beatty should start working on her defense, she's headed to trail early next year. What's the lesson in this situation? If you're doing scandalous things, don't do them at work AND don't lie about it when you get caught!
For the full story, go to www.blackamericaweb.com
For the full story, go to www.blackamericaweb.com
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
African women continue to fall prey to rapist
Reports of rape and unspeakable violence against women from Congo, Rwanda and Darfur have become common place in the media. Now, the voice of survivors in Cote d'Ivoire has bubbled to the surface. While the IRIN report was superficial at best, it did highlight an epidemic plaguing the continent. Violence against women is becoming as common place as poverty and civil war. Until world leaders begin to actively address this cancer that is killing women and young girls, we are destined to be stuck in an endless cycle of self destruction.
COTE D'IVOIRE: “Rapes are encouraged”
DAKAR, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Rapes of women and girls are common in western Côte d’Ivoire and generally go unpunished, said residents of the region.
“These days nearly every time we hear of armed robberies in homes, on the roads or on plantations, we hear of rape,” said a resident of the western town of Duékoué some 500km from the commercial capital Abidjan, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“We hear of two, three, four rapes every day.”
For the full story, go to www.irinnews.org
COTE D'IVOIRE: “Rapes are encouraged”
DAKAR, 21 October 2008 (IRIN) - Rapes of women and girls are common in western Côte d’Ivoire and generally go unpunished, said residents of the region.
“These days nearly every time we hear of armed robberies in homes, on the roads or on plantations, we hear of rape,” said a resident of the western town of Duékoué some 500km from the commercial capital Abidjan, who wanted to remain anonymous.
“We hear of two, three, four rapes every day.”
For the full story, go to www.irinnews.org
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Homophobia in Black America
Ta-Nehisi Coates at The Atlantic has some important things to say about that last bastion of acceptable discrimination in America: homophobia. Yesterday, he wrote about black support for banning gay marriage in California. Today he comments on the nature of bigotry in general. You only have to look to blacks' reactions to Arab Americans post-9/11 to see how quickly the oppressed can become the oppressors. There's nothing like watching the down-trodden jump on the bandwagon to trod over someone else. Religious convictions are important. But ultimately, the black church and the evangelical community are going to have to find a way to reconcile those convictions with the reality that gays love God too. And they live here. And we should let them live.
Conservatives respond to Powell endorsement
It seems there are a lot people who think Powell's endorsement of Obama was driven by race and not ideology. Oprah got a similar reaction from some of her viewers when she came out for Obama ("a betrayal to women everywhere!"). You have to admit that having two prominent black figures break with their own traditions to endorse the black candidate seems at least a little racial. But why not? White folks are talking about how Obama's race makes him a transcendent candidate and a beacon of hope for the country. Why shouldn't black folks feel the same way? Plus... Colin still has that unfortunate pro-war U.N. speech hanging over his head. Endorsing the anti-war candidate now is the least he could do.
Further coverage at the Huffington Post here:
In the immediate aftermath of his appearance on Meet The Press, several prominent GOP officials - ranging from the established to the extreme - defined the announcement more by skin color than ideology.
The most crass interpretation came from talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who wrote the Politico's Jonathan Martin the following:
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed..."
Further coverage at the Huffington Post here:
In the immediate aftermath of his appearance on Meet The Press, several prominent GOP officials - ranging from the established to the extreme - defined the announcement more by skin color than ideology.
The most crass interpretation came from talk radio host Rush Limbaugh, who wrote the Politico's Jonathan Martin the following:
"Secretary Powell says his endorsement is not about race... OK, fine. I am now researching his past endorsements to see if I can find all the inexperienced, very liberal, white candidates he has endorsed..."
Sarah Palin rap
As everyone knows by now, Sarah Palin was on SNL last night. For the most part, the appearance was pointless. Really, Tina Fey does a better Palin than Palin does. But the episode produced this little gem of a viral video. Even eight months pregnant, Amy Poehler is a G.
Powell endorses Obama
Colin Powell broke with the Republican Party and endorsed Barack Obama for President this morning on Meet the Press. This is sure to be met with cheers from black folks across the 'net. Not sure how the GOP is going to take it. If nothing else, having the most respected military official in the country give Barack the 'OK' has to seriously impede that experience argument.
Powell also had some important things to say about this whole "He's a Muslim" nonsense. Specifically, "So what???" He's not the first person to point out the terrible offense of damning someone for being Arab or Muslim in a country where Arabs and Muslims die in uniform every day. But having someone make the argument over coffee on Sunday morning had to help drive the point home. Well done.
Powell also had some important things to say about this whole "He's a Muslim" nonsense. Specifically, "So what???" He's not the first person to point out the terrible offense of damning someone for being Arab or Muslim in a country where Arabs and Muslims die in uniform every day. But having someone make the argument over coffee on Sunday morning had to help drive the point home. Well done.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Blacks and Health Care
Despite spending 2-to-1 on health care, the infant mortality rate in the U.S. continues to exceed that of other industrialized nations. And black women have higher than average rates of premature births, even when receiving regular medical care. The thought that blacks face exceptional health risks even before birth is disheartening, but no more so than the reality that HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure, and diabetes all disproportionately affect black Americans. It'll be interesting to see how universal health care shakes out in communities already facing crisis-level health problems.
Full story by Gardiner Harris at The New York Times:
Infant deaths in the United States declined 2 percent in 2006, government researchers reported Wednesday, but the rate still remains well above that of most other industrialized countries and is one of many indicators suggesting that Americans pay more but get less from their health care system.
Infant mortality has long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world, but by 2004, the latest year for which comparisons were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that ranking had dropped to 29th lowest.
Full story by Gardiner Harris at The New York Times:
Infant deaths in the United States declined 2 percent in 2006, government researchers reported Wednesday, but the rate still remains well above that of most other industrialized countries and is one of many indicators suggesting that Americans pay more but get less from their health care system.
Infant mortality has long been considered one of the most important indicators of the health of a nation and the quality of its medical system. In 1960, the United States ranked 12th lowest in the world, but by 2004, the latest year for which comparisons were issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, that ranking had dropped to 29th lowest.
Market falls sharply Wednesday
After a record gain on Monday and tentative trading on Tuesday, the Dow closed down more than 700 points today. It's unlikely to stabilize anytime soon. The reality is that no one quite knows what's going on. There's $700 billion on the table no one seems to know how to use, and word on the street is that we haven't seen the last of the bank failings. The market's probably not the safest place for your life savings right about now.
Full story by Michael M. Grynbaum at The New York Times:
On Wall Street, stocks dropped sharply, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 733.08 points or 7.8 percent with the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index down 90.17 points or 9 percent. Many investors fear that corporations — and by extension their workers and shareholders — will face harder times in the months ahead.
The key troubles lie with the American consumer, who, after months of coping with soaring gasoline prices, is now faced with enormous losses in the stock market and an uncertain financial future...
Full story by Michael M. Grynbaum at The New York Times:
On Wall Street, stocks dropped sharply, with the Dow Jones industrial average falling 733.08 points or 7.8 percent with the broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index down 90.17 points or 9 percent. Many investors fear that corporations — and by extension their workers and shareholders — will face harder times in the months ahead.
The key troubles lie with the American consumer, who, after months of coping with soaring gasoline prices, is now faced with enormous losses in the stock market and an uncertain financial future...
Does drinking alcohol shrink your brain?
One too many 'happy hours' could make you more than sluggish for work the next day. Theresa Tamkins examines if too much alcohol can actually cause brain defects.
By Theresa Tamkins, CNN
Excerpts: What's good for the heart may hurt the brain, according to a new study of the effects of alcohol. People who drink alcohol -- even the moderate amounts that help prevent heart disease -- have a smaller brain volume than those who do not, according to a study in the Archives of Neurology.
For the full story, log on to www.cnn.com
By Theresa Tamkins, CNN
Excerpts: What's good for the heart may hurt the brain, according to a new study of the effects of alcohol. People who drink alcohol -- even the moderate amounts that help prevent heart disease -- have a smaller brain volume than those who do not, according to a study in the Archives of Neurology.
For the full story, log on to www.cnn.com
Experts warn of Election Day meltdown
Experts are warning of possible large-scale voting problems on November 4th. Word? You don't say. Everyone's favorite flip-floppers, Florida and Ohio are back at the forefront of a possible Election Day meltdown. And officials in other states are saying new voting machines may not record votes properly. This seems like the kind of thing we might want to get under control before November 4th. Early voting will help alleviate some of the strain from what's sure to be a record voter turnout. But the last thing anyone wants is to be counting (and re-counting) ballots by hand into the wee hours of the morning. Again.
Full story by Ben Smith and Avi Zenilman at Politico.com:
The likely trouble spots, the experts say, include two familiar election reprobates: Ohio and Florida... But there are also some new entrants. Many pointed, in particular, to Colorado as the possible source of a late night November 4, while others suggested that record turnout in states like Virginia and Georgia could challenge local election officials.
"There's still reason to be concerned in terms of what's going to take place in November," said Kimball Brace, whose firm, Election Data Services, advises local governments on election administration.
Brace cited everything from new machines in Cleveland and South Florida to the rise in absentee voting, many of which are counted by error-prone "optical scan" machines...
Full story by Ben Smith and Avi Zenilman at Politico.com:
The likely trouble spots, the experts say, include two familiar election reprobates: Ohio and Florida... But there are also some new entrants. Many pointed, in particular, to Colorado as the possible source of a late night November 4, while others suggested that record turnout in states like Virginia and Georgia could challenge local election officials.
"There's still reason to be concerned in terms of what's going to take place in November," said Kimball Brace, whose firm, Election Data Services, advises local governments on election administration.
Brace cited everything from new machines in Cleveland and South Florida to the rise in absentee voting, many of which are counted by error-prone "optical scan" machines...
McCain in danger of losing Red States
CNN is reporting that John McCain is struggling to hold onto states that Republican candidates have carried for the past 40 years. It appears the Obama campaign's 50 State Strategy is paying off. Not only is McCain trailing by double-digits in Virginia, but he is in danger of losing Michigan, Colorado, and Florida. These are all states that George W. Bush won in 2004. Of course, as someone said recently, it doesn't take 350 electoral votes to win an election. A landslide would be great, but let's hope the Obama folks are making sure they're not losing ground in "safe" places while they're out courting new voters.
Full story by Paul Steinhauser at CNN.com:
President Bush won Virginia by nine points over Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and the state hasn't voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964...
It's a similar story in Colorado, a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat in the race for the White House in 16 years. The new poll indicates the Illinois senator holds a four-point edge over McCain, 51 percent to 47 percent...
Full story by Paul Steinhauser at CNN.com:
President Bush won Virginia by nine points over Sen. John Kerry in 2004, and the state hasn't voted for a Democrat in a presidential election since 1964...
It's a similar story in Colorado, a state that hasn't voted for a Democrat in the race for the White House in 16 years. The new poll indicates the Illinois senator holds a four-point edge over McCain, 51 percent to 47 percent...
Dr. King’s Children Battling Over Book
Family feud might deter the biographer of Civil Rights legend Coretta Scott King.
By Robbie Brown, The Washington Post
Excerpts: ATLANTA — The three living children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have feuded before. This time the squabbling is over the legacy and estate not of their father but of their mother.
In the third King v. King legal dispute in four months, two of Dr. King’s children are refusing to provide a biographer of their mother, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006, with a collection of her photographs, letters and personal papers. Their brother, Dexter King, chairman of their father’s estate, has asked a judge to force them to comply.
For the full story, log on to www.washingtonpost.com
By Robbie Brown, The Washington Post
Excerpts: ATLANTA — The three living children of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. have feuded before. This time the squabbling is over the legacy and estate not of their father but of their mother.
In the third King v. King legal dispute in four months, two of Dr. King’s children are refusing to provide a biographer of their mother, Coretta Scott King, who died in 2006, with a collection of her photographs, letters and personal papers. Their brother, Dexter King, chairman of their father’s estate, has asked a judge to force them to comply.
For the full story, log on to www.washingtonpost.com
Two dead, 100 hurt in Colombian clashes
Tensions are high in Columbia as over 7,000 Indians clash with the local government. As the death and injury tolls rise by the moment, CNN's Karen Penhaul has the latest details.
By Karen Penhaul, CNN
Excerpts: BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Violent clashes between Indian protesters and riot police continued Wednesday in southwest Colombia, increasing the casualty toll to at least two dead and about 100 injured, according to Indian spokesmen.
The protests started Tuesday, when an estimated 7,000 Indians from various ethnic communities used rocks and tree trunks to block the Pan-American Highway -- the country's main north-south thoroughfare -- in at least four locations between Colombia's second largest city, Cali, and the city of Popayan, 85 miles (135 kilometers) to the south.
For the full story, log on to www.cnn.com
By Karen Penhaul, CNN
Excerpts: BOGOTA, Colombia (CNN) -- Violent clashes between Indian protesters and riot police continued Wednesday in southwest Colombia, increasing the casualty toll to at least two dead and about 100 injured, according to Indian spokesmen.
The protests started Tuesday, when an estimated 7,000 Indians from various ethnic communities used rocks and tree trunks to block the Pan-American Highway -- the country's main north-south thoroughfare -- in at least four locations between Colombia's second largest city, Cali, and the city of Popayan, 85 miles (135 kilometers) to the south.
For the full story, log on to www.cnn.com
Buckley resigns from National Review
Last Friday, conservative Christopher Buckley of the National Review endorsed Barack Obama. This week, following an avalanche of hate mail from National Review readers, Buckley resigned from the publication. It's always interesting to watch "pro-life," "family values" folks threaten someone's life for having the audacity to disagree with them. Not only is the GOP shamefully ethnically homogenous, it seems thinking alike is part of the initiation. It's an interesting kind of politics.
Full story at The Daily Beast:
Within hours of my endorsement appearing in The Daily Beast it became clear that National Review had a serious problem on its hands. So the next morning, I thought the only decent thing to do would be to offer to resign my column there. This offer was accepted—rather briskly!—by Rich Lowry, NR’s editor, and its publisher, the superb and able and fine Jack Fowler. I retain the fondest feelings for the magazine that my father founded, but I will admit to a certain sadness that an act of publishing a reasoned argument for the opposition should result in acrimony and disavowal.
Full story at The Daily Beast:
Within hours of my endorsement appearing in The Daily Beast it became clear that National Review had a serious problem on its hands. So the next morning, I thought the only decent thing to do would be to offer to resign my column there. This offer was accepted—rather briskly!—by Rich Lowry, NR’s editor, and its publisher, the superb and able and fine Jack Fowler. I retain the fondest feelings for the magazine that my father founded, but I will admit to a certain sadness that an act of publishing a reasoned argument for the opposition should result in acrimony and disavowal.
How to explain a McCain victory
Jack Schafer at Slate imagines what it would take to pull out a McCain victory. He offers up a how-to for newspeople looking to explain the seemingly impossible come November 5th. One wants to say "there's no way," but just so that we don't jinx it, let's play along, shall we?
Full story at Slate.com:
An Obama victory will have a million chroniclers, but how can a reporter hedge the conventional wisdom on the long shot that John McCain—the comeback geezer—climbs that ladder with a load of bricks on his back one more time and wins in November?
The Economy Boomerang. The wiggy economy helps explain some of the recent Obama surge. But what if the massive intervention of government into markets this week, which has pushed stock exchanges upward, quiets voters' nerves? McCain just changed his stump speech to accentuate those new positives. Emergency sources to contact: Jim Cramer, Alan Greenspan, James Carville, and David Gergen...
Full story at Slate.com:
An Obama victory will have a million chroniclers, but how can a reporter hedge the conventional wisdom on the long shot that John McCain—the comeback geezer—climbs that ladder with a load of bricks on his back one more time and wins in November?
The Economy Boomerang. The wiggy economy helps explain some of the recent Obama surge. But what if the massive intervention of government into markets this week, which has pushed stock exchanges upward, quiets voters' nerves? McCain just changed his stump speech to accentuate those new positives. Emergency sources to contact: Jim Cramer, Alan Greenspan, James Carville, and David Gergen...
Movement to register ex-offenders to vote in D.C.
The Washington Post has the story of an effort to register voters in D.C., with an emphasis on ex-offenders. The video piece is part of the Post's political Video Haiku series.
Take a look here.
Take a look here.
Drug courts give addicts a second chance
Drug courts offer treatment and intense supervision as an alternative to criminal prosecution for addicts. The programs are proving effective, but the 2,100 drug courts nationwide are still able to provide services to only a minority of offenders. The program started in Miami in 1989 and runs in all 50 states.
Full story by Erik Eckholm at The New York Times:
In Seattle, as in drug courts across the country, the stern face of criminal justice is being redrawn, and emotions are often on the surface. Experts say drug courts have been the country’s fastest-spreading innovation in criminal justice, giving arrested addicts a chance to avoid prison by agreeing to stringent oversight and addiction treatment. Recent studies show drug courts are one of the few initiatives that reduce recidivism — on average by 8 percent to 10 percent nationally and as high as 26 percent in New York State — and save taxpayer money...
Full story by Erik Eckholm at The New York Times:
In Seattle, as in drug courts across the country, the stern face of criminal justice is being redrawn, and emotions are often on the surface. Experts say drug courts have been the country’s fastest-spreading innovation in criminal justice, giving arrested addicts a chance to avoid prison by agreeing to stringent oversight and addiction treatment. Recent studies show drug courts are one of the few initiatives that reduce recidivism — on average by 8 percent to 10 percent nationally and as high as 26 percent in New York State — and save taxpayer money...
Liberia: Would You Fight Again?
By IRIN News
Excerpts: MONROVIA, 14 October 2008 (IRIN) - Female ex-combatants are twice as likely as men to take up weapons again to escape poverty, based on a recent US-funded survey of more than 1,000 former fighters in Liberia. Almost 30 percent of the people surveyed said they were willing to take up arms again to earn a living wage, family and community acceptance, and respect for their tribe or religion.
For the full story, log on to www.irinnews.org
Excerpts: MONROVIA, 14 October 2008 (IRIN) - Female ex-combatants are twice as likely as men to take up weapons again to escape poverty, based on a recent US-funded survey of more than 1,000 former fighters in Liberia. Almost 30 percent of the people surveyed said they were willing to take up arms again to earn a living wage, family and community acceptance, and respect for their tribe or religion.
For the full story, log on to www.irinnews.org
Jennifer Hudson puts focus back on singing
Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson releases a new album to critical rave reviews.
By Associated Press
Excerpts: Two years ago, the biggest question surrounding Jennifer Hudson's career was whether she could act. Everyone knew she could sing; after all, it was her soaring, gospel-inflected voice that made her famous during her finalist run on "American Idol" in 2004.
The question was whether her considerable talent extended to acting when she was cast in the drama-filled role of Effie in the movie adaptation of the musical "Dreamgirls."
For the full article, log on to www.cnn.com
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Some think Pacman Jones is close to lifetime ban
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Pacman Jones for four games without pay on Tuesday for an incident the Cowboys organization had considered relatively minor. The commissioner will make a final ruling on Jones' future in the NFL at the end of his month-long suspension.
Full story by Paul Needell at The Star-Ledger:
For a while there, when Cowboys owner/enabler Jerry Jones rushed to exonerate Pacman of anything more than "horseplay" in last Tuesday's hotel bathroom brawl with his own bodyguard, it seemed like the league was willing to sweep it under the rug. That couldn't have been further from the truth.
Goodell didn't take Jerry's own investigation at face value. Nor did he rush to judgment. Once all the facts were in, though, Goodell again proved he is not a man to be crossed...
Full story by Paul Needell at The Star-Ledger:
For a while there, when Cowboys owner/enabler Jerry Jones rushed to exonerate Pacman of anything more than "horseplay" in last Tuesday's hotel bathroom brawl with his own bodyguard, it seemed like the league was willing to sweep it under the rug. That couldn't have been further from the truth.
Goodell didn't take Jerry's own investigation at face value. Nor did he rush to judgment. Once all the facts were in, though, Goodell again proved he is not a man to be crossed...
U.N. Envoy Warns of More Taliban Attacks
By Colum Lynch, The Washington Post
Excerpts: UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 -- The top U.N. representative for Afghanistan warned Tuesday that Taliban insurgents in the country are likely to step up attacks in coming weeks, before the onset of winter, but he also praised the government's progress in curtailing opium cultivation and said the country is not doomed to failure.
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, told the U.N. Security Council that the Taliban has made significant strides in recent months, expanding its operations from southern and eastern Afghanistan to positions around the capital of Kabul. Insurgent attacks for July and August were up 40 percent over last year, making it the most violent two-month period since the United States toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
"We must expect that this number of incidents will continue over the next weeks," Eide said, noting that the insurgents' target list had grown to include humanitarian aid workers. He said he anticipated that the insurgency would conduct military operations throughout Afghanistan's winter months -- a period in which Taliban fighters have reduced their activities in the past.
For the full story log on to www.washingtonpost.com
Excerpts: UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 14 -- The top U.N. representative for Afghanistan warned Tuesday that Taliban insurgents in the country are likely to step up attacks in coming weeks, before the onset of winter, but he also praised the government's progress in curtailing opium cultivation and said the country is not doomed to failure.
Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, told the U.N. Security Council that the Taliban has made significant strides in recent months, expanding its operations from southern and eastern Afghanistan to positions around the capital of Kabul. Insurgent attacks for July and August were up 40 percent over last year, making it the most violent two-month period since the United States toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.
"We must expect that this number of incidents will continue over the next weeks," Eide said, noting that the insurgents' target list had grown to include humanitarian aid workers. He said he anticipated that the insurgency would conduct military operations throughout Afghanistan's winter months -- a period in which Taliban fighters have reduced their activities in the past.
For the full story log on to www.washingtonpost.com
Missing Fla. girl's mom indicted on murder charge
By Mark Wangrin, Associated Press
Excerpts: ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a missing 3-year-old girl was arrested Tuesday and charged with killing her daughter, even though the child's body has not been found during an exhaustive four-month search.
A grand jury indicted Casey Anthony on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee, State Attorney Lawson Lamar said. The mother is being held without bond.
For the full article go to http://ap.google.com
Excerpts: ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The mother of a missing 3-year-old girl was arrested Tuesday and charged with killing her daughter, even though the child's body has not been found during an exhaustive four-month search.
A grand jury indicted Casey Anthony on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter and four counts of lying to investigators about the disappearance of her daughter, Caylee, State Attorney Lawson Lamar said. The mother is being held without bond.
For the full article go to http://ap.google.com
Obama distances campaign from ACORN
Barack Obama is distancing his campaign from ACORN voter registration efforts, which have come under heavy scrutiny. Officials allege that ACORN has filed thousands of fraudulent voter registration forms. The organization typically registers poor and minority voters who tend to vote Democratically.
Full story by Kenneth P. Vogel at Politico.com:
Barack Obama for the first time on Tuesday addressed the ACORN controversy that Republicans are seeking to attach to his campaign, minimizing the impact of alleged voter registration fraud linked to the activist group and stressing ACORN is not advising his campaign.
“We’ve got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now, and we don’t need ACORN’s help,” he told reporters at the secluded leafy resort outside Toledo...
Full story by Kenneth P. Vogel at Politico.com:
Barack Obama for the first time on Tuesday addressed the ACORN controversy that Republicans are seeking to attach to his campaign, minimizing the impact of alleged voter registration fraud linked to the activist group and stressing ACORN is not advising his campaign.
“We’ve got the best voter registration and turnout and volunteer operation in politics right now, and we don’t need ACORN’s help,” he told reporters at the secluded leafy resort outside Toledo...
Bank of America to cut mortgage payments for struggling homeowners
Bank of America will cut mortgage payments for holders of sub-prime mortgages from Countrywide Financial, which Bank of America acquired in July. The move will reduce payments for struggling homeowners to no more than 34% of gross income. The plan is the result of a multi-state lawsuit against Countrywide for predatory lending practices. It is expected to benefit as many as 400,000 borrowers.
Full story by Les Christie at CNNMoney.com:
As the credit crisis continues, more and more lenders and mortgage servicers are coming to grips with the fact that preventing a foreclosure is usually cheaper than going through the repossession process and then reselling the property in a declining market.
Depending on each borrower's circumstances, Bank of America might freeze or lower a loan's interest rate or even cut the principal loan balance. The bank said it will also participate in the government's Hope for Homeowners program, a provision of the housing rescue bill which went into effect Oct. 1 and makes FHA-insured loans available for delinquent borrowers...
Full story by Les Christie at CNNMoney.com:
As the credit crisis continues, more and more lenders and mortgage servicers are coming to grips with the fact that preventing a foreclosure is usually cheaper than going through the repossession process and then reselling the property in a declining market.
Depending on each borrower's circumstances, Bank of America might freeze or lower a loan's interest rate or even cut the principal loan balance. The bank said it will also participate in the government's Hope for Homeowners program, a provision of the housing rescue bill which went into effect Oct. 1 and makes FHA-insured loans available for delinquent borrowers...
"Great Schlep" pitches Obama to Florida Jews
With many traditionally Democratic Jewish voters reluctant to support Barack Obama, an effort is underway to have younger Jews introduce the candidate and his platform to key Florida voters.
Full story by Patrick Oppmann at CNN:
"The older demographic particularly were being hit with tons and tons of Obama smear e-mails," Wallach said. "If you really want to talk to them in a way that will bring them over to the Obama side, you want to do it one to one, ideally with people they love. And grandparents love no one more than their grandkids."
And so the Great Schlep was born. The idea was that young, Jewish Democrats would flood Florida and convince their elders that voting for Obama was OK...
Full story by Patrick Oppmann at CNN:
"The older demographic particularly were being hit with tons and tons of Obama smear e-mails," Wallach said. "If you really want to talk to them in a way that will bring them over to the Obama side, you want to do it one to one, ideally with people they love. And grandparents love no one more than their grandkids."
And so the Great Schlep was born. The idea was that young, Jewish Democrats would flood Florida and convince their elders that voting for Obama was OK...
FBI investigating "honor killing" in Texas
The FBI has designated the January murders of two Texas teenagers by their father an "honor killing." While,some members of the Muslim community in America are worried that the designation will only stir greater prejudice against Islam, the teenagers' great-aunt has encouraged the view from the beginning. Gail Gartrell argues that understanding the motivation and culture of honor killings is key to preventing them.
Full story by Maxim Lott at FOXNews:
The United Nations estimates that 5,000 women are killed worldwide every year in honor killings — mostly in the Middle East, where many countries still have laws that protect men who murder female relatives they believe have engaged in inappropriate activity. A U.N. report includes chilling examples of such cases.
Full story by Maxim Lott at FOXNews:
The United Nations estimates that 5,000 women are killed worldwide every year in honor killings — mostly in the Middle East, where many countries still have laws that protect men who murder female relatives they believe have engaged in inappropriate activity. A U.N. report includes chilling examples of such cases.
Supreme Court denies death row inmate's appeal
After two stays of execution, Troy Anthony Davis was denied a full appeal by the Supreme Court. The leaves the state of Georgia free to re-schedule Davis' execution for his conviction in the 1989 murder of a police officer. Davis' attorneys had sought an appeal based in part on the recanted testimonies of 7 of 9 original witnesses.
Full story from William Branigan at The Washington Post:
The 1991 death sentence against Davis came under scrutiny after seven of nine witnesses who helped convict him recanted their testimony or changed their statements. Several told of being pressured by police to tell them what they wanted to hear. In addition, three other people have said another man who identified Davis as the killer had confessed to being the actual triggerman...
Full story from William Branigan at The Washington Post:
The 1991 death sentence against Davis came under scrutiny after seven of nine witnesses who helped convict him recanted their testimony or changed their statements. Several told of being pressured by police to tell them what they wanted to hear. In addition, three other people have said another man who identified Davis as the killer had confessed to being the actual triggerman...
McCain (almost) defends Obama against Bin Laden comparison
Jeffery M. Frederick, chairman of the Republican Party in Virginia, compares Barack Obama to Osama Bin Laden, saying "Both have friends that have bombed the Pentagon." In a statement, the McCain campaign calls the comparison "inappropriate" but also reinforces Obama's ties to "domestic terrorist William Ayers."
By Julie Bosman, The New York Times:
Last weekend, the chairman of the Republican Party in Virginia climbed on a folding chair and addressed campaign volunteers with a rallying cry linking Senator Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” said the chairman, Jeffrey M. Frederick. “That is scary.”
The comment, exaggerating Mr. Obama’s association with the 1960s radical William Ayers, was reported by Karen Tumulty in Time magazine and it set off a commotion in the blogosphere.
Contacted on Monday, a spokesman for the Virginia Republican Party offered this defense: Mr. Frederick was quoting Rush Limbaugh.
“He saw a guy with a Rush Limbaugh shirt on, and he was trying to fire up the troops,” said Gerry Scimeca, the spokesman. “He was making a larger point about who’s prepared to lead the nation. It was a vivid way to drive the point home.”
But several minutes later, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign disavowed Mr. Frederick’s remark.
“While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign disagrees with the comparison that Jeff Frederick made and believes that his comment was not appropriate,” Gail Gitcho, the spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message.
Recent polls suggest that Mr. Obama holds a lead of five to six points in Virginia.
By Julie Bosman, The New York Times:
Last weekend, the chairman of the Republican Party in Virginia climbed on a folding chair and addressed campaign volunteers with a rallying cry linking Senator Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden. “Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon,” said the chairman, Jeffrey M. Frederick. “That is scary.”
The comment, exaggerating Mr. Obama’s association with the 1960s radical William Ayers, was reported by Karen Tumulty in Time magazine and it set off a commotion in the blogosphere.
Contacted on Monday, a spokesman for the Virginia Republican Party offered this defense: Mr. Frederick was quoting Rush Limbaugh.
“He saw a guy with a Rush Limbaugh shirt on, and he was trying to fire up the troops,” said Gerry Scimeca, the spokesman. “He was making a larger point about who’s prepared to lead the nation. It was a vivid way to drive the point home.”
But several minutes later, a spokeswoman for the McCain campaign disavowed Mr. Frederick’s remark.
“While Barack Obama is associated with domestic terrorist William Ayers, the McCain campaign disagrees with the comparison that Jeff Frederick made and believes that his comment was not appropriate,” Gail Gitcho, the spokeswoman, said in an e-mail message.
Recent polls suggest that Mr. Obama holds a lead of five to six points in Virginia.
Market struggles, investors cautious after historic rally
Stocks were up and down in early trading on Tuesday. Some seemingly skittish investors pulled their money after yesterday's historic gains. Others were unsure whether we were in the midst of a genuine recovery.
Full story from Alexandra Twin at CNNMoney.com:
The weakness Tuesday was a little bit of buyer's remorse after Monday's historic rally, said John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan. "After a day like yesterday, you'd expect a little to come off the table."
Full story from Alexandra Twin at CNNMoney.com:
The weakness Tuesday was a little bit of buyer's remorse after Monday's historic rally, said John Wilson, chief technical strategist at Morgan Keegan. "After a day like yesterday, you'd expect a little to come off the table."
Congo-Kinshasa: Are Rwanda And DRC Setting the Stage for War?
By Fred Oluoch, All Africa
Nairobi
Excerpts: Is Rwanda about to invade the Democratic Republic of Congo? That was the big question last week as tension and military activity continued to build up rapidly in eastern Congo.
It is clear that relations between Kigali and Kinshasa are worsening by the day, with the two parties trading accusations and the rhetoric between leaders of the neighbouring countries becoming more strident by the day.
For the full story go to http://allafrica.com
Iron Man 2 Switcheroo: Cheadle Replaces Howard
By Gina Serpe, E! Online
It seems Terrence Howard just didn't have the mettle for another Iron Man.
The Oscar-nominated actor is out of his role as Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, Tony Stark's BFF and would-be flying partner War Machine, in Iron Man 2, after negotiations with Marvel fell through, per the Hollywood Reporter, due to "financial differences."
Don Cheadle has been tapped as Howard's replacement for the second go-round, in which Rhodes and his heroic alter ego War Hammer get a much meatier part.
But while Howard is out, the rest of the players remain unchanged.
Robert Downey Jr. is, of course, back as the titular metal-suited man, and Gwyneth Paltrow is also expected to reprise the role of his assistant, Pepper Potts. Jon Favreau returns to the director's chair.
No start date has been set, though Iron Man 2 has been slated for release in April 2010.
Somali forces free Panama ship from pirates
By Abdiqani Hassan, Reuters
BOSASSO, Somalia (Reuters) - Somali security forces freed a Panamanian ship from pirates on Tuesday, officials said, two days after they killed one of the hijackers in a gun battle.
The Wail was seized by heavily armed Somali gunmen on Thursday as it carried cement to Bosasso from Oman. There are thought to be nine Syrian and two Somali crew members onboard.
"We have succeeded in saving the Panama-flagged ship and its crew," Ali Abdi Aware, state minister for the semi-autonomous northern Puntland region, told Reuters. "The pirates have surrendered and the ship is in our hands now."
Puntland's fisheries minister, Ahmed Said Ow Nur, said 10 hijackers were arrested and two soldiers wounded in the raid.
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"The ship is now sailing toward Bosasso," he told Reuters.
Another senior Puntland government official said the Wail had been slightly damaged during an earlier shoot-out on Sunday in which one pirate and one Somali soldier were killed.
Puntland security forces also seized two of the speedboats used by the gang during that operation, and had been surrounding the Panamanian-flagged vessel since then.
Somali pirates have hijacked more than 30 ships so far this year and received ransoms totaling $18-30 million, making the waters off the Horn of Africa nation the world's most dangerous.
In the highest profile case for years, ransom talks are continuing after they seized a Ukrainian vessel, the MV Faina, which was loaded with 33 T-72 tanks and other weaponry.
Last week, the 26-nation NATO military alliance agreed to join anti-piracy operations by sending seven frigates this month to combat the hijackers and escort humanitarian aid ships.
Somalia has been mired in civil conflict since 1991.
(Writing by Daniel Wallis; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Ailing Janet Jackson cancels more concerts
Musical icon Janet Jackson has fans concerned for her health but disappointed that she has canceled several upcoming tour dates. Rumors are that Ms. Jackson is pregnant with long time boyfriend Jermaine Dupri.
By Associated Press
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The doctor has again ordered Janet Jackson to postpone a return to her "Rock Witchu" tour.
Jackson was scheduled to resume her tour Monday night at the Turning Stone Resort in New York after canceling a show over the weekend in Connecticut. A message posted on the resort and casino's Web site stated the show had been canceled at the advice of Jackson's doctor.
She has since postponed several shows, including Thursday night's show at Madison Square Garden in New York. Promoters say the dates will be rescheduled.
No one is saying what is ailing Jackson, who was rushed to a hospital in Montreal before a concert in late September.
Jackson is on her first North American tour in seven years.
Sarah Palin booed at hockey game
The GOP's candidate for the No. 2 spot showed up at a Philadelphia Flyers game to drop the puck and get some quick publicity. What she got was a YouTube sensation. She was booed by Philly fans and the video is making the rounds on the internet.
Dave Zirin talks to Philly fans and residents about the logic of Palin's visit and the politics of the election in working class Pennsylvania. Full text available at Edge of Sports:
... As added insurance, the GOP vice-presidential candidate walked out on the ice with seven-year-old daughter, Piper, who wore a Flyers jersey. Palin acknowledged this strategy beforehand, saying, "I've been warned that Flyers fans, they get so enthused, that they boo everybody at the drop of the puck. But what I thought I'd do is I'd put Piper in a Flyers jersey, bring her out with me. How dare they boo Piper!" Well, they dared, and Sarah Palin once again makes her case for mother of the year...
Dave Zirin talks to Philly fans and residents about the logic of Palin's visit and the politics of the election in working class Pennsylvania. Full text available at Edge of Sports:
... As added insurance, the GOP vice-presidential candidate walked out on the ice with seven-year-old daughter, Piper, who wore a Flyers jersey. Palin acknowledged this strategy beforehand, saying, "I've been warned that Flyers fans, they get so enthused, that they boo everybody at the drop of the puck. But what I thought I'd do is I'd put Piper in a Flyers jersey, bring her out with me. How dare they boo Piper!" Well, they dared, and Sarah Palin once again makes her case for mother of the year...
Tough(er) questions for Obama
Dan Balz of the Washington Post argues that Obama's front-runner status should earn him a lot more hard questions than he's been getting. As the heir apparent to the most powerful political position in the world, it may be time for Obama to start telling us some of those hard truths he promised early on. Then again, for those who actually want to see the senator elected, it might be best to postpone anything remotely controversial til November 5th.
Dan Balz on "Questioning Obama":
The presidential race is not over, but at this point, Obama has a better chance of becoming president than McCain, and as a result, the questions ought to be going toward him as much or more than McCain -- questions not of tactics but of substance.
Dan Balz on "Questioning Obama":
The presidential race is not over, but at this point, Obama has a better chance of becoming president than McCain, and as a result, the questions ought to be going toward him as much or more than McCain -- questions not of tactics but of substance.
Why so angry?
Bill Bishop at Slate has an interesting take on why the folks at McCain-Palin rallies seem to be so angry. We can all thank the wisdom of crowds. Apparently, there's nothing like being around people like you to make you even more like you. A few kinda angry people get together and become lots of really angry people.
The full take here:
... Social scientists have proposed several reasons for why like-minded groups tend to polarize. Two have survived scrutiny. The first is that homogenous groups are privy to a large pool of ideas and arguments supporting the group's dominant position. Everybody hears the arguments in favor of the group's belief, and as they're discussed, people grow stouter in their beliefs...
The full take here:
... Social scientists have proposed several reasons for why like-minded groups tend to polarize. Two have survived scrutiny. The first is that homogenous groups are privy to a large pool of ideas and arguments supporting the group's dominant position. Everybody hears the arguments in favor of the group's belief, and as they're discussed, people grow stouter in their beliefs...
RNC looks to rescue vulnerable incumbents
As the election nears, we are facing the possibility not only of a Democratic President, but of a Democratic President bolstered by a Democratic Congress with a veto-proof majority. Politico.com is reporting that the Republican National Committee is considering a $5 million loan to GOP incumbents in danger of losing their seats. Whatever they do will have to be done quickly to allow for the buying of ad time in key states and districts ahead of November 4th.
Full story by Jonathan Martin at Politico.com:
[W]ith the House and Senate Republican campaign committees being drastically outspent by their Democratic counterparts, and outside groups such as Freedom’s Watch offering far less help than was once anticipated, Republicans are turning to the national party committee as a lender of last resort...
Full story by Jonathan Martin at Politico.com:
[W]ith the House and Senate Republican campaign committees being drastically outspent by their Democratic counterparts, and outside groups such as Freedom’s Watch offering far less help than was once anticipated, Republicans are turning to the national party committee as a lender of last resort...
Monday, October 13, 2008
Wildfires out of control in LA County
Firefighters in Los Angeles County struggled to contain wildfires late Monday. At least 2 deaths have been attributed to the blazes and more than 1,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. The fires are proving especially difficult to control and at least one highway has been shut down.
Full story by Shaya Tayefe Mohajer of The Associated Press via Yahoo! News:
Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles on Monday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths... More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 5,300-acre Marek Fire...
Full story by Shaya Tayefe Mohajer of The Associated Press via Yahoo! News:
Two huge wildfires driven by strong Santa Ana winds burned into neighborhoods near Los Angeles on Monday, forcing frantic evacuations on smoke- and traffic-choked highways, destroying homes and causing at least two deaths... More than 1,000 firefighters and nine water-dropping aircraft battled the 5,300-acre Marek Fire...
Market jumps 11% Monday
The market rebounded in a big way today. The largest recovery since the Great Depression came after a week of historically bad losses. Analysts are primarily crediting increasing investor confidence for the jump. One can't know for sure, but we should consider the possibility that today's trading was driven by bargain-hunting investors trying to get in on the ground floor. Certainly, these investors played some part in the day's trading. Time will tell if today's action signaled a genuine recovery.
Full story from Renae Merle at The Washington Post:
Wall Street roared back yesterday, rebounding from last week's dismal performance with its largest rally in 70 years and revealing renewed confidence in U.S. and global efforts to combat the financial crisis...
Full story from Renae Merle at The Washington Post:
Wall Street roared back yesterday, rebounding from last week's dismal performance with its largest rally in 70 years and revealing renewed confidence in U.S. and global efforts to combat the financial crisis...
Morning Headlines
Hip hop superstar T.I. has the number 1 album and single in the country but is also getting ready to serve a year long prison term for gun possession. He sits down with CNN producer Denis Quan for an in-depth interview. Controversial "No Child Left Behind" mandate has begun to fail even the most promising schools. Sam Dillon of the New York Times investigates Prairie Elementary School in Sacramento, CA. In NFL news, Pacman Jones continues to live up to his bad boy image as he apologizes to his fellow Cowboys teammates for his participation in a hotel brawl. An early morning surge in stocks has Wall Street and other financial institutions optimistic after the recent Congressional bailout. Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe continues to stir concern after he swears in two Vice Presidents before meeting with oppositional leaders. In domestic political news, Slate reporter Christopher Beam explores how racial tension might be an advantage for Presidential hopeful Barack Obama.
For all your up-to-date news in politics, education, sports, world affairs, entertainment and the economy, log on to TheRoot.com
For all your up-to-date news in politics, education, sports, world affairs, entertainment and the economy, log on to TheRoot.com
How Race Can Help Obama: And why an Obama win wouldn't be a victory over racial prejudice.
By Christopher Beam, Slate
On Election Day, if current polls hold true, hundreds of thousands of racists will vote for Barack Obama. In fact, if the election is close in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Virginia, one could argue that the support of people who have at least some degree of prejudice against blacks could hand Obama a victory.
The implications of this are stunning: Far from costing Obama the election, as some have argued, race may not be much of a factor in people's decisions—even those with negative attitudes toward blacks. It then follows, however, that his election may not represent the victory over racism many of his supporters hoped it would.
On the face of it, it seems at best absurd, and at worst offensive, to argue against the relevance of race in the first general election in U.S. history featuring an African-American candidate for president. But recent polls, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that other issues may trump race this year.
The biggest recent survey to deal with race, conducted by Stanford University and the Associated Press, asked voters how closely they associated certain words and phrases—such as law-abiding, violent, and lazy—with blacks. About 40 percent of whites identified strongly at least one negative adjective describing blacks. Of those whites, 24 percent said they would still vote for Obama, while 55 percent said they'd vote for McCain. Of the whites who did not identify strongly any of the negative adjectives about blacks, 41 percent would vote for Obama—about even with the percentage who would vote for McCain.
It may well be too much to call the whites who cited negative adjectives about blacks "racist." (Not to mention differentiating between "symbolic racism," "modern racism," "racial resentment," or "laissez-faire racism.") But it does serve as a rough indicator of prejudice. It also indicates that negative feelings toward blacks don't necessarily translate into negative feelings toward Obama.
A new Gallup poll, meanwhile, suggests that negative feelings toward Obama's race are neutralized—and possibly even outweighed—by positive ones. In this survey, the vast majority of voters—both black and white—said his race made no difference to them. But 6 percent said it made them less likely to vote for him, while 9 percent said it made them more likely to. Among whites alone, the numbers were 7 percent "less likely" and 6 percent "more likely." In other words, race cancels itself out.
The reasoning behind the numbers may be more elusive. The most obvious reason for people with negative views of blacks to vote for Obama is the economy. There's anecdotal evidence that people otherwise averse to voting for a black candidate are considering Obama because the economy is so bad. (Here's more such evidence.) This week's Time cover story reports that the economy has replaced race as the key factor in the election. Then there's partisanship. Strong identification with Democrats might trump strong feelings toward blacks among many voters. (Click here to see why racism is a bigger factor among Democrats than among Republicans.)
There's also Obama's perceived exceptionalism—unlike most American blacks, he's not descended from slaves, and his childhood and upbringing were atypical of the American black (or white, for that matter) experience. Some have interpreted this to mean he's not really black. But that hasn't hurt his support among African-Americans, and it may have the effect of allowing whites with racist beliefs to justify voting for him: They can tell themselves he's actually half-white.
But even that might be too pessimistic. Research shows that feelings among whites toward African-Americans in general have little relationship to their feelings toward African-American politicians. "If I think most blacks are lazy, and I find myself with someone in front of me who I know has worked very hard and is black, I'll respond at least as positively as I would to a white—or more positively if I'm conservative," says Paul Sniderman, a Stanford political scientist. In a 1987 experiment, Sniderman discovered that conservatives were more likely than liberals to think blacks were lazy—but that they made an exception when they encountered hardworking blacks. (He later published his finding in The Scar of Race.)
People talk about racial prejudice as a trump card—as if it somehow outweighs all other considerations. This isn't the case, says David Wilson, a University of Delaware professor conducting a survey on race and the presidential election. It's just part of a mix of factors people weigh, consciously or not. So when people tell pollsters that race is a factor in their decision and then vote against Obama, as they did in the Pennsylvania primary, it doesn't necessarily mean that race was the deciding factor. It may have been one of many.
So inevitably, people with racial resentment will still vote for Obama. "It's like saying I might hate my boss, but I'm still going to work there. I hate my neighbors, but I'm still going to live in the neighborhood. I hate my life, but I'm not going to kill myself," says Wilson.
It's good news, certainly, that Obama's race may not hurt him as much as many expected. But the flip side is that his victory wouldn't necessarily mark a milestone in the battle against racism. As one normally astute commentator wrote: "We would finally be able to see our legacy of slavery, segregation, and racism in the rearview mirror. Our kids would grow up thinking of prejudice as a nonfactor in their lives." Hardly. An Obama win would just mean that people with negative feelings toward African-Americans set them aside because of more pressing issues like partisanship or health care or the economy.
Another reason a black president won't mean the end of racism: the Obama Card. For years to come, racists everywhere—not to mention defensive liberals—will be able to respond to charges of racism with four words: I voted for Obama. It will be the ultimate cover. In fact, some anti-Obama groups are already preying on this notion, targeting voters who might be thinking about voting for Obama because he's black. "I'm sorry to tell you that voting for Obama does not absolve you of racism, it may even confirm it," reads one anonymous letter distributed in a Northern Virginia suburb. Geraldine Ferraro couldn't have said it worse when she claimed Obama is "very lucky" to be black. But the kernel of truth in her statement was that some voters do see Obama's race as a positive. And they may vote for him to deny or atone for their own racial prejudices.
To be sure, an Obama victory would go a long way toward debunking stereotypes, providing a role model for African-Americans, and upending the identity politics associated with many black politicians. Electing a black president would, in an instant, change the way the country sees itself, and how other countries see us. But it wouldn't signal the end of racism any more than did the first black baseball player or the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Racism and prejudice survived their achievements, just as it will outlast Obama's—regardless of whether he loses or wins.
On Election Day, if current polls hold true, hundreds of thousands of racists will vote for Barack Obama. In fact, if the election is close in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, or Virginia, one could argue that the support of people who have at least some degree of prejudice against blacks could hand Obama a victory.
The implications of this are stunning: Far from costing Obama the election, as some have argued, race may not be much of a factor in people's decisions—even those with negative attitudes toward blacks. It then follows, however, that his election may not represent the victory over racism many of his supporters hoped it would.
On the face of it, it seems at best absurd, and at worst offensive, to argue against the relevance of race in the first general election in U.S. history featuring an African-American candidate for president. But recent polls, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that other issues may trump race this year.
The biggest recent survey to deal with race, conducted by Stanford University and the Associated Press, asked voters how closely they associated certain words and phrases—such as law-abiding, violent, and lazy—with blacks. About 40 percent of whites identified strongly at least one negative adjective describing blacks. Of those whites, 24 percent said they would still vote for Obama, while 55 percent said they'd vote for McCain. Of the whites who did not identify strongly any of the negative adjectives about blacks, 41 percent would vote for Obama—about even with the percentage who would vote for McCain.
It may well be too much to call the whites who cited negative adjectives about blacks "racist." (Not to mention differentiating between "symbolic racism," "modern racism," "racial resentment," or "laissez-faire racism.") But it does serve as a rough indicator of prejudice. It also indicates that negative feelings toward blacks don't necessarily translate into negative feelings toward Obama.
A new Gallup poll, meanwhile, suggests that negative feelings toward Obama's race are neutralized—and possibly even outweighed—by positive ones. In this survey, the vast majority of voters—both black and white—said his race made no difference to them. But 6 percent said it made them less likely to vote for him, while 9 percent said it made them more likely to. Among whites alone, the numbers were 7 percent "less likely" and 6 percent "more likely." In other words, race cancels itself out.
The reasoning behind the numbers may be more elusive. The most obvious reason for people with negative views of blacks to vote for Obama is the economy. There's anecdotal evidence that people otherwise averse to voting for a black candidate are considering Obama because the economy is so bad. (Here's more such evidence.) This week's Time cover story reports that the economy has replaced race as the key factor in the election. Then there's partisanship. Strong identification with Democrats might trump strong feelings toward blacks among many voters. (Click here to see why racism is a bigger factor among Democrats than among Republicans.)
There's also Obama's perceived exceptionalism—unlike most American blacks, he's not descended from slaves, and his childhood and upbringing were atypical of the American black (or white, for that matter) experience. Some have interpreted this to mean he's not really black. But that hasn't hurt his support among African-Americans, and it may have the effect of allowing whites with racist beliefs to justify voting for him: They can tell themselves he's actually half-white.
But even that might be too pessimistic. Research shows that feelings among whites toward African-Americans in general have little relationship to their feelings toward African-American politicians. "If I think most blacks are lazy, and I find myself with someone in front of me who I know has worked very hard and is black, I'll respond at least as positively as I would to a white—or more positively if I'm conservative," says Paul Sniderman, a Stanford political scientist. In a 1987 experiment, Sniderman discovered that conservatives were more likely than liberals to think blacks were lazy—but that they made an exception when they encountered hardworking blacks. (He later published his finding in The Scar of Race.)
People talk about racial prejudice as a trump card—as if it somehow outweighs all other considerations. This isn't the case, says David Wilson, a University of Delaware professor conducting a survey on race and the presidential election. It's just part of a mix of factors people weigh, consciously or not. So when people tell pollsters that race is a factor in their decision and then vote against Obama, as they did in the Pennsylvania primary, it doesn't necessarily mean that race was the deciding factor. It may have been one of many.
So inevitably, people with racial resentment will still vote for Obama. "It's like saying I might hate my boss, but I'm still going to work there. I hate my neighbors, but I'm still going to live in the neighborhood. I hate my life, but I'm not going to kill myself," says Wilson.
It's good news, certainly, that Obama's race may not hurt him as much as many expected. But the flip side is that his victory wouldn't necessarily mark a milestone in the battle against racism. As one normally astute commentator wrote: "We would finally be able to see our legacy of slavery, segregation, and racism in the rearview mirror. Our kids would grow up thinking of prejudice as a nonfactor in their lives." Hardly. An Obama win would just mean that people with negative feelings toward African-Americans set them aside because of more pressing issues like partisanship or health care or the economy.
Another reason a black president won't mean the end of racism: the Obama Card. For years to come, racists everywhere—not to mention defensive liberals—will be able to respond to charges of racism with four words: I voted for Obama. It will be the ultimate cover. In fact, some anti-Obama groups are already preying on this notion, targeting voters who might be thinking about voting for Obama because he's black. "I'm sorry to tell you that voting for Obama does not absolve you of racism, it may even confirm it," reads one anonymous letter distributed in a Northern Virginia suburb. Geraldine Ferraro couldn't have said it worse when she claimed Obama is "very lucky" to be black. But the kernel of truth in her statement was that some voters do see Obama's race as a positive. And they may vote for him to deny or atone for their own racial prejudices.
To be sure, an Obama victory would go a long way toward debunking stereotypes, providing a role model for African-Americans, and upending the identity politics associated with many black politicians. Electing a black president would, in an instant, change the way the country sees itself, and how other countries see us. But it wouldn't signal the end of racism any more than did the first black baseball player or the first black justice on the U.S. Supreme Court. Racism and prejudice survived their achievements, just as it will outlast Obama's—regardless of whether he loses or wins.
Mugabe Swears In Vice - Presidents Before Talks
By Reuters
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has sworn in two vice-presidents ahead of talks on forming a cabinet, a government official said on Monday, a move that could further endanger power-sharing negotiations.
It follows Mugabe's allocation of important ministries to his ZANU-PF party at the weekend, angering the opposition. The MDC said it doubted mediation by former South African President Thabo Mbeki this week would get ZANU-PF to compromise.
A senior government official told Reuters: "The two vice-presidents were sworn in this morning because their positions are not in dispute."
The European Union could step up sanctions on Zimbabwe unless Mugabe sticks to the terms of the accord.
"If the agreement is not applied we shall resume our sanctions and reinforce them," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in Luxembourg. France is EU president.
Existing EU sanctions include visa bans and asset freezes on top Zimbabwean officials including Mugabe.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday his party could walk away from a power-sharing deal he signed with Mugabe if Mbeki's latest mediation failed to end deadlock on dividing key ministries.
"The visit provides a platform and opportunity for ZANU-PF to reverse its unilateral action," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. "The ZANU-PF mindset is not consistent with power-sharing. It cannot be power-sharing when one party controls all key ministries."
Mbeki, who scored his biggest diplomatic coup last month when he nudged Zimbabwe's bitter political rivals to sign a power-sharing deal, is expected in Harare later on Monday.
A government notice on Saturday showed Mugabe had allocated three key ministries to his ZANU-PF party, drawing fire from the opposition and threatening the fragile pact.
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Mugabe handed his party the ministries of defense, home affairs -- which is in charge of the police -- and finance which will be important in eventually reviving the collapsing economy.
ZANU-PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa said there was only deadlock on the ministry of finance, but his party was committed to dialogue. He expected talks to start on Tuesday.
"As far as we are concerned, the only contentious issue is the ministry of finance. The locomotive has been too long at the station and is now warming its engine," he told reporters, referring to the paralysis that has gripped the country since the March elections.
Chamisa said there was no agreement on key ministries including justice, foreign affairs, information and local government.
Zimbabwe's economy is imploding, with the number of people in need of food aid rising by the day, adding to the woes of a country suffering staggering inflation of 230 million percent, the highest in the world.
Tsvangirai said on Sunday he would keep negotiating to try to reach an agreement but added that the country's 10 posts of provincial governors should be shared between ZANU-PF, a splinter MDC group and his party.
While the parties have been at loggerheads since the signing of the September 15 pact on how to divide up 31 cabinet posts, this has angered Zimbabweans who had hoped the deal would bring an end to years of economic misery.
Under the deal, Mugabe -- in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 -- retains the presidency and chairs the cabinet. Tsvangirai, as prime minister, will head a council of ministers supervising the cabinet.
ZANU-PF will have 15 seats in the cabinet, Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and a splinter MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara three posts, giving the opposition a combined majority.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has sworn in two vice-presidents ahead of talks on forming a cabinet, a government official said on Monday, a move that could further endanger power-sharing negotiations.
It follows Mugabe's allocation of important ministries to his ZANU-PF party at the weekend, angering the opposition. The MDC said it doubted mediation by former South African President Thabo Mbeki this week would get ZANU-PF to compromise.
A senior government official told Reuters: "The two vice-presidents were sworn in this morning because their positions are not in dispute."
The European Union could step up sanctions on Zimbabwe unless Mugabe sticks to the terms of the accord.
"If the agreement is not applied we shall resume our sanctions and reinforce them," French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said in Luxembourg. France is EU president.
Existing EU sanctions include visa bans and asset freezes on top Zimbabwean officials including Mugabe.
Opposition Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai said on Sunday his party could walk away from a power-sharing deal he signed with Mugabe if Mbeki's latest mediation failed to end deadlock on dividing key ministries.
"The visit provides a platform and opportunity for ZANU-PF to reverse its unilateral action," MDC spokesman Nelson Chamisa said. "The ZANU-PF mindset is not consistent with power-sharing. It cannot be power-sharing when one party controls all key ministries."
Mbeki, who scored his biggest diplomatic coup last month when he nudged Zimbabwe's bitter political rivals to sign a power-sharing deal, is expected in Harare later on Monday.
A government notice on Saturday showed Mugabe had allocated three key ministries to his ZANU-PF party, drawing fire from the opposition and threatening the fragile pact.
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Mugabe handed his party the ministries of defense, home affairs -- which is in charge of the police -- and finance which will be important in eventually reviving the collapsing economy.
ZANU-PF negotiator Patrick Chinamasa said there was only deadlock on the ministry of finance, but his party was committed to dialogue. He expected talks to start on Tuesday.
"As far as we are concerned, the only contentious issue is the ministry of finance. The locomotive has been too long at the station and is now warming its engine," he told reporters, referring to the paralysis that has gripped the country since the March elections.
Chamisa said there was no agreement on key ministries including justice, foreign affairs, information and local government.
Zimbabwe's economy is imploding, with the number of people in need of food aid rising by the day, adding to the woes of a country suffering staggering inflation of 230 million percent, the highest in the world.
Tsvangirai said on Sunday he would keep negotiating to try to reach an agreement but added that the country's 10 posts of provincial governors should be shared between ZANU-PF, a splinter MDC group and his party.
While the parties have been at loggerheads since the signing of the September 15 pact on how to divide up 31 cabinet posts, this has angered Zimbabweans who had hoped the deal would bring an end to years of economic misery.
Under the deal, Mugabe -- in power since Zimbabwe's independence from Britain in 1980 -- retains the presidency and chairs the cabinet. Tsvangirai, as prime minister, will head a council of ministers supervising the cabinet.
ZANU-PF will have 15 seats in the cabinet, Tsvangirai's MDC 13 and a splinter MDC faction led by Arthur Mutambara three posts, giving the opposition a combined majority.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)
Pacman apologizes to Cowboys for controversial hotel incident
By Ed Werder, ESPN
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- After their last full practice of the week Friday, Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones huddled the team around him on the field.
Then he apologized for bringing unintended controversy to the Cowboys and vowed such an incident would not happen again.
Linebacker Bradie James -- one of the defensive captains -- met with Jones one-on-one and warned him not to alienate a team that has embraced him despite his troubled history.
James said Jones was extremely focused during the week, had his best practices and feels he needs to repay teammates for their support.
Jones was involved in a physical confrontation at an upscale downtown Dallas hotel late Tuesday night alongside a bodyguard provided by the Cowboys.
The Cowboys announced this week they had investigated the matter and wouldn't be taking disciplinary measures against Jones.
The NFL said Friday its review of the incident would be completed sometime this week.
According to two Cowboys sources, the team would receive a fifth-round pick from the Titans if Jones is suspended for any games by commissioner Roger Goodell when the league completes its investigation.
The Cowboys sent a 2008 fourth-round pick to Tennessee and a 2009 fourth-rounder to acquire Jones this offseason. But the Titans had to give up a 2009 fifth-round selection if Jones missed any games because of a suspension.
Because in the NFL no team had ever traded for a player serving a suspension, the Cowboys made a fourth-round 2009 draft choice included in the trade conditional upon Jones being available to play the entire season if healthy.
At the time, the Cowboys were protecting themselves against the possibility Jones might not be reinstated for the beginning of the season, as well as addressing concerns that any misbehavior could result in disciplinary measures that would take him off the field.
GLENDALE, Ariz. -- After their last full practice of the week Friday, Cowboys cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones huddled the team around him on the field.
Then he apologized for bringing unintended controversy to the Cowboys and vowed such an incident would not happen again.
Linebacker Bradie James -- one of the defensive captains -- met with Jones one-on-one and warned him not to alienate a team that has embraced him despite his troubled history.
James said Jones was extremely focused during the week, had his best practices and feels he needs to repay teammates for their support.
Jones was involved in a physical confrontation at an upscale downtown Dallas hotel late Tuesday night alongside a bodyguard provided by the Cowboys.
The Cowboys announced this week they had investigated the matter and wouldn't be taking disciplinary measures against Jones.
The NFL said Friday its review of the incident would be completed sometime this week.
According to two Cowboys sources, the team would receive a fifth-round pick from the Titans if Jones is suspended for any games by commissioner Roger Goodell when the league completes its investigation.
The Cowboys sent a 2008 fourth-round pick to Tennessee and a 2009 fourth-rounder to acquire Jones this offseason. But the Titans had to give up a 2009 fifth-round selection if Jones missed any games because of a suspension.
Because in the NFL no team had ever traded for a player serving a suspension, the Cowboys made a fourth-round 2009 draft choice included in the trade conditional upon Jones being available to play the entire season if healthy.
At the time, the Cowboys were protecting themselves against the possibility Jones might not be reinstated for the beginning of the season, as well as addressing concerns that any misbehavior could result in disciplinary measures that would take him off the field.
Stocks: Bailout rally, Dow rallies 400 points as investors cheered the global response to the crisis.
By Catherine Tymkiw, CNN
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks surged Monday morning as investors cheered the global response to the deepening financial crisis, following the worst week on Wall Street in history.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) jumped 400 points, or 4.8% with bank stocks leading the way. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index rose 4.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 4.4%.
U.S. bond markets are closed Monday for the Columbus Day holiday.
Markets have gotten slammed because of the deepening credit crisis. In fact, the Dow ended its worst week ever Friday, capping a staggering eight-session selloff that resulted in a 2,400-point loss. It's not just the size of the loss keeping investors on edge, it's also the gyrations. On Friday, the Dow whipsawed, falling as much as 697 points in the first minutes of trading before quickly climbing back into positive territory, only to turn lower shortly after.
The whiplash has left investors scrambling and world leaders struggling for a way out.
Monday morning, Neel Kashkari -- appointed last week to oversee the $700 billion U.S. bailout program and the newly created Office of Financial Stability -- made his first public speech. Kashkari, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, offered details about how the bailout will be implemented.
House Democrats will also meet Monday to discuss a potential second economic stimulus package, although House Republicans are reportedly skeptical of a second package, according to CNN.
World leaders gathered over the weekend to work on solutions for stemming the fallout from the world's worst financial crisis in decades. Following an emergency meeting Sunday, European nations agreed to shore up their troubled banks by adding capital and guaranteeing inter-bank lending.
Early Monday, the British government said it would invest $63 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB to help the battered banks navigate through the crisis.
Also on Monday, four central banks, including the Federal Reserve, announced new measures aimed at thawing the credit markets. Provisions include providing unlimited short-term dollar funds at fixed interest rates.
In other banking news, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) announced Monday that it has sold 21% of itself to Japanese banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group for $9 billion in stock.
On tap. Investors could be in for another rough ride as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) ready to report results this week, giving another glimpse into just how deep their losses continue to be. And a slew of economic reports are also due out, including readings on consumer spending and housing.
None of the reports, corporate or economic, are due out Monday.
Overseas markets. Stocks in overseas markets were trading higher - though down from earlier highs - the first market signal following the most coordinated effort to date to address the global financial crisis.
Japanese markets were closed Monday.
Dollar and oil. The U.S. dollar pushed lower early Monday. The greenback was down modestly against the Japanese yen, the 15-nation euro and the British pound.
Crude prices, meanwhile, stepped higher. Oil prices have been under pressure amid worries that the global crisis would undercut demand. Late last week, OPEC announced it would hold an emergency meeting Nov. 18 to address the issue.
Prices, which have plunged some 44% from the record $147.27 a barrel set on July 11, were up $4.01 at $81.71 a barrel early Monday.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stocks surged Monday morning as investors cheered the global response to the deepening financial crisis, following the worst week on Wall Street in history.
The Dow Jones industrial average (INDU) jumped 400 points, or 4.8% with bank stocks leading the way. The Standard & Poor's 500 (SPX) index rose 4.3% and the Nasdaq composite (COMP) added 4.4%.
U.S. bond markets are closed Monday for the Columbus Day holiday.
Markets have gotten slammed because of the deepening credit crisis. In fact, the Dow ended its worst week ever Friday, capping a staggering eight-session selloff that resulted in a 2,400-point loss. It's not just the size of the loss keeping investors on edge, it's also the gyrations. On Friday, the Dow whipsawed, falling as much as 697 points in the first minutes of trading before quickly climbing back into positive territory, only to turn lower shortly after.
The whiplash has left investors scrambling and world leaders struggling for a way out.
Monday morning, Neel Kashkari -- appointed last week to oversee the $700 billion U.S. bailout program and the newly created Office of Financial Stability -- made his first public speech. Kashkari, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, offered details about how the bailout will be implemented.
House Democrats will also meet Monday to discuss a potential second economic stimulus package, although House Republicans are reportedly skeptical of a second package, according to CNN.
World leaders gathered over the weekend to work on solutions for stemming the fallout from the world's worst financial crisis in decades. Following an emergency meeting Sunday, European nations agreed to shore up their troubled banks by adding capital and guaranteeing inter-bank lending.
Early Monday, the British government said it would invest $63 billion into the Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB to help the battered banks navigate through the crisis.
Also on Monday, four central banks, including the Federal Reserve, announced new measures aimed at thawing the credit markets. Provisions include providing unlimited short-term dollar funds at fixed interest rates.
In other banking news, Morgan Stanley (MS, Fortune 500) announced Monday that it has sold 21% of itself to Japanese banking giant Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group for $9 billion in stock.
On tap. Investors could be in for another rough ride as Citigroup (C, Fortune 500) and Merrill Lynch (MER, Fortune 500) ready to report results this week, giving another glimpse into just how deep their losses continue to be. And a slew of economic reports are also due out, including readings on consumer spending and housing.
None of the reports, corporate or economic, are due out Monday.
Overseas markets. Stocks in overseas markets were trading higher - though down from earlier highs - the first market signal following the most coordinated effort to date to address the global financial crisis.
Japanese markets were closed Monday.
Dollar and oil. The U.S. dollar pushed lower early Monday. The greenback was down modestly against the Japanese yen, the 15-nation euro and the British pound.
Crude prices, meanwhile, stepped higher. Oil prices have been under pressure amid worries that the global crisis would undercut demand. Late last week, OPEC announced it would hold an emergency meeting Nov. 18 to address the issue.
Prices, which have plunged some 44% from the record $147.27 a barrel set on July 11, were up $4.01 at $81.71 a barrel early Monday.
Under ‘No Child’ Law, Even Solid Schools Falter
By Sam Dillon, New York Times
SACRAMENTO — Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now.
The school, perched on a tidy, oak-shaded campus in a working-class neighborhood here, has moved each of its student groups — Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English learners, the disabled — toward higher proficiency in recent years.
Over all, the number of its students passing tough statewide tests had increased by more than three percentage points annually, a solid record.
But this year, California schools were required to make what experts call a gigantic leap, increasing the students proficient in every group by 11 percentage points. For the first time, Prairie, and hundreds of other California schools, fell short, a failure that results in probation and, unless reversed, federal sanctions within a year.
“And they’re asking for another 11 percent increase next year and the next, and that’s where I’m saying I just don’t know how,” Fawzia Keval, the school’s principal, said. “I’m spending sleepless nights.”
Across the nation, far more schools failed to meet the federal law’s testing targets than in any previous year, according to new state-by-state data. And in California and some other states, the problem traces in part to the fact that officials chose to require only minimal gains in the first years after the law passed and then very rapid annual gains later. One researcher likens it to the balloon payments that can sink homebuyers.
Part of the reason for the troubles was that the states gambled the law would have been softened when it came up for reauthorization in 2007, but efforts to change it stalled. This year Congress made no organized attempt to reconsider the law. With the nation facing urgent challenges, including two wars and economic turmoil, it could be a year or more before the new president can work with Congress to rewrite the law.
The law requires every American school to bring all students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014. When it was first implemented six years ago, it required states to outline the statistical path they would follow on their way to 100 percent proficiency, and about half set low rates of achievement growth for the first few years and steeper rates thereafter.
Here in California, which in 2002 had only 13.6 percent of students proficient in reading, officials promised to raise that percentage on average by 2.2 points annually from 2002 to 2007, but starting this year greatly accelerate the progress, raising the percentage of proficient students by 11 points per year through 2014.
Now that the time has come for that accelerated improvement, California schools are not keeping up. This year, about half the state’s 9,800 schools fell short.
“We’re hitting a balloon payment scenario, to use a housing analogy, where the expectations set forth in the federal law are far higher than recent performance levels,” said Richard Cardullo, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, who led an analysis of the performance of state elementary schools.
His study, published Sept. 26 in the journal Science, found that the proportion of students scoring at or above proficiency increased, on average, less than four percentage points annually from 2003 to 2007, far short of the 11 percentage points of annual growth required starting this year.
“Lots of schools are no longer going to be able to meet the law’s requirements,” Dr. Cardullo said. His study predicted that virtually every elementary school in California would fall short of the federal law’s expectations before 2014.
Why did California decide on six years of relatively slow achievement growth, followed by six years of extraordinary gains? Officials from many states told the Bush administration in 2002 that they needed time to write new tests and accustom teachers to them.
But the California state school superintendent, Jack O’Connell, said he also bet that Congress might change the law in 2007, perhaps by removing its 100 percent proficiency goal. “It’s true that was in the back of my mind when we negotiated our plan with the feds,” Mr. O’Connell said. “And I’d do the same thing again. I’m still hoping a new administration will change the law.”
Meanwhile, the law has had other unintended consequences — including its tendency to punish states, like California, that have high academic standards and rigorous tests, which have contributed to an increasing pileup of failed schools.
A state-by-state analysis by The New York Times found that in the 40 states reporting on their compliance so far this year, on average, 4 in 10 schools fell short of the law’s testing targets, up from about 3 in 10 last year. Few schools missed targets in states with easy exams, like Wisconsin and Mississippi, but states with tough tests had a harder time. In Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Mexico, which have stringent exams, 60 to 70 percent of schools missed testing goals. And in South Carolina, which has what may be the nation’s most rigorous tests, 83 percent of schools missed targets.
“The law is diagnosing schools that just have the sniffles with having pneumonia,” said Jim Rex, the South Carolina schools superintendent.
Under the law, all public schools must test students every year and if those in any group fall short, the school misses its targets and is put on probation. All states adopt their own curriculums and testing standards, and the rigor of the tests varies greatly.
Schools that miss targets for two consecutive years are labeled “needing improvement” and face escalating sanctions that can include staff changes or closings. Partly because the law is identifying thousands of schools, however, few states have tried to radically restructure more than a few.
Margaret Spellings, the federal education secretary, acknowledged in an interview that the law’s mechanism for holding schools accountable needed refinement because it works as a pass-fail system in which schools with only minor problems are in the same category as chaotic institutions with students running the halls.
“We passed the best law we could seven years ago,” Ms. Spellings said. “There’s wide recognition that this is something we need to address.”
Under a pilot program known as differentiated accountability, Ms. Spellings has given six states — Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio — permission to treat schools labeled for improvement that have missed targets for only one group differently than those needing sweeping intervention.
But the rate at which schools have been identified as needing improvement has not yet become worrisome, she said. “Pretty much every organization needs improvement,” she said.
Ms. Spellings has fiercely defended the law’s requirement that all students achieve proficiency by 2014.
Among that provision’s most tenacious critics has been Robert Linn, a University of Colorado professor emeritus who is one of the nation’s foremost testing experts. He argued, almost from the law’s passage, that no society anywhere has brought 100 percent of students to proficiency, and that the annual gains required to meet the goal of universal proficiency were unrealistically rapid, since even great school systems rarely sustain annual increases in the proportion of students demonstrating proficiency topping three to four percentage points.
“If, no matter how hard teachers work, the school is labeled as a failure, that’s just demoralizing,” Dr. Linn said.
Ms. Keval, the principal at Prairie Elementary, has been fighting demoralization herself since learning of this year’s test results, she said.
Educated in British schools in Kenya, she speaks Urdu, Swahili and five other languages, and several teachers said she was an inspirational leader. Ms. Keval described her staff as qualified, hard-working and dedicated to student progress.
Eight out of 10 children at the school are poor — the children of gardeners and maids, retail clerks and short-order cooks, the unemployed — yet all groups have made progress.
When the law took effect in 2002, 22 percent of all students and 19 percent of blacks were proficient in reading. Ms. Keval has for several years used federal money to hire extra reading teachers and to organize additional instructional time for low-scoring students after school and during vacation periods.
As a result, reading proficiency has increased on average by nearly four percentage points each recent year, although black students have improved more slowly. On California’s state tests this year, 42 percent of Prairie’s students schoolwide and 40 percent of Hispanics demonstrated reading proficiency. But only 29 percent of blacks demonstrated proficiency, and since California schools were required to raise the proportion of proficient students in every group from 24 percent to 35 percent this year, that was not good enough. The school has been put on probation.
“I know we’ll continue to make gains with our students, but whether we can meet the next No Child target remains to be seen,” she said. “In one year, its hard to make an 11 percent impact.”
Dr. Linn said Ms. Keval had good reason to worry.
“An 11 percent increase from one year to the next, that is pretty gigantic,” Dr. Linn said, “compared to how most schools improve from one year to the next.”
SACRAMENTO — Prairie Elementary School had not missed a testing target since the federal No Child Left Behind law took effect in 2002. Until now.
The school, perched on a tidy, oak-shaded campus in a working-class neighborhood here, has moved each of its student groups — Hispanics, blacks, Asians, whites, American Indians, Filipinos, Pacific Islanders, English learners, the disabled — toward higher proficiency in recent years.
Over all, the number of its students passing tough statewide tests had increased by more than three percentage points annually, a solid record.
But this year, California schools were required to make what experts call a gigantic leap, increasing the students proficient in every group by 11 percentage points. For the first time, Prairie, and hundreds of other California schools, fell short, a failure that results in probation and, unless reversed, federal sanctions within a year.
“And they’re asking for another 11 percent increase next year and the next, and that’s where I’m saying I just don’t know how,” Fawzia Keval, the school’s principal, said. “I’m spending sleepless nights.”
Across the nation, far more schools failed to meet the federal law’s testing targets than in any previous year, according to new state-by-state data. And in California and some other states, the problem traces in part to the fact that officials chose to require only minimal gains in the first years after the law passed and then very rapid annual gains later. One researcher likens it to the balloon payments that can sink homebuyers.
Part of the reason for the troubles was that the states gambled the law would have been softened when it came up for reauthorization in 2007, but efforts to change it stalled. This year Congress made no organized attempt to reconsider the law. With the nation facing urgent challenges, including two wars and economic turmoil, it could be a year or more before the new president can work with Congress to rewrite the law.
The law requires every American school to bring all students to proficiency in reading and math by 2014. When it was first implemented six years ago, it required states to outline the statistical path they would follow on their way to 100 percent proficiency, and about half set low rates of achievement growth for the first few years and steeper rates thereafter.
Here in California, which in 2002 had only 13.6 percent of students proficient in reading, officials promised to raise that percentage on average by 2.2 points annually from 2002 to 2007, but starting this year greatly accelerate the progress, raising the percentage of proficient students by 11 points per year through 2014.
Now that the time has come for that accelerated improvement, California schools are not keeping up. This year, about half the state’s 9,800 schools fell short.
“We’re hitting a balloon payment scenario, to use a housing analogy, where the expectations set forth in the federal law are far higher than recent performance levels,” said Richard Cardullo, a professor at the University of California, Riverside, who led an analysis of the performance of state elementary schools.
His study, published Sept. 26 in the journal Science, found that the proportion of students scoring at or above proficiency increased, on average, less than four percentage points annually from 2003 to 2007, far short of the 11 percentage points of annual growth required starting this year.
“Lots of schools are no longer going to be able to meet the law’s requirements,” Dr. Cardullo said. His study predicted that virtually every elementary school in California would fall short of the federal law’s expectations before 2014.
Why did California decide on six years of relatively slow achievement growth, followed by six years of extraordinary gains? Officials from many states told the Bush administration in 2002 that they needed time to write new tests and accustom teachers to them.
But the California state school superintendent, Jack O’Connell, said he also bet that Congress might change the law in 2007, perhaps by removing its 100 percent proficiency goal. “It’s true that was in the back of my mind when we negotiated our plan with the feds,” Mr. O’Connell said. “And I’d do the same thing again. I’m still hoping a new administration will change the law.”
Meanwhile, the law has had other unintended consequences — including its tendency to punish states, like California, that have high academic standards and rigorous tests, which have contributed to an increasing pileup of failed schools.
A state-by-state analysis by The New York Times found that in the 40 states reporting on their compliance so far this year, on average, 4 in 10 schools fell short of the law’s testing targets, up from about 3 in 10 last year. Few schools missed targets in states with easy exams, like Wisconsin and Mississippi, but states with tough tests had a harder time. In Hawaii, Massachusetts and New Mexico, which have stringent exams, 60 to 70 percent of schools missed testing goals. And in South Carolina, which has what may be the nation’s most rigorous tests, 83 percent of schools missed targets.
“The law is diagnosing schools that just have the sniffles with having pneumonia,” said Jim Rex, the South Carolina schools superintendent.
Under the law, all public schools must test students every year and if those in any group fall short, the school misses its targets and is put on probation. All states adopt their own curriculums and testing standards, and the rigor of the tests varies greatly.
Schools that miss targets for two consecutive years are labeled “needing improvement” and face escalating sanctions that can include staff changes or closings. Partly because the law is identifying thousands of schools, however, few states have tried to radically restructure more than a few.
Margaret Spellings, the federal education secretary, acknowledged in an interview that the law’s mechanism for holding schools accountable needed refinement because it works as a pass-fail system in which schools with only minor problems are in the same category as chaotic institutions with students running the halls.
“We passed the best law we could seven years ago,” Ms. Spellings said. “There’s wide recognition that this is something we need to address.”
Under a pilot program known as differentiated accountability, Ms. Spellings has given six states — Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland and Ohio — permission to treat schools labeled for improvement that have missed targets for only one group differently than those needing sweeping intervention.
But the rate at which schools have been identified as needing improvement has not yet become worrisome, she said. “Pretty much every organization needs improvement,” she said.
Ms. Spellings has fiercely defended the law’s requirement that all students achieve proficiency by 2014.
Among that provision’s most tenacious critics has been Robert Linn, a University of Colorado professor emeritus who is one of the nation’s foremost testing experts. He argued, almost from the law’s passage, that no society anywhere has brought 100 percent of students to proficiency, and that the annual gains required to meet the goal of universal proficiency were unrealistically rapid, since even great school systems rarely sustain annual increases in the proportion of students demonstrating proficiency topping three to four percentage points.
“If, no matter how hard teachers work, the school is labeled as a failure, that’s just demoralizing,” Dr. Linn said.
Ms. Keval, the principal at Prairie Elementary, has been fighting demoralization herself since learning of this year’s test results, she said.
Educated in British schools in Kenya, she speaks Urdu, Swahili and five other languages, and several teachers said she was an inspirational leader. Ms. Keval described her staff as qualified, hard-working and dedicated to student progress.
Eight out of 10 children at the school are poor — the children of gardeners and maids, retail clerks and short-order cooks, the unemployed — yet all groups have made progress.
When the law took effect in 2002, 22 percent of all students and 19 percent of blacks were proficient in reading. Ms. Keval has for several years used federal money to hire extra reading teachers and to organize additional instructional time for low-scoring students after school and during vacation periods.
As a result, reading proficiency has increased on average by nearly four percentage points each recent year, although black students have improved more slowly. On California’s state tests this year, 42 percent of Prairie’s students schoolwide and 40 percent of Hispanics demonstrated reading proficiency. But only 29 percent of blacks demonstrated proficiency, and since California schools were required to raise the proportion of proficient students in every group from 24 percent to 35 percent this year, that was not good enough. The school has been put on probation.
“I know we’ll continue to make gains with our students, but whether we can meet the next No Child target remains to be seen,” she said. “In one year, its hard to make an 11 percent impact.”
Dr. Linn said Ms. Keval had good reason to worry.
“An 11 percent increase from one year to the next, that is pretty gigantic,” Dr. Linn said, “compared to how most schools improve from one year to the next.”
No. 1 hip-hop star: I'm 'anxious' about prison
By Denise Quan, CNN
WEST HOLLYWOOD, California (CNN) -- The date was October 13, 2007. In four hours, T.I. was scheduled to appear at the BET Hip-Hop Awards in Atlanta, Georgia, where he was nominated for nine trophies.
"I have a lot of people to make proud," T.I. says.
Instead, the hip-hop superstar found himself handcuffed in a downtown parking lot for attempting to buy machine guns and silencers in an undercover sting. He pleaded guilty to illegal weapons possession and was sentenced to seven months of house arrest, 1,500 hours of community service and one year in jail -- which he begins serving next March.
In the meantime, T.I.'s new CD, "Paper Trail," has become his third consecutive No. 1album. And if that isn't enough, he sits at No. 1 and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with "Live Your Life" and "Whatever You Like."
CNN Senior Producer Denise Quan spoke with the multiplatinum rapper, born Clifford Harris Jr., backstage before a recent show at the Key Club in West Hollywood, California.
CNN: When I first heard about the charges, I said, "You have got to be kidding. WHY?"
T.I.: Well, in order to fully understand the answer to that question, you will have to put yourself in my shoes. You know how many attempts have been made against my life? There are people out there that would rather kill you than to tell you "Good luck" or "I am happy for you." So until you understand that, you wouldn't understand my train of thought.
Not to say it was right. It's just my best explanation.
CNN: What scares you?
T.I.: Federal court dates. (Laughs)
CNN: Are you scared about going to jail for a year?
T.I.: I wouldn't describe it as fear. I would describe it more as concerned. Concerned, and I am a little anxious. Sooner I get started, sooner I get finished. Watch T.I. talk about his hope for redemption »
CNN: What do you think is the biggest misconception is about you?
T.I.: The biggest misconception is that I am a hotheaded thug. Ignorant, cold-hearted, just another ignorant rapper who had a chance at success and has done nothing but horrible things with it. Nothing can be further from the truth.
CNN: Do you think you have a lot to prove?
T.I.: A lot to prove? No. I have a lot of people to make proud. Even the government -- the people in the government who stood up for my conditions to be the way they are, rather than the way a lot of people wanted them to be. The last thing I want to do is let them down.
You know, they kind of stepped outside of the norm, as far as allowing me to be at home on a house arrest situation, whereas charges like mine would have normally been no bond, no consideration for bond. When I saw that they were trying to give me another chance, that kind of showed me something -- like, "You can't blow it." You gotta meet God halfway. You have to help him help you.
CNN: You've done the seven months of house arrest. And you're in the midst of completing the 1,500 hours of community service ordered by the court.
T.I.: Absolutely, yeah. Getting people to register to vote, encouraging young kids to respect one another, and stressing the value of an education, and trying to do away with teen-on-teen violence as much as possible -- using my experiences to keep them from going down a similar path.
CNN: The hip-hop community seems eager to get involved in registering young people to vote.
T.I.: I think that the hip-hop community should definitely become more involved in the political process, because we are the most influential genre of entertainment in the world.
CNN: But it seems as though some artists are holding back in terms of their involvement because they don't want to hurt their candidate.
T.I.: Absolutely. You know, when you look at the situation with Ludacris [who wrote a pro-Barack Obama song that was condemned by the Obama camp for its negative lyrics about other politicians], I would not want my support of someone to hinder their chances. I think you have to know what helps and what hurts.
CNN: You can't vote because you're a convicted felon.
T.I.: As far as I know, that is the case.
CNN: How much does that hurt? Is there a candidate you want to support?
T.I.: Well, man, it isn't necessarily about a candidate that I want to support. I feel like I owe that to my kids, my little cousins, everybody in the generation under me, to try to make this world a better place, this nation a better place. I am not going to focus on what I can't do. I am going to focus on what I CAN do.
CNN: How many kids do you have now?
T.I.: Six.
CNN: Six?! How many kids do you want?
T.I.: I'll have as many as the Lord blesses me with. So be it, as long as I have enough money to take care of them. I don't ever want to have kids who don't know their brothers and sisters. I want them all to grow up together, knowing each other, living together. I don't ever want to have some secret children.
CNN: That's very Bob Marley of you.
T.I.: (Laughs)
CNN: Do you think there's been a price to pay for your success?
T.I.: Absolutely. Absolutely. There has definitely been a price to pay. So far, it has cost me my best friend [T.I.'s 26-year-old personal assistant, Philant Johnson, was killed in a freeway shooting after a 2006 concert in Cincinnati], it has cost me time in jail, it has cost me time away from my family. I have missed four birthdays, two first days of school, four football games and a few more other things. Important outings that I would have liked to be home for.
But I mean -- I'm not going to complain about it, you know what I'm saying? I prayed for this for so long, and now I got it, you know? So I am going to maintain my position.
CNN: How have the experiences of the last couple of years changed you?
T.I.: In many ways. I think I have a calmer spirit. I think I have become a man of thought, rather than a man of action. I think I have evolved as a person. I think I have grown. I have stepped outside of the tough exterior shell I used to have. I am still myself. I still know how to get down with the best of them, but it ain't necessary to show that. There is no room in my life for that part of me.
CNN: Do you ever worry you are going to get into trouble again?
T.I.: Nope. That is not a slight -- I don't even consider this. I got it now. I got it now.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Evening Headlines
In education and health related news, teachers in South Carolina criticize test monitoring and a recent study shows medical students are getting burnt out. In California, national forest officials say that marijuana plants are destroying precious federal parks. Media mogul, Tyra Banks pens a story about her personal and professional life. Political analysts discuss Ohio's unpredictability during this economic hardship. Internationally, European nations reassure citizens of bank refinancing after world wide financial turmoil.
For all your up-to-date news in politics, education, sports, world affairs, entertainment and the economy, log on to TheRoot.com
For all your up-to-date news in politics, education, sports, world affairs, entertainment and the economy, log on to TheRoot.com
Teachers criticize test monitoring
By Diette Courrégé, The Post and Courier
When Charleston County school officials monitored Sanders-Clyde Elementary School's testing process this year, they deprived students of snacks and breaks and created a stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere, according to teachers' firsthand accounts of the situation.
School district leaders say that's an inaccurate description of what happened, and they denied doing anything that would negatively affect the school's testing process.
Teachers' descriptions of the monitoring somewhat mirror former Principal MiShawna Moore's account of what took place. Both predicted test scores would drop, and they did, dramatically. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating whether any foul play was involved at the downtown school, which had become a shining star in Charleston for its low-income students' achievement.
Sanders-Clyde staff gave the district a 16-page packet of information after testing ended that chronicled issues they saw. It shows that teachers and other school employees shared many of the same concerns as Moore about the district's method for monitoring.
"While many students probably performed as well as expected, there are others that likely did not," wrote Corday Borders, a teacher coach. "All of our children deserved the best testing environment possible. We failed to provide that."
"The process they used impacted our schedule, our children's confidence, our teachers' behavior and the very atmosphere within our school," wrote Melissa Kersey, a fifth-grade teacher.
"The testing environment felt hostile, and this made everyone at Sanders-Clyde on edge," wrote Tanya Domin, guidance counselor.
The packet, however, does not explainother issues that triggered the state investigation, specifically a high number of eraser marks on the school's tests in 2007 and improbable one-year gains made by students that same year. Moore, who talked to The Post and Courier last week after repeated requests for an interview, could not explain the eraser marks or large one-year gains.
Moore also could not explain the gap between students' scores on a test similar to PACT and the PACT test itself. On the former test, students' scores were among the weakest in the county, and on the latter, they were among the strongest.
Moore has denied cheating, encouraging cheating or knowing of any cheating at the school.
Janet Rose, the district's executive director of assessment and accountability who oversaw the monitoring process, said she was surprised at teachers' reactions to the monitoring because it was totally unobtrusive.
Her staff deliberately sat in the back or sides of classrooms so they would not distract students, and Rose said no one was pressured to finish tests quickly.
Snacks and breaks were allowed, she said. Rose asked teachers to provide snacks in a more orderly way rather than constantly supplying students with food because that was distracting.
Rose also asked teachers to ensure breaks were more orderly because students were stopping at different times and possibly disrupting others, she said.
District staff didn't go to the school in an effort to try and find something wrong; they were there to validate the school's scores, she said.
"I don't want to make the school look bad," Rose said. "I'm with the school district. I wanted the scores to look good."
The packet contained specific, detailed accounts from seven Sanders-Clyde employees.
Common themes included: discomfort among children with the presence of strangers watching them, interruptions during testing caused by the monitors, limited access to snacks, pressure to continue testing without breaks and not allowing teachers to encourage students to do their best.
One part of the packet even suggests that district officials deliberately sabotaged the school to ensure the awards and recognition that had gone to the school would stop.
"Many Sanders-Clyde staff members are left wondering if the distractions were intentional," the packet read. "Is it possible that individuals had personal agendas that included proving that the poor African-American child on Charleston's East Side could not have possibly produced the improvements documented over the past five years?"
The packet does not include concerns about students on medication having to test immediately rather than waiting for their medicine to kick in. That was a key concern of Moore expressed earlier last week. Instead, teachers express concerns that testing often was delayed as a result of the district.
The last piece of the packet has comments from Moore, who foreshadowed the school's poor test score results.
"How do we prepare for what is to come and tell our side of the story? Perhaps we are to take the high road and say nothing," she wrote.
When Charleston County school officials monitored Sanders-Clyde Elementary School's testing process this year, they deprived students of snacks and breaks and created a stressful and uncomfortable atmosphere, according to teachers' firsthand accounts of the situation.
School district leaders say that's an inaccurate description of what happened, and they denied doing anything that would negatively affect the school's testing process.
Teachers' descriptions of the monitoring somewhat mirror former Principal MiShawna Moore's account of what took place. Both predicted test scores would drop, and they did, dramatically. The State Law Enforcement Division is investigating whether any foul play was involved at the downtown school, which had become a shining star in Charleston for its low-income students' achievement.
Sanders-Clyde staff gave the district a 16-page packet of information after testing ended that chronicled issues they saw. It shows that teachers and other school employees shared many of the same concerns as Moore about the district's method for monitoring.
"While many students probably performed as well as expected, there are others that likely did not," wrote Corday Borders, a teacher coach. "All of our children deserved the best testing environment possible. We failed to provide that."
"The process they used impacted our schedule, our children's confidence, our teachers' behavior and the very atmosphere within our school," wrote Melissa Kersey, a fifth-grade teacher.
"The testing environment felt hostile, and this made everyone at Sanders-Clyde on edge," wrote Tanya Domin, guidance counselor.
The packet, however, does not explainother issues that triggered the state investigation, specifically a high number of eraser marks on the school's tests in 2007 and improbable one-year gains made by students that same year. Moore, who talked to The Post and Courier last week after repeated requests for an interview, could not explain the eraser marks or large one-year gains.
Moore also could not explain the gap between students' scores on a test similar to PACT and the PACT test itself. On the former test, students' scores were among the weakest in the county, and on the latter, they were among the strongest.
Moore has denied cheating, encouraging cheating or knowing of any cheating at the school.
Janet Rose, the district's executive director of assessment and accountability who oversaw the monitoring process, said she was surprised at teachers' reactions to the monitoring because it was totally unobtrusive.
Her staff deliberately sat in the back or sides of classrooms so they would not distract students, and Rose said no one was pressured to finish tests quickly.
Snacks and breaks were allowed, she said. Rose asked teachers to provide snacks in a more orderly way rather than constantly supplying students with food because that was distracting.
Rose also asked teachers to ensure breaks were more orderly because students were stopping at different times and possibly disrupting others, she said.
District staff didn't go to the school in an effort to try and find something wrong; they were there to validate the school's scores, she said.
"I don't want to make the school look bad," Rose said. "I'm with the school district. I wanted the scores to look good."
The packet contained specific, detailed accounts from seven Sanders-Clyde employees.
Common themes included: discomfort among children with the presence of strangers watching them, interruptions during testing caused by the monitors, limited access to snacks, pressure to continue testing without breaks and not allowing teachers to encourage students to do their best.
One part of the packet even suggests that district officials deliberately sabotaged the school to ensure the awards and recognition that had gone to the school would stop.
"Many Sanders-Clyde staff members are left wondering if the distractions were intentional," the packet read. "Is it possible that individuals had personal agendas that included proving that the poor African-American child on Charleston's East Side could not have possibly produced the improvements documented over the past five years?"
The packet does not include concerns about students on medication having to test immediately rather than waiting for their medicine to kick in. That was a key concern of Moore expressed earlier last week. Instead, teachers express concerns that testing often was delayed as a result of the district.
The last piece of the packet has comments from Moore, who foreshadowed the school's poor test score results.
"How do we prepare for what is to come and tell our side of the story? Perhaps we are to take the high road and say nothing," she wrote.
Burnout U: Depression and Suicidal Thoughts in Medical Students
By Sydney Spiesel, Slate
Problem: Over the years, many medical students have talked to me about their stress. But so have undergraduate students, interns, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians—leading me to wonder if medical students' stress was actually extraordinary. I remember my medical school days as moderately stressful, but, as my wife points out, I was somewhat insulated during medical school because I already had a family, had left behind another career, and was older. Her perspective is wise, as I have learned from a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine that looked at stress and its consequences in U.S. medical students.
Findings: The main findings are worrisome, indeed. The study included more than 2,000 students at seven medical schools and looked for evidence of burnout and suicidal thinking. About half the medical students reported the feelings that define burnout (emotional exhaustion, a feeling of a loss of personal identity, a sense of poor personal accomplishment). Many showed signs of depression and a decreased mental quality of life compared with peers not in medical school. The most disturbing finding was that each year about 10 percent of the observed students had active suicidal thoughts—a symptom we know carries a substantial risk for a future suicide attempt. Even more—about one student out of four—had thoughts about suicide sometime during medical school. The good news is that sometimes things do get better: Checking in a year later, the researchers found that about one-quarter of the students who experienced earlier burnout had recovered and showed a decrease in suicidal thoughts.
Explanation: Why should medical students be so stressed that fully half feel burned out and so many have contemplated suicide? Sometimes it is the result of the process of medical education itself. Medical students are expected to master an enormous volume of knowledge—more than can possibly be achieved. Students experience great anxiety in anticipating the moment when they just can't recall something of enormous importance and, as a result, commit some awful error, potentially harming a patient. Faculty and the residents who do a substantial amount of clinical teaching press students hard, leaving them with feelings of incompetence and uselessness. When students move from the classroom to clinical rotations, they shift through different medical specialties. Just when they have a sense of having acquired a basic knowledge base of pediatrics or psychiatry or orthopedics, they're transferred to a new rotation, again starting at ground zero. As this is happening, opportunities for recreational breaks are limited while long hours can lead to a crushing fatigue.
There are other problems, too. Medical students are frequently exposed to human suffering and death—experiences most have never encountered before. They can feel abused, taken advantage of by institutions or superiors by overwork or inappropriate assignments ("run down to the cafeteria and pick up our lunch"). Most are experiencing the stresses of dating (and, sadly, no—real life isn't like the medical TV shows), and many are wondering if medicine was the right choice after all. There's one more source of anxiety and depression: Almost no one leaves medical school without accumulating a huge debt—now $140,000 on average—which has to be repaid somehow.
Possible solutions: As is usually the case, it is easier to identify and define a problem than to come up with a fix. We need to be alert to the signs of burnout, depression, and suicidal thinking in medical students and to make available the mental-health services needed to help with these problems. Unfortunately, medical students with clinical depression are no better (indeed, perhaps worse) than the general population in seeking mental-health services. Medical schools need to create an atmosphere in which it is understood that there is no shame in seeking help. We need to change faculty teaching styles toward the positive and supportive. And senior physicians need to teach by example how to confront issues of life and death—and what to do and say when, really, there is nothing to do and say.
Problem: Over the years, many medical students have talked to me about their stress. But so have undergraduate students, interns, residents, fellows, and practicing physicians—leading me to wonder if medical students' stress was actually extraordinary. I remember my medical school days as moderately stressful, but, as my wife points out, I was somewhat insulated during medical school because I already had a family, had left behind another career, and was older. Her perspective is wise, as I have learned from a recent paper in the Annals of Internal Medicine that looked at stress and its consequences in U.S. medical students.
Findings: The main findings are worrisome, indeed. The study included more than 2,000 students at seven medical schools and looked for evidence of burnout and suicidal thinking. About half the medical students reported the feelings that define burnout (emotional exhaustion, a feeling of a loss of personal identity, a sense of poor personal accomplishment). Many showed signs of depression and a decreased mental quality of life compared with peers not in medical school. The most disturbing finding was that each year about 10 percent of the observed students had active suicidal thoughts—a symptom we know carries a substantial risk for a future suicide attempt. Even more—about one student out of four—had thoughts about suicide sometime during medical school. The good news is that sometimes things do get better: Checking in a year later, the researchers found that about one-quarter of the students who experienced earlier burnout had recovered and showed a decrease in suicidal thoughts.
Explanation: Why should medical students be so stressed that fully half feel burned out and so many have contemplated suicide? Sometimes it is the result of the process of medical education itself. Medical students are expected to master an enormous volume of knowledge—more than can possibly be achieved. Students experience great anxiety in anticipating the moment when they just can't recall something of enormous importance and, as a result, commit some awful error, potentially harming a patient. Faculty and the residents who do a substantial amount of clinical teaching press students hard, leaving them with feelings of incompetence and uselessness. When students move from the classroom to clinical rotations, they shift through different medical specialties. Just when they have a sense of having acquired a basic knowledge base of pediatrics or psychiatry or orthopedics, they're transferred to a new rotation, again starting at ground zero. As this is happening, opportunities for recreational breaks are limited while long hours can lead to a crushing fatigue.
There are other problems, too. Medical students are frequently exposed to human suffering and death—experiences most have never encountered before. They can feel abused, taken advantage of by institutions or superiors by overwork or inappropriate assignments ("run down to the cafeteria and pick up our lunch"). Most are experiencing the stresses of dating (and, sadly, no—real life isn't like the medical TV shows), and many are wondering if medicine was the right choice after all. There's one more source of anxiety and depression: Almost no one leaves medical school without accumulating a huge debt—now $140,000 on average—which has to be repaid somehow.
Possible solutions: As is usually the case, it is easier to identify and define a problem than to come up with a fix. We need to be alert to the signs of burnout, depression, and suicidal thinking in medical students and to make available the mental-health services needed to help with these problems. Unfortunately, medical students with clinical depression are no better (indeed, perhaps worse) than the general population in seeking mental-health services. Medical schools need to create an atmosphere in which it is understood that there is no shame in seeking help. We need to change faculty teaching styles toward the positive and supportive. And senior physicians need to teach by example how to confront issues of life and death—and what to do and say when, really, there is nothing to do and say.
Mexican marijuana cartels sully US forests, parks
By The Associated Press
PORTERVILLE, Calif. — National forests and parks _ long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels _ have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.
The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 _ and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.
Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.
Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.
"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."
The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.
Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants. They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.
In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers. On Tuesday, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.
"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"
Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.
"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.
As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.
Some popular parks also have suffered damage. In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.
Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.
"I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."
Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.
"Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching _ all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."
PORTERVILLE, Calif. — National forests and parks _ long popular with Mexican marijuana-growing cartels _ have become home to some of the most polluted pockets of wilderness in America because of the toxic chemicals needed to eke lucrative harvests from rocky mountainsides, federal officials said.
The grow sites have taken hold from the West Coast's Cascade Mountains, as well as on federal lands in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia.
Seven hundred grow sites were discovered on U.S. Forest Service land in California alone in 2007 and 2008 _ and authorities say the 1,800-square-mile Sequoia National Forest is the hardest hit.
Weed and bug sprays, some long banned in the U.S., have been smuggled to the marijuana farms. Plant growth hormones have been dumped into streams, and the water has then been diverted for miles in PVC pipes.
Rat poison has been sprinkled over the landscape to keep animals away from tender plants. And many sites are strewn with the carcasses of deer and bears poached by workers during the five-month growing season that is now ending.
"What's going on on public lands is a crisis at every level," said Forest Service agent Ron Pugh. "These are America's most precious resources, and they are being devastated by an unprecedented commercial enterprise conducted by armed foreign nationals. It is a huge mess."
The first documented marijuana cartels were discovered in Sequoia National Park in 1998. Then, officials say, tighter border controls after Sept. 11, 2001, forced industrial-scale growers to move their operations into the United States.
Millions of dollars are spent every year to find and uproot marijuana-growing operations on state and federal lands, but federal officials say no money is budgeted to clean up the environmental mess left behind after helicopters carry off the plants. They are encouraged that Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., who last year secured funding for eradication, has inquired about the pollution problems.
In the meantime, the only cleanup is done by volunteers. On Tuesday, the nonprofit High Sierra Trail Crew, founded to improve access to public lands, plans to take 30 people deep into the Sequoia National Forest to carry out miles of drip irrigation pipe, tons of human garbage, volatile propane canisters, and bags and bottles of herbicides and pesticides.
"If the people of California knew what was going on out there, they'd be up in arms about this," said Shane Krogen, the nonprofit's executive director. "Helicopters full of dope are like body counts in the Vietnam War. What does it really mean?"
Last year, law enforcement agents uprooted nearly five million plants in California, nearly a half million in Kentucky and 276,000 in Washington state as the development of hybrid plants has expanded the range of climates marijuana can tolerate.
"People light up a joint, and they have no idea the amount of environmental damage associated with it," said Cicely Muldoon, deputy regional director of the Pacific West Region of the National Park Service.
As of Sept. 2, more than 2.2 million plants had been uprooted statewide. The largest single bust in the nation this year netted 482,000 plants in the remote Sierra of Tulare County, the forest service said.
Some popular parks also have suffered damage. In 2007, rangers found more than 20,000 plants in Yosemite National Park and 43,000 plants in Sequoia Kings Canyon National Park, where 159 grow sites have been discovered over the past 10 years.
Agent Patrick Foy of the California Department of Fish and Game estimated that 1.5 pounds of fertilizers and pesticides is used for every 11.5 plants.
"I've seen the pesticide residue on the plants," Foy said. "You ain't just smoking pot, bud. You're smoking some heavy-duty pesticides from Mexico."
Scott Wanek, the western regional chief ranger for the National Park Service, said he believes the eradication efforts have touched only a small portion of the marijuana farms and that the environmental impact is much greater than anyone knows.
"Think about Sequoia," Wanek said. "The impact goes well beyond the acreage planted. They create huge networks of trail systems, and the chemicals that get into watersheds are potentially very far-reaching _ all the way to drinking water for the downstream communities. We are trying to study that now."
An Empire Behind the Scenes: Tyra Banks, talk-show host and producer, on her life in front of and behind the camera.
By Tyra Banks, NEWSWEEK
My mom was a medical photographer. After hours, she would sometimes take pictures of me and my brother in her studio. When I look at those pictures, I realize I am posing. I have my hand on my chin and I'm looking right at the camera. When I was about 9, my mom started a business photographing women in our living room who wanted a glamorous picture of themselves. I held her light meters and her reflectors. My mom would bring me into the darkroom, which was on our back porch, and develop the film. I was fascinated watching the pictures appear with that red light shining. It's so funny that the little assistant holding the lights was a supermodel in the making.
Growing up, I didn't think I was pretty, but I didn't think I was unattractive. Then I hit a stage where I definitely felt very unattractive. I grew three inches and lost 40 pounds in 90 days. It was just this crazy growth spurt. I felt like a freak: people would stare at me in the grocery store. Eventually, my face and body started to change. On my first day of high school, a girl came up to me and said, "Have you ever thought about modeling?" I thought she was crazy, but I decided to try it. My first modeling job was for a magazine called Black Collegiate. I was so excited because there was a little picture of me on the cover, above the title.
I didn't think I was modeling because I was beautiful; I thought it was because I looked like a model. There's a difference. I try to explain that on "America's Next Top Model." Models are tall, they have a big forehead, their chin is small, they have full lips—I knew I had that look.
I applied to college because I wanted to be a film/television producer and writer. I was accepted everywhere and was ready to go to Loyola Marymount. But a model scout from Paris came to the modeling agency in L.A., saw my picture and said, "That's the only girl I want." So I decided to defer college for a year.
Paris was weird and confusing for me.
I felt overwhelmed by all that was happening. I was 17, and I didn't know how to take care of myself. I asked my mom to send care packages of Fiddle Faddle and Oreos. I ended up eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So I got sick. When my mom came to visit me, she saw all of that and refused to send me any more packages. She taught me how to shop and cook.
Modeling is very lonely. Actresses or singers travel with entourages, with their hair and makeup people and tour managers. Models are alone. Even when you're the biggest supermodel in the world, you're alone. I tried to get to L.A. and hang out with my high-school friends as often as I could.
I never lost the dream of being in TV. When I hit 32, I said, "Let me leave this industry before it leaves me." I didn't want to be like those boxers who continue to get beat up and say they're going to retire, but they don't, and then their legacy is marred. I wanted to leave on top.
I've had my glory in the modeling world. I want to use the power I have now to cultivate new talent in front of the camera and behind the scenes. I don't think I'm a mogul, but I have a lot of television shows. There's "America's Next Top Model" and the talk show. I have a new show, "Stylista," that premieres Oct. 22—it's a reality competition-based series in search of the next fashion editor at Elle magazine. I'm also executive-producing a series of direct-to-DVD movies based on The New York Times best-selling novel series "The Clique."
If you have entrepreneurial dreams, you have to live it and breathe it. You have to treat the idea like a baby, like your child. You don't sleep when you have a new baby. I didn't sleep. I didn't have weekends. I worked nonstop. You wouldn't let just anybody baby-sit your child. When I hire someone, I have to feel that I connect with them as a person. I'm looking for honest people. I'm looking for loyalty. I'm looking for people who respect people at all levels, from the people who clean the building to the people who own the building. Those are the values that my mother instilled in me.
My mom was a medical photographer. After hours, she would sometimes take pictures of me and my brother in her studio. When I look at those pictures, I realize I am posing. I have my hand on my chin and I'm looking right at the camera. When I was about 9, my mom started a business photographing women in our living room who wanted a glamorous picture of themselves. I held her light meters and her reflectors. My mom would bring me into the darkroom, which was on our back porch, and develop the film. I was fascinated watching the pictures appear with that red light shining. It's so funny that the little assistant holding the lights was a supermodel in the making.
Growing up, I didn't think I was pretty, but I didn't think I was unattractive. Then I hit a stage where I definitely felt very unattractive. I grew three inches and lost 40 pounds in 90 days. It was just this crazy growth spurt. I felt like a freak: people would stare at me in the grocery store. Eventually, my face and body started to change. On my first day of high school, a girl came up to me and said, "Have you ever thought about modeling?" I thought she was crazy, but I decided to try it. My first modeling job was for a magazine called Black Collegiate. I was so excited because there was a little picture of me on the cover, above the title.
I didn't think I was modeling because I was beautiful; I thought it was because I looked like a model. There's a difference. I try to explain that on "America's Next Top Model." Models are tall, they have a big forehead, their chin is small, they have full lips—I knew I had that look.
I applied to college because I wanted to be a film/television producer and writer. I was accepted everywhere and was ready to go to Loyola Marymount. But a model scout from Paris came to the modeling agency in L.A., saw my picture and said, "That's the only girl I want." So I decided to defer college for a year.
Paris was weird and confusing for me.
I felt overwhelmed by all that was happening. I was 17, and I didn't know how to take care of myself. I asked my mom to send care packages of Fiddle Faddle and Oreos. I ended up eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner. So I got sick. When my mom came to visit me, she saw all of that and refused to send me any more packages. She taught me how to shop and cook.
Modeling is very lonely. Actresses or singers travel with entourages, with their hair and makeup people and tour managers. Models are alone. Even when you're the biggest supermodel in the world, you're alone. I tried to get to L.A. and hang out with my high-school friends as often as I could.
I never lost the dream of being in TV. When I hit 32, I said, "Let me leave this industry before it leaves me." I didn't want to be like those boxers who continue to get beat up and say they're going to retire, but they don't, and then their legacy is marred. I wanted to leave on top.
I've had my glory in the modeling world. I want to use the power I have now to cultivate new talent in front of the camera and behind the scenes. I don't think I'm a mogul, but I have a lot of television shows. There's "America's Next Top Model" and the talk show. I have a new show, "Stylista," that premieres Oct. 22—it's a reality competition-based series in search of the next fashion editor at Elle magazine. I'm also executive-producing a series of direct-to-DVD movies based on The New York Times best-selling novel series "The Clique."
If you have entrepreneurial dreams, you have to live it and breathe it. You have to treat the idea like a baby, like your child. You don't sleep when you have a new baby. I didn't sleep. I didn't have weekends. I worked nonstop. You wouldn't let just anybody baby-sit your child. When I hire someone, I have to feel that I connect with them as a person. I'm looking for honest people. I'm looking for loyalty. I'm looking for people who respect people at all levels, from the people who clean the building to the people who own the building. Those are the values that my mother instilled in me.
Ohio less predictable in hard economic times
By John King, CNN
ASHLAND, Ohio (CNN) -- Deb Sheriff remembers when it was different.Employees at Archway Cookies bakery find out that their workplace is being shut down.
1 of 2 Her father moved to Ashland in the 1950s from Battle Creek, Michigan, to help build and open the Archway Cookies bakery.
And 31 years ago, Deb started working on the production line.
"We were family," she told us. "They looked out for us. You know -- we got good raises. We got raises two times a year."
The last raise, though, was six years ago. Then workers one recent Friday night noticed supervisors changing some locks. The next day, a letter was delivered by overnight mail: official notice the bakery was shutting down, and that their benefits, including their health insurance, were being canceled.
"It is just devastating," Sheriff says as she stares at the ground outside her modest home.
Nobody was getting rich at the bakery; the jobs paid from $14 to $18 an hour. But they had health insurance with a modest worker contribution. Sheriff's daughter is a single mom who also worked at the bakery, and as she mingles with other family members nearby, Deb Sheriff confronts her family's new reality.
"My daughter had a heart attack three years ago and takes heart medicine. She has high blood pressure and is a diabetic and we have no benefits as of today. So it is going to be hard for her, hard for all of us."
Tiny Ashland was already struggling; Ohio has lost 200,000 jobs over the past eight years and people here say most of the higher-paying factory jobs have disappeared. The toll is evident in the small town's center: Vacant storefronts are easy to find.
For 19 years, Terry Mowery worked in maintenance at Archway Cookies and was protected from the decline around him.
"The town of Ashland is a dying town," was Mowery's sad take. "All the manufacturing is leaving."
Politics is for the most part predictable in a conservative place like this. At the local Republican headquarters, the signs in the window are simple: "PRO LIFE" reads one. "PRO GUNS," is another.
Republicans count on big margins in these conservative areas to offset Democratic advantages in urban areas like Cleveland. Ashland also is one of those blue-collar places where Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries, and some voters say flatly that they have a hard time thinking about voting for an African-American for president. Watch how race could affect the election in Ohio »
Sheriff is a lifelong Republican who says John McCain will get her vote because of his military service, and because she does not believe Obama has the experience to be president.
But there are many others who say they are tired of what they perceive as Republican policies that contributed to the decline of small towns like theirs.
Mike Davis is among dozens of Archway workers we met outside the shuttered bakery, all wondering what would come next, and whether they had any way of protecting their health benefits.
"Leaning towards Barack Obama at this point," Davis said when asked about the race for president. "The country needs to definitely go in a different direction. Washington is corrupt and everyone knows it, and you have the extremely rich and you have us."
In the crowd, there is talk that the banks cut off the company's credit, and rumors that the bakery machines were trucked out overnight to a facility in Canada. Most of all, there is a numbing sense among people like Diana Anderson that nobody outside this little town will care much.
Anderson is a fierce abortion opponent -- the issue that led her to support George W. Bush.
But this year?
"Definitely Obama. ... I am definitely going to vote for Obama."
Losing your job can change your political priorities.
"It really does trump all else," Anderson says. "McCain has shown me nothing that would benefit us and our economy."
ASHLAND, Ohio (CNN) -- Deb Sheriff remembers when it was different.Employees at Archway Cookies bakery find out that their workplace is being shut down.
1 of 2 Her father moved to Ashland in the 1950s from Battle Creek, Michigan, to help build and open the Archway Cookies bakery.
And 31 years ago, Deb started working on the production line.
"We were family," she told us. "They looked out for us. You know -- we got good raises. We got raises two times a year."
The last raise, though, was six years ago. Then workers one recent Friday night noticed supervisors changing some locks. The next day, a letter was delivered by overnight mail: official notice the bakery was shutting down, and that their benefits, including their health insurance, were being canceled.
"It is just devastating," Sheriff says as she stares at the ground outside her modest home.
Nobody was getting rich at the bakery; the jobs paid from $14 to $18 an hour. But they had health insurance with a modest worker contribution. Sheriff's daughter is a single mom who also worked at the bakery, and as she mingles with other family members nearby, Deb Sheriff confronts her family's new reality.
"My daughter had a heart attack three years ago and takes heart medicine. She has high blood pressure and is a diabetic and we have no benefits as of today. So it is going to be hard for her, hard for all of us."
Tiny Ashland was already struggling; Ohio has lost 200,000 jobs over the past eight years and people here say most of the higher-paying factory jobs have disappeared. The toll is evident in the small town's center: Vacant storefronts are easy to find.
For 19 years, Terry Mowery worked in maintenance at Archway Cookies and was protected from the decline around him.
"The town of Ashland is a dying town," was Mowery's sad take. "All the manufacturing is leaving."
Politics is for the most part predictable in a conservative place like this. At the local Republican headquarters, the signs in the window are simple: "PRO LIFE" reads one. "PRO GUNS," is another.
Republicans count on big margins in these conservative areas to offset Democratic advantages in urban areas like Cleveland. Ashland also is one of those blue-collar places where Hillary Clinton trounced Barack Obama in the Democratic primaries, and some voters say flatly that they have a hard time thinking about voting for an African-American for president. Watch how race could affect the election in Ohio »
Sheriff is a lifelong Republican who says John McCain will get her vote because of his military service, and because she does not believe Obama has the experience to be president.
But there are many others who say they are tired of what they perceive as Republican policies that contributed to the decline of small towns like theirs.
Mike Davis is among dozens of Archway workers we met outside the shuttered bakery, all wondering what would come next, and whether they had any way of protecting their health benefits.
"Leaning towards Barack Obama at this point," Davis said when asked about the race for president. "The country needs to definitely go in a different direction. Washington is corrupt and everyone knows it, and you have the extremely rich and you have us."
In the crowd, there is talk that the banks cut off the company's credit, and rumors that the bakery machines were trucked out overnight to a facility in Canada. Most of all, there is a numbing sense among people like Diana Anderson that nobody outside this little town will care much.
Anderson is a fierce abortion opponent -- the issue that led her to support George W. Bush.
But this year?
"Definitely Obama. ... I am definitely going to vote for Obama."
Losing your job can change your political priorities.
"It really does trump all else," Anderson says. "McCain has shown me nothing that would benefit us and our economy."
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