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Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Save it for a real problem
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
“Gwinnett branch NAACP President Jorge “J.P.” Portalatin is calling for the ouster of the county’s schools chief and the replacement of board members up for re-election due to what he sees as racial insensitivity.
Gwinnett Schools Superintendent J. Alvin Wilbanks came under fire last month for comments he made about the disproportionate discipline of minority students in Gwinnett County.
“Mr. Wilbanks should never have made such offensive remarks. But even more troubling, is Mr. Wilbanks’ arrogant condescending attitude and lack of remorse. It is because of his mind-set that I have lost faith in his ability to lead GCPS to the benefit of all children,” Portalatin said.
The rest of the story can be found here..
This is stupid. By claiming “racial insensitivity” in this case, J.P Portalatin cheapens the problem of racism and makes it more difficult to generate public support the next time the real thing actually does rear its ugly head.
And what were Wilbanks’ “offensive remarks?” In a discussion of statistics showing disproportionate discipline of minority students, a staff member mentioned that the issue is a problem in every state but Idaho. Wilbanks then observed that Idaho doesn’t have many black residents. In other words, you can’t have disproportionate discipline of minority students if you don’t have minority students in the first place.
“I will not be intimidated by those who are seeking to be offended,” Wilbanks is quoted as saying.
Sounds about right.
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McCain rewriting rules of decency
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
So a new McCain campaign ad accuses Barack Obama of wanting to sexualize children in kindergarten.
More directly, it claims Obama championed “legislation to teach comprehensive sex education …. to kindergarteners! Learning about sex before learning to read? Barack Obama, wrong on education, wrong for YOUR family.”
Saying the ad is a lie doesn’t begin to describe its shamelessness. But let’s get the accuracy issue out of the way first. The Illinois legislation in question did not mandate comprehensive sex education to kindergarters. It mandated age-appropriate education, which in the case of kindergartners meant teaching them about inappropriate touching by strangers and family members, and what to do about it.
Is there something wrong with that, something “wrong for YOUR family?” No, there is not. To twist the truth in such a fashion in order to make Obama look like a threat to young children is despicable. In fact, the most devastating line in the ad is the last: “I’m John McCain, and I approved this message.”
Here’s the factcheck on the ad.
The ad itself can be found on YouTube.
However, if the McCain camp believes that is fair game in politics — if those are the new rules they want to play by — the Obama campaign ought to start running TV ads accusing Sarah Palin of being a child abuser. Such a charge would have at least as much factual basis as the Obama ad.
According to a story in Newsweek, an Alaska judge warned the Palin family, including Sarah, that they were engaging in “a form of child abuse” with their constant, bitter and public disparagement of Mike Wooten, Palin’s brother-in-law. Exposing Wooten’s children to such disparagement of their father was harmful, the judge warned, and he ordered the Palin family to stop it. As the Newsweek story makes clear, the Palin family did not obey that order.
So would it unfair to run ads accusing Palin of being a child abuser? Under normal rules of decency, absolutely it would be unfair. But by the new rules being set by the McCain camp, no.
UPDATE: Here’s the text of the bill in question. It states explicitly that “(2) All course material and instruction in classes that teach sex education and discuss sexual activity or behavior shall be age and developmentally appropriate.” (Language in the existing Illinois law is in plain text; language that would be added to the law by the bill is underlined; language that would be removed from existing law is struck through.)
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Corporate socialists demanding handouts
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
For years — no, for decades — Detroit automakers blocked efforts to mandate improved gas mileage by whining and complaining about government intervention in the marketplace. Even though such policies were manifestly in the best interest of the country, making us less reliant on foreign oil, reducing air pollution, slowing the flow of dollars overseas — gas mileage regulations remained essentially what they were in the ’70s.
As a result, Detroit kept building new dinosaurs that ran on old dinosaurs, and now that the inevitable has happened, those former free-market purists are demanding $50 billion in taxpayer-guaranteed loans — $50 billion!!! — to finance conversion to the fuel-efficient technologies they refused to invest in earlier.
Likewise for years — no, for decades — Wall Street financiers likewise blocked efforts to tighten regulation of financial markets by whining and complaining about government intervention in the marketplace. The market will regulate itself, we were told, and if the market “produced” salaries of $100 million a year for certain masters of the universe, then who we lowly peons to complain? Now they too are running to the government, begging and pleading to be protected against their own excesses and foolishness. First Bear Stearns, now a bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, again at a potential cost of tens of billions of dollars.
Meanwhile, we can’t help out unsophisticated homebuyers who are losing their homes, because they have to take their lumps for their mistakes. We can’t give our returning war veterans the treatment they need, because it would be too expensive. The Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville is being closed in the name of gov’t austerity, forcing 80 veterans out on the street. In downtown Atlanta we’re cracking down on panhandlers and the homeless, many of whom are clearly mentally ill, never drawing the connection between their plight and the fact that Georgia spends so little on treating its mentally ill citizens. The state Consumers Utiliity Counsel, charged with defending the interests of consumers against Georgia Power and big industrial concerns, is also being defunded in the name of austerity.
“Of the people, by the people and for the people?” Hardly. In fact, anybody who came up with such a phrase today would be condemned as a socialist. And Lord knows we can’t have any of THAT in America — well, except for the big guys. They’re different.
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