Bennett - Racist or Taken Out of Context?

Per usual I was killing time on CNN.com and came across today's subject of massive debate. Education Secretery William Bennett. Before I get into the nitty-gritty of the argument here's what Bennett said during the Sept. 28 broadcast of Salem Radio Network's Bill Bennett's Morning in America: (Gleaned from the Freakonomics blog run by its authors – specifically Steven Levitt in this particular instance)

CALLER: I noticed the national media, you know, they talk a lot about the loss of revenue, or the inability of the government to fund Social Security, and I was curious, and I've read articles in recent months here, that the abortions that have happened since Roe v. Wade, the lost revenue from the people who have been aborted in the last 30-something years, could fund Social Security as we know it today. And the media just doesn't -- never touches this at all.
BENNETT: Assuming they're all productive citizens?
CALLER: Assuming that they are. Even if only a portion of them were, it would be an enormous amount of revenue.
BENNETT: Maybe, maybe, but we don't know what the costs would be, too. I think as -- abortion disproportionately occurs among single women? No.
CALLER: I don't know the exact statistics, but quite a bit are, yeah.
BENNETT: All right, well, I mean, I just don't know. I would not argue for the pro-life position based on this, because you don't know. I mean, it cuts both -- you know, one of the arguments in this book Freakonomics that they make is that the declining crime rate, you know, they deal with this hypothesis, that one of the reasons crime is down is that abortion is up. Well --
CALLER: Well, I don't think that statistic is accurate.
BENNETT: Well, I don't think it is either, I don't think it is either, because first of all, there is just too much that you don't know. But I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.

Obviously, a comment like that would spark a tremendous amount of discussion. So much so, that he was asked to comment about the radio debate:

“Sure. Well, the context was a radio show that I was doing yesterday, and the topic was abortion and we were talking about bad arguments in regard to abortion. A caller suggested he was opposed to abortion because he said if there were more babies there would be, eventually, more tax payers and a larger GNP, a smaller deficit. I said you want to be careful with that kind of argument because someone could postulate a situation where child's not likely to be a productive taxpayer. I said, arguments in which you take something that's far out, like the GNP and try to connect it up with abortion are tricky. I said make the case of abortion on the basis of life and protecting life. I said abortion is invoked in another way; you could make an argument that if you wanted to lower the crime rate, you saw the quote; you could practice abortion in very large numbers. You could do it in the black community; you could do it in other places. This is, by the way, the subject of a book for economics by a professor at Yale.”

All in all, the feeling that I’m getting from most bloggers is one of complete distaste for Mr. Bennett. Even House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi couldn’t believe that he had said what he had: "What could possibly have possessed [former] Secretary Bennett to say those words, especially at this time?"

The feeling from fellow bloggers more then agree with Ms. Pelosi’s statement. Sudden Nothing feels that, “(p)ostulating that aborting an entire race would be beneficial to America is a bad move at any time, even if it is only to prove a point.” And Chris Beose’s weblog point of view is that he finds “a person who can even consider or dwell on such an idea "morally reprehensible," … That's why his explanation that he's being "mischaracterized" begs the question to the point of ridiculousness.”

Some bloggers even went way too far in their anti-Bennett posts that we get this from A Worker in a Vineyard:
“…In the United States, African American women are 3 times more likely to have an abortion than white women. In 1995, black women accounted for %75 of abortions in Washington D.C., %45 in Alabama, %50 in Georgia, %40 in Louisiana, %53 in Mississippi, %52 in New York City, and %45 in South Carolina. These numbers betray the awful truth - that abortion is racially targeted. The abortion/live births ration for white women is 184/1,000 while among black women it is 543/1,000. This means that over one third of African American pregnancies are ended in abortion - abortion monetarily supported by the deep white pockets of groups like Planned Parenthood. Even further, the illegitimacy rate for black children hovers around %68.”

While informative, in a completely statistical sort of way, why look at it this way? As a separate issue, how can you even say that abortions are racially targeted? Just because the numbers say that more blacks have abortions then whites do doesn’t mean that whites are pushing blacks to have it done. I would love to see an actual social study on that topic to find out if it really is a racist thing or more of an African American culture thing - because those two things can be completely different when it comes down to it.

I’m beginning to feel like I’m the only person on the other side of the fence. I don’t think that the comment was a smart thing for Bennett to say, if only because of the overly politically correct culture and over-sensitive masses we’ve become, but it wasn’t racist. At least not given the context of the discussion. For all intent and purpose he could have used any number of groups – but he had to choose one to make his point! The point being whether you get rid of abortion entirely, like the caller was postilating, or you pick one specific group and abort them all, you’re not going to solve any problems.

Paxil = disabled children? Naw!

Hey guys. While at work I have a bad habit of wasting tons of time reading stuff on websites that I probably wouldn't go to otherwise. MSN.com being one of them because they have to be one of the most biased and unreliable news sites known to mankind. That said, I found an article titled "New Warning Issued on Paxil."

Now, what else could be worse then the risk of suicide found to be associated with users of the drug? I guess the only thing worth reporting is that woman taking this drug are known to give birth to infants with "birth defects." Exactly what these defects are I really don't know. I haven't, (and probably won't), take the time to find out for sure - but I love this news anyway.

As we all know Americans are all drug dependent. Whether you're taking Prozac, Zoloft, Ritalin or Paxil to make yourself numb, you're smoking pot to relax before bed, or you're taking an aspirin a day to stave off your "raging migraine" you're a drug addict. Just because one comes in a pretty box and can be bought at the CVS down the road and the other needs to be aquired from a shaddy dealer with only two brain cells to rub together doesn't make one better then the other.

A person can become dependent on anything, NyQuil, Tums, crack... so why are we so hung up on regulating these things? If you don't know already, all drugs have an associated risk. It shouldn't be up to the FDA, or any other regulatory agency for that matter, to tell us what we can or cannot consume. Not to say that known poisons should stock the shelf at Wal-Mart or, without wanting to sound like a hypocrite, crack and other completely bunk drugs should be there either. But if someone takes a drug to try and correct a problem that they may or may not really suffer from they have to accept the possibility of a side affect or two.

If one of those side-effects of changing your body chemistry is having a child that is not entirely perfect then how can you complain? What was the old saying? You can't have your cake and eat it too... yeah I'm pretty sure that was it.

The point to all of this is that people should rely more on their own mental powers to control some of these problems that they feel they need to take drugs for. Drugs are not the answer to everything. If you are prescribed something, read about it. Find out why your taking it and what it can do to you. If that's not what you want, petition the government to allow more natural drugs. You know... marijuana... the drug that can help pain and eating disorders and cancer patients with absolutely no more side-effects then those associated with smoking cigaretts. (And if you don't like my cigaretts then give up your beer and aspirin.)

Regardless of just about everything I've said all ready, you've got to accept responsibility and using the government to make all of your lifes decisions, and to tell you only what you want to hear, (ie, "It's safe! We know because the FDA says so!"), will only get you nowhere.

This is Why I hate Driving

This flash animation by Bruno Bozzetto (application/x-shockwave-flash Object)is a little long but definitely worth watching.

CNN.com - Brown puts blame on Louisiana officials - Sep 27, 2005

"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- In sometimes heated testimony before a congressional committee Tuesday, former Federal Emergency Management Agency chief Michael Brown blamed Louisiana's leaders for dragging their heels last month as Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast."

Full Article Here

If figures that he would try and push the blame onto someone else. Why can't the Feds just suck it up and apologize for being incompetent, incapable and unsympathetic to the problems that these people are having!

Professor Chubbs Photo Shoot

Isn't this just the cutest bunny ever?

Kill the boredom!

Okay. So I'm going to admit to being a complete geek right about now: I've started playing Ultima Online. For those of you that don't know what this is, it's an online game very similiar to the game play found in Dungeon Siege or Diablo, but the game mechanics are based much more strongly on D&D. If this even goes over your head, well, simply put, I get to create a character that will eventually do and look however the hell I want it to.

As fun as this game is, it's alsoterribly addictive. I'll sit and play this stupid thing for hour after hour after hour - which isn't a good thing people. I used to leave the house! I used to talk to people! I used to read! (yipes!)

My hope is that my enjoyment of the game will wane a bit over a short time so that I can go back outside... hehe.

In other news, I got together with Saucy Jess yesterday and got to talking about her wanting a pet. Well, she doesn't want one anymore because we walked out of the pet store with Professor Chubbs. He has to be the cutest lop rabbit I've seen in a long time and hopefully she'll get a pic of him up sometime soon.

Sore tooth on Saucy?

Arrogance and Free Advertisments

The first part of this message is directed toward all of those people using my blog as a way to "connect" with their consumer base. Well, I don't apprieciate fake comments written to try and fake everybody into going to your "Tai Chi" site or "Yoga" site. I have tried to keep up with this infiltration and protect my readers by deleting and/or hiding them as they appear. But they have started to go out of control - leaving at least one to three of these fake messages per post.

I ask you to stop. I'm not demanding or screaming. I am asking. Please stop ruining this blog.

To not dwell on that for too long, my friend's blog, Ugly is as Ugly Does, had a post back on the 11th talking about a song on FWMJ by the Legendary KO, Bush Doesn't Care About Black People. The information on the song prompted a short string of comments on the whole New Orleans tradgedy. After a number of comments, I myself went out on a ledge and interjected about how one perticular individual kept maintaining the opinion that since he had survived a smaller event years ago and had made it without any help - except of course family and friends that hadn't been affected by the hurricane - but New Orleans was a completely different beast.

Without going into too much detail, (you can always check out the comments yourself if your that interested in following the whole conversation), the post right after mine was short and sweet. It said, "You people are some arrogant assholes," and that was it.

Who knows.. maybe because I'm not in a minority - at least not one that seems to matter at all, (White, Jewish girls don't ever seem to top the list due to the whiteness and all). Maybe that's what keeps my opinion from mattering or coming off as uncouthe. I wish I could reach out to these people and help. I know, (or at least have a haunting suspicion), that if Hurrican Katrina had hit a more prosperous area then better precautions would have been in place. But it didn't and for whatever reason the government didn't care.

But to be honest I'm just sorry. Sorry that all I can do is donate money because nobody wants to let these poor, (not in the money sense but in the fortunate sense), people be helped by the mass amount of Americans who just want to go down and help. Sorry that I can't say that I feel bad that it was mainly the black community devistated by this tradgedy without getting looked at by both black and white alike with disdaine. Sorry that its the truth because that alienates me even further, with all the other whites in the country, from ever reaching our goal of true unity.

Similarities anyone?

For those of you who have been around here for awhile you may remember one of the first pictures posted - you know the outragoues penis shaped ginger root. Well, recently Saucy Jess, Barb and myself went into Bookends - a XXX adult store just over the Mass border in CT - and we found the roots long lost latex cousin!

Fantastic.

Where's the New on the War?

It's not like I really like hearing about the "War on Terror". Overall you would probably say that I'm on the Sheehan side of the fence. But with everything happening on our own shores with Katrina, it's seems as though the government - and that monkey running the oval office - is using the media blitz to keep pushing the war effort.

Before the storm happened, support for the effort was just about completely frayed. But now, average Americans Joe and Jane Smith are too focused on helping our fellow man to care if we have more people dying overseas everyday. Personally, I love the fact that the country is finally pulling together and supporting the less fortunate... but here's some things to consider:

While donations are necessary and greatly help the efforts here at home, where is the federal support? The big guys obviousely threw in the towel on the domestic issue long ago by not calling in as much military support as possible. And why didn't they have the military support to give? Because we are so thinly spread around the world acting as the police of the Earth that we can't cover our own asses.

I'm not trying to be selfish here. But here is finally the proof I needed to justify my long-standing conjecture that we need to focus on home before we can save the world. Until we eliminate our own hunger, crime, poverty and education problems we have no right to tell anyone else what to do.

So please be aware that the government is using this media frenzy to smoke screen their true focus right now. It isn't George W we see on the adds supporting the relief efforts - its his father and ex-President Clinton. All well and good - but where is our real leadership when this country is in crisis?

Ask yourself now: Did you vote for him? I didn't.

Back after the short break

I've finally figured out the new work grove - which is a good thing. To be honest, I was a bit worried about having to get up so god awfully early, but it all seems to be coming together okay. Besides the new job, the reason I hadn't been here for a bit is that my computer took a turn for the worse and I had to do a complete format. I'm not really happy about that. But what can you do?

I've fixed everything - and now I'm tired. But I thought I'd jump on and let everyone know that I hadn't died... Don't worry though - I'm going to get a better post up by the end of the week!

Labor Day

I figured today would be a good opportunity to share the real reason why everybody had today off from work. Remind us all what Labor Day really means. Partly, because I myself didn't even think about it until only a few hours ago and partly because I feel as though most people really don't know, (or care), why we didn't have to go in for our normal work days today. (BTW, my apologies to all of you that did - I remember the old retail days or even... gulp... banker days, it sucks to be the one in every ten people stuck at work. My heart goes out to you.)

President Grover Cleveland, in his attempt to repair damage he had done early on in his "regime", decided to instate this holiday as an olive branch to all of the labor unions out there in 1882. The really funny thing about it is the man didn't support Unions at all. He hated them.

Yep, this day is as dumb as it sounds folks. You didn't have to work today because of some stupid political push to make friends with the laborers.

So why do we still have this holiday anyway? I doubt you knew the real reasons behind it - heck.. even I had to look up a few of the details - so why still get it off? Because whether or not the day has meaning to us, we still get it off. So, for all of you out there who hate labor unions because their members are lazy, cranky, rude, and get paid more just "because"... thank them today for giving us - and them - one more reason to slack off.

In other news, I've actually done some pretty fun stuff this Labor Day weekend. Besides worrying about my new job starting tomorrow, I went with Nick on a one night, two day camping trip into the Berkshires, (pictures to follow soon, I promise), and spent about 17 hours in front of the TV with Kristen watching the full season of HOUSE.

Absolutely wonderful.

Gas prices soaring...

And the suburban soccer mom still drives her H2!

Yes folks, this is an update on the stupidity of the nation:

STOP DRIVING YOUR GAS GUZZELING LAWN ORNAMENTS YOU FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT REPUBLICAN!!!

Thank you,

That is all.