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| Fischer: 'Shining a light on the truth' Thu, 01 May 2008 23:00:00 EST I take exception to the Paducah Sun editorial that was reprinted on the Forum page of The Courier-Journal yesterday. The Sun editorial characterizes my campaign against Bruce Lunsford in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate as "unfair and inaccurate." |
| Paddy and Ida's last Derby Thu, 01 May 2008 23:00:00 EST May 17, 1925 dawned bright and sunny. Everyone ignored the weatherman who predicted late afternoon showers. After all, it was Derby Day and it would be perfect as usual. Paddy was happy because he had never missed a Derby since he saw Aristides win the first one. |
| Lunch With...Mike Maloney Thu, 01 May 2008 22:41:00 EST One of the problems of being a professional horseplayer is that you lose some of the enjoyment that you had when you were doing it seriously, but not professionally. A lot of that is pressure and just the grind of being there. And it's very labor-intensive work. |
| Gas Prices Thu, 01 May 2008 22:53:00 EST |
| Truth about TIF bonds Fri, 02 May 2008 02:06 EDT Tax increment financing allows part of the additional tax revenue collected from a redevelopment site to help pay for the high-cost public infrastructure on the site. This tool is used by many state and local governments because the cost of public infrastructure in an urban area is usually very high when compared to the cost of public infrastructure on a "green field" in the suburbs. Since TIF was enacted in April 2007, Louisville, Newport and Bowling Green have embarked on ambitious TIF projects, totaling more than a $3 billion investment that will create thousands of jobs. Lexington has three projects that are considering using the TIF program to help pay for public infrastructure: CentrePointe, the proposed downtown development; a proposed new basketball arena; and the Distillery District along Manchester Street. However, there still seems to be a great deal of confusion in Lexington as to exactly how TIF works. It is important to clear up a few misperceptions so that each of the projects can be evaluated on its merits. |
| Tiny invaders waging war on ash Thu, 01 May 2008 02:04 EDT Foreigners have invaded our country, and we are at war. The minimum cost of losing is estimated at $262 billion. That estimate does not include the multitudinous costs of fighting. That $262 billion is the price tag for removing dead victims if we lose. This invasion began quietly, several years ago, but has now reached epidemic proportions. You may have heard about it, but ignored or forgotten the story. Easy to do when the invader is a small green beetle and the primary victims are trees. However, the emerald ash borer is a serious threat, one almost guaranteed to have an impact on our state and city if we are caught unprepared when it arrives. It will soon -- if it isn't here already. Why should you care? |
| Legislative cuts hurt regulation Fri, 02 May 2008 02:06 EDT Every month when you pay your electric, gas and phone bills -- and in Lexington, your water bill -- part of the money goes to the state agency that polices the utilties that provide those services. You support a staff that investigates consumer complaints against utilities and makes sure they don't overcharge customers. It was a pretty good deal until, without your knowledge or consent, a big chunk of the money you pay was diverted by the legislature into the General Fund to balance the state budget. As a result, the state Public Service Commission won't be able to do as good a job as it should, and you won't get your money's worth. It's quite outrageous that consumers were cheated this way by a legislature that ducks the hard decisions needed to balance the budget. |
| Honorable move Thu, 01 May 2008 02:04 EDT Gov. Steve Beshear won the battle but Brad Cowgill walked away looking like a statesman. Rather than trigger an unproductive fight with the governor, Cowgill surrendered a job that he wanted, even though he had powerful allies, including Senate President David Williams, who would have helped him try to hold on. By doing the honorable thing, Cowgill sets the stage for a national search for someone to lead Kentucky's efforts to catch up with the rest of the country in educating its people. Beshear has expressed an interest in doing all he can to assist the search for a new Council on Postsecondary Education president. What would be most helpful from him is a genuine commitment to provide Kentucky's public universities and colleges and the state's public schools with the resources they need. A commitment backed by effective action. |
| Down and dirty Fri, 02 May 2008 08:36 EDT |
| In the Zone: Woodson deserved to go higher |
| CHEERS and JEERS: Construction locally paints positive picture There is much doom and gloom on the nightly news broadcasts about the state of the nation’s economy. |
| On bees and other buzz Here are a few items from both the local and national scene that are appealing. |
| YOUR VIEWS: Healthy Kids Day goes over well The Barren County Family YMCA celebrated Healthy Kids Day on April 12. |
| Court right to uphold voter ID law Fri, 2 May 2008 20:23:20 -0500 It should not be that much of a hassle for someone wanting to vote to show a poll worker his or her government-issued photo identification to ensure elections are free of fraud. Because of the importance of fair elections, the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling Monday that states can require voters to show ID before casting ballots was welcome. The case involved a Indiana law that required voters to do this. Critics argued that the law creates an unnecessary barrier for older and poor people. But the law doesn’t place a significant burden on voters, because they can get a state-issued ID at no charge. The Indiana law, upheld by a 6-3 majority, was considered the strictest in the nation. This means that similar laws in about half the states, including Kentucky, should pass legal muster as well. In Kentucky, no identification is required provided poll workers know the voter. Otherwise, some form of identification such as a driver’s license, credit card or utility bill is necessary. In the Indiana case, Justice John Paul Stevens, one of the court’s more liberal members, wrote that the limited burden the ID requirement imposes is outweighed by the public interest in elections free of fraud. While weighing this balancing act between competing objectives, the court came to the only reasonable conclusion it could. Americans will accept the outcome of elections as long as they are convinced the process is free and fair. It is difficult to understand the reaction of the Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, who sees voter identification laws as a sinister effort to strip people of their right to vote. Dean is wrong. These laws simply safeguard the integrity of the vote. |
| The good fight Fri, 2 May 2008 20:22:51 -0500 The biggest security challenge to the United States comes from a place you may never have heard of. It’s called the FATA. That’s the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan, where al-Qaida and other jihadi groups have established safe havens along the Afghan border. So far, no one’s figured out how to deal with the problem. Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf failed to dislodge the jihadis by force; he limited U.S. attacks to remotely piloted Predator aircraft. Now, Pakistan’s new civilian leaders have come up with a new formula that downplays military strikes in favor of negotiations with militants. Administration officials fear this will backfire. Yet Pakistan’s strategy looks remarkably similar to the formula that helped rid Iraq’s Anbar province of al-Qaida: Help tribal leaders help themselves. Call it the Anbar model: aiding tribal elders who want to push out violent intruders by giving them political and economic incentives, along with military aid. Of course, Pakistani officials would never publicly compare the FATA problem with Anbar, and there are innumerable differences between the two areas. After the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, many Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida leaders took refuge in Pakistan’s tribal areas. Pakistani jihadis migrated there, too. In a region that had been woefully neglected and lacks jobs, and is only informally governed by Islamabad, tribesmen could be wooed to join the jihadis. A lack of law and order made it easy for militants to intimidate tribal leaders. Attacks by the Pakistani army, whose troops are mostly ethnic Punjabis, further alienated FATA’s Pushtun tribes. Strikes by U.S. missiles caused collateral damage among civilians. Many Pakistanis came to view military attacks on FATA as a war waged on America’s behalf. Although jihadis have been blowing up Pakistani civilians and killed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the fight against Islamist militants was seen as “America’s war.” This is the outlook that Pakistan’s newly elected government wants to change. “We have to win the people on our side. We don’t want Pakistanis to think we are unfair to our own people,” I was told by Husain Haqqani, who will become Pakistan’s new ambassador to the United States next month. The risky part of this strategy is negotiations with militant tribes along in the Afghan border area. This includes tribes led by a man accused of organizing suicide bombs and Bhutto’s murder - Baitullah Mehsud. “The deal is not with Mehsud but with the people around him,” Haqqani insists. He says the deal would require tribal members to lay down their arms, and to pledge they won’t harbor militants or let their area be used as a base for attacks against other countries - like Afghanistan, or Western nations. After a test period, tribes that won’t turn over terrorists would face military action. “It’s not an either/or,” Haqqani said. “We can speak softly and carry a big stick.” The key to the strategy will be a Pakistani government effort to aid tribes that are fed up with being pushed around by hard-core militants - as U.S. commanders aided Iraqi tribal leaders in Anbar. If sufficiently encouraged, tribal elders could rally their own militias as did tribal chiefs in Anbar. The government would also put money and effort into upgrading the Frontier Constabulary, made up of tribesmen who protect the border. A crucial part of the plan would be to funnel large amounts of development aid into the FATA and to strengthen political ties to the tribal areas. U.S. aid money would be important. After years of relying only on Pakistan’s military to deal with the FATA problem, the Bush administration has now allotted $186.7 million in fiscal 2007 to help build schools and hospitals in the tribal areas. Yes, the strategy is risky. Hard-core militants may use a cease-fire to reorganize and rearm. Critics point out that Musharraf engineered a cease-fire with militants two years ago that quickly collapsed. Haqqani says the agreement Musharraf signed was “with the Pakistani Taliban. We’re signing with the tribes. There is a distinction between tribals and terrorists.” That is the hope. The virtue of the government’s plan is that it aims to enlist Pakistanis themselves in the effort to stabilize the tribal areas. By offering the tribes an alternative to war, it exposes and isolates the militants who prefer violence. If militants reject the truce, it would give the government a solid argument for using force. “Pakistan must fight terrorism for Pakistan’s sake,” the country’s new prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, wrote in the Washington Post. If his strategy can convince the Pakistani public that the struggle against jihadis is their fight, too, it has a chance to succeed. |
| Local tip sheet Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:00 EST Louisville, perhaps best known as the home of the Kentucky Derby, has had a hodge-podge of influences over time, some still very much in evidence today. |
| It's official, sort of Fri, 02 May 2008 21:54:00 EST Finally, Zimbabwe's election commission has released the "official" results of the March 29 election. |
| The Derby: beauty vs. wasteful extravagance Fri, 02 May 2008 21:55:00 EST April showers bring May roses and lilies. On a day that is dreamed of by all of the boys and the fillies, the first weekend in May is one that brings an anxious feeling to the strongest of heart. |
| Lincoln eloquent Fri, 02 May 2008 21:47:00 EST I was in general agreement with the April 29 letter "Nation, world better because Union won" expressing dismay as to the affection bestowed upon the Confederacy given that it advanced no higher purpose and both this country and the world are much the better because it was defeated. Near its conclusion, however, the writer provides that the North prevailed "in spite of … a backwater hayseed lawyer (Lincoln) in his first executive job." |
| Derby Gouging Fri, 02 May 2008 21:58:00 EST |
| A Canuck in Kantuck: Simple acts of kindness This issue marks my three-year anniversary at The Sentinel-Echo and over the years I have come to expect to be inspired — by people’s kindness, by people’s dedication, by people’s plain and simple effort. |
| Baffle your guests with history Okay, you’ve got out-of-state Derby guests who are nursing hangovers and asking you to explain Kentucky government and politics. Good luck. |
| Our habits effect gas usage Only the public can force the big oil companies to reduce their prices. The only way we can force them to reduce prices is to lessen our demand by using less gasoline. |
| City needs to take care of parking lot Tue, 6 May 2008 12:22:43 -0500 The city should practice what it preaches when it pertains to the out-of-control vegetation growth in the city-owned parking lot between College and State streets. The lot, which was reconfigured and repaved last year, is being overtaken with weeds in some of the plots that were designed for flowers and plants. It was completely understandable that the city didn’t plant anything in the lot last year because of the drought, but a year later, with perfect conditions for planting, the landscape boxes are overcome with out-of-control weeds. This is somewhat disturbing considering the city has code enforcement officials that don’t hesitate to cite anyone who has weeds growing out of control or has grass over a certain height. It is their prerogative to do that and there has to be some standards, but the city should also set the tone for others on their own property. If they are able to cite people and fine them for not complying with code, then they should be held to the same standard. A lot of money was put into the designing and improvement of the new parking lot between these two streets and it is a shame the city has let it get out of control. With the downtown going through major redevelopment efforts, it makes no sense to have this newly configured lot overcome by weeds. City officials could take a look at Circus Square Park, which is just now getting finishing touches, including landscaping, as an example of what the greenspace in the city parking lot can be. We believe that the city should lead by example and this situation in the heart of our downtown raises some serious questions about how well they are doing that. |
| As Maine goes Tue, 6 May 2008 12:20:17 -0500 AUGUSTA, Maine — It is only partially true that in presidential elections “as Maine goes, so goes the nation.” The term emerged in the 19th century because at the time Maine held its elections for statewide and congressional offices in September, not November. The proximity of the September-November voting made Maine a bellwether for forecasting how the rest of the country would vote. In modern elections, held with the rest of the country in November, Maine chose Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy in 1960; Hubert Humphrey over Nixon in 1968 (it went for Nixon in 1972), Gerald Ford over Jimmy Carter in 1976, Al Gore and John Kerry over George W. Bush in 2000 and 2004, respectively. Maine’s two senators are “moderate” Republicans and the state has a Democratic governor. This is no conservative bastion. At the GOP state convention last weekend, at which I was invited to speak, the crowd, more than 2,000 strong, was enthusiastic but represented a small portion of Maine’s electorate. According to GOP state chairman Mark Ellis, self-identified Republicans make up the smallest number of Maine’s voters (28 percent, he says) with about 32 percent registered Democrats, and 34 percent Independents. Five percent belong to the Green Party. Ellis told me the Republican Party is in “dire straits” in Maine, “as it is in all of the Northeast.” Too many see the party “caving in” to liberal demands, he said. Party activists believe “we should stand firm.” Ellis says the division between social and economic conservatives has become wider and only Sen. John McCain can hold it together with his appeal to moderates. One of those moderates is Sen. Susan Collins, who is running for a third term. In her speech she got off several crowd-pleasing lines. Referring to Barack Obama’s problems with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, Collins said, “When Republicans distance themselves from their pastor, all it means is we’re sitting in a pew in the back of the church.” In a reference to Sen. Hillary Clinton’s claim of coming under fire while visiting Bosnia as first lady, Collins said, “He (McCain) does not need to embellish his record with tales of being under fire. He has been under fire.” In an interview, I asked Collins the main reason Republicans lost their congressional majority and are struggling to regain a political foothold in what looks like a big year for Democrats. She said, “There was an explosion of and increase in spending.” In an implied criticism of President Bush, she said, “The president has taken a hard line against spending only in the last year.” Despite some polling that does not favor Republicans, Collins predicts McCain will be the next president. She thinks it would help him if he spoke more about the sacrifices he’s made for the country. Asked whom she’d like to see as McCain’s vice presidential pick, Collins said that someone with executive experience in business “would be helpful.” “Mitt Romney?” I asked. Romney received a warm reception from delegates when he gave the keynote address Friday night. Collins said she “likes” Romney. After the rancor between Romney and McCain during the primary campaign, however, it might take a dose of pragmatism reminiscent of the Kennedy-Johnson shotgun political wedding to make that happen. Ralph Peterson is a middle school principal in Richmond, Maine and a convention delegate. He agrees that “McCain needs a solid conservative running mate” and mentions Romney as a good choice. “People of conservative beliefs want our beliefs defended,” said Peterson, who thinks Romney would defend them. If the state GOP platform is any indication, it appears the party is moving rightward. A large majority of delegates defeated amendments to the platform that would have defined marriage as something other than a contract between a man and a woman and also defeated one that would have liberalized the party’s pro-life position. This was a reflection of the conservative activists who dominated the convention rather than a sign that the thinking of a majority of Maine residents, who consistently elect center-left politicians to state and national office, has changed. To be a conservative Republican in Maine takes a lot of stamina; something like enduring winter up here. Many at the state convention wished that as the nation has gone for conservatives in several recent elections, so would go Maine. But that may take a little longer than the always-late arrival of spring. |
| What is justice for the fugitive mother? Tue, 6 May 2008 12:20:22 -0500 She was arrested at 19, when she tried to sell drugs to an undercover cop. She pleaded guilty, hoping for probation. Instead she was given the maximum - 10 to 20 years. One year later, she said, she jumped a fence in prison and met her waiting grandfather in a car. And for the next 32 years, she led a secret life. She changed her name. She married a man, raised three children. She lived a comfortable if quiet existence in Southern California. And she did no more wrong. Two weeks ago, at age 53, she was approached outside her home. It was the police. Today, Susan Lefevre sits in a California jail, awaiting extradition to Michigan for the prison sentence she walked away from more than three decades ago. She had served one year of her stiff sentence for drug-trafficking. She told an interviewer her behavior back then was “inexcusable,” but it was the behavior of a foolish kid, despondent over the death of a Vietnam War boyfriend. Since then, she told The Associated Press, “I’ve tried to be exceptionally good.” The question is: What is justice? Throw her back in jail to teach her a lesson, or say it is obvious she has already learned it? First, a few facts. Her crime was selling heroin. She took $600 from the cop. She said in her interview that she pleaded guilty because her family was ashamed and didn’t want a trial. Michigan authorities, however, have claimed she was a drug dealer earning large profits. After a year in the Detroit House of Corrections, she said, she felt she couldn’t take it anymore and arranged an escape with the help of her grandfather and another relative. After eluding authorities for several weeks, she fled to California and began a new life. She said she never told her husband of 23 years. She never told her children. She was, by most accounts, a good member of the community, did some charitable things, trained as a hospice nurse. She was also, all that time, a fugitive. So what to do? What is justice? Her attorney plans to petition the governor to commute the rest of her sentence. Corrections officials say the rules demand she serve at least 51/2 more years behind bars. Supporters say, “It was a nonviolent crime. She’s not a threat to the community.” Critics say, “If we let her off, we might as well let everyone escape from prison.” Some add that a middle-age, suburban white woman is receiving far more sympathy than, say, a 30-year-old black male. Others say that has nothing to do with it. I say justice should be blind, but it isn’t. The same crime does not always draw the same sentence - not from one state to another, or from one court to another, sometimes not even from one minute to another. Sentences are meant to be served out, but we hear constantly of people freed due to overcrowding or technicalities. We hear about 15-year-old murderers who are let free at 21, whether they’ve learned a lesson or not. We hear about drunk drivers back behind the wheel despite 30 or 40 arrests. Which is worse: someone who escapes but does no more wrong - or someone who is released under the rules, then goes right out and does wrong again? Lefevre is not likely to repeat her crime. I would think the exposure of her past is already a certain punishment to her (especially in the world she now lives in). If probation, limited travel and community service were also imposed, perhaps that would be enough. Besides, putting her behind bars at this point costs taxpayers a good deal of money. Then again, if I were behind bars, I might look at it differently. Which only proves that you can change your name, you can change your past, but you will always see things from your side of the wall. |
| Editorial: Derby tragedy Mon, 05 May 2008 23:26:00 EST The fatal breakdown of the filly Eight Belles that marred Saturday's Kentucky Derby was heart-wrenching, but it is neither the first such racetrack tragedy nor even the most shocking. |
| Budget IS policy Mon, 05 May 2008 23:27:00 EST The no-new-tax obsession -- promoted in Frankfort by top Republicans like U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell and Senate President David Williams -- has real consequences for real people, including some of Kentucky's most vulnerable citizens. |
| 'No longer magical' … Mon, 05 May 2008 23:27:00 EST Having grown up in southern Ohio with a father from Maysville, the Derby was always somewhat of a big deal in our home. After watching it occasionally on television in previous years, I decided to watch Saturday. |
| An enigmatic contest Mon, 05 May 2008 23:28:00 EST he first: Hillary Clinton found a compelling voice and a plausible strategy only after she had squandered her chances of winning the nomination without a divisive struggle over superdelegates and convention rules. It took a series of defeats to galvanize her campaign and help her put forward a better self. |
| A 'Green' Rx to save carbon: city density plus transit Mon, 05 May 2008 23:29:00 EST Earth Day this year was a lot different from the first observance in 1970. Back then, we faced highly visible smog in the air, towns combating toxic waste sites, and a Cuyahoga River on fire. |
| 'Illegal' is more than a word Mon, 05 May 2008 23:29:00 EST On March 30, The Courier-Journal ran an article about the terms we use to refer to certain groups of people, to each other. We appreciate The C-J and public editor Pam Platt for raising this important issue and candidly exploring the power of words, particularly in the media. |
| Five myths about college Mon, 05 May 2008 23:30:00 EST Congratulations! You've spent thousands of dollars on test-prep books and enrichment camps and sunk hundreds of hours into applications, to say nothing of enduring countless sleepless nights -- and it all paid off. |
| Left out Mon, 05 May 2008 23:12:00 EST |
| Become a Hot Spot blogger Mon, 05 May 2008 23:32:00 EST The Courier-Journal is seeking young writers for the third cycle of its Hot Spot blog. Fifteen to 20 high school seniors and college students from throughout The CJ's circulation area (Kentucky and Indiana) will be chosen to blog about subjects mostly of their own choosing. |
| Hillary Clinton "still standing" Mon, 05 May 2008 23:14:00 EST If only the tragic death of "Eight Belles" at the 2008 running of the Kentucky Derby were truly the eighth and final bell tolling for humans to wake up, then the tragic death of this beautiful horse would be worth it. |
| Phyllis Diane Morgan Guinan Phyllis Diane Morgan Guinan, 55, of Mertie Lane, died on Saturday, April 26, 2008, at her home after battling cancer since 2004. |
| Invictus Maneo: Kentucky Democrats should vote for Obama What began as a passionate debate has become a divisive argument. |
| Smoke ban in parks is a good plan Thu, 8 May 2008 11:22:35 -0500 Nobody likes to go for a walk in one of our many city parks and see cigarette butts littering the landscape, which is why we commend the city for banning smoking in its parks and trails. The ban, which is to be in place as soon as signs can be posted, will eliminate smoking in all parks, except the city’s three golf courses and in Fairview Cemetery. Fountain Square Park will be smoke-free except for private rentals and there will be one designated smoking area in the new Circus Square Park. The policy won’t apply to sidewalks, but will apply to Greenways trails. A lot of people may ask why is this needed and how will it be enforced since a lot of these parks encompass large areas? We believe it is needed because a lot of people going on walks, fishing, enjoying playgrounds and having picnics do so because they are looking for relaxation in an outdoor setting. They want to enjoy nature and don’t want to see cigarette butts scattered about on the trails. Enforcement of the ban won’t necessarily totally rely on park employees and law enforcement, but on smokers’ politeness and peer pressure from non-smoking park users to enforce the policy. If smokers refuse to comply with them, park employees can ask them to cease and if they refuse, police can be called. We believe most people will be respectful of the law and comply to make it enjoyable for everyone to enjoy our city’s beautiful green areas. We don’t have a problem with the city banning smoking in city parks because they are public property, unlike our opposition to government imposing a smoking ban on private property. These are two very different scenarios. The city has already banned smoking inside all city-owned buildings. Residents should see no smoking signs installed in city parks within the next two weeks. |
| Give voters a clue Thu, 8 May 2008 11:23:17 -0500 The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was a sideshow, a distraction, a sham and a shame. So sayeth many of the brightest stars in punditry. How sad that we wasted so much time on what Sebastian Mallaby of the Washington Post called an “absurd digression.” Barack Obama himself frets that we are “caught up in the distractions and the silliness and the tit-for-tat that consumes our politics,” which “trivializes the profound issues.” Yes, by all means, the profound issues are what the campaigners should grapple with. Grapple away on matters of substance and policy. Bread-and-butter concerns. Kitchen-table topics and pocketbook issues. And what are those? Well, according to Obama and Clinton alike, gas prices top the list. On ABC’s “This Week,” George Stephanopoulos opened an interview with Clinton by asking how she can defend her proposal to suspend the federal gas tax for the summer when everyone knows it won’t lower gas prices. “Nearly every editorial board and economist in the country has come out against it,” Stephanopoulos noted. “Even a supporter of yours, Paul Krugman of the New York Times, calls it pointless and disappointing.” Her response in a nutshell: Jimmy crack corn and I don’t care. Clinton says she doesn’t mind if economists agree that her proposal would do nothing to alleviate high gas prices. Indeed, when Stephanopoulos pressed her to name one - just one! - credible economist who thinks this idea has merit, she responded: “Well, I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to put my lot in with economists.” Instead, she explained, she’s going to break with the “government power and elite opinion” and side with the little guy. Unlike the proposal by John McCain, who also stupidly supports a gas-tax “holiday,” the Clinton plan has the added benefit of punishing those evil oil companies by making them pay the tax, even though those pointy-headed economists say it will actually reward them. Big Oil would simply pass that cost back to consumers, and the “holiday” would artificially hike demand for gas so that pump prices would jump right back up. But never mind all that. Oh, let’s also point out that, as a matter of political reality, Clinton might as well be calling for a ban on the use of unicorn meat in dog food, because there is no way her proposal can actually, you know, happen. Now, in fairness, we should point out that Obama opposes the Clinton-McCain proposal for many of the reasons stated above, and that speaks well of him. But there’s a larger point here. Clinton’s new populist demagoguery is entirely symbolic. The “substance” is stage dressing, no more real than the scenery in a play. She’s trying to tell blue-collar workers that she’s on their side. The language may be economic, but the message is about values. It’s I-feel-your-pain treacle gussied up as tax policy, devoid of anything approaching intellectual seriousness. Who cares if even liberal economists like Krugman concede the stupidity of her idea; she’s taking the side of the Bubbas against all the fancy pants. The same goes for the Daedalian debate between Obama and Clinton over health care that consumed many of the early Democratic primaries. In a riot of intellectual vanity, vast amounts of time were wasted on parsing the fine print of their respective policy proposals, with earnest journalists wading hip-deep into the actuarial tables, as if either plan would actually survive its first encounter with Congress intact. Who cares? We’re talkin’ substance here! Presidential elections are not referendums on policy papers. Rather, policy papers are themselves mere hints, sometimes very poor hints, of where a candidate’s priorities lie. This is not to say that candidates should not offer details, but let’s do away with the charade that the dots on the “i” and the crosses on the “t” are the stuff of Serious Politics, while discussions about a candidate’s “non-economic” values are somehow irrelevant. It’s all the same conversation. Whatever the true import of Obama’s relationship with Wright may be, or whatever the proper weight voters should give to his view that poor whites “cling” to guns, religion and bigotry because they’ve suffered under bad economic policies, or, for that matter, whatever Clinton’s “sniper fire” story says about her, it strikes me as absurd to argue that these data are meaningless but their stance on a gas-tax holiday is of enduring importance. We pick presidents for their judgment and values. Anything that gives us a clue as to what those might be is not only fair game, it is the game. |
| Our attitudes toward sex are really uptight Thu, 8 May 2008 11:23:18 -0500 There is a poignant significance to the passing of Mildred Loving at a time when a biracial senator leads the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. Their stories are connected by time, skin color and a Supreme Court decision. Mildred and Richard Loving had been married only five weeks in 1958 when the county sheriff burst into their bedroom with two deputies. They shined flashlights in their eyes and a menacing voice demanded, “Who is this woman you’re sleeping with?” When Richard pointed to their marriage certificate on a wall, the sheriff responded, “That’s no good here.” The District of Columbia marriage license was “no good” because Richard was white and Mildred was black in a small Virginia town in 1958, when it was one of 16 states that banned interracial marriage. The raid, sparked by an anonymous tip, resulted in a night in jail for Richard, several more for Mildred, a felony conviction and their banishment from returning to the state together or at the same time for 25 years. They returned to their home state sooner than that, thanks to the landmark Supreme Court ruling in their case, Loving v. Virginia, that overturned state miscegenation laws in 1967. Mildred Loving died on May 2 at her home in Central Point, Va. She was 68. Her husband died in a car accident in 1975. Four decades after the court decision that bears their poignantly appropriate name, the world feels like a very different place, thanks in part to that court decision. Interracial marriages have multiplied as American attitudes toward race have relaxed, although for some groups dramatically more than for others. Since 1970 the number of married people in the United States who have a spouse of another race has climbed from less than 2 per 100 to almost 8 per 100, according to Stanford sociologist Michael J. Rosenfeld, a leading specialist in interracial marriage trends. Among Rosenfeld’s other findings: The Lovings did not set a trend, gender-wise. White women are still about twice as likely to be married to a black man as white men to a black woman. About 3 white men per thousand and about 7 white women per 1,000 were married to a black person in 2005. At the same time, almost 8 percent of black men and about 3.5 percent of black women were married to a white person. A much higher percentage of Asian men (25.8 percent) and women (33.7 percent) were married to whites. And as times have changed, so have the questions. Hardly a week goes by, for example, without my receiving at least one e-mail that asks, “Why does Barack Obama say he is black?” “There is the media hype that Obama would be the first black president. Not true,” writes Ron of Jacksonville, Fla. “He would be the first racially mixed president.” Maybe Ron is a young man who hasn’t heard about the “one-drop rule,” a peculiarly American custom that says one drop of black blood makes you black. The census since 2000 allows Americans for the first time to check off as many racial boxes as they think apply. That legacy of Loving may do more than anything else to undo race as we have known it. But changing the labels or even ignoring them will not eradicate race-related problems of income and equality. The growth of interracial marriages in the military offers an example what can occur across racial lines in the closest thing we have to a color-blind society. The Army sees only one color, I was told after I was drafted in 1969: Army green. In accord with that dictum, census figures show intermarriage more than twice as likely in the military for all racial groups except for Asian men. That’s a reflection of how long the military has been integrated into one unified, egalitarian and meritocratic culture. Significantly, the military has a level playing field that is ordered from the top down and obeyed by a military culture that is by nature intolerant of nonconformity. But in establishing a right to marry whom you please regardless of race, the Loving decision also has touched off a heated debate over whether the right to marry should be extended to couples of the same sex. Frankly, I don’t see how anyone else’s marriage would make my marriage any weaker, as opponents of gay marriage suggest. Nevertheless, I expect that debate to continue for a while. Public resistance to interracial marriage was a lot weaker in the late 1960s than resistance to gay marriages is today. American attitudes toward race have relaxed considerably. Our attitudes toward sex are still pretty uptight. |
| Obama's good day Wed, 07 May 2008 22:57:00 EST Hillary Clinton's gritty, back-to-the-wall fight for the Democratic presidential nomination should earn her, if nothing else, the right to make a graceful decision on her own timetable about the future of her candidacy. |
| Sporting good APRs Wed, 07 May 2008 22:57:00 EST Careful readers of this newspaper should know a lot about college athletes' graduation rates. Reporting by The Courier-Journal's Pat Forde shed light on the academic failures of several schools, and well-known coaches, in this region. |
| Getting over it, so you can get what you think we need Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST By reputation, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is a member of the high court's "liberal" wing and is inclined, in making his decisions, to take account of the Constitution's "democratic intentions." |
| Pool closings Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST The closure of inner city pools is at once shameful and ironic. Louisville is appropriately proud that its parks system was designed by the revered Frederick Law Olmsted in an era when urban planners saw the need for folks to be able to enjoy greenery and fresh air. |
| Presidential contest draws comments Wed, 07 May 2008 22:58:00 EST According to exit polls, 59 percent of white people voting in the North Carolina primary election voted for the white candidate, Hillary Clinton. It is terrible that so many people would use race as a major factor in selecting their leaders. |
| Democrats' 'fairness' may have sunk Clinton Wed, 07 May 2008 22:59:00 EST Hillary Clinton, 60, Illinois native and Arkansas lawyer, became, retroactively, a lifelong Yankees fan at age 52 when, shopping for a U.S. Senate seat, she adopted New York state as home sweet home. |
| A perfect calm for John McCain Wed, 07 May 2008 23:00:00 EST John McCain has used these weeks of Republican calm to dive into the Democratic lunch pail. This strategy clearly assumes a Barack Obama candidacy. If demographics are destiny -- as the political sages keep telling us -- |
| 'From irrelevance to trivia' Wed, 07 May 2008 23:00:00 EST The endless Democratic presidential campaign has lurched from irrelevance to trivia, triggering a near-universal call to bring it to a halt. |
| Delivering Aid... Wed, 07 May 2008 22:52:00 EST |
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