Blacks As Children file, drawer 145,871

Dr. John Douglas refuses to blame the victim:

Black women had the highest rate of [genital herpes] infection at 48 percent and women were nearly twice likely as men to be infected, according to an analysis by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention...

[Dr. John] Douglas said the increased rate of infection in blacks is not do* to increased risk behavior but likely due to biological factors that make women more susceptible as well as the higher rate of infection within black communities.

I just love how scientists explain politically-uncomfortable facts, like the fact that the black herpes infection rate is twice that of the rate of whites**. The first explanation is that "the increased rate of infection in blacks" is due to "the higher rate of infection within the black community."  True, I suppose, but not really all that enlightening when you think about it. The second explanation - that women are more susceptible than men - does not explain the racial difference at all unless there are so many black women compared to black men that they skew the sample.  So what does explain the difference?

Well, we are assured that the increased prevalence of herpes is not due to "increased risk behavior." That means that black people with herpes are not to be accused of doing the kinds of things that cause one to catch herpes, at least not in proportion to the resultant catching of herpes. That would be blaming the victim, and probably racist to boot. 

So what causes the spread of herpes if we have already excluded the idea that herpes is spread by the kinds of behaviors that spread herpes? That's what we need another grant to figure out, I guess.

* or "due," if you prefer.
** At least according to the CDC, which asks unanimous consent to revise and extend its conclusions.  Science is not an exact science.

Hahahaha

Hahahaha haha ha ha:

In an effort to end the foreclosure crisis, the Obama administration has been trying to keep defaulting owners in their homes. Now it will take a new approach: paying some of them to leave. 

Haha ha hahaha haha haha hahaha ha hahahaha haha hahaha ha haha hahaha haha ha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahaha hahahahahaha hahahahahahahahaha. 

No, seriously. We know what we're doing.

The People's Buffet is closing

Now comes the crash diet:

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The once flush-with-cash Kansas City school district is considering a radical plan to close nearly half its schools to stay afloat.

Schools officials say the cuts are necessary to keep the district from plowing through what little is left of the $2 billion it received as part of a groundbreaking desegregation case.

It wasn't too long ago the KCMO school district was building olympic-sized swimming pools and taxiing white kids from Kansas in a futile attempt to desegregate a school district that merely reflected the racial makeup of the people who live in it*. They won a big fat two thousand million dollar award to do that, and that cash has enabled the school district to not only avoid the hard choices, but any choices. No arguing about costs: nothing is too good for the poor, benighted children of KCMO**.  KCMO schools have been at an all you can eat buffet for two decades. Now that it's coming to an end, it looks like they will have to close half of their schools - half - to stay afloat.  That's some bitching triage, my friends. And all because they refused to cut while the times were good and the cuts were easy.

Moving over to Jefferson City:

Jefferson City -- The alarm bells are ringing in the halls of the state Capitol.

The state of Missouri is going broke.

Hark, I hear the bells, too. Why is such a thing happening? Well, mostly because of this:

Some lawmakers saw this fiscal train wreck coming, warning last year against relying on the stimulus to fund ongoing operations in state government. But Republican legislative leaders and the Democratic governor forged ahead using the stimulus anyway.

Same story, different chapter: so long as politicians have money to spend, they will not make choices.  But the choices must be made now, because the tide-them-over money, which gave them a chance last year to step down from the precipice, is gone.  The easy cuts*** are made, the hard cuts are coming.

And because they didn't make the hard cuts when they were easier cuts, there's a whole lot of state governments that are going to soon look like the KCMO school district.

* well, almost.  The schools are more segregated - by which is meant they have a higher percentage of black students - than the city, but mostly because the white residents are older and therefore have fewer kids to go to school.
** who remain both poor and benighted despite the five-figures-and-more spent to educate each of them for each of twelve years.
*** by which is meant the not-really cuts, the moving-money-around cuts, and the pushing-back-payments cuts.

Morning in America

(Hat tip: Mark Engblom)

More good news for Kansans

Kansas took even less of your money last month:

Gov. Mark Parkinson has made additional budget adjustments to bridge a $106 million budget imbalance in the current fiscal year in light of continuing revenue declines.

Parkinson also criticized the Legislature for going on a “tax-cutting binge”... Parkinson cited the elimination of estate taxes and franchise taxes and a tripling in the number of sales tax exemptions in recent years.

“We have to stop giving away the tax base to special interests,” Parkinson said.

Yeah, it's really important to stand up to special interests, like people who die. While I applaud Parkinson for cutting spending*, I have to laugh at his complaint that Kansas would be in a better position if it had more money in prior years.  It would in truth be in a far worse position.

What did Kansas do with the money it had in prior years? It spent every penny, just like every other state. New programs, new cars, sexy advertising campaigns for the state fair.  Had the state been given more money to spend in prior years, it would today have even more programs to cut and even more people screaming about it. And it would have no ability to solve that except by raising taxes even more than it will have to today.

The fact that the Kansas legislature cut taxes in the past is the reason Kansas is facing a deficit in the hundreds of millions rather than the billions - or like some other states, eventual bankruptcy.

* even if it is inevitable. I mean, unless he wants to pay for these programs out of his own pocket, he really has no choice.

Where are those vaunted political skills?

Obama prepares another knife for his party's back:

Reporting from Washington - Despite steep odds, the White House has discussed prospects for reviving a major overhaul of the nation's immigration laws, a commitment that President Obama has postponed once already.

Obama took up the issue privately with his staff Monday in a bid to advance a bill through Congress before lawmakers become too distracted by approaching midterm elections.

You might remember that Bush tried the same thing*, and that it pretty much marked the end of his term as President. Even when it came to the final looting of the Treasury, Paulson and Bernanke took the lead. Of course, it's a little different for Obama in that it was the GOP conservatives who rebelled against Bush and to a lesser extent against McCain**, and Obama will get no help from them in any case. Perhaps he figures that will be the extent of his losses. It won't.  If the Democrats fear they are losing middle America over their health care debacle, they haven't seen anything yet. This effort will crush the life from their party like, well, my bulldozer comparison was too cold-blooded, even for me.

I've got to admit, I'm absolutely flabbergasted*** by the political incompetence shown by the Obama administration thus far. And I look forward to it - and their never-growing list of legislative triumphs - lasting straight through to 2012.

* I believe the words used by CNN to describe the results were "a crushing defeat."
** However, they forgave McCain, I guess.  Why I have absolutely no idea.
*** pleased, but flabbergasted