Necessary News

All you need to know to sound brilliant

America: Truly A Melting Pot

• Snaps for diversity: According to an analysis of census results to be released yesterday, nonwhites now make up a majority in almost one-third of the most-populous counties in the country and in nearly one in 10 of all 3,100 counties. [New York Times]
• And the new shifts in diversity may surprise you. Take a look: From July 1, 2005, to July 1, 2006, metropolitan Chicago edged out Honolulu in Asian population, and Washington inched ahead of El Paso in the number of Hispanic residents. In black population, Houston overtook Los Angeles.
• Increased diversity is also being found outside of major U.S. cities, in both rural and suburban areas. “The new melting pots are not large international gateways,” said Professor William H. Frey, who conducted the study, adding, “Rather, many are fast-growing suburbs themselves.”
• Indeed, between 2000 and 2006, the total population in small towns and rural areas increased by 3 percent, but the Hispanic population in these counties grew from 2.6 million to 3.2 million, a 22 percent increase.
• Experts are saying the shift reflects the growing dispersal of immigrants and the suburbanization of blacks and Hispanics landing jobs created by whites moving to the fringes of metropolitan areas.

The Statue of Liberty would be proud.

Bush’s Emotional Pre-Vacation Press Conference

The Story:

• Before heading to Maine for his Kennebunkport getaway, President Bush held a news conference to talk about Iraq, Iran, the jittery stock-market, Pat Tillman, Alberto Gonzales and America’s crumbling infrastructure. Whew!
• And yet, despite his clear eagerness to head to the great green Northeast, the news conference was emotional. Tender, even. Listen in:

The Audio:

On His Vacation:

• Bush loves chilling with the press corps: “I’m headed into a kind of a relaxed period here. I’ll try to be more accommodating to fellas like you.”
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Things he’s emotional about, but wont help solve:

• “I can understand why Pat Tillman’s family has got….significant emotions.”
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• “Anybody who loses their home is someone with who we must show enormous empathy.”
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• And when he can’t get emotional, he just denies. On whether he’s seen a Red Cross report on the treatment of prisoners at CIA black sites and Guantanamo bay: “I haven’t seen it, we don’t torture.”
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• Oh really? [Think Progress]

On accountability in his administration:

• On whether Attorney General Alberto Gonzales should be fired: “Implicit in your question is that Al Gonzales did something wrong, I haven’t seen Congress say he’s done anything wrong.”
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• “Lewis Libby was held accountable.”
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Holding our allies accountable in Pakistan and Iraq:

• On Pakistan: “My focus in terms of the domestic scene there is that he have a free and fair election.”
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• Apologizing for the political stalemate in Iraq: “We’re watching leaders learn how to be leaders. It’s a new process for people to be democratic leaders.” Bush knows a thing or two about that.
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We’re getting faklempt.

Coming Out: Shifting Attitudes on Gays In The Military

• Flashback: In 1993, when Bill Clinton proposed dropping the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Collin Powell was strictly opposed. [Los Angeles Times]
• “The presence of homosexuals in the force would be detrimental to good order and discipline for a variety of reasons, principally relating around the issue of privacy,” Powell said in a January 1993 speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, just days before Clinton took the oath of office. Now, though, those attitudes are changing.
• Subtly, the rhetoric spun by the Pentagon and Congress around “don’t ask / don’t tell” has softened. A House bill that would lift the ban on gays serving openly has gained support from military veterans in that chamber. And the pressures of the Iraq war and the 2008 presidential campaign have focused more attention on the merits of a repeal
• Many experts say the changing of attitudes can be attributed to high-profile incidents during the Iraq war in which service members holding key jobs, particularly Arabic translators, were dismissed because of their sexual orientation. Activist groups said at least 59 such cases had been documented.
• Maybe even more telling are the results of a recent survey done among a new generation of service members who — after having been raised during a more accepting era — have no issue serving with openly gay recruits. In a Zogby International survey conducted in October of 545 service members who served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 37% said they were opposed to allowing gays to serve openly in the military. Nineteen percent said they were uncomfortable in the presence of gays and lesbians.
• And Powell? He’s changed his tune since the ’90s. In June, he told NBC’s “Meet the Press” that his attitudes had shifted significantly since 1993 — though he stopped short of calling for a repeal of the ban.

Absolutely fabulous.

Don’t Be A Fool! Stay In School!

• In Colorado, lawmakers passed a new measure this week allowing all Colorado high school students to take college classes – for free! – during high school and for one year after they graduate.
• The goal is to get more high school kids invested in a college education, give them an affordable head-start to a college degree, and to lower the dropout rates. [Denver Post]
• Why that’s a good thing: A third of all high school students in the U.S. either don’t finish on time or at all. High school dropouts make 65% less than what high school graduates make. High school drop outs are 72% more likely to be unemployed, and 75% of the inmates in state prisons are high school dropouts. Just something to keep in mind. [Boston Globe] [NEA]
• Other school districts are starting even earlier to focus on keeping kids in school with programs like Universal Pre-K. [WSJ]
• Florida and Oklahoma say if you want preschool for your 4-year-old, it’s yours, free. Illinois and New York are working on it. Thirty-eight states are trying to put together programs, spending 75% more than they did just two years ago on it. Sen. Hillary Clinton has developed an entire program around providing $15 billion over 5 years to promote Universal Pre-K.
• Why it matters: Focus on early schooling means kids are more likely to stay in school, graduate, enter the workforce and become good, tax-paying members of society. Right now, most rich kids get preschool. Most poor kids don’t. And thus, ladies and gentlemen, we see the beginning shoots of an ugly cycle where the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.
• It hasn’t caught on everywhere. Virginia’s GOP legislature recently shot down the governor’s plan for universal pre-K saying it was too expensive to provide school for poor kids.

Providing Pre-K to the 4 million kids living in poverty could eventually add $511 billion to the economy. Even if you don’t care about poor kids, don’t you care about money?

How Wal-Mart Steals From Your Public School

• Sure they’ve got that smiley face. And their back to school specials on notebooks and backpacks sure are quite a bargain. But a new report from the National Education Association finds Wal-Mart is undermining America’s public schools and the presence of a Wal-Mart in a school district can do more harm than good. [Education Portal]
• Here’s how the company is hurting your local school:
• Wal-Mart is the beneficiary of over $1 billion dollars in state and local subsidies “that could have been used to fund our struggling public education system.”
• Furthermore, because of Wal-Mart’s low wages and patchy benefits, local governments, who are tasked with funding the lions share of the public education system, pay “billions to health care and public assistance funds every year to cover Wal-Mart employees...California alone spends $86 million each year.”
• As if this wasn’t enough, the Walton family, owner of Wal-Mart, has “donated more than $100 million to private organizations that buy political influence and undermine public education support.”
• For more information, check out the NEA/Wake-up Walmart joint campaign, “Wal-Mart: Always High Costs. Always.” [NEA]

Rolling back quality education.

Good News, Bad News

Obsessed with your church youth group? Give it a few years, son. Give it a few years. Seven in 10 Protestants ages 18 to 30 — both evangelical and mainline — who went to church regularly in high school said they quit attending by age 23, according to the survey by LifeWay Research. And 34% of those said they had not returned, even sporadically, by age 30. That means about one in four Protestant young people have left the church. Protestant leaders are saying the news is “sobering.” [USA Today]

GOOD NEWS

Personally, we’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

BAD NEWS

As it turns out, the good die young.

Quote Of The Day

“Any parent in this audience knows exactly how I feel...It’s no different. You’ve got to look at it strictly as family — not that anyone is a big shot, even though he’s president of the United States. It’s family. It’s the pride of a father in his son.”

—Former President George H.W. Bush on what it’s like to have a son who’s the President. [NY Times]

Speed Round

UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES

“Grant the NSA what it wants, and within 10 years the United States will be vulnerable to attacks from hackers across the globe, as well as the militaries of China, Russia and other nations.” — Leading Wiretap Expert Susan Landau, on the unintended consequences of the new wiretap legislation passed by Congress last week. [Washington Post]

NEW LAWS

Important news! If you live in the City of Baltimore, you are now only legally allowed to own 125 pigeons at a time, okay? Oh, and you’re going to have to get rid of that beloved pet bear. [WBAL]

SMOKE UP

Colorful character and former gubernatorial candidate in Texas Kinky Friedman is rolling out a new line of Kinky Cigars including “The Governor,” “The Willie,” and “The Texas Jewboy.” [Dallas Morning News]

SILENCED!

Silly AT&T, do you know nothing about Eddie Vedder? The corporation thought it could censor anti-Bush lyrics from a Pearl Jam concert and get away with it. Silly, silly AT&T. [CMJ]

SCREENED BEFORE YOU FLY

Under new regulations unveiled yesterday, before you can get on a plane, your name will be “run through U.S. security watch lists.” Depending on how fishy you seem, you could be prevented from boarding while others that raise suspicion could be singled out for extra security. [Reuters]

GLOBAL WARMING TODAY

Scientists unveil a short-term climate model that shows how global warming will play out over the next ten years. [BBC]

THEY REALLY NEED YOU!

New incentives the Army is offering if you join up today: a down payment on a home, seed money to start a business, college loan forgiveness. [AP]

REVERSING FANATICISM

At a prison in northern Iraq, “an unusual pilot program is trying to reform youths who’ve been brainwashed for jihad.” [Newsweek]

255,000

The number of Chinese-made tires recalled by Foreign Tire Sales Inc. in New Jersey, fewer than the 450,000 originally suspected to be defective. [WSJ]

57 MILLION

The number of “near-poor,” in the U.S.; people who are “one paycheck, one lost job, one divorce or one sick child away from falling below the poverty line.” That’s double the number who are actually living on poverty. [The Nation]

“IMPOSSIBLE TO RESIST”

That’s how a new report from the U.S. Air Force described the possibility of withdrawal from Iraq unless violence against civilians falls substantially. [AFP]

PORKER GETS ROASTED

Rep. Don Young (R-AK) found himself heckled by a group of 70 to 80 protesters at his own pig roast fundraiser following allegations of corruption. [Anchorage Daily News]

BUILDING BRIDGES ISN’T HIS THING

President Bush rejects plans from Congressional Democrats to increase the gasoline tax to pay for bridge repairs in order to prevent another collapse like the one that occurred in Minneapolis last week. [NYT]

STATE OF NON-EMERGENCY

After almost declaring a state of emergency and cracking down on anti government forces aligning againt his administration, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf decides againt it after being pressured by international media and diplomatic forces. [NY Times]

DOW...OW

The Dow drops over 300 points on fears that the subprime mortgage collapse could spread across the economy. [NY Times]

PRIMARY MADNESS

South Carolina moves their primary election to January 19th, meaning that Iowa and New Hampshire will shift their’s even earlier, probably into late 2007. This is getting ridiculous. [Washington Post]