Where’s the Outrage?

Al Gore seems to be having the time of his life. He is able to say the things that need to be said. He is writing the things that need to be written (of course, I have already written many of these things in my book.) Of course Diane Sawyer misses the point of his book which discusses the fact that the media only looks at the superficial stuff and doesn’t get to the meat of problems. She asks Gore 3 times if he is running for President. It was almost as if she was begging him so that she would have the scoop.

 

 Gore on GMA [9:47m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Books, Media, Party Politics by ecthompson
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The failure of the Republican revolution is almost complete. Of course, the R’s pushed themselves on the American public as the party of values. One of their biggest pushes was on abstinence education. Yes, we had great data showing it didn’t work but the R’s aren’t really into data. So, they pushed it down our throats. A 10 year study has just been completed and …wait for it…it doesn’t work. No duh! Just another $1 billion wasted.
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From Slate:

In the past decade, the federal government has spent more than $1 billion on programs that promote abstinence as the only healthy choice to make about sex before marriage. Last week, the government’s own long-term evaluation of the initiatives, required by Congress in 1997, showed that these programs seem to accomplish essentially nothing. That’s right: Nada. Students in the programs were no more likely to abstain from sex than their peers. And if they did lose their virginity, they tended to do so at the same average age and have the same number of sexual partners as other students did. As Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., put it, “In short, American taxpayers appear to have paid over 1 billion federal dollars for programs that have no impact.”

The new study, rigorously conducted by Mathematica Policy Research Inc. on behalf of the government, should be the death knell for abstinence-only programs, which have also drawn criticism for perpetuating gender stereotypes, spreading medical inaccuracies, and ignoring the separation of church and state. While the Bush administration shows few signs of rethinking this pet project, a growing number of states have begun to wise up, rejecting millions in federal funding because they come with abstinence strings attached. The problem is that even larger sums of federal money now bypass state governments and flow directly to community abstinence groups, often in the form of multiyear grants, with little or no oversight. It’s up to Congress to stanch this ooze.

Tags: Education by ecthompson
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Arnold Rampersad has written a new and well-reviewed biography of the author Ralph Ellison. Ellison wrote the classic novel Invisible Man. 

Rampersad has also written, among other things, a widely read biography of Jackie Robinson. I have that book but have not read it. This Robinson book was given to me by my close friend Tyrone K.Yates.

Tryone currently represents the 32nd State House District of Ohio and is President of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. If in Columbus go to the State House, look Tyrone up and tell him Neil sent you.  

The best book about Robinson has got to be Baseball’s Great Experiment by Jules Tygiel.

Though the new Ellison book has been well-received, I won’t be reading the title. I’ve already read a biography of Ellison called Ralph Ellison: Emergence of Genius. That book was written by Lawrence Jackson who, at the time of publication in 2002, was an Assistant Professor of English at Howard University. If he is still at Howard or not I don’t know.

The Jackson book only goes up until 1953. Ellison lived well into the 1990’s. Every time I’d look at Jackson’s book on my bookshelf I would wonder why he cut off Ellison’s life at such an early point.

Well, I might have my answer. It seems that Ellison was simply an unlikable and bitter figure for much of his later life. Ellison was unable to produce a second novel to equal his first novel. He just got grumpy. Maybe Professor Jackson saw no need to chronicle all those bitter years. 

Tags: Books by Texas Liberal
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Great show.  In the wake of the Virginia Tech Shootings, I discuss mental disease with a good Friend, Theron Bowers, MD.  He’s a psychiatrist from Houston.  We jump into some of the problems with “assuming” and making quick diagnosis.  I open the show with an Alberto Gonzales mix.  I put together several “I can not recalls”  which is the summation of his testimony before Congress.  I replay some of Jessica Lynch’s testimony before Congress.  We have to discuss George Tenet’s Johnny come lately book, In the Eye of the Storm.  I mention that much of this information has been published in other books including Bob Woodward’s State of Denial and his previous book, Plan of Attack; James Risen’s book, State of War and Ron Suskind’s The One Percent Doctrine.  This and more on the Errington Thompson Show.

 

 The Errington Thompson Show 4-28-07 [53:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Podcasts by ecthompson
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