Clipmarks | masbury's clips

Gingrich warns Republicans of "catastrophic election"

Tue, 06 May 2008 23:27:32 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Time for a fresh start. May I suggest these sure-fire strategies: TAX CUTS! Blame BIG GUBMINT. Pitch TRICKLE DOWN. How 'bout that WAR ON TARA? How 'bout WE WON'T DO ANYTHING ON HEALTHCARE? Or WE WON'T TALK ABOUT RACE. If those don't bring us to our senses, bring out the deep stuff: WRIGHT! ELITIST! SOCIALIZED MEDICINE! LIBBRUL!
Oh my, he's right. All the milk's gone sour.

Clip Source: www.motherjones.com

Saturday's loss was in a district that President Bush carried by 19 percentage points in 2004 and that the Republicans have held since 1975.

This defeat follows on the loss of Speaker Hastert's seat in Illinois. That seat had been held by a Republican for 76 years with the single exception of the 1974 Watergate election when the Democrats held it for one term. That same seat had been carried by President Bush 55-44% in 2004.

Gingrich notes that congressional Democrats lead congressional Republicans in generic polling by 18 points nowadays, "reminiscent of the depths of the Watergate disaster." And bashing Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton ain't gonna help the GOPers running for House and Senate seats:

The Republican brand has been so badly damaged that if Republicans try to run an anti-Obama, anti-Reverend Wright, or (if Senator Clinton wins), anti-Clinton campaign, they are simply going to fail.

Tags: republican, gingrich, elections

Blacks and whites: similar drug use rates, different arrest rates

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:52:00 GMT

clipped by: masbury
clipper's remarks: Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black; “These trends come not as the result of higher rates of drug use among African Americans, but, instead, the decisions by local officials about where to pursue drug enforcement"

Clip Source: www.commondreams.org

“Most drug offenders are white, but most of the drug offenders sent to prison are black,” said Jamie Fellner, a Human Rights Watch official and author of the report.

In 16 states, African Americans are sent to prison for drug offenses at rates between 10 and 42 times greater than the rate for whites, the report said.

Wisconsin, Illinois, New Jersey, Maryland, West Virginia, Colorado, New York, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Michigan were listed as the 10 states with the greatest racial disparities in prison admissions for drug offenders.

In a separate study, the Washington-based Sentencing Project examined data from 43 of the largest American cities between 1980 and 2003.

The study found that, since 1980, the rate of drug arrests for African Americans increased by 225 percent, compared to 70 percent among whites.

“These trends come not as the result of higher rates of drug use among African Americans, but, instead, the decisions by local officials about where to pursue drug enforcement,

Tags: race, drugs