The Nightmare of Ron Paul’s Iowa Win

Earl Ofari Hutchinson
Out Take

. . . . . . . Paul topped that with the infamous slavery quip that he made on Meet the Press during the campaign. He claimed the Civil War was an unnecessary bloodbath that could and should have been avoided. All Lincoln had to do was buy the slaves. Other slave promoting countries, asserts Paul, didn’t fight wars and they ended slavery peacefully. Paul’s historical dumbness could and should have been laughed off. It wasn’t. It was intently debated, and defended. The scarier point was that it was taken seriously at all.

Paul’s intrepid band of true believers was unfazed by the controversy; they reveled in it. Paul gave them plenty more ammunition. He asserted that blacks are criminally inclined, political dumb bells, and chronic welfare deadbeats. There was also the alleged Paul hobnob with a noted white supremacist. Here’s what Paul on his campaign website ronpaul2008.com had to say about race. In fact, he even highlighted this as “Issue: Racism” on the site. “Government as an institution is particularly ill-suited to combat bigotry.” In other words, the 1954 landmark Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of education school desegregation decision, the 1964 and 1968 Civil Rights Acts, the 1965 Voting Rights Act, and legions of court decisions and state laws that bar discrimination are worthless. Worse, says Paul, they actually promote bigotry by dividing Americans into race and class. . . . . . . . . .

Ron Paul will win the Iowa Caucus whether he actually comes out on top or not. A win for him simply means a solid showing, which he’ll make. He’ll accomplish that feat because he has a legion of young, and not so young, fanatical true-believer devotees that have anointed him as the political second coming of St. Paul and Mother Teresa. They do three things that are absolutely indispensable to a successful campaign: organize, organize, organize. …Full Story

Wealth Gaps Between Whites, Blacks, Hispanics

By Paul Taylor, Richard Fry, and Rakesh Kochhar

The median wealth of white households is 20 times that of black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of newly available government data from 2009.

These lopsided wealth ratios are the largest since the government began publishing such data a quarter century ago and roughly twice the size of the ratios that had prevailed between these three groups for the two decades prior to the Great Recession that ended in 2009.

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Seen Around Washington DC: Heart of Haiti

by ichoosethesun

Last week I had the pleasure of attending Macy’s Heart of Haiti event. The event was to introduce some of the newest pieces of the Heart of Haiti collection, a collection of handmade products by Haitian artisans that provides them with much-needed sustainable income particularly in the aftermath of last year’s earthquake. Although the rest of the world has seemingly moved on from the devastating effects of last January’s natural disaster, the Haitian people continue to struggle with rebuilding their country.
The event began with a welcome from the initiative’s founders Willa Shalit of Fair Winds Trading and Laura Graham of The Clinton Bush Haiti Fund as well as the Ambassador of Haiti, however the highlight of the evening was the presence of artisan Pascale. To meet one of these artisans in person and hear about how this initiative has personally impacted her was truly  humbling and inspiring. The nature of this “Trade, Not Aid”  initiative has been successful in giving the people of Haiti a way to improve not only th eir lives but also their communities.
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