Nearly 1.5 million babies, a record, were born to unmarried women in the United States last year, the government reported Friday. And it isn't just teenagers any more.
"People have the impression that teens and unmarried mothers are synonymous," said Stephanie Ventura of the National Center for Health Statistics.
But last year teens accounted for just 24 percent of unwed births, down from 50 percent in 1970, she commented.
The increases in unmarried births have been among women in their 20s, she said, particularly those 25 to 29.
Friday, October 28, 2005
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Pat Forde Is A Fraud
Here's Pat on Air Force football coach Fisher DeBerry's recent "racial" remarks:
Then, after losing to TCU Saturday to drop to 3-5, DeBerry explained that the Horned Frogs' defensive success is attributable to the fact that it starts 11 African-Americans.
"… Afro-American kids can run very, very well," DeBerry said. "That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."
Again, not ideal timing. On Monday, the academy welcomed a new superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Regni, who pledged a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination. On Tuesday, DeBerry piped up about TCU's African-American players, stopping just short of saying, "We need us some more of those black fellers."
I'm not saying that Fisher DeBerry discriminates. I went to high school on the base of the Air Force Academy, and I graduated a few years ahead of Fisher's son, Joe (who was a fine baseball player). I don't know anyone in my hometown of Colorado Springs, Colo., who doesn't think highly of DeBerry.
So it's not like DeBerry was inventing something here -- or even saying something many coaches don't talk about in private. But given the decades of wrongly stereotyping black athletes as physically superior and mentally inferior -- run fast, think slow -- the coach was walking into a minefield. He was creeping toward Jimmy "The Greek" territory -- and every coach knows that you don't go there. Certainly not without great care.
I'm all for a more open dialog about race in America, and especially in sports. But sweeping generalizations about fast black players are going to get a coach in trouble.
So Pat is "all for more open dialog about race in America"? Well, doesn't more open dialog include a discussion about physical differences between the races that we all know (from 2 year olds to 90 year olds) exist. Apparently not.
Then, after losing to TCU Saturday to drop to 3-5, DeBerry explained that the Horned Frogs' defensive success is attributable to the fact that it starts 11 African-Americans.
"… Afro-American kids can run very, very well," DeBerry said. "That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well."
Again, not ideal timing. On Monday, the academy welcomed a new superintendent, Lt. Gen. John Regni, who pledged a zero-tolerance policy toward discrimination. On Tuesday, DeBerry piped up about TCU's African-American players, stopping just short of saying, "We need us some more of those black fellers."
I'm not saying that Fisher DeBerry discriminates. I went to high school on the base of the Air Force Academy, and I graduated a few years ahead of Fisher's son, Joe (who was a fine baseball player). I don't know anyone in my hometown of Colorado Springs, Colo., who doesn't think highly of DeBerry.
So it's not like DeBerry was inventing something here -- or even saying something many coaches don't talk about in private. But given the decades of wrongly stereotyping black athletes as physically superior and mentally inferior -- run fast, think slow -- the coach was walking into a minefield. He was creeping toward Jimmy "The Greek" territory -- and every coach knows that you don't go there. Certainly not without great care.
I'm all for a more open dialog about race in America, and especially in sports. But sweeping generalizations about fast black players are going to get a coach in trouble.
So Pat is "all for more open dialog about race in America"? Well, doesn't more open dialog include a discussion about physical differences between the races that we all know (from 2 year olds to 90 year olds) exist. Apparently not.
Don't Get Stuck On Stupid
Joe Morgan on the state of blacks in major league baseball:
"There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids," Morgan said. "It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there."
With all due respect to one of my favorite baseball players, this is stupid. Find me one inner-city kid that doesn't play baseball because he feels like he's not welcome? Where is he? He's not out there. Black, inner-city kids don't play baseball for two reasons: (1) Most don't have fathers (60% to 70%) and baseball is a game of fathers and sons; and (2) Baseball achievement is predicated less on pure athletic ability than basketball and baseball. It's that simple.
"There's a perception among African-American kids that they're not welcome here, that baseball is not for inner-city kids," Morgan said. "It's not true, and I hate that the perception is out there."
With all due respect to one of my favorite baseball players, this is stupid. Find me one inner-city kid that doesn't play baseball because he feels like he's not welcome? Where is he? He's not out there. Black, inner-city kids don't play baseball for two reasons: (1) Most don't have fathers (60% to 70%) and baseball is a game of fathers and sons; and (2) Baseball achievement is predicated less on pure athletic ability than basketball and baseball. It's that simple.
Roy Oswalt Should Have Played Football At Miami
WEIR, MISS. - For all the stories they like to tell about their homegrown baseball hero, the local favorite actually involves a high school football game.
It was the fourth quarter against neighboring Ethel, a team that had a bit of a chip on its shoulder and some players who had run off at the mouth during the week. With the Weir Lions already holding a big lead and the outcome no longer in doubt, head coach Joe Lynn Gant sent a dive play into the huddle to run out the clock.
As was their occasional wont, wide receiver Roy Oswalt and quarterback Glenn Beard had another idea. So Oswalt ran a deep route, Beard heaved a long pass, and Oswalt gathered it in behind the defense, then sprinted toward the end zone. That is, until he got to the 15-yard line.
"Roy stops running, turns around, tucks the ball under this arm and jogs backward, firing off with his fingers and thumbs like a pair of six-shooters all the way into the end zone," Gant said, shaking his head.
"The sky was filled with penalty flags," remembered Beard, cackling. "It was like it was raining yellow."
It was the fourth quarter against neighboring Ethel, a team that had a bit of a chip on its shoulder and some players who had run off at the mouth during the week. With the Weir Lions already holding a big lead and the outcome no longer in doubt, head coach Joe Lynn Gant sent a dive play into the huddle to run out the clock.
As was their occasional wont, wide receiver Roy Oswalt and quarterback Glenn Beard had another idea. So Oswalt ran a deep route, Beard heaved a long pass, and Oswalt gathered it in behind the defense, then sprinted toward the end zone. That is, until he got to the 15-yard line.
"Roy stops running, turns around, tucks the ball under this arm and jogs backward, firing off with his fingers and thumbs like a pair of six-shooters all the way into the end zone," Gant said, shaking his head.
"The sky was filled with penalty flags," remembered Beard, cackling. "It was like it was raining yellow."
Stating the Obvious, Part II
Calling life in the closet "miserable," three-time Olympic gold medalist and reigning WNBA MVP Sheryl Swoopes announced she is gay in an exclusive interview in the current issue of ESPN The Magazine.
Gay WNBA players? I don't believe it.
Gay WNBA players? I don't believe it.
Stating the Obvious, Part I
Where would DeBerry get a crazy idea like this:
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- The Air Force Academy is looking into comments made by longtime football coach Fisher DeBerry, who said black athletes "run very, very well" and that the program lacks minority athletes.
The 67-year-old DeBerry, in his 22nd year at Air Force, first mentioned the academy's lack of minority players compared to other schools on Monday.
"We were looking at things, like you don't see many minority athletes in our program," DeBerry was quoted as saying in The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
DeBerry elaborated on his comments during his weekly luncheon Tuesday.
"It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well," DeBerry said in remarks broadcast Tuesday night by Denver television station KWGN.
Academy officials released a statement Tuesday, saying they were aware of the remarks.
"We cannot comment further until we have a chance to review all the reports, the coach's actual statements and to speak with the coach personally," academy spokesman Lt. Col Laurent Fox said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) -- The Air Force Academy is looking into comments made by longtime football coach Fisher DeBerry, who said black athletes "run very, very well" and that the program lacks minority athletes.
The 67-year-old DeBerry, in his 22nd year at Air Force, first mentioned the academy's lack of minority players compared to other schools on Monday.
"We were looking at things, like you don't see many minority athletes in our program," DeBerry was quoted as saying in The Gazette of Colorado Springs.
DeBerry elaborated on his comments during his weekly luncheon Tuesday.
"It just seems to be that way, that Afro-American kids can run very, very well. That doesn't mean that Caucasian kids and other descents can't run, but it's very obvious to me they run extremely well," DeBerry said in remarks broadcast Tuesday night by Denver television station KWGN.
Academy officials released a statement Tuesday, saying they were aware of the remarks.
"We cannot comment further until we have a chance to review all the reports, the coach's actual statements and to speak with the coach personally," academy spokesman Lt. Col Laurent Fox said.
Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Tookie Must Die
This story reminds me of the sheriff/hangman in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly who ended the recitation of the defendants misdeeds with: "May God have mercy on your soul. Proceed."
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge signed a death warrant Monday for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a co-founder of the notorious Crips gang who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his children's books.
Williams is scheduled to die December 13 at San Quentin prison. The judge rejected requests by his attorneys to delay the execution until December 22 to give them more time to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The December 13 date means attorneys have only until November 8 to submit a clemency request. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Williams' case earlier this month.
"This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point," Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders said. "That is a long delay in itself, and I would hate to add to that delay."
Williams, 51, and a high school friend started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971.
Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a convenience store worker, in 1979. He also was convicted of killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year.
Williams maintains he is innocent, and supporters cite his renunciation of his past and his efforts to curtail gang violence, including a series of children's books he co-wrote in prison.
Supporters have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel in literature, and a cable TV movie of his life last year starred Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx.
Dozens of death penalty opponents demonstrated outside the courtroom. Among them was actor Mike Farrell, who said the proceedings failed to consider "his value, his change, his transformation."
Lora Owens, Albert Owens' stepmother, said Williams does not deserve clemency.
"I didn't convict the man and I didn't put a death sentence on him, but I want justice for Albert to be done," she said in a recent telephone interview.
"I will not let it go."
But hey, if an actor says he should be spared, then he should be spared.
LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- A judge signed a death warrant Monday for Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a co-founder of the notorious Crips gang who was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his children's books.
Williams is scheduled to die December 13 at San Quentin prison. The judge rejected requests by his attorneys to delay the execution until December 22 to give them more time to seek clemency from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The December 13 date means attorneys have only until November 8 to submit a clemency request. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider Williams' case earlier this month.
"This case has taken over 24 years to get to this point," Superior Court Judge William R. Pounders said. "That is a long delay in itself, and I would hate to add to that delay."
Williams, 51, and a high school friend started the Crips street gang in Los Angeles in 1971.
Williams was sentenced to death in 1981 for fatally shooting Albert Owens, a convenience store worker, in 1979. He also was convicted of killing two motel owners and their daughter during a robbery that same year.
Williams maintains he is innocent, and supporters cite his renunciation of his past and his efforts to curtail gang violence, including a series of children's books he co-wrote in prison.
Supporters have nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Nobel in literature, and a cable TV movie of his life last year starred Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx.
Dozens of death penalty opponents demonstrated outside the courtroom. Among them was actor Mike Farrell, who said the proceedings failed to consider "his value, his change, his transformation."
Lora Owens, Albert Owens' stepmother, said Williams does not deserve clemency.
"I didn't convict the man and I didn't put a death sentence on him, but I want justice for Albert to be done," she said in a recent telephone interview.
"I will not let it go."
But hey, if an actor says he should be spared, then he should be spared.
Quote of the Day
"I got shot three times and my album comes out November 22." -- hip-hop artist Cameron "Cam'ron" Giles, in the Washington Post today.
Monday, October 24, 2005
That's One Wild Night Out
I don't believe this guy would spend $241,000 at a strip club. He looks perfectly sane.
Sunday, October 23, 2005
This Is Amazing
Arab League Secretary General Amr Mussa said Saturday his mission to foster dialogue and ease sectarian tension in Iraq had won crucial backing from the top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.After speaking with the revered senior Shiite cleric in this holy city south of Baghdad, Mussa said: "I obtained the blessing and support of Ayatollah Sistani, which made me glad."It was an unprecedented meeting between an Arab League chief and the top Shiite religious figure in Iraq, and came three days after former dictator Saddam Hussein went on trial for crimes against humanity.
...Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for a new Iraq as he addressed the Kurdish parliament during a landmark visit aimed at drumming up support for a national reconciliation conference."I hope Iraq will change, that we will see another Iraq where Iraqis from all walks of life live together in peace and love," he told MPs on Sunday at parliament, who greeted his speech with applause and a standing ovation.The head of the 22-member Arab League arrived on Saturday to meet regional president Masud Barzani in a highly symbolic visit that marked Arab League recognition of the Kurdish autonomous region.
This is the Arab League we're talking about? Saddam's old buddies? Even they're jumping on the democracy bandwagon.
...Arab League chief Amr Moussa called for a new Iraq as he addressed the Kurdish parliament during a landmark visit aimed at drumming up support for a national reconciliation conference."I hope Iraq will change, that we will see another Iraq where Iraqis from all walks of life live together in peace and love," he told MPs on Sunday at parliament, who greeted his speech with applause and a standing ovation.The head of the 22-member Arab League arrived on Saturday to meet regional president Masud Barzani in a highly symbolic visit that marked Arab League recognition of the Kurdish autonomous region.
This is the Arab League we're talking about? Saddam's old buddies? Even they're jumping on the democracy bandwagon.
She Was Blind, But Now She Sees
MSNBC on Anne Rice:
They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.
They've been worried about her. After 25 novels in 25 years, Rice, 64, hasn't published a book since 2003's "Blood Chronicle," the tenth volume of her best-selling vampire series. They may have heard she came close to death last year, when she had surgery for an intestinal blockage, and also back in 1998, when she went into a sudden diabetic coma; that same year she returned to the Roman Catholic Church, which she'd left at 18. They surely knew that Stan Rice, her husband of 41 years, died of a brain tumor in 2002. And though she'd moved out of their longtime home in New Orleans more than a year before Hurricane Katrina, she still has property there—and the deep emotional connection that led her to make the city the setting for such novels as "Interview With the Vampire." What's up with her? "For the last six months," she says, "people have been sending e-mails saying, 'What are you doing next?' And I've told them, 'You may not want what I'm doing next'." We'll know soon. In two weeks, Anne Rice, the chronicler of vampires, witches and—under the pseudonym A. N. Roquelaure—of soft-core S&M encounters, will publish "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt," a novel about the 7-year-old Jesus, narrated by Christ himself. "I promised," she says, "that from now on I would write only for the Lord." It's the most startling public turnaround since Bob Dylan's "Slow Train Coming" announced that he'd been born again.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
