Maybe its time for McCain to change his position on teen pregnancy programs

From: the AP via Yahoo:

McCain fought money on teen pregnancy programs

By SHARON THEIMER, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 55 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - Republican John McCain, whose running mate disclosed that her unmarried 17-year-old daughter is pregnant, has opposed proposals to spend federal money on teen-pregnancy prevention programs and voted to require poor teen mothers to stay in school or lose their benefits.

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's announcement Monday about her daughter, Bristol, was aimed at rebutting Internet rumors that Palin's youngest son, born in April, was actually her daughter's. Palin said her daughter intends to raise her child and marry the baby's father, who was identified only by his first name, Levi. The baby is due in late December.

McCain's record on issues surrounding teen pregnancy and contraceptives during his more than two decades in the Senate indicates that he and Palin have similar views. Until Monday, when the subject surfaced in a deeply personal manner, teen pregnancy and sex education were not issues in the national political campaign.

Palin herself said she opposes funding sexual-education programs in Alaska.
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Uncle Tom Gate Day II

From the Chicago Sun-Times

Obama disavows comment; Jones issues quasi-apology

BY DAVE MCKINNEY, ABDON M. PALLASCH AND MARY MITCHELL Staff Reporters

DENVER -- Barack Obama on Monday disavowed a racially charged dispute involving his political mentor, Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, as Jones issued a quasi-apology to the Hillary Clinton supporter he allegedly called an "Uncle Tom."

"We don't have time for that kind of stuff," Obama told a reporter who asked him about the flap at the Quad Cities Airport in Moline, Ill. "What we need to do is focus on unifying the party to win in November, and that's what I intend to do."

Just hours before Jones received a last-minute, pre-prime-time speaking role at the Democratic National Convention, he expressed regret to Chicago political consultant Delmarie Cobb for insulting her -- after insisting earlier in the day he had no reason to apologize to her.

The Obama camp and Jones worked feverishly to minimize fallout from the racial flap that threatened to further alienate Clinton supporters and raise questions about why Jones was awarded a coveted convention speaking role while immersed in such an incendiary controversy.

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Rich Miller/CapFax round-up: Jones sort of apologizes, disappeared by Dems, upbraided by Halvorson

Chicago Tribune exposes Berny Stone for acting on behalf of campaign donors

Who calls the shots in your back yard? Not you.

Tribune investigation: In a system city officials call a national model, aldermen collect campaign donations from developers. Developers benefit from looser building rules approved by aldermen. And residents?

By Dan Mihalopoulos and Robert Becker | Chicago Tribune reporters
August 20, 2008

City politicians call Chicago a national model for how to involve the public in real estate development debates. But the view from the streets of the city's neighborhoods is markedly different.

When a longtime homeowner tried to speak up at the only City Council hearing on a project in his Far North Side neighborhood, aldermen threatened to toss him from the room for trying to ask questions.

"I'm feeling like chopped liver," Hugh Devlin, who lives in the 50th Ward, said after the council rubber-stamped his alderman's approval of a proposed seven-story, 90-unit building that he and many other neighbors oppose.

In the ongoing "Neighborhoods for Sale" series, the Tribune has documented an insiders' game in which aldermen rake in millions of dollars in campaign cash from developers, zoning lawyers and architects while often overriding the concerns of homeowners and city planners. Out-of-scale buildings leave existing homes in their shadows, the result of nearly 6,000 council-approved zoning changes in the last 10 years that have transformed neighborhoods.

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Sally Kohn: The Irony of Immigrant Olympians

Via the Huffington Post

The Irony of Immigrant Olympians

By Sally Kohn

I have to confess I've never really cared about the Olympics. Since I'm not much for sports or raw nationalism, the fusion of the two doesn't really get me up in the morning. But I will tune in tonight to watch Lopez Lamong -- Sudanese "Lost Boy" turned US track star -- carry the American flag in the opening ceremonies. I'm sure I'll have a tear in my eye, but also a twinge in my stomach for the profound irony of the moment. Some might even call it hypocrisy.

For here we are in the United States, where though the price of gas is skyrocketing, there seems to be endless fuel to feed the fires of anti-immigrant sentiment. But the Olympics are different, I guess. Is it the same with professional sports? Or the governorship of California? We don't like immigrants in low-wage jobs that none of us citizens want to do, but we don't mind immigrants in the exceptionally high-paying jobs that American-born citizens can only dream of?

What's the point complaining about an undocumented Mexican making $5 an hour in a chicken processing plant, who lost two of his fingers because of unsafe conditions and labor violations? Shouldn't we be more upset about Yao Ming making $15 million a year, plus endorsements?

Ah, but in America, we have a long and proud tradition of picking on the little guy. We also have a proud tradition of taking half-hearted moral stands. (Remember the Southern Compromise, anyone? Our continuing tolerance of segregation after abolition? Or the Bush Administration's rejection of nation-building...?) Why bother standing up for what's right when we can just talk about what we know is right but then just keep doing what we've always done.

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