I don't have a dog in this fight, but...

[ZenGum]

Sam, if it makes you feel any better, the situation with Australian Aboriginals is even worse. Life expectancy is 15 years less (or more), they're 10 to 12 times more likely to be in prison, etc etc.

[Griff]

Look at people not stereotypes. I didn't hear myself say any of the things you said I did. Humans learn best through role modeling, unemployment rates are high and higher in minority communities. The long-term unemployed can not show their children what it looks like to go to work 5 days a week and simultaneously organize a household. Newt was not saying anything that Democrats hadn't said before. I have an aide in my classroom right now who would be better off unemployed because her families' significant health care needs were better met under medicaid. She persists because she wants someday to have a middle-class life, but the cards are stacked against her. Most of Newts solutions are not likely to be helpful, but to dismiss them out of hand because of party bias isn't helpful either.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Anyone that's been paying attention knows the politicians have created a monster in the welfare system. Now several generations in, how do you correct it? Cutting it, to force recipients to work when there's no jobs for them, will lead to a horrendous crime wave. Maintaining the status quo will lead to more people trapped in the system. I think education is the only way out but nobody's figured out how to implement that.

[SamIam]

Originally Posted by ZenGum

Sam, if it makes you feel any better, the situation with Australian Aboriginals is even worse. Life expectancy is 15 years less (or more), they're 10 to 12 times more likely to be in prison, etc etc.

Unfortunately, I take no solace from the even worse statistics for a Native people living in another first world country. Australia or US it still sucks.

Originally Posted by Griff

Look at people not stereotypes. I didn't hear myself say any of the things you said I did. Humans learn best through role modeling, unemployment rates are high and higher in minority communities. The long-term unemployed can not show their children what it looks like to go to work 5 days a week and simultaneously organize a household. Newt was not saying anything that Democrats hadn't said before. I have an aide in my classroom right now who would be better off unemployed because her families' significant health care needs were better met under medicaid. She persists because she wants someday to have a middle-class life, but the cards are stacked against her. Most of Newts solutions are not likely to be helpful, but to dismiss them out of hand because of party bias isn't helpful either.

I didn't mean to imply that you held all the attitudes I mentioned in my post. I was thinking of the attitudes of people in general. Kudos to your classroom aide. I see Navajos here doing the same thing. For example, there's a Navajo woman where I work who comes in and puts in long hours at minimum wage for the sake of her kids too. The human spirit is amazing. If given even the smallest amount of incentive/assistance people will often fight like tigers to better themselves.

My feelings about Newt are not derived from "party bias." His solutions do not go to the root of the problem which as Bruce said is education, education, education. There's nothing like it. Education empowers people. It opens up entire new worlds of possibility. It allows people to move out of poverty. An educated work force will make the US more competitive globally. Providing an equal and quality education for all our children should be one of this country's highest priorities. What good is a jobs program for disadvantaged youth if they are not even literate or lack the ability to obtain so much as a GED? Once the government prop is gone, what jobs will these kids be able to obtain, role models or not?

And finally, I very much dislike Newt's hypocrisy. At this point there is no way that the Republican party will pass a spending bill for ANY social program. Talk is cheap and Newt is full of hot air.