"RACE MATTERS!" - LA Times

I admit to trumping up the headline a bit. However, if you read the Editorial pages of today's LA Times, and you don't think my headline is an appropriate summary, just say so in the comments. This blogger has been saying for years that we are burying our collective heads in the sand when we take the politically correct approach to education (and other aspects of life), and try to walk away from the real reasons blacks don't swim and whites can't jump.

There are real differences in the ways that different ethnic groups and races handle different aspects of life. If we are ever going to get true equality of opportunity (all we can really hope for), then it is going to require someone to start asking the hard questions. There is hope, of course. Bill Cosby has addressed the social issue. Now the Times has bravely thrown down the gauntlet. We reported here on a study that showed parental expectations to be uniquely correlated with student results. (Black parents expect "C's", Asian parents expect "A's".)

Thank you LA Times. And for those of you who don't know me or my family. We are mixed race and ethnicity.

Harry Potter - Buy It in Paperback

Completely out of reading material, and still several weeks before football, I decided to read the Harry Potter Books. This was not entirely without a recommendation. Hugh Hewitt had interviewed John Mark Reynolds, classicist and apologetics professor at Biola regarding whether or not Harry Potter was ok for Christians. Reynolds couldn't see how it was any less appropriate than Lord of the Rings, and said while Harry Potter wasn't close to the literary level of LOTR, it was still a fun read.

After reading books 1 and 2, I agree. On my rating system, this is buy in paperback only if you can't borrow it from someone. I suspect my 11 year-old son likes it way more than me. He is about to polish off number 5 (700 plus pages), having just begun about 4 weeks ago. Maybe I'll have him do a review.

Mandatory Doctor Visits

You knew it would come to this, but it is the most shocking statement I remember ever hearing out of the lips of a presidential candidate. Normally they do this stuff by stealth when you least expect it. John Edwards says that his health care plan would REQUIRE US Citizens to be covered by health care and REQUIRE US Citizens to go to the doctor.

Now you may or may not know this, but in Canada's health care system, Canadian Citizens are REQUIRED to use doctors within the system. It doesn't matter how much they are willing to pay a doctor outside the system, they must use PUBLIC health. And doctors who provide health care outside the system are committing a CRIME.

You can bet that any system cooked up by a Democrat will make all health care public, none private, thus forcing US CITIZENS to go out of country if they want better or faster health care, just like the Canadians do now.

John Edwards didn't have a chance of becoming President. Now he has no chance of achieving any public office. However, we need the reporters to start asking Hillary and others if they would agree with Edwards about MANDATORY preventitive doctor visits.