http://www.childtrendsdatabank.org/figures/75-Figure-1.gif

Very scary.

Very much so...granted, it is a national issue, but one I think the black leadership of America needs to be focused on...

Which may be difficult, since the self-proclaimed leader of black leadership in America (Jessie Jackson) has fathered at least one out of wedlock child himself...

Source (one of hundreds): News Article

I think a large part of the problem is the compartmentalization of our society. Those stats reveal a bigger issue. Part of it is self imposed and part of it happens without choice.

I've always been torn about the Rev Jesse Jackson. I remember him appearing some place where someone started burning a flag. Jesse said, "There's no place for flag burning in a peace movement."


The Rev. Jesse Jackson once said our society obsesses about conception to birth yet only gives lip service to children from birth to adulthood. Amen. Yet, he's got the kid out of wedlock. Our former African-American congressman here in Oklahoma, J.C. Watts, supposedly has more than one illegitimate child.

You'll have to show me that news about JC Watts,,,I have a quotation of his on the office wall: "Character is doing the right thing, even when no one is looking."

I really have a hard time with that news...I'm not challenging ya, but can you guide me to where I mights find corraborating reports?

K

Yeah, more than a few people have said JC (like Jesse) needs to follow his own words.

http://www.salon.com/col/cona/1998/11/17cona.html

I worked for JC's opponent in the 1994 election when JC first got into Congress. Our campaign knew about one kid but the powers that be decided not to use it. They figured that Oklahomans would never elect a black man to office. Wrong. He was an OU football player. And, he was a great one at that.

Salon? Not a real source...sorry...its as reliable as Drudge....I am pretty disturbed about this...do you have any verifiable non-biased sources...

If true (not saying its not, just need more more proof) then my faith in JC Watts has been heavily shaken...

All of it, say those who know him well, took a psychic toll. His wife, Frankie, had never moved to the capital, preferring to stay in Norman, Okla., with their five children. (Watts also has a sixth child, who was born when he was 17 and was raised by his uncle.) Watts flew back to Oklahoma almost every weekend to see his family. In truth, he was more comfortable there anyway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A...anguage=printer

Indeed...an odd twist...

which in a painful to admit way, re-inforces my original theory; black leadership must take the ;lead by example' approach, partisan affiliations aside. One thing that really bothers me is the continued polarization seems to be spearheaded by black leaders themselves...witness the McKinney incident, in which she blamed the violation of security rules at the Capital and the subsequent procedures followed by federal security solely on her being black...(in all fairness, she recanted that statement and apologized...)

BTT: Any group of people will follow someone they consider 'their own' (ethnicity, gender, any demographic you can think of)... as such, leaders of any group should be held to a higher standard (as Watts mentioned in the article), and rightfully so...

The whole issue is kind of heartbreaking, as there are so many statistics showing the correlation between poverty, crime, drug abuse, etc to single vs dual parent family environments....

So, how do we as a nation combat this (IE, how do we as a nation convince people to keep the lizard tied up or at least practice some/any kind of birth control?)

It's funny to me, how more and more gov't and socialist agendas are promoted and implemented the worse society gets. All the while, socialists blame not enough gov't control as the problem and constantly grow their programs and power. When things get even worse, again it's because not enough power is given to these institutions to "solve" things.

Personal responsibility has been removed by the socialists in this country, and is being replaced by a security blanket that tells you it's OK to act irresponsibly and that it is someone else's fault and someone else's duty to fix it. As this mentality spreads, people are used to blaming all of their ills on someone else and simply turning to Uncle Sam to "fix" it.

It's a power grab that's been happening in America for a century, maybe longer. The well off are evil and punishment is due by taking more of what they have to spread out to those who "deserve" it more. The responsible and moral are picked on, maybe because they are making the lazy and blissfully ignorant "look bad". The religious are bigots as well, filled with "hate". Hate of course equals disagreeing with socialist / leftists.

Abolish all forms of "entitlement" in the USA, do it gently but DO IT. Citizens will begin to care for each other again through private donations of time, effort and money. In today's world the gov't has stepped in to "care", hands over about 27 cents on your dollar to those that "need" it, after they themselves promoted the "need".

We are a long way from fixing things.

Sorry if my opinions offend.

War

I'm a believer in the free market economy to correct problems over time but our current crop of leadership in the White House and in Congress believe in massive government spending beyond anything ever seen before. In essence, they take dollars out of the free market for the service of the federal debt. Those dollars can't go then to create jobs or anything else in the private sector. The government has taken that asset away from the public.

Economist Milton Friedman believes in a thing called the negative income tax. It takes the bureacracy of individual entitlements out of the federal government with certain exceptions. For example, disabled veteran benefits are an entitlement but I don't believe anyone would argue to get rid of them as they were earned through service to our country. Why don't we have a negative income tax? Ask the Congressmen from the farm states. Those farmers love the food stamp program.

Let us not forget the breadth of entitlement programs for individuals by the federal government which include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, most Veterans' Administration programs, federal employee and military retirement plans, unemployment compensation and food stamps.

Let us not forget that the federal government also spends heavily on corporate welfare in like billions.

Imagine all that money in the free market rather than being controlled by the federal government. The world might be a better place. I think it'd create a lot of wealth among individuals that would be fairly well distributed.

Warren, you might want to read up on Herbert Hoover's presidency. Or talk to the Irish about 1847. Sometimes the private sector is not a good answer to human problems. Reliance on government spending is out of hand, but that's not a good reason to screw people who really have no place else to go.

Restraint and reasonableness ought to be touchstones, but are not. Personal responsibility is unamerican, and that is pretty much a bipartisan consensus. Blame the rich, blame gays, blame immigrants, blame intellectuals, blame Australian octagenarians, blame foreign governments, blame the vast conspiracy of whichever wing, whatever gets you through reelection, just so long as you don't come up with real solutions to real problems. It's how Washington "works."

Bear

Most of those people have other things they can do to support themselves, like working or relying on family to help them along when needed. Nobody has to be charitable, and nobody has to care in the US anymore, because you can just jump on Uncle Sam's hammock and take what's not even really there.

Is it Denmark where the average bus driver calls in sick 200+ days per year, because they cannot be fired?

We're heading that way.

War

PS: By the way, those Australian octagenarians are probably at the root!