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Mr. Davis was the only black Member to oppose the legislation, and his vote earned him a rebuke from Jesse Jackson at a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation reception Wednesday night. “We even have blacks voting against the health-care bill,” said Mr. Jackson. “You can’t vote against health care and call yourself a black man.”
Mr. Davis is running for governor in a state that John McCain won last year, and his vote was surely influenced by the reality that Alabamans aren’t the biggest fans of ObamaCare. The Congressmen, to his credit, took the high ground in response to Mr. Jackson’s low blow. “One of the reasons that I like and admire Rev. Jesse Jackson is that 21 years ago he inspired the idea that a black politician would not be judged simply as a black leader,” he said in a statement referencing Mr. Jackson’s 1988 Presidential bid. “The best way to honor Rev. Jackson’s legacy is to decline to engage in an argument with him that begins and ends with race.”
Liberals insist that America still isn’t “post-racial,” notwithstanding the election of President Obama. But when a politician’s skin color is gratuitously invoked in a debate about whether the government should have more control of health care, you have to wonder if the political left has any serious interest in a color-blind society. Former President Jimmy Carter suggests that whites who oppose the President’s policies are racists; Mr. Jackson says blacks who oppose them are betraying their race.
Even in the age of a black President, too many liberals still believe they have more to gain from identity politics than from a post-racial America.
Printed in The Wall Street Journal, page A14
For the third time this month, the Health Department will conduct H1N1 vaccination clinics in all five boroughs this Saturday and Sunday (November 21 and 22). People in the following groups will be able to receive vaccine at these clinics:
Diabetes continues to rise in New York City, consigning tens of thousands of New Yorkers to possible disability and early death, and also fueling racial and economic disparities in health. A new report, Diabetes Among New York City Adults, finds that 9.1% of adult New Yorkers carried the diagnosis in 2007 – an increase of 13%, or 68,000 cases, since 2002. The recognized citywide rate now significantly exceeds the national rate (7.5%) and threatens to climb even higher. An estimated 200,000 New Yorkers have undiagnosed diabetes. Some 23% have blood-sugar levels that place them on the borderline, and more than half of adult New Yorkers are overweight or obese – conditions that greatly increase the risk of diabetes.
Needless to say, this aspect of our high-tech world is beyond horrifying. Some of us have known about these facts for quite some time. One of the principal food sources for female hormones is soy, which is being consumed in huge amounts.
