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William J. Bennett, the former Republican secretary of education, said that the nation’s crime rate could potentially be reduced through aborting blacks.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 29 - The White House distanced itself today from the comments of a prominent Republican who said on a recent radio program that the nation’s crime rate could potentially be reduced through aborting blacks.

The White House called the comments, made by William J. Bennett, the former Republican secretary of education, off base. The White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said that President George W. Bush “believes the comments were not appropriate.”

Mr. Bennett has said the remarks were taken out of context, noting that he immediately said such abortions would be “reprehensible.”

Mr. Bennett, who served as drug czar for the president’s father, came under fire from Democratic Congressional leaders on Thursday for the comments, which were made on a his radio show, “Bill Bennett’s Morning in America,” earlier this week.

“I do know that it’s true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could, if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down,” Mr. Bennettsaid in the broadcast. “That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky.”

In a radio broadcast on Thursday, Mr. Bennett called the criticism of him “ridiculous, stupid, totally without merit.”

“I was pointing out that abortion should not be opposed for economic reasons, any more than racism or for that matter slavery or segregation should be supported or opposed for economic reasons,” he said. “Immoral policies are wrong because they are wrong, not because of an economic calculation. One could just as easily have said you could abort all children and prevent all crime, to show the absurdity of the proposition.”

Mr. Bennett, who was the secretary of education in the Reagan administration and is the author of a best-selling book on morality, said he was referring to a debate in the online magazine Slate that had discussed race in the context of an argument about whether abortions contributed to lowering the crime rate. That debate, involving Steven D. Levitt, an author of the best-seller “Freakonomics,” apparently appeared in Slate six years ago.

In an interview with Fox News, Mr. Bennett said critics had distorted his comments by omitting his statement that aborting all black babies would be “morally reprehensible.”

“When that is included in the quote, it makes it perfectly clear what my position is,” Mr. Bennett said, “They make it seem as if I am supporting such a monstrous idea, which I don’t.”

The Democratic Congressional leaders, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, both sought to put the remarks in the context of a Republican effort to court African-American voters. Mr. Reid said Mr. Bennett’s comments would “feed the fires of racism,” and Ms. Pelosi called them “shameful words.”

David D. Kirkpatrick reported from Washington for this article and Marek Fuchs from New York.

By David D. Kirkpatrick and Marek Fuchs
Published: September 30, 2005

George W. Bush —true to form— is already backing away from the promises he made to the poorest victims of Katrina. Two weeks ago, he swore to do more to protect the most vulnerable. He pledged to “confront this poverty with bold action.”

Great words. But now he and his Republican friends in Congress want to pay for rebuilding the Gulf Coast by cutting a trillion dollars from vital programs, half of which benefit those who have the least. A handful of Republican extremists even blocked a bi-partisan effort to provide emergency health insurance for folks displaced by the hurricane.

Where is Bush in the face of these attacks? Standing by silently.

Please join me in signing this letter to Bush demanding that he refuse to cut the safety net for the needy to pay for the Katrina rebuilding.

If they get enough signatures, ColorOfChange.org will start raising money for some hard-hitting, creative ads that will really put the heat on Bush.

Don’t let the GOP hijack Katrina to hurt the poor even more. The government could pay for the entire $200 billion reconstruction effort—and have more than $100 billion to spare—if we just rolledback Bush’s tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy.

Almost 35 years ago, in the fall of 1970 when the United States was stuck in another “quagmire” war, The Capital Times published the following editorial under the headline, “Debra Sweet’s act of courage”:

“President Nixon heard the real voice of young America Thursday. It came from Debra Sweet,a 19-year-old Madison girl who was in the White House to accept a medal from the president for public service.

“As the president handed her the Young American medal, one of four handed out Thursday by Mr. Nixon, she said softly and unsmilingly, ‘I find it hard to believe in your sincerity in giving out the awards until you get us out of Vietnam.’

“She spoke so softly that reporters could barely hear her remarks. The president, according to reports, was taken aback. To those Madisonians who know Miss Sweet, her courage in using her brief moment of glory with the chief executive is in keeping with her character.

“Miss Sweet spoke for all of America: the sore at heart; those overwhelmed with the frustrations of Vietnam, by the endless killing, by the power of the Pentagon, by the violence and futility of the Indochina conflict.

“But that soft, Midwestern accent spoke especially from the heart of young America. More than the adults, the young appear to have a clearer vision of the inexplicable harm the war is wreaking on this nation.

“What a courageous act. What dignity. She has earned the respect of millions of her peers and her elders. Miss Sweet has earned the right to another medal for bravery.

“A devoted member of the Midvale Community Lutheran Church, Miss Sweet is now working on special assignment with the youth action group of the church’s Missouri Synod.

” ‘She has the idealism of youth,’ says her pastor, the Rev. Stanley Klyve. We salute her for this selfless idealism and her dedication to humanity.”

Debra Sweet is older now. But she has not lost the idealism of youth.

Several years ago, as the Bush administration was banging the drums of war in Iraq, Sweet helped organize the national “Not in Our Name” movement. With advertisements and rallies - including one in Madison that drew 2,000 people - that movement proclaimed: “President Bush has declared: ‘You’re either with us or against us.’ Here is our answer: We refuse to allow you to speak for all the American people. We will not give up our right to question. We will not hand over our consciences in return for a hollow promise of safety. We say NOT IN OUR NAME. We refuse to be party to these wars and we repudiate any inference that they are being waged in our name or for our welfare.”

The Not in Our Name movement helped signal to the world that the Bush administration did not speak for all Americans when the president ordered the invasion of Iraq, just as today’s mass demonstrations in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and other cities will signal that tens of millions of Americans oppose the continued occupation of Iraq. There is no question that it is time to begin the process of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq - both to save American lives and to allow Iraqis to begin the process of setting their own course in a manner that is free of foreign interference.

Published on Sunday, September 25, 2005 by The Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin)

By Lesley Wroughton
Additional reporting by Mike Dolan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - All 184 member countries of the World Bank and IMF have now agreed on debt relief for the world’s poorest nations, but need to push for a free-trade pact at a Hong Kong meeting in December to accelerate the fight against poverty, development leaders said on Sunday.

International Monetary Fund and World Bank chiefs said they would move quickly to finalize the agreement to wipe out the debts of 18 countries, most of them African, following a breakthrough in talks at the weekend.

“The path to complete debt relief has now been cleared,” said World Bank president Paul Wolfowitz. “We will move swiftly to give the bank’s board of directors a paper outlining a compensation schedule and a monitoring system — a process that can be completed within weeks.”

The debt agreement, sealed by the Group of Eight industrial powers in July, was given the nod on Saturday by the rest of the international community after they bridged differences over the financing of the deal.

Faced with the possible collapse of the agreement, the world’s industrial powers promised additional money to cover the costs.

Wolfowitz urged global trade ministers to follow this example and complete the Doha trade round in Hong Kong, which has been stalled mainly over differences on farm and services issues.

“The momentum we now have must be maintained heading into the WTO negotiations in Hong Kong,” Wolfowitz told a news conference at the end of the semi-annual World Bank and IMF meetings.

“We have agreement on more aid, we have consensus on debt relief — now let’s complete the picture and deliver a true development round on trade.”

TRADE BOOST

He said the debt deal and a World Bank action plan for Africa were important steps to reducing poverty on the continent, but that a trade agreement would help.

“A trade agreement in Hong Kong would provide the spur for investment and economic growth that promises a lasting exit from poverty for millions, even billions, of people in developing countries,” Wolfowitz said.

South African finance minister Trevor Manuel, who chairs the World Bank’s policy-setting development committee, said a briefing by WTO chairman Pascal Lamy on Sunday was “a confirmation of the imperatives of the moment.”

“Without going into detail, I think he was asking us to return to our capitals and ensure that we can convince our trade minsters that failure to deliver a deal is simply not acceptable,” said Manuel.

There was no place for failure now, he added.

“There is no room for error … we have to ensure the next few weeks are in fact about the intensification of (the trade) agenda,” Manuel said.

Debt campaigners hailed the agreement on debt forgiveness, but said it should be extended to cover more than just the initial 18 countries.

“It’s been a long road and it doesn’t end here, but it’s worth stopping to acknowledge what this means,” said Irish rock star and U2 lead singer Bono, who campaigned for the deal.

“This means that the greatest protest movement since anti-apartheid in the 80s and civil rights in the 60s has prevailed with a combination of common sense and relentlessness.”

Bernice Romero, director for development group Oxfam, said Wolfowitz must pressure wealthy nations to deliver on their promises to fund the debt deal.

[more info from One.org]