Eric Holder, Mojo-Thief

Joel Bridgeman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 23:45:04 +0000

By Sam Sanders

I keep imagining a strange political scenario. It’s got US Attorney General Eric Holder and Barack Obama, dressed to the nines as they always are, huddled in some back room of the White House, exchanging daps and pleasantries.

Motown’s playing in the background. And I swear, Obama’s smoking a cig.

But all is not well. I’m witnessing a transferal of power. Barack Obama is giving away his mojo, bequeathing his progressive bona fides to Mr. Holder himself.

Since the start of the Obama administration, I’ve been more and more impressed with Eric Holder, and increasingly disappointed with Barack Obama. Our President has waffled on torture, backed down on a health insurance public option, and kind of forgotten that gay people even exist. He’s been quiet on HIV/AIDS and Sudan. And he just Jeremiah-Wright-ed Van Jones.

Holder on the other hand, is investigating the detainee torture of the Bush era. He gave a controversial speech during Black History Month urging America to have an honest discussion about race. He spoke out in favor of an assault weapons ban. He did the right thing in the Ted Stevens case. He’s been pretty much unabashed in kicking up dust and setting things straight.

Where Obama’s slowly losing his mojo, Holder seems to be hitting his stride.

Yeah, I know that everything Holder does is a part of the Obama administration’s agenda, but I still feel like our AG is running rip shod while our Commander in Chief is kinda running scared.

I wonder if this is all pre-meditated. What if Obama knew everything couldn’t be as good as the campaign? What if he saw his centrism coming? What if he’s living vicariously through his Attorney General?

What if there can only be one Black, amazingly-dressed, gifted, progressive Superman in DC at once?

I don’t know, but I sure hope not.

Sam Sanders is a proud Texan and graduate of Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government. He maintains a blog entitled “The Not So Angry Black Man” where he discusses pop culture, race and politics.

The truth about black people and AIDS

Nourbese — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:01:21 +0000

The Facts

HIV/AIDS and young blacks

In 2005, the rate of AIDS diagnoses in black adults and adolescents was 10 times the rate for whites and nearly
three times the rate for Hispanics.
In 2004, African Americans were disproportionately affected by HIV infection, accounting for 55 percent of all
HIV infections reported among people ages 13–24.
Of the estimated 18,849 people under the age of 25 whose diagnosis of HIV/AIDS was made during 2001–2004
in the 33 states with HIV reporting, 11,554 (61 percent) were black.
In 2007, nearly 20 percent of people infected with HIV residing in the District of Columbia were between the age 13-29 at the time of their diagnosis.
In Georgia, the rate of adult/adolescent HIV/AIDS cases was 81.2 per 100,000 for African-Americans in 2005 and 8.7 per 100,000 for whites.
Of the 68 U.S. children (younger than 13 years of age) who had a new AIDS diagnosis in 2005, 46 were black.
Of the estimated 141 infants perinatally infected with HIV in 2005, 91 or 65 percent were black.

HIV/AIDS and black women

One in 30 black women will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lifetime.
The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black women was nearly 23 times the rate for white women in 2005.
AIDS was the leading cause of death in 2006 for black women 25 to 34.
Of the 126,964 women living with HIV/AIDS in 2005, 64 percent were black, 19 percent were white, 15 percent were Hispanic, one percent were Asian or Pacific Islander, and less than one percent were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
Of 40,608 AIDS diagnoses in the 50 states and the District of Columbia for 2005, 10,774 (26 percent) were women.

HIV/AIDS and black men

One in 16 black men will be diagnosed with HIV at some point in their lifetime.
The rate of AIDS diagnoses for black men was eight times the rate for white men in 2005.
AIDS was the second leading cause of death in 2006 for black men ages 35 to 44.
Of the Washington, D.C., residents living with HIV/AIDS in 2008, 76.3 percent were black and 71.7 percent were male.
The rate of adult/adolescent AIDS cases for African-American males (118.7 per 100,000) was eight times that of white males (14 per 100,000) in Georgia in 2005.

The cost of HIV/AIDS

The total lifetime cost of illness for Americans newly diagnosed with HIV in 2002 is approximately $36.4 billion.
While whites incur more direct medical costs than blacks for HIV treatment, blacks suffer greater financial damage from loss of productivity.
In 2007, over half of the 900,000 Americans living with HIV died from the virus.
HIV/AIDS is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States.
The U.S. Agency for International Development for funding HIV/AIDS in the region is expected to increase its funds to $30 billion by 2010.

For more information please check out this website where these facts are from the loop