Gas prices are high everywhere, but their impact is being felt much harder by low-income Americans who live in rural areas. “Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent,” the New York Times reported. Reasons for this disparity include lower incomes, lack of public transportation, fewer available jobs (which means longer commutes), and older vehicles that get lower gas mileage.
Former President Jimmy Carter and conservative columnist George Will agree on something – that Barack Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton to be his running mate.
Carter told the British newspaper the Guardian “that would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates,” adding: “If you take that 50 percent who just don’t want to vote for Clinton and add it to whatever element there might be who don’t think Obama is white enough or old enough or experienced enough or because he’s got a middle name that sounds Arab, you could have the worst of both worlds.”
On ABC’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos,” Will termed the so-called dream ticket a “nightmare,” because it would install Clinton in the West Wing “with her grievances and her ambitions” and tether Obama to Bill Clinton’s business associations and “all the rest.”
And “she solves no problem geographically or electorally,” Will said, adding that when it comes to unifying the Democratic Party, “John McCain is going to take care of that in no time.”
Those who think that torturing terrorism suspects is a necessary evil should consider the case of Maher Arar. The Canadian citizen and telecommunications engineer was detained in 2002 while changing planes in New York City on his way back to Canada from Switzerland. He was mistakenly identified as having ties to al-Qaida. Rather than sending him back to Canada or even Switzerland, U.S. officials sent him to Syria, which tortures prisoners. Arar was imprisoned for a year and beaten with a metal cable before finally being released and allowed to return home. Canadian officials apologized to Arar and awarded him about $10.3 million. But it wasn’t until last week that the U.S. Justice Department acknowledged that it was investigating the case, six years later.
It was startling to see a former Bob Dole aide, Nelson Krueger, and a former Bill Graves aide, Judy Krueger, sign on last week to co-chair the steering committee for Democrat Jim Slattery, who wants to unseat Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan. More surprising was a comment Nelson Krueger offered to the Lawrence Journal-World: “I’m excited to be supporting a man who doesn’t burn out, wear out or sell out.â€
But Roberts looks strong in the polls, including a new one by Research 2000 for DailyKos showing a 12 percentage point lead over Slattery. One surprise, considering that Slattery’s last run for office was 14 years ago: When asked for an opinion about him, 85 percent of Kansans had one (48 percent positive, 37 percent negative).
Dan Glickman, former 4th District congressman and current chairman and CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America, is supporting state Sen. Donald Betts’ campaign to unseat Rep. Todd Tiahrt, R-Goddard. But Glickman apparently doesn’t think too badly of Tiahrt, who defeated Glickman 14 years ago. In an interview on the Politico Web site, Glickman was asked how he thought Tiahrt was doing. “I think he’s doing fine,†Glickman said. “I suppose I like him better than my wife or kids do.â€
Gas prices are high everywhere, but their impact is being felt much harder by low-income Americans who live in rural areas. “Nationwide, Americans are now spending about 4 percent of their take-home income on gasoline. By contrast, in some counties in the Mississippi Delta, that figure has surpassed 13 percent,” the New York Times reported. Reasons for this disparity include lower incomes, lack of public transportation, fewer available jobs (which means longer commutes), and older vehicles that get lower gas mileage.
