DebateGate

Mao offered U.S. 10 million women     
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Amid a discussion of trade in 1973, Chinese leader Mao Zedong made what U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger called a novel proposition: sending tens of thousands, even 10 million, Chinese women to the United States.


Chinese leader Mao Zedong, here depicted in an Andy Warhol painting, offered women to the U.S.

 "You know, China is a very poor country," Mao said, according to a document released by the State Department's historian office.

"We don't have much. What we have in excess is women. So if you want them we can give a few of those to you, some tens of thousands."

A few minutes later, Mao circled back to the offer. "Do you want our Chinese women?" he asked. "We can give you 10 million."

After Kissinger noted Mao was "improving his offer," the chairman said, "We have too many women. ... They give birth to children and our children are too many."

"It is such a novel proposition," Kissinger replied in his discussion with Mao in Beijing. "We will have to study it."

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/14/chinese.women.ap/index.html

I thought she had turned her life around...?

see http://www.tmz.com/2008/02/14/jane-fonda-i-wasnt-into-cu-t/

Is this the beginning of the end?

Clinton's Edge Slips With Whites, Women
 
Feb 13, 6:45 PM (ET)

By ALAN FRAM and TREVOR TOMPSON
 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Hillary Rodham Clinton's crushing losses in Maryland and Virginia highlight an erosion in what had been solid advantages among women, whites and older and working-class voters. While this week's results can be explained by those states' relatively large numbers of blacks and well-educated residents - who tend to be Barack Obama supporters - her presidential campaign could be doomed if the trends continue.

Clinton is holding onto some of her supporters who are largely defined by race and often by level of education, such as low-income white workers and older white women, exit polls of voters show. She's been losing other blocs, again stamped by personal characteristics, such as blacks, men and young people both black and white, and better-educated whites.

The latest defeats have slowed the one-time favorite's political momentum at a bad time. With Obama winning eight straight contests and easily outdistancing her in money raising, she must now endure three weeks until primaries in Texas and Ohio that she hopes will resurrect her campaign.

Clinton's losses have also enabled Obama to take a slight lead in their crucial fight for convention delegates. With 2,025 needed to clinch the nomination at the party's Denver gathering in August, Obama has 1,224 delegates to Clinton's 1,198, according to the latest count by The Associated Press.

Before this year's presidential contests began, Obama was running consistently behind his rival in the polls. The Illinois senator was mostly attracting upper-echelon whites, young people and about half of black voters - resembling the coalitions that sealed defeat for past non-establishment Democratic candidates such as Gary Hart and Bill Bradley.

Things have changed since the voting has started, especially after bitter exchanges during the Clinton-Obama contest in South Carolina highlighted their racial differences and, subsequently, former Sen. John Edwards exited the race.

Now, virtually all blacks support Obama, significant since they make up about a fifth of Democratic voters overall.

And while last year's polls showed Clinton leading among men, Obama now leads her among males by 11 percentage points, according to exit polls of voters in 20 competitive Democratic primaries.

Before Tuesday's voting, the two were even among white males this year. Obama defeated her among that group by 18 percentage points in Virginia - his first win with white men in a Southern state - and they divided white men about equally in Maryland. Obama has done especially well with men who are college educated.

Tuesday's voting highlighted the ground Clinton has lost with groups that have been strongholds of her support.

In both Virginia and Maryland, she got the backing of only about four in 10 women and three in 10 men. Obama narrowly edged her among whites in Virginia, while she won among Maryland whites by 10 points.

In each state, she got 45 percent of voters 65 and over, and just over one-third of people earning under $50,000 annually or with high school degrees or less.

At the same time, Obama won huge margins among blacks, young voters, higher-income and better-educated people, leaving Clinton nowhere to turn for support.

She had the misfortune of Democratic primaries in two states in which about one-third of voters were black and about two-thirds of voting whites were college-educated, exit polls showed. Both are unusually high numbers, an all-but inevitable recipe for Obama triumphs.

A closer look shows more about the voters Clinton was losing and keeping, and underscores the importance of race and education in the contest.

While Clinton lost among people making less than $50,000 annually, she got six in 10 votes from whites in both states making that amount. The same was true for people over age 65 and those with no more than high school degrees - she lost both groups overall, but was backed by about six in 10 whites in those categories.

Nationally, 54 percent of college-educated white men voting in Democratic primaries have supported Obama, compared with 33 percent of those without college degrees. Maryland's figures on Tuesday were virtually identical to that, while in Virginia 62 percent of college-educated white men backed Obama, compared with 48 percent who are not graduates.

The figures from Tuesday's voting came from an exit poll conducted by Edison Media Research and Mitofsky International in 30 precincts each in Maryland and Virginia for the AP and television networks.

Those interviewed included 1,245 Democrats in Virginia and 1,324 in Maryland, with a margin of sampling error for each of plus or minus 4 percentage points. Also, 719 Virginia Republicans and 690 in Maryland were interviewed, with sampling error margins of 5 points for Virginia and 6 points for Maryland. Margins of sampling error for subgroups were smaller.

Rice attacks ?reprehensible? Putin warnings
By Daniel Dombey in Washington

Published: February 13 2008 20:23 | Last updated: February 13 2008 20:23

Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, on Wednesday highlighted the tense relations between Moscow and Washington when she hit out at Russia?s ?reprehensible? rhetoric and said she would appoint a special energy co-ordinator for central Asia, a region dominated to date by Russian energy interests.

Appearing at the Senate?s foreign relations committee, Ms Rice responded fiercely to questions about recent Russian behaviour, including President Vladimir Putin?s suggestion this week that Ukraine could be targeted with nuclear missiles and his warning of a new arms race with the west.

?The unhelpful and, really, I will use a different word, reprehensible rhetoric that is coming out of Moscow is unacceptable,? Ms Rice said.

Relations between Moscow and Washington have hardened in the wake of disputes over Russia?s objections to proposed US missile defence bases in Poland and the Czech Republic, as well as US concerns about what it sees as Mr Putin?s use of intimidation at home and abroad.

But the US secretary of state emphasised that she believed the principal areas of difficulty related to the post-cold war map of Europe ? on issues such as North Korea and Iran, the two countries co-operated much more closely.

?The Soviet Union . . . is gone forever, and I hope that Russia understands that,? she said. ?We are absolutely devoted to the independence and sovereignty of Ukraine and of other states that were once a part of the Soviet Union.?

Ms Rice was prodded by Richard Lugar, the committee?s ranking Republican, to respond to Russian initiatives with countries such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Serbia and Bulgaria that seem to have cemented Moscow?s position as gas supplier to the rest of Europe.

?I do intend to appoint, and we are looking for, a special energy co-ordinator who could especially spend time on the central Asian and Caspian region,? she replied. ?It is a really important part of diplomacy. In fact, I think I would go so far as to say that some of the politics of energy is warping diplomacy in certain parts of the world.?

Privately, many US officials complain that the European Union has not made a more effective attempt to build relations with the central Asian countries that provide Russia with an increasingly important part of its gas supply, or to forge a common policy on Russia.

In other comments, Ms Rice said that the US and Nato?s development and counter-insurgency effort in Afghanistan, which has been widely criticised in recent weeks, was ?not as good as it needs to be?. She emphasised the US?s call for other Nato countries to step up, both in providing troops and forging a more coherent development strategy.

Joseph Biden, committee chairman, praised Ms Rice?s promise that an agreement to be negotiated with Iraq would contain no security guarantees. He had previously said that it could ?bind? the next administration into a large troop presence in the country.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Obama Defeats Clinton in Virginia Primary
By Chris Cillizza
washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

Sen. Barack Obama scored a convincing victory over Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton in Virginia's Democratic presidential primary, an early indicator of a strong showing for the Illinois senator in today's Potomac Primary. This will be considered a surprise to most observers as the Hillary political machine was expected to best him in Virginia.

Polls closed in the commonwealth at 7 p.m. Eastern time.

Virginia was the state in which Clinton, reeling from a staff shakeup and a series of defeats in primaries and caucuses last weekend, had hoped to perform beyond modest expectations.
Obama's win in Virginia bodes well for his chances in Maryland and the District of Columbia, both of which held primaries today and where polls close at 8 p.m.

Should Obama sweep the Potomac Primary -- and pick up most of the 168 delegates at stake in the three states -- he will have claimed eight straight contests since Feb. 5's Super Tuesday votes. He is also well positioned in Wisconsin and Hawaii, both of which vote a week from today.

Clinton once enjoyed front-runner status and led in the race for the 2,025 delegates needed to seal the Democratic nomination. But her campaign has struggled to build momentum after Feb. 5, as national polls have shown Obama pulling into a virtual tie with the New York senator, and Clinton's campaign manager stepping aside less than 72 hours before today's vote.

Independent surveys sponsored by MSNBC and McClatchy over the closing days of the campaign showed Obama with an 18-point lead over Clinton in Maryland. There has been no recent polling in the District. But Obama, the first African American politician with a realistic opportunity of capturing the Democratic presidential nomination, enjoys widespread support among the District's nearly 60 percent black population.

Preliminary exit polling in Maryland and Virginia suggests that the key attribute Democratic primary voters are looking for in a candidate is an ability to bring about change -- results consistent with previous primaries and caucuses. In the past, Obama has done well among voters who say they are seeking fundamental change in politics.

Democrats voting in Maryland and Virginia also say in the exit polling that the economy is the most pressing concern facing the country, just as it has been a top issue for the vast majority of voters taking part in recent causes and primaries.

Independent surveys sponsored by MSNBC and McClatchy over the closing days of the campaign showed Obama with an 18-point lead over Clinton in Maryland and a 16-point advantage in Virginia. There has been no recent polling in the District. But Obama, the first African American politician with a realistic opportunity of capturing the Democratic presidential nomination, enjoys widespread support among the District's nearly 60 percent black population.

Election officials throughout the region reported potentially record-breaking voter turnout today in the first-ever "Potomac Primary" as voters seemed eager to take part in one the most closely contested and historic presidential races ever.

"Something or someone has energized the voters," said Rafael Beltran III, chief of elections at the polling station in the Verizon building in Arlington. "For the first time in years, some candidate or some message is coming out loud and clear."

In the District, officials said the turnout was so high that some polling places ran out of ballots. William R. O'Field Jr., spokesman for the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics, said the city was experiencing a high voter turnout compared to past presidential primaries, leading to a number of problems at the polls.

In Maryland, officials were projecting a 39 percent turnout, which would be one of the highest in recent years. The risk of bad weather later today could lower that, said deputy elections chief Ross Goldstein.

On the eve of today's vote, the Clinton campaign held a conference call designed to downplay expectations. "We expected this to be a difficult period for us," said pollster Mark Penn. "We are expecting that [Obama] is going to do very well this month and in these states."

Dan Pfeiffer, Obama's communications director, noted that Clinton and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, have campaigned aggressively in Virginia and Maryland in recent weeks and her campaign has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote her message.

"But the more voters have gotten to know Senator Obama and his message of change, the more they support him, so we're hopeful that we will have the grassroots support to do well today," Pfeiffer said.

Obama was joined at Eastern Market in the District by Mayor Adrian Fenty, who has endorsed the freshman Illinois senator. "Let me contribute to the tax revenue of Washington," Obama said to Fenty as he Obama bought donuts and hot chocolate for campaign volunteers.

At one time, the Potomac Primary was considered an afterthought by the two Democratic rivals, with so much riding on the Super Tuesday contests in 22 states including New York and California. But with the race for the nomination a dead heat, the 168 combined delegates in Maryland, Virginia and the District loom as an important political prize.

The results of the primaries and caucuses held since the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" balloting are stark. Obama racked up impressive margins in sweeping caucuses in Nebraska and Washington state and the Louisiana primary on Saturday and a surprising win in the Maine caucuses on Sunday.

If Obama sweeps today's three votes, he would enter next Tuesday's contests in Wisconsin and Hawaii as a favorite. Victories there would set up primaries in Ohio and Texas - scheduled for March 4 - as must-wins for the Clinton campaign.

Clinton's campaign strategists have long viewed Ohio and Texas as a firewall for the former first lady, two large, diverse, delegate-rich states that could offset Obama's string of victories in smaller caucus states where Obama's campaign has been more adroit in organizing and turning out supporters.

But recent events have troubled Clinton supporters and donors, with some fearing that if Obama extends his string of victories, the momentum could well carry into Ohio and Texas, undermining Clinton's bid for the nomination.

As has been the case in every contest to date on the Democratic side, early indicators seemed to suggest record turnout in each of three contests today. Ross Goldstein, Maryland's deputy elections chief, said based on voting patterns so far, officials are projecting 39 percent turnout statewide -- unless a winter storm keeps some people home in the afternoon. That would be one of the highest primary turnouts in recent years, topped by 40 percent in 1992, Goldstein said.

The excitement surrounding the Democratic contest is a reflection of the historic nature of the choice. Clinton would be the first woman ever to be nominated as a major party's presidential nominee; Obama would be the first African-American to lay claim to the same title.

At stake in tonight's Potomac Primary are 168 Democratic delegates in a fight for the nomination that appears increasingly likely to extend for weeks if not months. According to the Associated Press delegate projections, Clinton holds a 1,147 to 1,124 delegate lead over Obama - a sum that includes not only pledged delegates but also super delegates, a group of roughly 800 elected officials and other party establishment figures.

The demographics of Maryland and the District of Columbia shape up nicely for Obama. Black voters comprise nearly six in ten residents of the District and three in ten Marylanders. Obama, the first African American with a serious chance of winning a major party's nomination for president, has won huge margins among black voters in South Carolina and several other states that have already cast votes.

The black population in Virginia is less than 20 percent. Not coincidentally, Virginia is the state where Clinton hopes to do best tonight. Obama has Gov. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) on his side and is also expected to run well in northern Virginia - suburbs of Washington packed with the highly educated, affluent voters that have been one of the pillars of Obama's support thus far in the race.

Primaries in Maryland and the District are closed, meaning that only registered Democrats can participate. Virginia does not have voter registration by party so Democrats, Republicans and Independents can all participate in today's primary.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/livecoverage/2008/02/potomac_primary_democrats.html?referrer=email

Insurer asks docs to report on new patients with pre-existing conditions

Blue Cross of California recently asked doctors to look for pre-existing conditions that could be used to justify the cancellation of insurance policies held by new patients, according to the Los Angeles Times.

"Blue Cross of California is sending physicians copies of health insurance applications filled out by new patients, along with a letter advising them that the company has a right to drop members who fail to disclose 'material medical history,' including 'pre-existing pregnancies,'" the newspaper reports.

Dr. Richard Frankenstein, head of the state medical association, says his group is "outraged that they are asking doctors to violate the sacred trust of patients to rat them out for medical information that patients would expect their doctors to handle with the utmost secrecy and confidentiality."

Thanks to the Internet, you can read the letter Blue Cross sent to doctors at large medical groups that operate like HMOs. Here's an excerpt:

Health history discrepancies are commonly identified using the following sources:

1) Health history questionnaire...
2) Pre-existing pregnancies. Identified when the last menstrual period date is prior to the agreement's original effective date.
3) Elective and emergency surgeries performed within the first year of the original agreement effective date.
4) Member requests for specialty referrals outside the medical group to providers who previously provided care.
5) Member requests for specialty referrals within the medical group for chronic conditions.
6) Claims from outside providers requesting payment.
7) First year hospitalizations.

A spokeswoman for WellPoint, the company that runs Blue Cross of California, tells the Times that the letter was designed to hold down costs by identifying policyholders who weren't upfront about their medical history when they applied for coverage.

But Byron Tucker, a spokesman for the Insurance Department, tells the Times that this letter is "extremely troubling on several fronts. It really obliterates the line between underwriting and medical care. It is the insurer's job to underwrite their policies, not the doctors'. Doctors deliver medical care. Their job is not to underwrite policies for insurers."

http:/www.usatoday.com/

I Predict Obama Will Win
Monday, February 11, 2008 3:38 PM

By: Dick Morris


I believe that Barack Obama will defeat Hillary and win the Democratic nomination. I think that this weekend's victories in states as diverse as Washington State, Louisiana, Nebraska, and Maine illustrates his national appeal and demonstrates Hillary's inability to win in states without large immigrant and Latino populations.




Hillary's results on Super Tuesday, which amounted to a draw with Obama, will be her high water mark and will represent the closest she will ever come to the party nomination.




Right now, CBS has Obama ahead in elected delegates with 1134, while Hillary has only 1131.By the time Virginia, Maryland, DC, Wisconsin, and Hawaii vote during the next week, Obama will have a lead over Clinton of about 100 delegates, even counting the super delegates who have thus far committed themselves.




March 4th will, at worst, be a wash for Obama with his probably wins in Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont offsetting his probable defeat in Texas. (Although in Texas' open primary, Republicans and Independents may flock to the Dem primary to beat Hillary).




And then come a list of states almost all of which should go for Obama, including likely victories in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Indiana. By the convention, he will have more than enough delegates to overcome the expected margins Hillary may rack up among super delegates.




And don't bet on all the super delegates staying hitched to Hillary. These folks are politicians, half of them public office holders who are really good at reading the handwriting on the wall and really bad at gratitude for past favors.




Since 2004, I have predicted that Hillary Clinton would be the nominee. But, given the consistently amazing performance of Obama, his superior organizational and fund-raising skills, his inspiration of young people, and the flat and completely uninspiring performance by Hillary, it looks to me like it will be Obama as the Democratic nominee.

Seriously, XO, is there a CD-based option to learn Spanish. What about the Rosetta Stone, for example?

U.S. Hispanic population to triple by 2050

By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY
The U.S. population will soar to 438 million by 2050 and the Hispanic population will triple, according to projections released Monday by the Pew Research Center.
The latest projections by the non-partisan research group are higher than government estimates to date and paint a portrait of an America dramatically different from today's.

The projected growth in the U.S. population ? 303 million today ? will be driven primarily by immigration among all groups except the elderly.

"We're assuming that the rate of immigration will stay roughly constant," says Jeffrey Passel, co-author of the report.

Even if immigration is limited, Hispanics' share of the population will increase because they have higher birth rates than the overall population. That's largely because Hispanic immigrants are younger than the nation's aging baby boom population. By 2030, all 79 million boomers will be at least 65 and the elderly will grow faster than any other age group.

The projections show that by 2050:

?Nearly one in five Americans will have been born outside the USA vs. one in eight in 2005. Sometime between 2020 and 2025, the percentage of foreign-born will surpass the historic peak reached a century ago during the last big immigration wave. New immigrants and their children and grandchildren born in the USA will account for 82% of the population increase from 2005 to 2050.

?Whites who are not Hispanic, now two-thirds of the population, will become a minority when their share drops to 47%. They made up 85% of the population in 1960.

?Hispanics, already the largest minority group, will more than double their share of the population to 29%.

?Blacks will remain 13% of the population. Asians will go to 9% from 5%.

?The gap between the number of working-age people and the children and seniors who depend on them will widen as boomers age. There will be 72 young and elderly for every 100 people of working age by 2050 compared with 59 in 2005. The gap would widen more if immigration slows because immigrants tend to be of working-age, the report said.

The projections are based on detailed assumptions about births, deaths and immigration levels based on recent trends. Those trends can change. For example, a new immigration policy could substantially limit the growth.

"Immigration has long-term consequences on the make-up of the country and the size of the population and we need to take those results in account when we make immigration policy," says Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a group that promotes limits on immigration. "Growing our population by 100 million more than we would otherwise is a choice. Immigration is a choice. ? It's all up to us."

The ethnic and racial profile of the nation could change because of inter-marriage. It's not clear how the children and grandchildren of multiracial and multi-ethnic unions will identify themselves in the future.

"We've assumed that the definitions and categories that are being used today will continue to be used in the next 50 years," Passel says. "Fifty years ago, we didn't have the definition for the Hispanic population."

Adds Krikorian: "Will that category of who's white be redefined? What is a non-Hispanic white?"
 

 
 
 
 

 
Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-02-11-population-study_N.htm