This week, we saw an attempt to suppress Latino voters through an ad telling them not to vote in November. The New York Times editorial page takes a look:
“This year’s crop of negative political ads is fresh and repellent and headed for the landfill on Nov. 3. At least they aim to motivate voters, however basely.
“Now here comes a twist: a new Republican ad so cynical that one media company, Univision, refused to air it. It’s from one of those 527 groups allowed to pursue ‘issue advocacy.’ The group, Latinos for Reform, aims its message at Hispanic voters fed up with inaction on immigration reform, which has been stalled for years.
“It doesn’t tell them whom to vote for or against. It tells them not to vote. ‘Clearly, the Democratic leadership betrayed us,’ it says. ‘Aren’t you tired of politicians playing games with your future? Don’t vote this November. This is the only way to send them a clear message.’
“Wait. Don’t vote? Clear message? Who is ‘us’?”
The debt that college seniors face has increased, according to a new report also covered in The New York Times:
“College seniors who graduated in 2009 had an average of $24,000 in student loan debt, up 6 percent from 2008, according to an annual report from the Project on Student Debt.
“The increase is similar to those of the past four years, the report said, despite the recession, probably because members of the class of 2009 took out most of their debt before the economic downturn began.
“‘This consistent growth in debt over the last few years really adds up,’ said Lauren Asher, president of the Institute for College Access & Success, the research and advocacy group that operates the debt project. ‘It’s important to remember that the experts all agree that if you’re going to borrow, you should take out federal loans first, because federal student loans come with far more repayment options and borrower protections than other types of loans.’”
USA Today writes on the possibility that one in three Americans will suffer from diabetes by 2050:
“The future of diabetes in America looks bleak, according to a new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report out today, with cases projected to double, even triple, by 2050.
“According to the report, one in 10 U.S. adults have diabetes now. The prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years with as many as one in three having the disease, primarily type 2 diabetes, according to the report, published in the journal Population Health Metrics.
“‘There are some positive reasons why we see prevalence going up. People are living longer with diabetes due to good control of blood sugar and diabetes medications, and we're also diagnosing people earlier now,’ says Ann Albright, director of the CDC's Division of Diabetes Translation.”
Teen birthrates in the U.S. appear to be highest in the southern part of the country, according to an article in today’s Los Angeles Times:
“The highest teenage birthrates in the U.S. are clustered in Southern states and the lowest in the Northeast and upper Midwest, government researchers said Wednesday.
“Birthrates fell to an average of 41.5 births per 1,000 female teens in 2008 from 42.5 in 2007, with 14 states seeing declines. That followed an increase from 2005 to 2007, according to the report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Health Statistics.
“[…]But population differences alone cannot not explain the regional differences in birthrates, the researchers said.
“Education and income, sexual activity and contraceptive use, and attitudes among teens toward pregnancy and childbearing are all factors, the researchers said.
“Birthrates for white teens in 2007 ranged from 4.3 per 1,000 in the District of Columbia to 54.8 births per 1,000 in Mississippi.
"For black teens, birthrates ranged from 17.4 in Hawaii to 95.1 in Wisconsin. And for Latino teens, birthrates ranged from 31.1 in Maine to 188.3 in Alabama.”