August 30, 2007
Discuss Thursday's editorials
Poverty by the numbers
News of a decline in poverty sounds good, but the government's latest figures show too few economic gains for ordinary Americans.
Behind the overall decline in the nation's poverty rate from 2005 to 2006 are mainly grim numbers for middle- and working-class Americans. Grimmest of all in a U.S. Census report released this week is the downward trend of the percentage of Americans with health care insurance -- damning evidence that voters need to push universal coverage to the top of the domestic agenda.
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Bad rap, but right call
Pulling rapper Nas from the Tech concert lineup would prejudge an artist who may do the right thing.
The gun-toting, shoot-'em-up lyrics that have permeated rapper Nas' songs help fuel the image of hip-hop music as a violent, gangsta genre. So one can understand why the artist's scheduled appearance at "A Concert for Virginia Tech" would anger family members of victims of the April 16 shooting rampage. Music that has the power to conjure relatively fresh, traumatic memories has no place at such an event.
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