The Entreblog!

I’m tired of hearing lies from the media and Obama’s campaign about his policies and their effects.  So, point-by-point, I’m going to examine his stated plans from his website.  His text is in black, mine is in red.

Part 1 – Civil Rights – Summary

Good – potential rehab for druggies instead of prison may cut costs

Bad – fair pay legislation that will increase unemployment of women and minorities, curtailing of civil rights through broadened hate crime legislation, tampering with the voting system, curtailing ability to capture criminals

Overall – increasing unemployment, costs and crime.  Quite the triumvirate.

Details from Obama’s website (with my notes)

The Problem

Pay Inequity Continues: For every $1.00 earned by a man, the average woman receives only 77 cents, while African American women only get 67 cents and Latinas receive only 57 cents.

The statistics behind this are dubious.  Does the “average” woman include non-working women?  Does the average woman, regardless of race, tend to take jobs that pay lower and give them more time with family?  Some studies say this is the case.

Hate Crimes on the Rise: The number of hate crimes increased nearly 8 percent to 7,700 incidents in 2006.

This is extremely misleading.  The definition of hate crimes changes is ever-expanding.

Efforts Continue to Suppress the Vote: A recent study discovered numerous organized efforts to intimidate, mislead and suppress minority voters.

This is the pot calling the kettle black if I’ve ever heard it.  Ever heard of ACORN?

Disparities Continue to Plague Criminal Justice System: African Americans and Hispanics are more than twice as likely as whites to be searched, arrested, or subdued with force when stopped by police. Disparities in drug sentencing laws, like the differential treatment of crack as opposed to powder cocaine, are unfair.

I’m going to say this is mostly due to the fact that the overwhelming majority of crimes are committed by blacks and hispanics.  See the stats from the Bureau of Justice Statistics.  40% of all jail inmates are black, and 19% are hispanic.  That’s 59%.

Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Plan

Strengthen Civil Rights Enforcement

Obama and Biden will reverse the politicization that has occurred in the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice. They will put an end to the ideological litmus tests used to fill positions within the Civil Rights Division.

I would fully back this, if they’ll do it.  However, I think it will just swing the other way, instead.  We’ll see.

Combat Employment Discrimination

Obama and Biden will work to overturn the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that curtails racial minorities’ and women’s ability to challenge pay discrimination. They will also pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.

The Fair Pay Act will only make it more burdensome to hire women and minorities because you have to 1) ensure you’re paying the same and 2) be able to prove it and 3) defend yourself when somebody gets upset because they had a bad morning and decides they want to sue you.  If this passes, I’d be interested to see the unemployment statistics over time.

Expand Hate Crimes Statutes

Obama and Biden will strengthen federal hate crimes legislation, expand hate crimes protection by passing the Matthew Shepard Act, and reinvigorate enforcement at the Department of Justice’s Criminal Section.

Again, the idea of a hate crime is suspect itself.  And the broad definitions that will continue to expand (“strengthen federal hate crimes legislation”) only guarantees this administration will eventually prohibit you from expressing dislike for somebody because they’re a member of one of Obama’s anointed groups (women, minorities and gays).

End Deceptive Voting Practices

Obama will sign into law his legislation that establishes harsh penalties for those who have engaged in voter fraud and provides voters who have been misinformed with accurate and full information so they can vote.

If there is voter fraud, I agree it should be eliminated.  However, I don’t have any faith this guy is going to do anything that would cut out potential Democrat votes.

End Racial Profiling

Obama and Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.

Spectacular.  We can no longer use valid data to determine who is most likely to commit crimes and, therefore, have some small shot at prevention.  Isn’t this the same group of people that criticized Bush for not listening to data?

Reduce Crime Recidivism by Providing Ex-Offender Support

Obama and Biden will provide job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling to ex-offenders, so that they are successfully re-integrated into society. Obama and Biden will also create a prison-to-work incentive program to improve ex-offender employment and job retention rates.

Our prison system is awful.  I’m all for reforming people instead of punishing them (actually, only some people.  Rapists, murderers and the like should be savagely murdered in public as an example).  Do I think they’ll do anything other than make it easier to get out of prison and raise the cost of prisons?  No.

Eliminate Sentencing Disparities

Obama and Biden believe the disparity between sentencing crack and powder-based cocaine is wrong and should be completely eliminated.

I don’t know anything about crack vs powder, so I can’t say anything.

Expand Use of Drug Courts

Obama and Biden will give first-time, non-violent offenders a chance to serve their sentence, where appropriate, in the type of drug rehabilitation programs that have proven to work better than a prison term in changing bad behavior.

As long as this cuts the cost of the penal system and helps work towards actual rehab, this sounds good.