gary - you can't manage what you don't measure. A better approach yet, would be not the statistic. As long as people are doing negative things, they will make the stats. Or we could just do what we have been doing for the last 60 years, just lower our expectations, and we will reduce the negatives.

If we are ever to move beyond racial discrimination in this country, we need to stop arbitrarily segregating people into statistical groups and assigning negative attributes to them.

Localboysince1968: You don't know what your talking about here. Please spend more time researching the topic. Your "theory" doesn't hold snot.

I think the gazette needs to remove the racist remarks....they're uncalled for.

Oh, I get it all right. Go back to your first post here..."Maybe if you waited until you had a job, and were old enough, the babies might have a fighting chance."
.
And then spell STEREOTYPE for us.

You don't get it, so it doesn't make any more sense to continue to explain it.

I can read just fine. "Zoellner says it's a multi-faceted problem that has to do with poverty, stress and life conditions, not just access to health care."
.
Two of the three apply to Bristol Palin.
.
You are the presumptuous one to specify job and age as determining factors without carroborating information.
.
Oh, and where in the article does it mention trying hard?
"I am sure the Palin's don't qualify for those reasons. You know why? Because they try hard,"
.
Are you insinuating that none, some or ______% (I'll let you fill in the blank)...of infant mortality that the article addresses don't try hard enough?

JohnDoe - learn to read. My post is particular to the conditions that cause the mortality. Also, read the article which relies on a expert to explain the reasons for the high rate. I am sure the Palin's don't qualify for those reasons. You know why? Because they try hard, and made something of themselves which started with their parents. They are for sure a high energy family that is partial to bettering themselves.

The point you seem to be missing, localboy, is that the infant mortality happens to the INFANTS.

"Maybe if you waited until you had a job, and were old enough, the babies might have a fighting chance."
.
Wonder if localboy means to include Sarah Palin's new grandson (who's mother is out of work and underage (at time of conception) in his broad baseless statement?
.
Even throw in a grandmother arrested on drug charges?
.
Probably not...this child was born into a Republican family...that's different.

Partial abortion...

I could care less what color the mothers are- because I've seen children in poverty with both. I'm so tired of handouts- the more kids you have, the more assistance you get!!! What THEN gets me is the extra "stuff" these people have- Wii, ipods, big TVs, etc. and manicured nails, weekends in the Dells, but kids are on free lunch. It's more like people with "needs" just need to know how to set priorities when it comes to money. My parents had "tough times" in the 80s and we never had handouts...and never had luxury items...but yet we all went to college without loans.

Read the article. It states; "multi-faceted problem that has to do with poverty, stress and life conditions, not just access to health care."

How do you eliminate those problems? You educate yourself, get yourself a good job, and provide yourself with a stable life (not gang banging, drugs, multiple partners etc) and household. I have already outlined the free path that African Americans have to obtain that lifestyle. GM jobs have nothing to do with the statistics.

Irishlady - I am not racial profiling. The statistic is fact, not my viewpoint. Read the article. I didn't make up the stats.

IrishLady, the rate of unmarried births for white women is far below that of black women, with Hispanic women somewhere in the middle. The total number in 2005 for the US was 578,000 to white women, 408,000 to black women, and 472,000 to Hispanic women. Source:
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/FASTATS/unmarry....
.
Interestingly, this and many other studies confirm that teenage pregnancies have declined steadily since the 1970s. They've actually been cut in half. The rate of unmarried births by adult women, especially in their 20s, has been increasing, though, across all races over the same period.
.
localboy's simplistic theories cannot address the answer sufficiently as benefits remain relatively similar across the entire state, yet cities like Madison have a much lower rate. This may have to do with education (both the mother's attainment and public health education) as well as access to health care. Nor are the services mentioned necessarily directly applicable to infant mortality. Obviously there are only so many persons of any race who will be able to attend college or obtain a stable job. The job supply, education, and other factors are not simply a matter of choosing to go out and get them. GM has left Janesville, so there are fewer jobs; does that mean that people in Janesville are lazy?

Irishlady - I voted for McCain. I am not sure the connection. I am not for certain, but I am sure the diet and age of the people having the children contribute to their unlikely demise.
I have explained all I can. For those of you that want to keep contributing to the downfall of these few with your Marxist rhetoric and values, go ahead, but don't involve me. By the way, my viewpoint goes for all races, but this article specifically focused on African Americans as the leading race. Also, African Americans by far have more free opportunities handed to them than whites. Don't even try to debate that with me. Most of these are so far removed from Africa, it is a joke to label them that - Irish American Local Boy.

I am white, my daughter was born out of wedlock. Just out of curiousity, does this go by the infants race or the mothers. Because there are lots of white woman having black babies. I know of a select few who have five children that are mixed and they live completely off the state. People like those are the ones who need to be "fixed." I think localboy is right but he could have said it a little differently. Who cares who you voted for? I honestly think that this has a lot to do with genetics, more than poeverty and whatever else.

Irish thinks local voted for Obama..I feel the same way localboy does and I voted for McCain. Doesn't mean we're pro choice, just sick of the "cycle".

Local who did ya vote for

How many White children are born to unwed parents?????????????????????????////////////

carl marx? Localboy is in need of lessons on humanity as his racial profiling is sick.... These things are also available to any RACE are you the medical facility that knows the actual incomes of as you put it those people.... It is not a matter of pity but compassion and empathy for the statistics. Have you ever had to reach out for anything local? Someday regardless of color I hope you never have to feel the loss (then again maybe you need to!!!!)IMO IMO I am a mother and grandmother who has a heart for the ones that struggle and regardless of color or race we are all human beings some just have a little less then others and some have never had a SILVER SPOON...Does that make them any less then you local? did you pay for your education or did you go to public school? K-12

I see nothing insensitive with localboys comments. It's the truth. I always check out the birth records and a lot of these poor kids are being born to young unwed parents. These people are given the chance to have free or cheaper birth control, they need to start using it!!

"effort needs to be made on all fronts to help."

Toetowngirl - can you read? What more help do they need that I haven't already listed in my previous post? It seems the more you help them, the dumber things they do. I bet if they didn't have all of those free programs, they would think twice about getting knocked up at what ever age it is. They don't need my heart, what they need is to use their mind. That is what God gave it to them for. If you quit making execuses for them, they might knock it off. As long as you condone it, they will keep popping em out.

That's just it, it's not the poor infants fault for whom they are born to. Localboy may have been insensitive, but he's not far off. It's so hard for me to see kids in such situations and I don't understand why they have a bunch they can't afford but others who are more capable can't. Reading the birth announcements these days...the married couples are in the minority.

localby, have a little heart! It is the infants that are suffering here, they can not pick and chose where they are born, thus an effort needs to be made on all fronts to help. The african american population may have people in place to help them, such as the UNCF, like you mentioned, but the attitude of all people in the community must change to bring races together to help each other and to help those who cant help themselves, the children.

Exactly the way I like it.

localboy is proof that our 'reality is clearly defined by the fences we put up around our mind':) BD

Irishlady - lets list the free "things" available to the African Americans.

1. Free K-12 school (all you have to do is attend and make an effort)
2. Free breakfast & lunches (again, if you are "poor")
3. Free college education (of course you have to apply yourself to no.1) to the African Americans. {United Negro College fund}
4.Pretty good shot at public sector employment (affirmative action) if you take advantage of no's. 1,2,3.

Enough of your pity for those who have the opportunities I just listed. Your address, city, county, or state has no reference to those opportunities, only your race. If you can't see the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, you deserve to be what you made of yourself.

Take care Carl (irishlady) Marx.

Localboy why would you say something like that? That was uncalled for some of your comments are sick and maybe you need to make a resolution this New Years eve on how to have compassion and a little heart. The way things are at this time with the economy is sad and mortalty rates may rise regardless of race. Age and a job is not all to this article as poverty level does not mean you dont have a JOB some places dont pay enough to support a family and healthcare is not affordable to people making minimum wage.

Maybe if you waited until you had a job, and were old enough, the babies might have a fighting chance.