Tavis Smiley : State of the Black Union
First. The mocerater is doing a horrible job. A moderater is suppose to ask probing questions that challenge different arguments. This moderator is asking loaded questions, with answers built in.
Second. The panel is loaded with biased people with a personal political agenda.
What a waste!

Bush Was Wrong?
You cant spread democracy by force, was the screed from the left. Then how do you explain:

• Afghanistan elections and a secular Constitution
• Iraqi elections
• Council elections in Saudi Arabia for the first time in 40 years, and an admission that women will be allowed to vote in future elections.
• Palestinian elections, and a vow to crack down on the extremists. Israel withdrawing from the West Bank.
• People in Lebanon are publicly demanding Syria to leave, and the Syrian backed Prime Minister has agreed to step down.
• Now add, Mubaruk declaring that the Egyptian Presidential elections will be multi party, open to opositions parties.
  

HIV Infection Rate Among Blacks Doubles
This is scary. I would like to see how the numbers break down regarding the increase among homosexuals, and heterosexuals. I would also like to see more info that is regional and city specific. The worst part, is that the estimated numbers are probably understated.

The surveys look only at young and middle-aged adults who live in households, excluding such groups as soldiers, prisoners and homeless. Thus, health officials believe the numbers probably underestimate true HIV rates in this country.

Still, they show a striking rise in the prevalence of the AIDS virus from 1 percent to 2 percent of blacks. White rates held steady at 0.2 percent. Largely because of the increase among blacks, the overall U.S. rate rose slightly from 0.3 percent to 0.4 percent.

Egypt's Mubarak Orders Election Reform
I am taking a wait and see attitude, but this could be monumental.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Saturday ordered a revision of the country's election laws and said multiple candidates could run in the nation's presidential elections, a scenario Mubarak hasn't faced since taking power in 1981.

Togo's Struggle For Democracy
(Thanks to Oxblog)
From VOA News "The West African grouping, ECOWAS, has suspended Togo and imposed sanctions on the government of President Faure Gnassingbe, who was installed by the military after the death of his father and is refusing to step down."

The US and France have also joined in:

"France, Togo's former colonial power, gave its full support to ECOWAS' decisions, and called for a quick restoration of 'full constitutional legality.'

The State Department issued a statement backing ECOWAS' decision to impose sanctions, and said it was ending all military assistance to the country."

Let's see what happens.

Capitalism & slavery
This article attacks the premise that our present wealth is based on slave labor. The writer also shows how slavery and capitalism are incompatible.
"History supports this truth: Capitalism exterminated slavery."

This is an argument I have been making for years. Slavery was not a reslut of capitalism, or an example of capitalism left unchecked. Only a person who does not understand economics and capitalism could make that argument. Slavery is a hurdle to capitalism, and obstacle of capitalism. It is not an engine of growth and properity, but of statism. Once the world shifted to industrial economies, the usefulness of slavery collapsed.
America did not even begin to be a truly capitalist country until after the Civil War. I argue that America did not truly become capitalist until after the Civil Rights movement. Whenever labor is restricted and limited by the government, and the market controlled by the government it is not truly capitalism.

"Today Social Security skims off 12.4 percent of the first $90,000 earned -- one-eighth of every paycheck. There are no exemptions, no deductions. It kicks in from the very first dollar of income. It is the biggest tax the average American household faces -- 80 percent of us pay more in Social Security taxes than we do in income tax."