Wednesday, January 29, 2003

Josh Marshall's New Column Josh Marshall, author of the estimable political blog Talking Points Memo, has a new print column in the Washington newspaper The Hill. Marshall's first column chronicles recent Republican embarrassments on the matter of race since Lott resigned. Meanwhile, the Sons of Confederate Veterans -- those publicity hounds -- have launched a petition drive in Missouri over the Stars and Bars, a matter I wrote about at the end of the long item here. Here's a good place to keep up on all this stuff: Southern Heritage News and Views. 9:26:01 PM     Bush's African AIDS Initiative Surely the most surprising moment in Bush's State of the Union address last night was his request that Congress allocate $15 billion over the next five years for AIDS prevention and treatment in Africa and the Caribbean. More than surprised, I'm in fact astonished. I don't know what political impulse lies behind this gesture, but I'm not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. The first reactions to this unexpected new policy are now in. This AP story chronicles what African and other health authorities are saying, and here's Andrew Sullivan's rather more personal response. Meanwhile, The New Yorker this week runs a strong story about the search for an AIDS vaccine and the ethics of conducting vaccine trials in Africa. A timely story, but unfortunately not available on the Web. For the full-size version of the thumbnail graphic above, see the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 8:12:17 PM

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