to be black and from mississippi

Speaking of sinking, infant mortality rates are up in Mississippi and several other Southern states.

After years of progress on this vital social indicator, things have been sliding backwards since 2004. It should come as no surprise that there's a sharp disparity between infant mortality rates for whites and those for African Americans.

Before you blame BushCo for this, remember that it was a Democrat who ended the federal guarantee of welfare. Every administration since Jimmy Carter has had a hand in this shame.

Infant mortality rates in the US overall are twice as high as those in Hong Kong. True, for some countries, seven infant deaths per 1,000 births would be reason to celebrate. But shouldn't TGNOTFOTE set its standards a little higher?

By this measure, Canada is not as good as Japan, but not as dreadful as the US. There is also a sharp divide in Canada: First Nations people have rates 20% higher than the national average.

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