Wiretap: Colorado is the nation’s vaccine valley

Here’s something we can all be proud of as America faces a measles outbreak: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Colorado kindergartners are dead last in vaccine rates for measles, mumps and rubella. The CDC puts Colorado’s vaccination rate at 81.7 percent, against the national median of 95 percent. Mississippi — yes, Mississippi – leads the way at 99.7. But it’s not just measles we need to worry about. The Denver Post reports that Colorado is also last in vaccinating for the diphtheria, tetanus toxoid, and whooping cough.

The New York Times reports that Zacarias Moussaoui testified from inside the Supermax prison in Colorado that members of the Saudi Arabia royal family were major donors to Al Qaeda in the late 1990s.

It took more than half a century, but “To Kill a Mockingbird” is finally getting a kind-of sequel. Actually Harper Lee’s other novel — “Go Set a Watchman” — was written first and then kind of lost. “Watchman” will come out in July, and it will feature Scout as a grown-up, coming home to visit her father, Atticus. HarperLee plans to publish 2 million copies. Of course, To Kill a Mockingbird has sold 40 million. Via the Washington Post.

The best way to end poverty? Ending segregation may be the first, and most important, step. Via the Atlantic.

OK, here’s something no one — particularly the Congressional Budget Office — had predicted: Obamacare is costing a lot less than expected. Ezra Klein does the numbers at Vox.

Is Obamacare really costing the average American family $4,000, as the Republican National Committee alleges? Not even close, says the Washington Post Fact Checker, which gives it four Pinocchios.

The reason the falling unemployment rate doesn’t thrill many Americans is that it’s not remotely accurate. Of course, it never has been. Via Gallup.

It’s one thing to go after Obama’s agenda and another to go after his legacy. Is that what the Republicans are doing now? Via Rolling Stone.

Jonah Goldberg identifies Scott Walker’s vanilla power, which just may be enough to win him the 2016 Republican nomination. After all, no one doesn’t like vanilla. Via the Los Angeles Times.

[ Photo by Jimmy Emerson.]

1 COMMENT

Comments are closed.