It's tough enough to have a conversation about race in this country, especially during an overheated presidential campaign.  Just ask the head of the Bernalillo County Republican Party. Now folks want Fernando C de Baca's head for his observation that a white presidential candidate would do better in New Mexico than an African-American one because Hispanics won't vote for a black man.  C de Baca's comments were posted by British blogger Jon Kelly after he passed through the New Mexico State Fair last week as part of a BBC election-year bus tour of the colonies. What C de Baca said… Read more...

One unmentioned casualty in the meltdown of Wall Street is two hoary clichés we should have buried years ago:  "light at the end of the tunnel" and "line in the sand." Light at the end of the tunnel lost all meaning during the Vietnam War when the military and political leadership used it as a metaphor for progress toward our troops coming home.  As that tunnel grew longer and darker, the phrase morphed into the light at the tunnel being an oncoming train. When it became obvious the U.S. planned to cut its losses and pull out of Vietnam, a common expression… Read more...

We interrupt this regularly scheduled presidential campaign for an unnecessary report on lipstick, livestock and painted ladies. The entirety of western civilization is shocked, so get on board. Bemoan with us Democrat Barack Obama referring to Republicans dressing up their economic policies as putting lipstick on a pig. Ah, ha. Wouldn’t you know this common phrase was really just a snarky and sexist reference to hockey matriarch Sarah Palin running beside, or maybe ahead of, Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Oh, the humanity. Oh, the outrage. Oh, the sight of respectable Republican women painting their lips shocking… Read more...