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Defense Secretary Leon Panetta to certify that gays can serve openly in the armed services

New York (CNN) -- We were at a Manhattan water park when it happened. I was with my then 3-year-old daughter, Luna, playing in a sandpit on a foul, chilly morning beneath clouds that looked like ripped paper. It was no day to be outside, but living in a city of small apartments, it was no day to be inside with a child either. A little girl approached the two of us, clearly interested in playing. But when she arrived, she addressed only Luna. Pointing a finger at me, she asked her, "Is that your baby sitter?" I've been mistaken...

A Bronx man was viciously assaulted and robbed on a subway train Sunday by four men who he says taunted him for being white. Police confirmed they are investigating the assault and robbery of Jason Fordell, 29, but have not labeled it a hate crime. They are seeking the four assailants, who fled the scene. A fifth passenger who police say spontaneously joined in the attack has been arrested. "Everyone on the train was egging them on," said Fordell, 29, of the early-morning attack on the 4 train. ..." [SNIP] "People started saying stupid little comments - cracker this, white...

The stumble came in the word zulo, which means "hideout" in English, for San Antonio's sole contestant in the first-ever National Spanish Spelling Bee. Linda Duann Rodriguez, about to start her freshman year at East Central High School, confused the letter "z" with the letter "s" in the competition at the National Hispanic Cultural Center on Saturday morning. After the judges told her "incorrecto," she exited the stage as the third student disqualified and watched as the finalists continued competing. ...After two hours, Evelyn Juárez, a seventh-grader from Carlos F. Vigil Middle School of Santa Cruz, N.M., emerged victorious after...

Perhaps we need a new definition of the word racism because it is now bandied about in a frivolous manner by race baiters who've never undergone its scourge. All we need to do is look at the history of racism in this country particularly in the South to get a real perspective of the pain suffered by blacks during that dark period. Those who underwent that torment are for the most part deceased but their pain has been exploited by modern day race-baiting demagogues who've benefitted by the changes in our civil rights and in the hearts of most Americans....

If you thought the media attacks on Sarah Palin and her family were deplorable in 2008, it's clear with the 2012 presidential campaign starting and her name being bandied about, you ain't seen nuttin' yet. Take the Washington Post's Richard Cohen for example who penned a column Tuesday concluding, "She could not be the president of black America nor of Hispanic America": In her new book, she reportedly takes Michelle Obama to task for her supposedly infamous remark from the 2008 campaign: "For the first time in my adult life, I am proud of my country because it feels like...

There is one African-American in the current Senate: Illinois Sen. Roland Burris, who was appointed to fill out the rest of Barack Obama's term after he was elected president... All three African-American candidates are projected to lose their races: Florida's Kendrick Meek to Marco Rubio, Georgia's Michael Thurmond to Johnny Isakson and South Carolina's Alvin Greene to Jim DeMint. (All three are Democrats.)... African-Americans are better represented in the House, where there are currently 41 black members.

Don't read Newsweek magazine while drinking a beverage. A spit take is the obvious first reaction to a column by Julia Baird headlined "The Shame of Family Films." On the Internet, this article is coded as "Why Family Films Are So Sexist." Baird's denunciation of Hollywood's fraction of decent entertainment began: "They have all been smash hits: 'Finding Nemo,' 'Madagascar,' 'Ice Age,' 'Toy Story.' Fish, penguins, rats, stuffed animals, talking toys. All good innocent family fun, right? Sure, except there are few female characters in those films. There are certainly few doing anything meaningful or heroic -- and no, Bo...

... The best way to understand Obama, I believe, is to think of him as a sort of braid, intertwining the three dominant strands of modern liberalism. The first of these is “interest group” liberalism. Liberals are for unions, minorities, the poor, gays, trial lawyers, and so on. Liberals are against what they usually call “the rich,” but what in practice means anyone not primarily self-identifying as a member of one of their pet interest groups. This has been the dominant strand of liberalism in people like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, Ted Kennedy – and is the dominant strand in...

Man, can’t Al Sharpton ever catch a break? First his counter-rally to Glenn Beck’s Restoring Honor attracts only 3,000 people, about 3% of the lowest estimate of the attendance at Restoring Honor. Now I read that his non-profit civil rights group, National Action Network, may have to file for bankruptcy because it can’t pay its bills. Luckily the organization is paying its staff, but it’s doing that by, umm, not paying its taxes (to the tune of $1.3 million). Not to worry, though. I think I have a solution that’ll clear this mess right up. Sharpton just needs to explain...

Two U.S. senators are slamming four federal stimulus funded initiatives in Connecticut as part of their national attack on President Barack Obama's $862 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. No. 14 on the GOP list is Connecticut's Mohegan Tribe, which got $54 million in rural development loans from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to build a four-story tribal government center, including a community center. The senators' main issue with the loans was that the center will also will serve as a practice facility for the WNBA Connecticut Sun basketball team. The team is owned by the Mohegan Sun casino, which...

WASHINGTON, July 30 -- The U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued the following news release: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Pascua Yaqui Tribe today announced the production of the first ever Enhanced Tribal Card (ETC)--designed as a Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI)-compliant document that formally recognizes tribal membership and U.S. citizenship for the purpose of entering the United States through a land or sea port of entry. The Pascua Yaqui are the first tribe in the country to issue an ETC. "Our collaboration with the Pascua Yaqui Tribe has resulted in the historic development of the first-ever...

RNC Chairman Michael Steele said the GOP has not given Blacks a reason to vote Republican. As a black conservative Republican, I ask, what is the GOP suppose to do; serve soul food at Republican events? In other words, I reject the concept of dividing Americans into victimized groups and pandering to them. Besides, the Democrats are masters of insulting the intelligence of Americans by playing the old and tattered victim, race, and class envy cards. The GOP does not need to go down the same shameful disgusting road. Brother Steele, how about the GOP showing a little respect for...

Cornyn: Openly gay SCOTUS nominee might be acceptable By J. Taylor Rushing - 04/12/10 06:59 PM ET An openly gay nominee to the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court might be acceptable, Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said Monday. Cornyn, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, called on President Barack Obama to make a measured choice in filling the pending Supreme Court vacancy, hesitating slightly when asked if he would support an openly gay nominee. Cornyn, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, was initially reluctant when asked if he would support an openly gay nominee — as Sen. Jeff Sessions...

Blue California may turn red Low turnout of Latinos, other minorities could defeat Democrats By Tony Castro, Staff Writer 01/30/2010 Voter apathy among Latinos and other minority voters threatens to turn traditionally blue state California into another Massachusetts-like shocker in this year's midterm elections, political experts are warning. The importance of the turnout among Latinos and other minorities, according to several political consultants and strategists, underscores the tenuous position of statewide Democratic candidates in a new Field Poll showing them in trouble with white voters. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer trailed Republican challenger Tom Campbell, 46 percent to 43 percent...

’m certainly happy to be a modern woman. The possibilities are numerous — career choices, children, freedom. Life is good. American women have all these things, yet there is a notable lack of women, both Democrat and Republican, in national political office. Why? Well, the job is demanding as hell and requires extended periods of separation, for one. Another reason: I’ll call it Sarah Palin Syndrome. Women, especially conservative women, are chewed up by the media. (This also happens to women bloggers. Related thoughts here.) Leftist feminists feel that conservative women disparage the very things feminists work for while enjoying...

As liberal ideas have continued to lose at the polls over the last two decades, Democrats have become the party of utopian rage as they persist in replacing real political debate with effusive attacks on conservatives while promising to create an idyllic society for Americans. Barack Obama epitomized these politics when he built a movement offering hope as his main political platform. To bolster this emotionalism, Democrats have resorted almost whole-heartedly to conjuring up visions of racist conservatives opposing the first black president primarily because of his skin color. The marketplace of ideas has been stifled by identity politics. Whereas...

A guest post from conservative author and talk show host Paul A. Ibbetson, on the Gates ordeal. In the wake of Gatesgate, both Barack Obama and professor Gates should be taken to task as premeditated race conflict builders. For those who wish to deny the social advances this country has made over the decades, my personal law enforcement background will no doubt be a disqualifier of my right to speak on this issue. But before you condemn me, let me defend Barack Obama. You can decide for yourself if the President of the United States should be more restrained when...

Race! Race! Race! As the kids say, "Gag me with Race!" I just read my Republican Senator Mel Martinez's statement on why he is voting to confirm Sonia Sotomayor: "Given her judicial record, and her testimony this week, it is my determination that Judge Sotomayor is well-qualified to serve as Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. "Judge Sotomayor is knowledgeable of the law, would be a fair and impartial judge, and seems to have a good understanding of the limited role the judiciary plays in our democracy. "Judge Sotomayor's rise to the Supreme Court is testimony to the...

Just about everyone acknowledges, inside the Republican Party and out, that the GOP needs to do a much better job of bringing minorities into the party. But how? There’s a big problem with implementing this idea — one that is seldom discussed. The obstacles that prevent Republicans from bringing more minorities into the party are as cultural as they are political. Many blacks, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, and even women instinctually vote Democrat, even when their views more closely align with the Republicans. It would be ambitious to imagine the GOP could get 50% of every one of those groups. But...