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On the presidential campaign trail, it’s almost as if the 1960s never happened.Barack Obama’s much-discussed speech in Philadelphia earlier this week was not only about race. It was also about economics and, specifically, about poverty. Measures of group wealth, or the lack of it, are often used to support claims that our society is racist. Obama’s speech revealed that though he may be, to many people, a refreshingly new kind of post-racial politician and a healer, when it comes to notions of poverty and economic advancement, his ideas are right out of the 1960s and 1970s. At one point in...

A quick start this morning.

A group of Brooklyn judges is preparing to sue the city to preserve its parking privileges in a park next to Borough Hall, claiming that the removal of 20 or so spaces will endanger the judges’ safety because the nearest garage is two blocks away. The parking lot, at the corner of Joralemon and Adams streets, is within Columbus Park. The judges also park their cars on a public walkway next to the lot, but the Parks Department now says that the judges will lose those spaces this spring. The 20 or so judges who park their vehicles in that...

Robert Novak: "John McCain's team that is taking over the Republican Party has decided on Bobbie Greene Kilberg, a liberal Republican from Virginia long detested by conservatives, to run the party's national convention in St. Paul, Minn., in August." - UPDATE: "Politico.com" - "A McCain aide says that Kilberg has not been tapped to run the convention and is only serving as a liasion with the RNC. McCain has not decided yet on who will run the convention, said this source." http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0308/This_will_get_GOP_insiders_a_buzzin.html

A sentence I once read many years ago came to life before my eyes and ears yesterday as I listened to Barak Obama speak about race and Rev. Wright. The sentence read: The making of a great orator is more in his sound than in his sense. Certainly, even those of us “with untrained ears” — Jews, whites, damned Americans — could be seduced by Obama’s oratorical gift and grace. But let’s bust the sound bite bubble and get straight to the sense and nonsense of WHAT was said. To start, does this make sense: “Not once in my conversations...

Guns, drugs, explosives, and poisonous and radioactive materials will be banned from Beijing's Olympic venues, a security official said yesterday. Animals, drinks, radio equipment, and banners and oversized flags will also be prohibited, but guide dogs and small flags on poles shorter than 1m will be allowed, Zhu Yijun, from the Beijing Olympic security command center, said at a press conference to announce the new security regulation. Drinks are banned to remove the risk of spectators throwing containers, while radio equipment makes the no-go list as it may disturb TV broadcasts and the operation of security equipment, he said. Banners...

This guy seriously needs new handlers. All of this "new politics" is beginning to exhaust the public, and I suspect it is because its beginning to sound alot like the old politics. All of it culminating with race baiting and black resentment all crammed into one speech meant to, in the words of Charles Krauthammer, play to "intellectual flattery and white guilt". And as if throwing his own grandmother under the bus wasn't enough (she is still alive), today he called her "a typical white person". What?

The U.S. Supreme Court should allow Dick Heller to keep a handgun in his home. Dick Anthony Heller is a 66-year-old security guard who carries a handgun to protect the employees and property at the federal building where he works in Washington, D.C. Because Heller also is a resident of the District of Columbia, he is prohibited from having a handgun in his home for self-protection. Heller sued to overturn the city of Washington’s 1976 gun-control law that also requires all rifles or shotguns in D.C. homes to be disassembled or kept under trigger lock. Heller sued claiming that the...

UNITED NATIONS - An interim proposal to tackle the divisive issue of Security Council reform would expand the U.N.'s most powerful body from 15 to 22 members but leave it up to the 192 U.N. member states to decide which countries should fill them. The proposal, obtained Friday by The Associated Press, also leaves it up to U.N. members to decide how long the new seats should be held — with suggestions of two years, five years and permanently offered as possible options. It leaves the contentious issue of veto power to future negotiations. There is strong support for enlarging...

RUSH: McCain.....has picked a liberal Republican to run the Republican National Convention, a woman, according to Bob Novak." - Update: "Politico.com" - "A McCain aide says that Kilberg has not been tapped to run the convention....." - Original Story: Mike Allen's "Playbook" - http://dyn.politico.com/playbook/

No, not really. But why are we trusting the bankers who got us into this mess to sort it out? Apparently many of you have been worrying about the so-called credit crunch, and the banking crisis, and a possible housing market collapse, and the fact that share prices have sunk lower than the chances of Barack Obama picking his pastor, Jeremiah Wright, as his running mate if he gets to race against the Republican nominee for the White House (“I said God damn McKKKain!”). Haven't you heard the good news? Yes, that's right - the world financial crisis is over!...

Watching the “Reverend” Jeremiah Wright gesticulate like a horny peacock and spew out ignorance, hatred, and bitterness towards America truly inspired my religious faith. Once Wright pointed out that he was “still in Bible country,” I began to “love the hell out of” rich, white people just as much as Wright does. How could so many people not understand that white people have caused all the world’s problems? As Wright pointed out to his congregation, the Bible says it’s so. I’m not sure what verse actually says that, but I’m now betting that rich, white people are responsible for my...

Los Angeles - California, home to 1 in 9 American schoolchildren, is on the brink of what may be the biggest public education crisis in state history. Facing a $16 billion state budget shortfall, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has proposed $4.8 billion in school-funding cuts, or 10 percent of education spending. In the past week, over 20,000 preliminary pink slips were sent by school districts to teachers and administrators state wide, according to the California Teachers Association. The association estimates another 87,000 (of a total 350,000 public school teachers) could come if Governor Schwarzenegger holds to his budget cut request. Some...

(CNN) — The Obama campaign launched some of its sharpest attacks to date on Hillary Clinton's candidacy Friday, telling reporters on a conference call that the New York senator is a dishonest politician who has consistently misled voters. Referencing a new Gallup Poll suggesting 53 percent of Americans don't view Clinton as trustworthy, Obama campaign manager David Plouffe said Clinton would be a "deeply flawed nominee," and suggested it would be "nearly impossible" for her to win a general election. "She is not seen as trustworthy by the American people," Plouffe said. "She has consistently in this campaign engaged in...

A New York gay activist and his husband are challenging the Polish President to a meeting after becoming unwilling poster boys in a campaign against the European Union's proposed charter of rights. President Kaczynski showed images of Brendan Fay's wedding to Thomas Moulton in a televised address to his nation on Monday in which he gave warning that the Lisbon treaty's proposed Charter of Fundamental Rights could legalise same-sex marriage in the devoutly Catholic country. The Polish leader screened a brief video clip of the men, both wearing kilts, getting married in Canada in 2003 after the province of Ontario...

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — A co-chairman of Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign yesterday compared former President Bill Clinton to Joseph McCarthy, the 1950s senator whom liberals widely revile as a witch-hunting fascist, after Mr. Clinton seemed to question Mr. Obama's patriotism. Retired Gen. Merrill "Tony" McPeak, a former Air Force chief of staff, said he was disappointed by comments Mr. Clinton made while campaigning for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton yesterday in Charlotte, N.C. "I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to...

(MEMRI) Following are excerpts from an interview with Sheik Ali Hatem Sleiman of the Al-Anbar Salvation Council in Iraq, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on February 1, 2008. Interviewer: When will Diyala and Baghdad become as safe as Al-Anbar? Sheik Ali Hatem Sleiman: When we get wider authorities and a free hand to operate. Interviewer: How long do you think this will take? Sheik Ali Hatem Sleiman: Two months are all we need to eliminate [Al-Qaeda], Allah willing - but without "human rights." When Al-Qaeda kills twenty or thirty people, chops off their heads and throws them in the streets,...

GWEN IFILL: Has this been damaging to your campaign? SEN. BARACK OBAMA: Oh, you know, I would say that it has been a distraction from the core message of our campaign. I think that part of what has always been the essence of my politics -- not just this campaign, but my life -- is the idea that we've got to bring people together. Now, part of that is biographical, as somebody who comes from a diverse background, with a white mother and an African-American father, growing up in Hawaii and Asia. You know, it's in my DNA to believe...

US military finds sailor in slain taxi driver's case: report Weekend March 22, 2008 The US military Saturday took into custody a deserter in Japan wanted for questioning over the killing of a taxi driver, a report said.The US military, which has been looking for the sailor since early this month, informed Japan early Saturday that he was found in the military hub of Yokosuka near Tokyo, Kyodo News said, quoting police sources. The report said the sailor's credit card was found Wednesday in a parked taxi in which the 61-year-old driver was stabbed to death with a kitchen...

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. (AP)—WTA head Larry Scott said Thursday that he strongly disagrees with comments made by Richard Williams, father of Serena and Venus, regarding racism on the women’s tour. Saying he was disappointed by Williams’ recent remarks during an interview in India, Scott said in a statement: “The Tour has a zero tolerance policy when it comes to racism, and I have previously let Mr. Williams know that he should let me know if he ever had evidence of racist comments or acts in women’s professional tennis.” While his daughters were playing earlier this month in Bangladore, India, where...